Editing Squad Leader (section)

==Expansion==

Three expansions (called gamettes by the publisher) were produced, [[Cross of Iron (board game)|Cross of Iron]] (COI), [[Crescendo of Doom]] (COD) and [[Squad Leader#GI: Anvil of Victory|GI: Anvil of Victory]] (GI).

===Cross of Iron===
{{Main|Cross of Iron (board game)}}

COI expands the German and Soviet orders of battle, including also Axis Minor infantry types.

===Crescendo of Doom===
{{Main|Crescendo of Doom}}
COD provides blanket coverage to the [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Front]] of 1939–1941.

===GI: Anvil of Victory===
[[File:giboxtop.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The final gamette (1983)]]
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|-
| Board 8
| River Terrain
|-
| Board 12
| Village Terrain
|-
| Board 13
| Rural Terrain
|-
| Board 14
| Rural/Airfield Terrain
|-
| Board 15
| Hill Terrain
|-
|colspan=2 |[[Squad Leader Scenarios|Scenarios:]] 33-47
|-
|colspan=2 |Terrain Overlays: "A-O"
|}

This gamette provides expanded coverage to American forces, as well as US-manufactured equipment as used by the British in the last half of the war, as well as certain British equipment like the [[PIAT]] that was not included in COD.  The rulebook for Crescendo of Doom suggested that this game would not be available before February 1981; Squad Leader fans still recall awaiting this next game, which was finally released in 1983.

The "gamette" was actually bigger than Squad Leader itself, with 856 more counters and five more mapboards, as well as three more scenarios than the original SL.  As well, two sheets of terrain overlays were included in the box.  The modelling of infantry was again increased in level of detail, with squads now able to "break to green", or be replaced by lower quality units when morale checks didn't measure up to their Experience Level Rating.  Many players were upset that the ELR restrictions were almost always applied to American forces and not to other nationalities as a rule.  (ASL would remedy this by applying the restriction to all forces of all nationalities).  Point values for US forces were also omitted from the game, restricting DYO (Design Your Own) scenarios to non-American forces.  Other restrictions on US troops not present in the earlier SL game also angered some players (the original SL had a rule whereby American troops were not subject to "Desperation Morale" penalties, for example, while GI dispensed with this.)  And the Italian forces promised as early as autumn 1979 did not materialize (indeed, would not, until the [[Advanced Squad Leader Modules#Hollow Legions|Hollow Legions]] module for [[Advanced Squad Leader]] was released in 1989.)

Nonetheless, the game system did go forward in many ways; according to James Collier in his history of Squad Leader printed in Issue 34 of [[Grenadier Magazine|The Grenadier]]:

<blockquote>
Like (Crescendo of Doom) before it, GI brought mostly rules changes, including some rather drastic revisions of some of the most fundamental system mechanics.  For example, in COD a provision was made to allow whole squads to be deployed into half-squads, but without providing special half-squad counters...GI brought a profusion of half-squad counters and also provided a mechanism where a squad could take half-squad casualties...

Some of these changes required a reissue of many of the original infantry counters with new parameters (and a distinctly less dynamic counter art).  Many AFVs had to be retrofitted with new parameters, but without counters (the player had to remember which changes applied to which vehicle).  Many of the parameters chosen for US components proved to be controversial.

The outcome was that GI was a very disorganized game, difficult to play "correctly".  Trying to synthesize all the many rules into a coherent whole was virtually impossible, a fact tacitly conceded by ([[Avalon Hill]]) in that the GI (rulebook) index was not cumulative and did not cross-reference with the previous rules manuals.<ref>Advanced Squad Leader: The Phenomenon, by James M. Collier, ''The Grenadier'', Issue 34 (J. Tibbetts & Son, 1988).  Collier's pique at the US representation in GI was voiced in a scathing critique of the GI: Anvil of Victory gamette published in [[The General Magazine|''The General'']], which is also quoted on this page.  Collier had been one of the playtesters of that game and was unhappy with many of the eventual design decisions taken.  [[Avalon Hill]] published several lengthy rebuttals in that issue (Vol. 20 No. 1) attempting to address Collier's concerns.</ref>

</blockquote>

The end result was that German AFV counters did not represent some of the new changes, such as inferior turret armor, and German squad counters did not have accurate representations for such things as smoke making capability or other abilities introduced in GI.  As far as the game system had come, it was clear that much of the foundation on which it was resting had to be redone and/or reorganized.  In fact, GI: Anvil of Victory had already reached a point where most of the counters from the original Squad Leader game had been made obsolete, as German, British, French and American infantry counters were redone (with controversial "static" artwork depicting soldiers at rest rather than in action poses) with new information for smoke-making capability, and special weapons and morale characteristics (these characteristics would carry over to [[Advanced Squad Leader]].)