Scenario Resources

What every Squad Leader player soon wants is new scenarios to play and information about the scenarios to help decide what might be fun. This page is designed to answer your questions and become one of your most-visited on this site! Want to help add to this page? Send your ideas to Alan Yngve. Use and enjoy!


To assist with the ever-present question of "what shall we play," try these resources!

Scenario Reference and Information Pages
Squad Leader Cross of Iron Crescendo of Doom GI: Anvil of Victory

The links above connect you to listings of all known and published scenarios designed for the specified rules set. The pages provide a listing, links to summarized scenario details, links to "Record of Scenarios" data gathered by the Internet community, and links to VSQL set up files. If you prefer, below are direct links to the most recent scenario win-loss records.
Summary of Most Balanced Scenarios

Record of SL level scenarios
Record of CoI level scenarios		 Summary of Most Played Scenarios

Record of CoD level scenarios
Record of GI level scenarios

PLAYTESTING: Along with the desire to find new scenarios to play comes the desire to design your own scenarios. As a scenario designer myself, AdvancePhase.com is set up to support and encourage the playtesting of new scenarios. If interested in playtesting new scenarios, click here! This site is also dedicated to the creation of scenarios with good balance and good re-play value. Scenarios that have met these criteria earn an "AdvancePhase Playtested for Balanced" designation indicated by the (image soon!).

TACTICAL TRAINING SERIES
(see bottom of page for links to even more scenarios!)

A note on scenario use: As with all scenarios on www.Advancephase.com, please limit
your use to personal purposes and ALWAYS give credit to the scenario designer for his/her
efforts! Links to this site are welcomed, copying and re-publishing on a different site are not.

LEARNING BY PLAYING: Squad Leader (copyright and TM, TAHGC) will appear to most people as a fairly complex game, and this will not be an erroneous impression. However, initial play of Squad Leader can be relatively easy, deferring much of the inevitable complexities of squad-level tactical combat to an incremental introduction method. Elaboration on these comments at Learning by Playing.

The original Squad Leader "programmed instruction" method is ideal for helping the "squad leader" (actually company commander) learn the ropes as he/she advances into this system. However, the original SL scenarios do not actually do a very good job of helping a player learn tactical combat implementation. This circumstance is undoubtedly due to initial game design decisions, choices that were made well before it was known how popular the game would become. The two biggest problems with the original scenario set are: (1) city combat tends to be an exception to normal tactical maneuver and decisions, which makes it harder to translate the lessons _out_of_ the city and (2) the original system does a terrible job of properly easing the player into vehicle use.

It is these difficulties that are meant to be dealt with through this alternative "programmed instruction" sequence of scenarios. There is an effort to introduce tactical issues of maneuver, firepower, mass, leadership, vehicles, special weapons (among others) as the player proceeds through these scenarios. Of course, the original 12 scenarios from the SL game are always available for additional play, and all players are urged to consider their use as well, particularly once all of the relevant rules sections have been introduced through this alternate system.

GAME SET ONE: The first TTS Game Set comprises the first three scenarios of the series (see Alpha, Beta, and Gamma below). This set of scenarios strives to do three things; introduce the basic concepts of the SL game system in a way that they must be implemented by the players on the field of play, create a balanced setting that can challenge the most experienced players, and provide quick-play scenarios that can be used to introduce new players to the Squad Leader system. For more commentary.

ALPHA: FORCED MARCH (v1.3, Alan Yngve, 1996)

[Board 4, FIVE turns, Russians attack Germans]
One of the toughest challenges in learning Squad Leader well is the art of infantry maneuver. This scenario assigns a maneuver order (victory condition) to the Russians and challenges the Germans to block its successful execution, also through the use of maneuver. Most Squad Leader scenarios will have one force on the tactical offensive, this will be the force that must achieve an active victory condition objective, as is the Russian situation in this case.
Scenario links: TEXT, GRAPHIC, VSQL Start

BETA: HASTY ASSAULT (v2.4, Alan Yngve, 1998)

