In my travels, one other thing I’ve noticed about people from The Netherlands is that they speak better English than 90% of Canadians and Americans. I’m not sure why that is.
@Arthur:
I do agree that the English of people in the Netherlands is better than a vast majority of people in North America.
On behalf of my countrymen, thanks for the compliments. Though maybe you guys mostly meet people who travel and are internationally oriented. But linguistically, we often end up somewhere in the mid Atlantic. I’ve been mistaken for an Englishman in the US and for an American in the UK. It’s a small country, so we need our languages…… from where I live, 150 miles west I need to know English, 150 miles south, French, 150 miles east, German, and 150 miles north… well, whatever the fish are speaking.
More on topic, I do agree with the general sentiment that having Canada as a separate power would be a welcome acknowledgment of their contribution to the Allied war effort. But it’s still a board game, so one we start going down that road, where does it end? Finland, for example, was a separate power that fought on the Axis’ side for most of the war, and the same can be said for Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary to some degree… and shouldn’t we indeed have separate Dutch units to better defend the DEI against Japan? And the Poles fought bravely, and so did the Belgians, and the Norwegians, and the Greeks, and expeditionary forces from countries around the world, and I’m probably missing quite a few others here…
Having said that, from a viewpoint of game mechanics, Canada does seem like a prime candidate.
sounds like someone is ready to play G36 as the Brazilian Empire.
though it does not have a giant population somehow Canada is a major nation in the (real life) world of AXA. there are tons of Canadian players and conventions.
Time to put Kansas on that map.
The game designers were quite engaged by a discussion last year that concerned whether Sierra Leone was properly allocated to the correct historical side, in order to honor those Sierra Leonians who fought the Nazi’s boldly (if any).
So, what they consider an important thing to change may be different than what you or I think is a priority.
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=37805.0
Hehe yeah I guess, though apparently not enough to get a 3rd edition reprint out of it. Alas
there are tons of Canadian players and conventions.
WWI and WWII resonates with most of us up here. Almost every 2nd or 3rd generation Canadian has at least one parent, grandparent, uncle or whatever who was lost in the war, or who came back missing a limb, eye, or suffered some long-term injury. I guess it’s all part of that “white privilege” we supposedly enjoy. My dad worked in a coal mine and had to help a WWI vet clean the coal dust out of the permanent hole he had in his back from a German machine-gun round.
My Grandfather was stationed to a mine sweeping sub during the Battle of the Atlantic. Luckily he came back. No missing parts - I think it’s all or nothing in a submarine!
My Great Grandfather served in the Royal Navy during WWI. RN booted him out later on account of his poor eyesight (cost cutting). He’s been a cadet since childhood, and the military was all he knew. So he immigrated here and joined the RCN.
When he got to Halifax he was immediately (and unexpectedly) redeployed to BC. His wife and children arrived in Halifax with no money, expecting him to meet them. The Salvation Army took care of them and sent them on a train to BC - otherwise I wouldn’t be here.
My aunt’s first husband (before I was born) was shot down and killed in a bombing raid over Germany. I had two uncles that served in WWII - unscathed, thankfully. My mom’s folks moved to Canada from Poland in the 20s, but during WWI it was German occupied so granddad was forced to fight for the Germans. Growing up my folks has so many friends who were WWII vets, including one guy with a plate in his head after the cockpit of his Flying Tiger got shot off over China. My dad came of age just a few months after the nukes dropped on Japan, so he was lucky.
