Does Anybody Play DYO Scenarios?

[Binko]

The DYO sections of Chapter H seem like one of the neglected aspected as ASL. I don't think I've heard any ASL players I know talk about playing DYO scenarios. Maybe it's because players who might be interested in DYO scenarios tend to gravitate towards Campaign Games where there are certain DYO elements to selecting reinforcements and such.

But it seems potentially very cool. The ability to pick your own forces. And what's even better is that each side would not really know ahead of time exactly what he was facing. Instead of attacking a village in a set scenario and knowing for example that the defender has two pillboxes, six trenches and 3 AT guns of a specific size, in a DYO scenario the attacker would not know how many of each he was facing until he encountered them. I find this idea very appealing.

Let's say a buddy and I wanted to play a DYO scenario. We could pick maps, an objective, a date and then roll for weather. Then we build our own force following the guidelines in Chapter H. If we picked a victory objective in the middle of the map and each entered from opposite sides we could both start with the same number of BPVs.

But battles rarely play out as pure meeting engagements between two equal forces. How would we go about assigning each force their total BPV for a typical scenario where one side is defending a small village? Are there are rough guidelines or can anybody speak from practical experience?

[Bob Miller]

DYO wasn't allowed when Pitman ruled these forums (not 100% historical ya know). But now that he is boycotting maybe these types of scenarios will be allowed to be played.

[alanp]

I have a VASL opponent with whom I only play DYO. It's fun and we keep coming up with new ways of surprising each other.

[Binko]

I have a VASL opponent with whom I only play DYO. It's fun and we keep coming up with new ways of surprising each other.

How do you guys determine your BPV? And what do you typically use for victory objectives and turn length?

[dachda]

How do you guys determine your BPV? And what do you typically use for victory objectives and turn length?

There was a great article in The General vol 24, #1, called Going All Out: Design Your Own(My Way) written by Greg Schmittgens and Charlie Kibler. It has you roll randomly to determine, Theater of ops, date, game length, Basic Point value, mapboards and so on. It also allowed each player to choose whether he wanted to attack, recon or defend. the two choices are compared on a table to come up with the scenario conditions, such as a meeting engagement, or an advance to contact mission. Then the point values are adjusted to match the type of mission.

Played with that many a time 15 years or so ago, before all the published scenarios began coming out.

[Binko]

There was a great article in The General vol 24, #1, called Going All Out: Design Your Own(My Way) written by Greg Schmittgens and Charlie Kibler....

I found the article. It looks like a really great system. I'm going to see if I can talk my main local ASL buddy into giving it a try.

Sure, it's quicker and easier to just set-up a premade scenario. But this offers the chance to really inject the element of facing the unknown into the game.

[Count_Zero]

There was a great article in The General vol 24, #1, called Going All Out: Design Your Own(My Way) written by Greg Schmittgens and Charlie Kibler. It has you roll randomly to determine, Theater of ops, date, game length, Basic Point value, mapboards and so on. It also allowed each player to choose whether he wanted to attack, recon or defend. the two choices are compared on a table to come up with the scenario conditions, such as a meeting engagement, or an advance to contact mission. Then the point values are adjusted to match the type of mission.

Played with that many a time 15 years or so ago, before all the published scenarios began coming out.

I got the article too. Looks interesting enough to print out and add to my "optional" item collection.
Thanks for the lead.

[alanp]

How do you guys determine your BPV? And what do you typically use for victory objectives and turn length?

we determine the boards--4 of them, 2 where Defender may set up, 1 no-man's land, 1 for Attacker set up/entry--using SASL tables. Scenario are always control of VP Locations determined randomly (again, SASL tables) with various drm for type of Location--multi-hex buildings are generally more valuable. Attacker gets 750 points and Defender 500; we limit how much you can spend on AFVs although you don't have to; our games are usually mixed arms--Infantry, AFV, Guns, Fortifications. Starting on Turn 10, you make the standard CG-type dr to see if the Game ends. We use most rules like Interrogation (very helpful!), Battlefield Integrity, etc.
It's definitely fun and never quite what you expect--both good and bad!

[Binko]

we determine the boards--4 of them, 2 where Defender may set up, 1 no-man's land, 1 for Attacker set up/entry--using SASL tables. Scenario are always control of VP Locations determined randomly (again, SASL tables) with various drm for type of Location--multi-hex buildings are generally more valuable. Attacker gets 750 points and Defender 500; we limit how much you can spend on AFVs although you don't have to; our games are usually mixed arms--Infantry, AFV, Guns, Fortifications. Starting on Turn 10, you make the standard CG-type dr to see if the Game ends. We use most rules like Interrogation (very helpful!), Battlefield Integrity, etc.
It's definitely fun and never quite what you expect--both good and bad!

Very cool. Thanks. It helps to here from somebody who has a system that works.

My local ASL buddy and I decided to take a shot at a DYO game. We used the system from the General article to roll for everything randomly. We ended up at the very tail end of the war July 1945 with Soviets attacking German Defenders on a two mapper. I really like the way that you roll for various victory conditions depending on the type of scenario that is generated.

Now I have to build a defensive force with 375 BPV. The first thing you learn is that infantry is cheap. And the more infantry you buy the more SW and leaders you get. It can be hard to justify purchasing a lot of ordnance or AFV. Very exciting to be able to build your own force - especially when you don't know what the enemy will be bringing to the table.

[Jazz]

Something we used to do with DYO.....

Pick a board configuration.

Pick a set of VC.

Select and agree on a defending force.

Each player than bids as to how many BPV he thinks he could achieve the VC vs the selected defenders.

Low BPV bid gets to form an attacking force of that BPV level and gets to attack.