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Squad Leader Classic

This document is an attempt to make the Squad Leader rules more accessible. I, like many gamers I suspect, bought and played first Squad Leader and then the supplements (Cross of Iron, Crescendo of Doom and GI) and found the game excellent but the rules disorganised. The structure of the rules was good for learning the rules but poor for use as a reference (even with an index). Some of the rules were changed in each supplement which made correct play challenging to say the least. In an attempt to counter this I used a photocopier, scissors and glue to 'cut and paste' my own version of the rules with all the rules brought together in a more consistent order.

This was useful but not perfect so I have tried to use modern techniques to create another version of the rules.

These are the rules from Squad Leader and all of the supplements brought together and (I hope) rationally organised. I have not (deliberately) changed any of the rules, just removed those rules which were overridden by later changes.

I have not played Advanced Squad Leader (put off by the amount I would have to pay out to get a set of rules less complete than those I already possessed) so this set of rules is Squad Leader 'Classic'.

These rules assume that you own Squad Leader at least. You will need the boards, counters and scenarios to play with these rules and I have no intention of undermining Avalon Hill's (or now MMP) copyright by changing this. However, if you do not have all of the supplements then you will still be able to use all of the rules with the earlier counters.

Because of the scale of the task of re-organising 144 pages of small-typeface rules this document has taken a considerable time. This version (1.04) is as far as I am going and has had at least a first pass at proofreading. This document contains all the rules and questions and answers but I have removed all the examples and most of the diagrams. My intention is to create a reference document for those who already have a basic familiarity with the rules.

I must make clear that this compilation has no official status. It is technically in breach of copyright (and if MMP ask I will take it down). It has received no support from anybody else (that isn't a complaint - I am just pointing out that nobody else can be blamed for this attempt). If you join the SL mailing list (recommended - see one of the sites below) and want to ask questions then you will have to base them on the original rules - not on my compilation.

If you think I have made mistakes (or you like what I have tried to do) or you have views on what content you would like to see next (although I don't expect to do any further work on it) then please email me.

The current draft is in Word97 format and zipped. This version (1.04) has all questions and answers and Bill Thomson's SQLA conventions alomg with points values. It is about 516K and is available here.

I have also put the artillery and vehicle listings into spreadsheets. The current version is available here

If you like Squad Leader then you must visit the Advance Phase site, the Wargame Academy which has good SL resources (including directions to the excellent SL mailing list) and Eric Pass' web site.