Again, what is a CL?

Posts made by UN Spacy
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RE: One tough French destroyer
What is a CL, might I ask? Cruiser?
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RE: Missing French Pieces
@Dylan:
In all honesty the French were bled white by the first world war, they took huge losses and the war was mainly fought on their territory. They just lost the will to fight after what happened in WWI.
They’re still French.
OK? Point being?
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RE: One tough French destroyer
I’m not taking up my typical “vive le France” attitude here, but that just proves that dice can really be a mean bastard, or it can be a Godsend. All those people whining about Italy being broken forget one thing–-the dice. There is no right or wrong strategy, and sometimes, a destroyer can make all the difference, tricolor or not. :-D
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RE: Axis or Allies Wins in Those Who Have Played Global…List them here.
@Real:
What did Germany use to bulldoze the Gibraltar Fleet. 2 submarines seems inadequate, be nice if the fleet was a space to the West.
You never know when the dice happens to like you at that particular moment…
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RE: Italy a bad design
I really don’t see why people automatically assume the Italians WILL start off without their western fleet before they start. I’ve simulated, multiple times, the UK attacking it with a fighter, tac. bomber, cruiser, and destroyer. Sometimes the UK wins but at great cost; sometimes it destroys the Italian ships without so much as a scratch. Other times the Italians would whoop the Brits back to England; other times they would be completely obliterated.
It really depends on the dice. The only way the UK increases its chance of winning is if it brings the carrier into the fray to soak up damage, in which case the planes would have nowhere to land if the carrier gets damaged. Honestly, I discourage a UK attack on the Italian fleet on UK1. Bring up the Gibraltar fleet with the French fleet, and get the UK fighter to land on the carrier. The Italians will think twice before attacking this combined Allied flotilla.
What about the Germans? Well, it all depends on whether they want to use the Luftwaffe to immediately try to take out the Allied fleet in the Med, or transfer the planes east for an imminent invasion of the USSR. It also depends on how much of the Luftwaffe survives the attack on France and the British navy.
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RE: Missing French Pieces
Glad to hear we are on the same page.
Did individual Frenchmen, and units, perform heroics in WWII? Undoubtedly! Bir Hakeim is a shining example of this.
Did the French army (as a whole) perform miserably? Also undoubtedly!
They did perform miserably, not because of individual courage, but because of their commanders, withering old men whose minds were still in 1918. If we had more men like de Gaulle, Leclerc, and so on, I doubt we would have fallen in merely six weeks.
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RE: Missing French Pieces
First off, my deepest thanks to your grandfather, and to yourself if you have inherited his fighting qualities and outlook on life. The sad fact is that the French, as a whole, fought poorly. So did the Italians, for that matter. Granted, individual units performed heroically, but by and large the greater mass of both countries was absolutely ineffective.
It was Alphonse Juin, commander of the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy, that devised the plan to break the Gustav Line and have the Allies charge into Rome. It was the FEC who compromised the entire German defense by flanking them in the mountains. I’d say that’s a pretty big achievement by itself.
At Bir Hakeim, the Free French brigade there stalled the Afrika Korps for 16 days, as Rommel could not risk simply bypassing the fort. Cut off, with virtually no support from the British, they suffered minor casualties while inflicting twice as much casualties on the Afrika Korps. They only evacuated when they ran out of ammunition. The French stand at Bir Hakeim has often been cited as one of the major factors in helping the British 8th Army gain precious time to re-organize and halt the Axis advance completely at the First Battle of El Alamein.
I wouldn’t exactly call those minor successes. Also, the Italians fighting poorly was a result of British propaganda. Yes, their equipment was old and their commanders inept, but the Italians knew how to fight when cornered, and would be especially vicious in Sicily.
Read “France under the Germans” by Phillipe Burrin. Excellent story of how deep collaboration was between individual French men and women and the occupying Germans.
Read “To Lose a Battle” By Alistaire Horn. Excellent read on how and why France (and the BEF) lost the Battle of France.Read the first, read the first half of the first one, need to go to the library to check it out again :|
Don’t get me wrong, I love France and the French influence on culture. I do, however, call a spade a spade when necessary. Napoleon was a great leader, and had incredibly brave French soldiers under him. WWI also had a very tough French defense against the Germans. However, in WWII the French, through a combination of factors, were whipped like schoolboys on and off the battlefield.
The French would be the last people to deny that the Germans gave them a terrible beating. But we were outnumbered and outgunned. Our tactics were woefully outdated, and poured our military budget into the Maginot Line. But they still resisted bitterly, especially the French rearguard at Dunkirk.
The French resistance is grossly exaggerated as well.
Only around 10% took part in actual resistance. The rest of the population were either indifferent, sympathetic to the Resistance (i.e. turning a blind eye, reading a Resistance newspaper). However, Patton cabled General Koenig, the French commander of the FFI (French Forces of the Interior), that the spectacular advance of his army across France would have been impossible without the fighting aid of the FFI. During D-Day they kept entire German divisions tied down, one of them famously being the 2nd SS “Das Reich” Panzer Division. They have not been exaggerated in our history books, but they certainly were a valuable asset to the Allies.
