Posts made by ZimZaxZeo

Go Italian army!

Mama didn’t raise Anthony to die in the frozen mud shooting at those gentle Russian farm boys.

““And when the filibustering is over, what are the answers?””

Well, TG, I agree talk is cheap. As for action, reckon each of us does what best suits our abilities and opportunities. Lead by example, etc. The guiding answer for me is to ask whether such and such an action (individual, group, national, etc.) provides more healing than hurt, and does it engender additional healing or simply eat away resources that could be better applied elsewhere. Triage, as they call it.

On the original theme of this thread, that a particular religion isnt as bad as its current and historical press might indicate, well I see the yin and yang in each of the “big faiths” – each has provided comfort and inspiration to multitudes, and each has been used to foment hate and destruction upon multitudes. Among both the fundamentalist Christians and the fundamentalist Muslims of today, one thing is held in common: the wish to send us all back to the authoritarian, intolerant, anti-intellect and anti-liberty setup of medieval times – although in great irony, both types also wish to obtain, hold and utilize all the fruits of democracy, tolerance, intellect and liberty (such as modern telecommunications, financial instruments, advanced weapons, etc.) in order to achieve this end.

Taking a long view, the ideology doesn’t matter to a starving kid. The protein does. How much our government or social club or religion should shell out to save these kids from starving is a vital question, as are the related foreign policy issues others have discussed above. Most participants in this forum seem to live within the lands where food is abundant, as are weapons and financial resources. It would be wise for us to use these resources to encourage benign stability and local self-determination and conflict resolution. It’s a case-by-case situation, and you have to have reliable people on the ground. If you find Muslims or animists or Christians or Communists or Hindus are the most trustworthy locals in a given situation, better work with em. I would stipulate that they aren’t being favored because of their faith, but because of their character.

Instinct tells me Stalin would have withdrawn himself at the end, if Moscow was overwhelmed. Then what? Set up command in the Urals, organize semi-autonomous resistance across the fronts, protect the factories beyond the Urals, harrass the German supply lines, etc.

If the Germans had taken Moscow, the Soviets would do everything in their power to make it a worthless prize. Indeed, make it horribly expensive to hold. (Didn’t the Germans pretty much “take” Stalingrad, and then get trapped in the pocket there?)

And Hitler would have found other mistakes to make along the way.

The geographic fact of the enormity of Russia, and its huge, resilient population, makes it relatively simple for an enemy from the west to conquer vast territory – and extremely hard to hold.

Hi there Mr. Ghoul…

Well my T01 combat is on its way to you and to Dicey.

In the meantime, I see where a Drumstix wondered if we would post our progress under the Games Forum, so it could be … considered, criticized, and collectively cretinized by the assembled multitudes.

I’m for it if you are – I could paste in our moves etc. as the results come in.

thanks, herr field-marshal dude!

I’m trying it out this week with a certain Kaiser Ghoulmeister!

Ciao

Right. And as Kurt Vonnegut has pointed out, it is hard to feel urgent concern for the starving masses across the sea when you just had a really nice, filling meal.

You know, if police robots were sent here by superintelligent types from across the Galaxy (see “The Day the Earth Stood Still”) these powerful, mute robots wouldn’t give a sht about anybody’s religions or fanaticisms, etc. They would issue commands to lay down arms, and issue deadlines.
Or else.
That’s it.
We would have to quickly figure out ways to live together.
The freakin robots would not take down names, numbers, or hear stories about who hit who first and whose gd said to do this or not that but only under the following circumstances, etc.

When is this human species gonna grow up awreddy bruddas!?
Since the robots have yet to land, we can only look into the mirror – namely, the faces of our children!
We owe it to these little heroes to stop preaching, teaching, wishing and acting hate. It’s all about getting off our duffs and doing good.
And fast.
And keeping at it.

In the meantime, we inherit from our blessed (and otherwise) ancestors this current mess. What these folks in wartorn lands need to learn is the same thing: live together. To heal. And when they cannot get there on their own, then we do have to march in, if “we” are the organizations (nations, leagues, federations, clubs, armies, tribes) who have the superior wherewithal. We have to, morally – and even for our own selfish good, long-term. We have to hose them down, send them to neutral corners, get em talking again – instead of killing.

But let’s not be simplistic about the choices. There are plenty of reasons smart people, sensitive people, can differ on what to do about Iraq, for example. And how to go about it. Military solutions are a narrow channel approach. And no seasoned military commander would ever advocate a 100-percent military solution to the kinds of problems we are talking about. By definition there are political, economic, and oh all right spiritual components to human strife. We have to play hard but play fair.

Getting back to the robots, they wouldn’t wonder about any of this. Not in the job description.
Their masters might spend a few minutes pondering how human belief structures and habits of thought ever got so funky and twisted and absurd and crusty. But these programmers of the robots would ultimately be concerned only with results. Peace & quiet among the communities of the Galaxy.
Now, there is an opening here for someone to advocate world dictatorship and a single religion or some such nonsense as the only way to keep the robots from vaporizing us – “everybody form a line, repeat after me, etc. and nobody gets hurt.” Just as there is an opening for someone to advocate world democracy and tolerance and celebration of our differences, and nonviolent conflict resolution, and healing.

Hope our kids are ready, got their thang together when the robots show up.

OK

I’ll get it set up tonight, then you can take all tomorrow to hack around… I may or may not get major online access tomorrow.

When you go to
http://dice.aaeuropemc.com/aaeurope/login.html

You can punch “INSTRUCTIONS” which goes: http://dice.aaeuropemc.com/aaeurope/instructions.html

and we can read all about it.
My email is jmammar@aol.com and again the dog tag is JZAM.

