Thank you. I'll have to experiment with it a bit, as I'm zoomed in at 125% at the moment.

Quote from: Exploderwizard on Today at 12:30:40 PMAD&D reach is really only used in charging situations, otherwise it isn't much of a factor. Speed factors are rather funny because they completely ignore strength considerations. GURPS does that fairly well. A reach weapon, such as a long spear or polearm loses a lot of effectiveness when not used in formation. Against a single weapon of that type, a swordsman can deflect and slip past, and unless the reach weapon user can retreat quickly, that swordsman will be inside the weapon's effectiveness forcing the pole weapon wielder to drop it and draw a shorter weapon.

Yeah, the effectiveness of a spearwall and how a ling of points can keep the enemy away. I can't remember if it's the case in AD&D, but I know in 3e there were rules for polearms where if the enemy was adjacent, the weapon can't be used since it's too long. Like you said, once you're past the point of the polearm, the weapon is useless. Kinda makes me laugh whenever you see guards in medieval fantasy armed with spears where there are only one or two other guards to support them.

Another rule with polearms, especially spears, that I cant remember where it comes from is they attack first. I know in 3e with 10ft reach, you'd get to "attack first" against a closing enemy as you got an attack of opportunity. But I could've sworn it was in 2e that long polearms get an attack against closing enemies as well, but I might be confusing D&D with Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

What I remember about Tolkien is that his LOTR was meant to criticize the industrialized world, including what Tolkien experienced during WWI.

Meanwhile, I remember the Blackmoor documentary, and I think RPGing started with wargaming: they were playing tabletop Napoleonic games with movements and actions quantified using multiple factors and dice for randomizing. One of the sources was a nineteenth-century guide to wargames which they found in the uni library.

From there, some wrote a guide to medieval wargaming, and from there they started looking at the roles certain personalities played in battle, and that led to a focus on roleplaying. Maybe it was because of Tolkien that they started including fantasy elements.

Communism in China led to millions of dead. In the late 1980s, Deng adjusted policies to allow foreign partners to come in, but with the Party still dominating. The result was that in two decades, they were able to lift 800 million of their people out of poverty with an ave. economic growth rate of 7 pct per annum. Some say that what they did is a variant of the East Asian model, which Japan used after WW2.

I think several months ago some Harvard professors conducted face-to-face surveys in China, with full assurance of anonymity and decreases in extraneous factors, etc. They found out that most Chinese aren't Communists but vote for the Party because the latter has been promoting the right economic policies, which in turn benefits them. In short, all the while for them it was all about doing business, but that shouldn't be surprising because early on Deng himself called for more prosperity.

What about Vietnam? It was part of containment policies promoted by the U.S., following what Kennan said, throughout the Cold War. The problem is that after the Cold War the U.S. switched to encirclement, and needed to protect the U.S. dollar by keeping other countries weak and thus dependent on the U.S. (That's what those 700+ military installations are for.) Kennan warned the government that if they kept pursuing that then red lines would be crossed and would lead to war. That's what happened in Ukraine, and the U.S. is pushing the same in Asia by using the Philippines, Japan, and even Australia to counter China.

Vietnam is caught in the middle but has been trying to play both sides. It's bullied by China but works with China on various projects, like oil exploration. It has Russia as a military ally but the U.S. has been trying to sell armaments to it. It's ruled by a Communist Party but the U.S. has an approval rating of almost 80 pct in the country. Here's the punch line: it has the most installations in the West Philippine Sea, which is claimed by the Philippines as part of its EEZ, and the Philippines is an ally of the U.S. Go figure.

Meanwhile, that's the same Philippines that's been acting as a martyr for the U.S. for many decades. The U.S. has very high approval ratings in the Philippines, with various U.S. Presidents of either party also receiving similar, and with ratings that are in several cases higher in the Philippines than in the U.S. itself. And yet the same Philippines has been abused by the U.S. for many decades, with the Bell Trade Act, support for the Marcos dictatorship to maintain bases, and then pro-U.S. politicians who followed for the same reason.

