The Supreme Court ruled that a Chicago law prohibiting citizens from owning handguns was unconstitutional. The vote was along party lines. The mayor has decided to rewrite the law.
Probably a lot more detail out there than what I have heard on the news.
I don’t think either power could have taken Washington and it seems impossible to imagine a foreign power able to occupy the United States of America against the will of its citizens. Now if they got the bomb first they might have just tried to obliterate us.
Maul should have had a larger role. It seemed a waste for him to die as quickly as he did.
As to Palpatine hiding in front of the unipressive Jedi Council…some of us in the RPG community call that script immunity or our favorite appellation “Gamemaster Crap.”
The only time I really paid any interest to palpy was in Timothy Zahn’s last book Allegiance. And then only because he was talking to Mara Jade. Now there is an awesome character.
Me too- mixed em with star wars characters a lot….
Vader hands down. No one else got their own SSD. No one else recruited the Noghri into the Empire. No other Sith had the gall to try to kill Palpatine either.
Throughout the Star Wars universe only one bad guy came as close to cool as Vader was and that was Thrawn. Maul and Tyranis(spelling) were just patsies. The Emporer was the standard Evil bad guy and not all that interesting a character to begin with.
My current favorite is Empire. I love playing in all the different theaters. I also enjoyed Medi two. I found Napoleon too much like empire, nice graphics but not as much fun to play (missed India and North America).
Shogun 2 is next upcoming title.
Recently the Total War Series has been tied to STEAM which I find annoying. While the updates and options through steam are interesting I really hate having to always be signed in to STEAM to play.
Wasn’t the Tirpitz completed sometime after the Bismark? I seem to remember that Germany at one point hoped to send both ships to sea about the same time but for some reason the Tirpitz wasn’t ready to put to sea so the Prince Eugen went with Bismark.
But I like the idea of a German Navy out of the Baltic.
Sweeetttt!!!
THat cover suggest the book will deal with some of my favorite plot lines that I have wanted to see tied up for some time!
Thanks for sharing that Brain!
Thanks for sharing and posting a link to the article.
Battlefield Band
Dire Straits
Marshal Tucker Band
Alabama
Even with two more states the Southern States could not have sustained a long term war against the Union. Their only chance was a quick war but that failed. There were several missed opportunities on the eastern front after the the first and second battle of Bull Run. The losses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg strategically sealed the fate of the Southern States in the long term. When Lincoln won reelection against George McClellan that pretty much guaranteed the outcome.
The south had terrible infrastructure, when they had food and supplies to send to the troops it rarely managed to do so because of chaotic railroads, corrupt officials, and just plan incompetence. The south’s only advantages were in in their battlefield leaders and cavalry early in the war. Even fighting on their own ground was not always an advantage, especially when the long term damage to agriculture and what little industrial production they had.
Possibly you are correct zhukov, however the city was invaded several times and as far as I am aware, the invasions were conducted by line troops rather than full fledged bandits and outlaws. (like Quantril in Missouri and Kansas, he was much worse than a bandit). In early fights the targets were limited pretty much to strategic targets. I think it was Early who gave the orders to wreck Thaddeous Stevens Ironworks and that probably was more revenge and anger than anything.
A large portion of Chambersburg, Pa was burned down in 1864. The city was invaded several times throughout the war. The damage may not have been as significant as Fredericksburg or Atlanta.
Longstreet was right. He was probably the most maligned southern general in Civil War. Longstreet strongly adhered to his theories about defensive warfare. He was reluctant to attack at the Second Battle of Bull Run. He was also highly critical of the failure of the Army of Tennesee to follow up victory after Chickamonga(spelling). In 1864 he was wounded by friendly fire in the Battle of the Wilderness. This was not too far from where Jackson fell over a year earlier, also wounded by friendly fire.
Most of the ire directed at Longstreet came from some of his criticisms of Lee (especially after Lee had died), Gettysburg(which was not Longstreet’s fault, at least not primarily), his decision to become a republican after the war, and others.
The confederacy had other opportunities to make a difference besides Gettysburg. In both of the Battles of Bull Run they sent the majority of the opposing force running back to Washington. If Jackson had managed to pull off his part of Lee’s plans during the Peninsula Campaign then Lee might have achieved his goal of destroying the Union Army of the Potomac. And lets not forget the copy of Special Orders 191 that wound up wrapped around three cigars and then fell into Union hands.
McClellan turned a humiliated army into a first rate fighting force. However he proved unwilling to take any risk with that force to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. His intelligence estimates routinely overestimated Confederate strength. Even when he knew the disposition and plans of Lee’s army he still moved slow and attacked piecemeal at Antietam. If he had sent everything in at once he would have crushed Lee in 1862.
Books 6-9 are fairly long two but I think book 6 is the longest one. With Winter’s Heart the series really perked up a lot for me. It never seemed to slow down after that.
Without a doubt Lee was the best strategist that the Confederacy had. His two largest mistakes were Malvern Hill and Gettysburg. Jackson was probably among the top, if not the best tactical fighter. Jackson’s campaign in the Valley stands out to historians even today. He tied up four federal armies and soundly defeated three of them. Jackson however failed for reasons still unexplained today in the peninsula campaign. Other confederate generals belong on this list, Longstreet, Clebourne, and Stuart. That is probably the best ranking I can come up with.
For the Union Side Grant may not have been a superior tactician or particularly brilliant but he understood what the brilliant McClellan failed to understand. Grant new that time and attrition would defeat the south. Sherman is often reviled as a less than average fighter but his “March to the Sea” did almost as much damage to the Confederacy as the Vicksburg and Gettysburg battles. Buford was a superior cavalry commander and his untimely death due to pneumonia was a serious loss to the Union.
The worst commanders are pretty easy for me though. For the Confederacy Braxton Bragg is probably in last place. For the Union Ambrose Burnside or John Pope. Toss up between those two.
Yeah- the game itself almost has the power of the one ring :P. I get a kick out of people who haven’t read the books and then come play the game. It is just seems like everyone in the game should know who Glorfindel(sic) is.
Another thing that appealed to me was the group of people I play with, very family orientated with no bombs on the Vent server. I haven’t found to many other folks like that elsewhere.
I gave WoW the free trial duration to hook me. They failed.
The only MMOs i have looked at since starting Lotro - Star Wars The Old Republic- That looks friggin awesome, and Star Trek Online which I will wait until they put a free trial out. I keep hearing mixed things about it. Everything else I have seen didn’t seem all that great (Warhammer, Age Conan, and others). I have heard a Harry Potter MMO is in the works and I plan to pass on that one.
Also heard something about a Wheel of Time MMO but those folks have to be dreaming….