[half Board 3, FIVE turns, Germans attack Russians]
Russia, October 1942: The concept of battlefield maneuver is easy to grasp conceptually, but hard to effectively orchestrate. The addition of assault tactics and the frequent requirement for an attacker to displace a defender from their positions will always significantly complicate a tactical problem. Successful attacking skills are only developed through experimentation and practice, but within the Squad Leader system, this too can be a very enjoyable process.
Scenario links: TEXT, GRAPHIC, VSQL Start

GAMMA: THROUGH THE GAUNTLET (v1.4, Alan Yngve, 1999)

[half Board 3, FOUR turns, Russ & Germ both attack]
Russia, October 1942: Although the rules are not particularly well organized for the "vehicle learning" approach of this Tactical Training Series, it is best to start vehicles with basic movement and facing. By using the more vulnerable trucks and halftracks, this scenario can demonstrate well the options available to infantry when opposing vehicles. Consider this your opportunity to "learn to drive" in the Squad Leader system. But then, there is much more to this scenario than just the introduction of vehicles!
Scenario links: TEXT, GRAPHIC, VSQL Start

GAME SET TWO: The second TTS Game Set comprises the last three scenarios of the series (see Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta below). This set of scenarios challenges the player to further explore the implications of battlefield deployment. This is the next big hurdle to tactical success in the Squad Leader system, since most SL scenarios will challenge the defender, and to a lesser extent the attacker, to find deployment configurations that meet the immediate tactical requirements. For more commentary.

DELTA: BACK TO THE SEA (v2.1, Alan Yngve, 2000)

[half Bd 2 & half Bd 4, FIVE turns, Germans attack Amer]
Normandy, June 1944: The Americans in the Squad Leader system are a very different type of force than the Germans and Russians. With basic squads combining a higher inherent firepower and a lower morale, the 666 squad is both extremely powerful and quicker to break and double-break, all while being immune from the effects of DM. Learning how these differences affect Americans command needs on the battlefield is both challenging and intriguing.
Scenario links: TEXT, GRAPHIC, VSQL Start

EPSILON: TANKER DELIGHT (v1.3, Alan Yngve, 2000)

[Boards 2 & 4, FOUR turns, Amer/Russ attack Germans]
August, 1944: Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) in the basic Squad Leader game are fairly well suited for the infantry support role, for this is an infantry game. The next step is to explore how AFVs interact when opposed by enemy AFVs and/or Anti-Tank guns. This is best demonstrated by removing the accompanying infantry so that the vehicle issues will be isolated. With vehicle mobility two to three times that of infantry, this scenario should be a test of constant maneuver and deployment.
Scenario links: TEXT, GRAPHIC, VSQL Start

ZETA: HITTING THE WALL (levels zero and one completed, Alan Yngve, 2005)

[half Bd 2 & half Bd 3, FIVE turns, Amer attack Germans]
Germany, December, 1944: This final scenario in the Series introduces the remaining types of fortifications in the basic Squad Leader system and some of the weapons and tactics that can be used against them. The scenario demonstrates how the force characteristics of the defense can affect the tactics of the assault. In fact, defensive deployment decisions with a variety of fortification options will often force the creation of a defensive plan, a fascinating process in itself! The Americans are challenged to use a combined-arms assault to clear the critical road connection.
Scenario links: TEXT, GRAPHIC, VSQL Start


Have you acquired good scenarios at game conventions?
Please send them in (TXT is fine) to share with the community!

More Scenarios at the Squad Leader Rules Level:
  • GRAND TACTICAL SERIES by Alan Yngve
  • Squad Leader scenarios by various designers
  • Other Squad Leader scenarios by Alan Yngve

    • Scenarios at the Cross of Iron Rules Level:
  • Cross of Iron scenarios by various designers

    • Scenarios at the Crescendo of Doom Rules Level:
  • Crescendo of Doom scenarios by various designers (coming)

    • Scenarios at the GI: Anvil of Victory Rules Level:
  • GI: Anvil of Victory scenarios by various designers (coming)

    •