The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[palioboy2]

A Japanese or Allied opponent? I think my current game is headed the same way.

[AcePylut]

I'd prefer to play against a Japanese opponent. I've not played Japanese except a few months against AI, and I fear that I would make many many economy/production mistakes early, and the game would be effectively over in '43 due to my inexperience with the "non-military" aspect of the Jap game. I didn't really make it far against the AI, because the AI, is, well, AI.

[Capt. Harlock]

"Stonewall's Foot Calvary". He would have tore up his own tracks if they were getting ready to fall into the hands of the Yankees.

Would have and did. "Stonewall" Jackson was of course heavily involved in the back-and-forth advances and retreats in the Shenandoah, and there is reason to believe that he was the true inventor of the "Sherman necktie" technique of twisting rails so they became unuseable.

[Lovejoy]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

"Stonewall's Foot Calvary". He would have tore up his own tracks if they were getting ready to fall into the hands of the Yankees.

Would have and did. "Stonewall" Jackson was of course heavily involved in the back-and-forth advances and retreats in the Shenandoah, and there is reason to believe that he was the true inventor of the "Sherman necktie" technique of twisting rails so they became unuseable.

There's a story I love from Jackson's Shenandoah Campaign: He'd just smashed a Union Army under Nathaniel Banks as Port Republic, and chased it all the way to the Potomac. Well Banks (a political general who was hardly inspiring) attempted to rally his army. He stopped and shouted at them "Stop men! Don't you love your country?" One of the soldiers halted, looked at him and said "Yes by God! And I'm trying to get back to it just as fast as I can!"

[bobsteele]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I came across this post by John in a thread in the Mod forum: "Michael has a whole bunch of time off coming and I am going to limit myself to a turn a day with Dan so we can get the Mods buffed up and worked on."

I, for one, think that John will try, if in a desultory fashion, to at least make 1/1/45. He has a history of tapping out when faced with serious adversity and the run amok period for Japan is over. I suspect he is only hanging on now because, as noted weeks? months? ago by someone else in your AAR that to not continue to some sort of conclusion in this game, his mod, and an early severely unbalanced version of the mod, would not be so good for his reputation.

In the meantime, I'm going to pick up the Allied side that Joseph just dropped in his game vs. Obvert, beginning February 1944. I'll give the game with John priority, but at one turn per day or less, that won't be an issue.

I hope you will be able to do an AAR on the game you pick up. I think you write an excellent AAR, and your maps are perhaps the best I have seen to illustrate the situation at hand. I realize that an AAR must be time-consuming to write, but I for one, would like an occasional in-depth glance at the logistics and other 'behind the scenes' planning you engage in.

best in this game, and in the one you are picking up

gene

[palioboy2]

This slow down in turns is really messing with my coffee break reading.

[Canoerebel]

John's had a busy weekend of work, social engagements and bumps and bruises after taking a fall from a ladder.

I believe he's also fighting a bad case of battle fatigue. All the signs are there, behind his comments, between the lines, underlying his actions. I would not be surprised if the most recent turn didn't add to the effect. I'm interesting in seeing it.

In a moment of candor months ago - perhaps before Luzon - John mentioned that he knew what he had to do but that he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was referring to committing KB in a desperate, bloody, and perhaps futile effort to stop the Allied onslaught.

I believe he would've been far better off doing so, both as a military strategy and feeling "right" about his handling of the Japanese military. But he talked himself into what I'm calling the Reverse Sir Robin strategy. There seemed to be some merit to it, making it an alluring concept at first. And it might have worked out under some circumstances. But it didn't. And now he's left with a poorer position to show for it and still the grimmest of choices left to him now - commit KB at this bitter end of the game or just see it wither on the fine.

The game is extremely interesting to me at this point, in part because John still has a strong air force and navy. There is always the prospect of him lashing out suddenly and decisively; of him perhaps getting lucky or me getting careless or making a mistake. And a little mistake in these congested waters might turn catastrophic. So the game is very tense from that aspect and very interesting from the aspect of employing end-game strategies and assets against Japan.

But for the past few months, as much as I've enjoyed the challenge of playing John, I've faced key challenges in (1) playing against the clock - trying to complete the endgame within the right time frame; (2) playing against the map - logistics, logistics, logistics!; and (3) playing against myself - trying to avoid making a mistake, getting sloppy, failing to execute plans, or just plain screwing up in some material way. Those aspects of PBEM have been challenging and interesting.

Some players have previously commented that I've played the game rather methodically - meaning, in part, proceeding deliberately but perhaps at the expense of doing the big things that might be exciting - invading the Home Islands! Sending Death Star into the Sea of Japan! Etc.!


From my perspective the game has proceeded at a rather breakneck speed. The attenuated LOC, the logistics challenges, and the punching forward without every my battle fleet going to port, has seemed frantic, from my perspective.

Then I opened the Obvert vs. Sqz/Historiker game file for 3/2/44. It's just amazing at the lack of bloodshed there. So many ships on the map! All those guys seem to have played much more carefully with their assets than John and I have.

Do you all recall my frequent claims throughout the game that I was playing a "front-loaded" strategy - accruing heavy losses early to put myself in a better position later? That the Allies had expended heavily and that a time would come to harvest victory points - delayed gratification that I expected would pay big dividends?

I was always confident that would prove true. But there was always the chance I'd have miscalculated or that I'd screw something up and never quite reach the long-hoped-for points harvesting stage of the game.

But I think things have played out well.

[Canoerebel]

Dang it! There's a word I was looking for that I thought might fit John's current morale perfectly. It's right on the tip of my tongue, but I can't pull it off. I've checked various thesauruses without luck.

The word begins with the letters: ka

It might have a military connotation, though I can't specifically remember. It might be a term with French origins.

What is the word I'm looking for?

[Lovejoy]

kaputt? It's a german word for broken.

[Canoerebel]

No, I think it's a word from desert warfare or jungle warfare, perhaps from WWII or perhaps Vietnam. It's driving me crazy. I can't find it anywhere. It may be a term specific to just one book or author or used just once by a specific unit somewhere like Okinawa or Guadalcanal or Ia Drang Valley.

[Bearcat2]

Knackered?

[Canoerebel]

Nope.

Sorry, I'm gonna drive you guys bonkers too. This isn't it, but I keep thinking: "kafarta" or "kafka" or something of that sort. But it isn't those words (if they are words).

[Kofiman]

I suspect Obvert / Historiker was coloured by the loss of half of KB on December 8th.

I don't know that word but I do know that feeling. I ran into a word for the profession of prospective juror in a retirement memoirs of a WWII era constable, and I can't remember it now.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Dang it! There's a word I was looking for that I thought might fit John's current morale perfectly. It's right on the tip of my tongue, but I can't pull it off. I've checked various thesauruses without luck.

The word begins with the letters: ka

It might have a military connotation, though I can't specifically remember. It might be a term with French origins.

What is the word I'm looking for?

Only thing that comes to mind is "kaka", sometimes spelled "caca". Not what you are looking for but it fits with what I imagine John's morale to be. [;)]

[JeffroK]

kactus??

[nicwb]

Kadavergehorsam — "absolute duty and blind obedience till death."; lit.: "carcass obedience" ?

[CaptBeefheart]

Hors de combat?

Cheers,
CC

[jwolf]

cafard

[Smoky Stoker]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

cafard

= "Too much time in garrison and not enough in the field." That may describe the problem of John's KB.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

cafard

severe depression or apathy —used especially of white people in the tropics

Origin and Etymology of cafard
French, literally, cockroach, from Middle French, cockroach, hypocrite, modification of Arabic kāfir infidel
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: 1915