Also unexplored is the fact that the Spanish Civil War had just ended, and many refugees/fighters from that war, heavily leftist, fought against the invading Germans as well in France. The Polish and Spanish figure prominently among these. In fact, many Maquis bands in Southwest France were composed entirely of Spanish veterans of the Civil War.
Oh believe me, it’s quite explored. There is a monument in Bordeaux to the Spanish members of the Resistance.
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RE: Missing French Pieces
Yeah, don’t insult the French any further, or he’ll copy and paste pages of the manual given to American troops in France in 1946 who were complaining about the French
112 Gripes About the French. I actually got a copy of that from a friend’s grandfather, who was American. :-D
And hey, the people who wrote that book are much more able to defuse stereotypes about the French than I am, so that’s why I instead cite it instead of ranting myself.
I have a question: why would members of the resistance be labled “traitors”? They’re not going against their country.
They were labeled traitors in Vichy France and in the Occupied Zone (though Vichy held legal authority in the Occupied Zone too) by Vichy and German propaganda. They were branded as terrorists and dangerous to the “peace” of France. Some people didn’t think them terrorists, but didn’t approve of their actions: countless people were executed and several towns razed to the ground in reaction to Resistance actions.
Now, by 1943, after Vichy was occupied, there was a lot more support for the Resistance.
Free French soldiers were branded as rebels and traitors as well to the “rogue” de Gaulle. They joined up knowing perfectly well that their country’s government would want their head.
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RE: Missing French Pieces
@UN:
Careful! You might insult the French, and then they would be angry enough to surrender en masse…
Oh, here we go…
“Le honneur” again…
Dude, no offense, but the French have to take it like men that they were not exactly shining examples of bravery in WWII. Whether political/cultural/societal whatever, they flat out failed on a variety of levels.
Such epic failness has led to jabs, comments, and winks. Just accept it and move on.
Because that whole French Resistance thing never exited, amirite? I suppose all that courage to join up knowing full well you would be branded as a rebel and traitor, oh no, not really a “shining example”. Oh yes, and the Free French fighting outside France were all just cowards at Bir Hakeim and Monte Cassino, I suppose? I guess my grandfather was just a wuss, huh?
You know, I really wasn’t going to say anything until you provoked it. Your ignorance is overwhelmingly pitiful.
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RE: Missing French Pieces
Careful! You might insult the French, and then they would be angry enough to surrender en masse…
Oh, here we go…
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RE: Is that French aircraft carrier ever going to actually be built?
He’s just a little miffed that France sucked wind in WWII.
He’ll get over it.
Whatever floats your boat buddy. :roll:
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RE: Italy a bad design
@Blitz:
I think Italy in this global game is designed terribly. I started my first global game today and UK took out the Italian navy before Italy even took a turn. With no way of getting units to africa the allies have no contest and Italy making around 10-12 a turn is not enough to rebuild a fleet. Did Larry intend for Italy to not start the game with a fleet? They are made useless UK round 1.
When I started my game, the UK tried to do the exact same thing and paid dearly for it. It all depends on the dice; attacking the Italian Navy (specifically the battleship and cruiser) is risky and can mortally wound British efforts in the Med and Africa. However, if it works, then the Italian Navy will become one with the ocean floor.
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RE: Global Team game when it comes out!
Eh, sure.
Guess I better change mine then, UN Spacy won’t do.
Red 7 (me) has checked in
Red 1944 has checked in
Proud American has NOT checked in
i rock has NOT checked in
maverick_76 has NOT checked in
Funcioneta has NOT checked in
Gamerman01 has NOT checked in
mohare6 has NOT checked in
Clyde85 has NOT checked inAlso, Red 5 was standing by, but a TIE fighter got him. RIP Red 5 :(
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RE: Please post when (and only when) you finally get your AAE40 home.
August 25, 2552
Got it from Coolstuff Inc. via UPS -
RE: Global Team game when it comes out!
@UN:
@Proud:
You dont have to speak like UN Spacy. Anyone who preordered but has not recived please state. IF you have your game please state. If you do not have your game at all please state. I will kepp track.
For now we have
Confirmed:
Un Spacy
Proud American
Coming:
CalvinHobbesLiker
Not ORdered:
??: Everyone else.You don’t, but you will still be humiliated to no end. Somewhere, in some other dimension, a Frenchman is laughing his buttocks off because of the failure to properly identify one’s self upon receiving a copy of Europe 1940.
Red 10 standing by.
Fixed.
Why am I red 10?
You don’t have to. Would you perhaps like to be Red 7?
Don’t blame me, the Rebel Alliance does the code names. :|
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How do you explain the rules of A&A to newbies?
So, how’s your process of teaching the rules of Axis and Allies to newbies? Let’s assume the rules being taught is from Anniversary onward (Spring '42, 1940, etc.)
I ask this because…well, I don’t know of a good method of teaching it. Do I just dive right into the first turn and explain the concepts along the way? Do I make everyone’s eyes glaze over by going over every rule before the game starts? In what order should what rules be taught? What are the most important to hammer into their heads?
In order for me to answer that, I need to get answers from you guys, fellow A&A players.
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RE: Is that French aircraft carrier ever going to actually be built?
I don’t know, did you have to make this useless thread?