In reality, European village streets are not 40 meters across, for example. The mapboards are divided into hexagonal grids with each hex said to represent 40 metres of terrain, the result of the designer being asked what the ground scale was, rolling a die and it coming up 'four'. British troops, when eventually added to the game system, are shown as largely similar to the Germans, albeit with somewhat inferior equipment. US troops are shown as having unusually high firepower (representing larger squads, using the Browning Automatic Rifle - unlike other nationalities who have separate counters for light machine guns), but with slightly lower base morale than German or Soviet troops, representing the supposed greater tendency of more individualistic Americans to break from their orders or the group under fire - however, American troops are easier to rally under fire, as they were exempt from the usual penalty ("desperation morale") paid by broken squads in these circumstances. Russian troops are portrayed as poorly armed (and with poor quality radios, making it very difficult for them to summon artillery support) and with relatively fewer leaders, but with the capacity to become "berserk" in combat (a capacity shared in later expansions by SS troops). The original game contains counters representing the German, Russian and American armies.
Pieces in Squad Leader represent regular squads (rated for firepower, range and morale), weapon and vehicle crews, elite squads (with high firepower and morale but shorter range - used to represent paratroops or combat engineers armed with sub-machine guns), individual leaders, support weapons, and vehicles. Combined with the sales of Advanced Squad Leader, its sales totaled over 1 million copies by 1997. (The original print run of 2,500 copies had purple boxes which have become collectors' items.) Avalon Hill sold well in excess of 100,000 games of Squad Leader, making it one of the most successful war games ever made. The original Squad Leader was produced in time to debut at Origins 1977.
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