By following U.S.-style neoliberalism and liberal democracy, the Philippines de-industrialized across decades (like Ukraine), and ended up as one of the poorest in the region. Even Vietnam, a Communist country, is doing better than it on multiple factors.

It gets even weirder: recently, the U.S. told China that it will not recognize Taiwanese independence because it does not want to anger its trading partner. But it will continue arming Taiwan anyway. And remember China's claim that it owns most of the West Philippine Sea? The claim originates from Taiwan, which still maintains it. That means U.S. ally Taiwan is going against U.S. ally the Philippines.

Maybe that's the other side of the madness depicted in RGPnet and others, but I don't think even they are aware of the points above.

Erased as totally unnecessary and because this site does not have an actual delete (that I know of at least).

Quote from: SHARK on Today at 05:01:20 PMCan you *IMAGINE* if the Empire of Japan had conquered India?

The British got a sad wake-up call when Japanese carrier stroke aircraft attacked and fucking sank the Renown and Prince of Wales from 300 miles away at sea. The poor, primitive British. Strangely, of course, because they also contributed to developing carrier airpower--like with their use of carrier airpower against both the Germans in the Atlantic, and the Italians in the Mediterranean. Somehow, though, in the Indian Ocean and Pacific, the British Navy never got the memo, and were stuck in World War I naval thinking.

The Imperial Japanese Navy actually raided the island of Ceylon and India, over there in the Indian ocean. While initially a raid--it definitely announced Japan's arrival, and demonstrated that it was the Japanese Empire that was the master of the seas. That was definitely clearing the deck for Japanese Marines to make landings against India. Meanwhile, the Japanese Army marched through Burma and into India!

While most of India remained loyal, there were elements within Indian society that viewed the Japanese Empire as liberators. The Japanese were certainly capable of taking out India. The British had their hands full scraping up equipment and supplies to support more troops to defend India. India of course had plenty of manpower--but an enormous supply of uniforms, guns, ammunition, and other equipment was needed to turn all that raw potential into actual army units that could resist the Japanese Army.

Britain was pathetically unprepared everywhere in Asia though. Malaya, Singapore, India, Burma. They were very weak, and ripe for being ruthlessly conquered by Japan. Just like how Japan fucking hammered America. America was in pathetic condition for war too. Gaming wise, of course, that is what makes these early years so interesting and dramatic--the Axis had a window of opportunity, with time ticking down. They had the troops, the power, and the momentum, but that window was rapidly closing against them. Could they conquer and win before the avalanche rose up against them?

It is insane when you really get into the economics and logistics of it all. Japan was down to like, 18 months of oil. Germany likewise was on increasingly shrinking oil rations as they invaded Russia. Time was ticking!!!!!

It is interesting though, how, in contrast to the glorious dreams of the Austrian Painter and the Japanese High Command--critical supplies like Oil have far-reaching effects on everything throughout the military, stretching into air sorties for aircraft, pilot training programs--Japan had pitiful Fighter-Pilot training hours, compared to America, which placed hundreds of hours of training before a pilot was ever sent to a front-line squadron. America also rotated actual combat aces back to the states to serve as training instructors for 6 month rotations. Germany nor japan could ever really afford to do that. Looking over so many economic factors, yeah, Germany and Japan--and yeah, Italy too!--were in many ways beginning the war on a shoestring. In every case, Germany, Italy, and Japan, their economies were tiny compared to the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States.

The campaigns in Indonesia and India and Burma are very interesting. Certainly, as you develop your Japanese forces, the terrain and climate are absolutely brutal factors that influence the war, and the various battlefields. I think that there are some great opportunities within the Pacific theater for crafting and developing terrain pieces. Imagine the rivers, the elephant grass, lots of palm trees, bamboo groves, marshes and jungle plants! MOUNTAINS were massively difficult, as well. Just moving troops from Point A to Point B was a major process and adventure! It seems like nothing in the Asian and Pacific theaters was ever simple, quick, and easy. Gorges, mountains, flooding, diseases like Malaria, snakes, elephants, monsoon rains, all of these things could influence even a small military force just trying to march somewhere. *Laughing*

I'm hoping that I can do the camouflage paint scheme justice! The Japanese were also very good at using palm leaves and grass matting as part of their uniform camouflage.

