GMT Board Game: "A Distant Plain" Third Reprint

This one has been on the "bucket list" for some time now - alongside Matrix Games. "Out of Print" and at ridiculous eBay prices prohibited my earlier attempts at getting it. However after signing up on the GMT P500 reprint scheme (one year later) I am the proud owner of said game (see below, see Board Game Geek listing: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/127518/distant-plain):

It is part of the Counter Insurgency (COIN) genre of games, asymmetrical warfare. It has also been promoted by various speakers over the years at the Connections UK Conference. More impressively it has been acknowledged as a respected and informed narrative on the dynamics of the conflict. The co-designers Brian Train and Volko Ruhnke alongside their keynote addresses at UK Connections 2018 gave de-construction insight to a military replay by active serving officers and governmental officials. So in the same vain that I "had to" get Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) because the 1st Royal Irish Commander Ivor Gardiner recommended it, this was a "bucket list" must for me! The hidden bonus is that it has "high" solitaire play (bots can run three of the sides) so there is no excuse in not getting it played over Xmas.

You Tube Videos explaining the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJnCTsej-0o
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=a+distant+plain

ASL if it is good enough for the "1st Royal Irish" it's good enough for me

I thought long and hard about this one, but in the end I felt I just had to get it, if only because of this UK Connections 2014 presentation by the then CO of the 1st Royal Irish (see links below):

• http://professionalwargaming.co.uk/Connections2014Gardiner.pdf
• http://professionalwargaming.co.uk/IvorGardiner.mp3
• http://professionalwargaming.co.uk/1RICO.pdf
• http://professionalwargaming.co.uk/1RICO.pdf

Through the post today this arrived. Not the dreaded "ring binder infantry and tank and artillery and air and paratrooper" manual of death I remember from last century, but a slim line "ASL Starter Kit#1" (see below):

I was a fan of the original SL (Squad Leader) series, having all four modules but could not face the relearning or re-education that ASL implied in the 1990's. I did have the opportunity to bulk buy a collection [Beyond Valor et al] from my friend (something I did not ever regret until perhaps this point) but did not have the inkling or space. I hope to make it to the end of the first six modules ;) with a little help from some wargaming friends.