I can bid you in at 2 for the Allies, and that should be sufficient to get us a game #.

Ciao

Hmm – I am still weeding my way through the thickets over there. It appears we have to designate the type of game “(GM, ADS, Live, FTF, etc…)”

I suppose GM means GameMaster, but I dunno the rest. I’ll be checking out their FAQ for awhile…

Mr. Ghoul, it’s all new to me – how about we play the game there, under aaemc auspices. I see you log in, then press “Game Starts” and we enter our info. I was wrong about my dog tag over there: it is JZAM. I suppose they assign us a game # and then we are off to Dicey whenever we choose. (They don’t require that we use Mapview, etc. and that’s out for me, since I am more or less mac-bound)

Also by the way, I won’t be doing much if any posting over this weekend, either.

So anyway, do you wish to try jammin a game over on their server?

WAIT a minute, wait a minute…

Are you saying that the Dicey at http://dice.aaeuropemc.com/aaeurope/login.html

won’t work because it lacks artillery?? But the aaeuropemc club is specifically for A&AEurope, right?

Where am I missing the sharp turn here?

Maybe we should log in there, Mr. Ghoul, and check it out with a dry run. I’ve registered with aaemc (as ZimZaZe), have you?

Well, the more the merrier, unless you prefer to do it all for the Commies, Brits and Yanks, Mr. Ghoul. We Thousand-Year-Reich types don’t discriminate – we’re out to crush you all… today Crete, tomorrow, ze Velt!!

Do youse guys think that we could use a regular dice-type accessory (non-A&A customized), or would that be ridiculously clunky?

(If I could figure how to grab & insert those emoticons you’d see plenty of eye-rolling about now…)

Rules sound good to go.

On with the hunt for gaming solutions.

In case we have trouble tracking down a program…

Is there a possible way for one of the esteemed forum moderators to take our moves and run the dice as disinterested third parties?? Has that been done before?

Aloha cystic, yanny, dj – anybody!

Does dicey work for A&AE???

Mr. Ghoul & I are lining up a PBEM game – and he’s not sure where to get a dice function. Your considered advice, please?

Cool, Mr. Ghoul!

So, I saw cystic crypt recommend this program to someone:
http://66.78.26.16/~linksync/login.html - dicey

Do you mean that it is only for A&A and won’t do the job for A&AE?

Detailed move instructions and end-of-turn summaries are fine with me.

So bidding is foregone with A&AE? Meaning the game is so balanced, I suppose. OK – how about I take GER and we’ll be just in (real) time for the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. I could post first moves next Mon or Tues latest, assuming we clear up the preliminaries. Like::: 1.how do we roll dice if dicey won’t do it – and 2. does GER go ahead and place 12 IPC first, and are there any special rule variations you’d prefer.

Also, shall we plan to post our moves one one of the threads under the A&AE topic area?

Hey, thanks for the tip!

Unfortunately the site says it is a WINDOWS 95/98 software.

Same old bad news for gamers stuck in Macland….

Greater than like what?

Man, people don’t want to be MOLDED. People need to be encouraged… to educate themselves, choose how they want to improve self and surroundings. Instead of “molding” we need to organize and inspire to fight the only GOOD wars: against poverty, ignorance, disease, oppression and intolerance. (and no sense of humor)

If some religions, cults, even hobbies, give people inspiration – and advise them not to do violence unto others or nature – great! Grab your own form of mumbo jumbo and celebrate!

Fanaticism is fine for sports, art, music… maybe for love affairs. But not for public policy and international relations. Word = we got to live together.

All in good fun::: yer fellow non-zombie humanoid. Remember, the X-Men had to put their lives on the line against the <<master mold=“”>> for the good of all of us, mutants and nonmutants alike. (Well, maybe you don’t remember – this was way, way back in the late 1960s immediately following the origin of the X-Men.) Anyway, just an aside for any FANS of comix who might be lurking…</master>

While you’re busy downloading, you can also score an A&A CD game via Ebay for under $10, plus maybe $4 shipping.

Sey GeZe, is there any way to get dogs of war that I could play on the mac?

Or is it totally hopeless to play any of these online versions in macland – and should I take my own advice, hit Ebay and score a used Dell for a song?

Hi there – yes, it’s for EUROPE. The only A&A I currently have in board form, and since I live in Macintoshland, I can’t really download or play CD-based stuff. So for now, tis Europe or nothing.

I would be happy playing either Allies or Axis – if you are a more or less experienced player, then make what you consider a groovy bid. This bidding process is still a fog to me.

(I have a similar post currently in the Player Help forum, but I seek just one game right now.)

I picked A&A E for my first A&A game and there is plenty of fun and strategic & tactical challenge! I have not played full A&A nor A&A Pacific, so I cannot compare. However, in my opinion this game stands up very well on its own. We dig the map detailing, the ebb & flow of opportunity and danger between opponents, etc.

I have seen some posts that praise the fluid, sweeping style of play that A&AP affords, with those wide open Pacific spaces. That makes sense, and I see how that would contrast with Europe. However, in A&AE there are various choke points, flanking channels, and timing issues to consider as you direct your energies to bring maximum appropriate force to bear in the right place vs. the right enemy configuration. It is concentrated geographically, but there are tons of options when players are balanced. Good stuff.

Hmm – so you say Iron Blitz is worthless? I thought it was the “new and improved” A&A CD game. I have yet to acquire either, and was thinking from comments elsewhere that IB would be more flexible, etc.

Care to elaborate?