I'm making some fresh coffee!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

That's one of the parts of WWII history that always fascinated me since I was a kid. There are so many single points you can look at and realize how close the Axis was to victory and the Allies to defeat. As insane as Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union was, they very well could have done it had a few small differences occurred. Or perhaps what if Operation Sealion happened instead of Barbarossa? Would Germany remove Britain as an enemy, or would it have motivated the Soviets to move in?

As for Japan vs. The United States, I remember wondering why Japan would attack the U.S. as a kid not understanding that the Japanese had their own internal struggles. And then again, what if that gambit worked? It's nuts to think about. I mean seriously, you could write a 10 volume series on WWII and probably still have to leave out parts. Each nations' internal struggles, external struggles, critical points, failures, accidental successes. View points from High Command down to the lowest enlisted all with their own story to tell.

Then when you consider just how much the war itself influenced in the last 87 years. I mean it practically shaped our modern conflicts, relations, culture, politics, etc. It makes me wonder how similar we are to post-Punic Wars Rome, or Europe after Napoleon's Wars.

Quote from: orbitalair on Today at 12:50:07 PMSquad Leader was the best.  And Advanced Squad Leader even more so.  I have all of them.
MBT and IDF from avalon hill were, to me, the best versions of Jim Days designs.

Bolt Action, being 'skirmishy' never appealed to me.

If you like SL/ASL, you will like 'Armored Fist'(ww2) and 'Modern War' by Walter Moore Games.(on wargamevault)
They are minis rulesets that cover a lot of detail, but is still quick and manageable.  and cheap.

Modern War is going to need more polish to add in all the drones and stuff.

Have you ever played Avalon Hill's  "Anzio"? I've played it a few times, and I really enjoy it. I like how you can play out alternative scenarios to see what a landing would've been like at another location. The step reduction system is intimidating on the onset, but it's really clever when you start playing with it. I'll have to check out "Modern War" that sounds like a really interesting wargame.

Quote from: Domina on Today at 06:04:27 PMSo the mods don't delete spam here?

I already reported it as such, but I believe there's only Pundit and one admin who aren't here constantly, give it time.

Quote from: Domina on Today at 06:02:44 PMIs there some reason this had to be a video rather than a few paragraphs of text?

The video makes him money and a few paragraphs of text don't.

Quote from: Insane Nerd Ramblings on Today at 07:19:22 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on Today at 03:11:48 PMActually, I think Tolkien's influence has trapped the fantasy genre in an uncreative rut where 99% of it is just Tolkien fanfiction with the serial numbers filled off. Dwarves, orcs, and elves inspired by Tolkien are everywhere in fantasy. Dark lords and heroic quests to save the world are a dime a dozen. A pseudo-medieval aesthetic inspired by Tolkien is the default.

As an old Studio C skit hilariously illustrated, the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter are the same story repackaged, despite having completely different aesthetics.

Except that Frodo didn't do battle with Sauron for The Ring. Tolkien literally inverted the trope of the 'hero fighting the evil overlord'. Aragorn's rise to the position of King of the Reunited Realms of Númenor in Exile was incidental, in the grand scheme of things, to the fall of Sauron. The destruction of The Ring was absolutely divine providence instead. Frodo failed at the end, as he was always going to fail because that was the point. It was the pity that both Bilbo and Frodo had shown Gollum that enabled that last bit to happen, chiefly the curse Frodo laid upon him on the slopes of Orodruin.

I never said Tolkien used the Hero's Journey structure invented by Campbell. I said George Lucas and J.K. Rowling copied Tolkien.


Also, Tolkien didn't invert the trope because it wasn't even invented yet. The idea of evil overlords comes from Tokien! (Yes, Christianity has Satan, but Satan whispers in the hearts of all mortals, he's not ruling the earth from a haunted castle that a group of teenage boys try to raid in an mmo expansion.)