Yeah, I just finished Blueprint for Armageddon a month or two ago. Good stuff.
In Armistice Day news, in occupied Paris in 1940, the Nazi authorities were clamping down on the various rituals and remembrances ordinarily carried out on November 11. Some student protestors, in response, would shout, “Long live…”, then leave a long pause, during which passers-by would note that they were carrying a pair of fishing rods, or ‘deux gaules’.
It’s a pity, that’s one of his more riveting series. The episode of the taking of Baghdad gave me goosebumps.
I tried i; it just wasn’t my bag.
My favorite short; one-shot episode of his. A great intro to his work, and a good choice to determine if his podcasts, style and topics are for you or not:
I am already late in this crazy topic of maniacal minds.
But I am pretty sure the Lusitania predates that one.
Well, so does Frank Baum Gold Standard stuff (now making a comeback with the tin-foil hat crowd, but they want the Gold standard back…weird…) and Lincoln conspiracy theories (we’re talking America here, no Euro theories, Mssr. Fromage). But in the US the Lusitania Conspiracy theory and those other precursors just never reached the popular mythology of the FDR/Pearl Harbor theory. It is the first of the big “Truther” theories.
Oh I just found funny that whenever the US comes saving our European asses, conspiracies needed to be made.
Not just that. But it’s a prime mover in the big modern theories. Loss of American “innocence” and being pulled into the world by Europeans who can’t manage their own affairs/want to despoil the American Constitution and Republic ( I don’t agree, just stating the wacky instinct behind the theories, the emotional impetus, shall we say).
The Big, Modern American Conspiracy Theories:
Pearl Harbor Theory
Yalta Sell Out Theory
JFK Assassination Theory (Go look it up yourself :)).
Moon Landing Theory (Go look it up yourself :)).
911 Theory (Go look it up yourself :)).
I am at #5 in the Lincoln theories (new territory for me!), and I must say those are disappointing. More like fingers pointing randomly around. Not even a single one relies on numerology so far!
Indeed the big, modern ones are almost like a new genre. But anyway, sorry for hijacking the thread and trying to send it back shamelessly to WW1!
They are lame. They really found a new life in the 20th Century after the JFK Conspiracy Theories became a cottage industry.
You can see a lot of Ron Paul-sh stuff in the Frank Baum Gold Standard stuff.
Anyway, enough from me. Back to Grognard Stuff. Unless someone wants to start a Conspiracy theory thread in everything else. :)
Imma drop this here:
4 years ago, the anniversary of the start of WWI, our man triggercut started one helluva thread. Worth your time to read, or re-read.
Now for some reason I’d like there to be a game about trying to draw the US into the war, with different sides taking different actions, playing conspiracies, attacks, propaganda, etc to try and get the US to join.
The US is not played by a player, but is a system with graduated assistance for the side it favors. The game instantly ends if the US joins the war.
So the Germans would have to try and win the war, but their dillema is that US shipping gives extra resources to the British player. But if they attack the shipping, they may reduce British power, at the expense of tipping the US in favor of their side. The Lusitania conspiracy card could be used by the German player to ‘expose’ the conspiracy, knocking the US support track down, or by the British to make it more successful.
Something like Churchill where the war is abstracted tracks, and cards are played on various lines trying to win over, or keep neutral, the US.
Hmm, I didn’t know I wanted this before. Now the ideas are flooding in.
Talk to Mark Herman. He likes to work with partners, and is doing such with his Versailles title.
EDIT: The mechanic in This Guilty Land might work for that, too Craig.
I rather like revisionist history, there is even some limited value to David Irving’s early work.
Looks like we covered the rape of Belgium and the start of the Pacific War so I give you the “Stalin was going to attack Hitler” theory.
There is actually some evidence of this (plans and troop movements all indicated a build up for an offensive) but there is plenty of counter evidence that this plan was in flux and it if was to happen it would have been later in the year at earliest.
Anyway this IS a conspiracy book, but some interesting points along with it.
I think there is some evidence to support that. Lotta schools on what both were thinking. I personally think Stalin had no intention of doing anything before 43, earliest. I am also of the school that Stalin’s request to revisit spheres of influence in Romania in Fall '40 is what pushed Hitler to Barbarossa.
Wargames, though, love to have that “threat” of Stalin attacking if X conditions aren’t met for balance purposes. :)
Yeah its a fascinating subject. I confess the spectacle of two evil beasts of the jungle circling each other before one attacks is compelling. Even if the consequences were horrific.
You guys should settle your debates about the Pacific War over a good PBEM game of War in the Pacific/Admiral’s Edition! If you start today, you can resolve the issue in about the same amount of time it took to fight the actual war, give or take a year or so. :)
That game’s balance leans pro-Japan, to keep things competitive in PBEM. Even with that balance, it’s almost unheard-of for a competent Allied player to lose Hawaii, much less the West Coast, and the Zero always loses its effectiveness once the mid- and late-war American fighters arrive. Yes, Japan can produce some good successors to the Zero, but not in enough quantity to matter. And even if Japan wins a Midway, it just delays the inevitable: as one player said once, in 1943 the USA comes at Japan with a Navy the size of Ohio. In the game, Japan wins by not losing the war quite so early.
Certainly people argue about whether the air-combat model is accurate, but even mods that radically buff the Zero still don’t help it survive the massive onslaught of American production might. And even if the US loses 3 or 4 early-war carriers, there are dozens of new ones ready to take their place, all with superior aircraft.
So guys, have at it, and report back here in five years or so.
I don’t “Grigsby”.
I will play all comers in a Vassal game of Empire of the Sun.
Well Empire of the Sun is just as awesome, and you can finish a game in a few days rather than a few years. :D
And in EoTS, it’s all but unheard-of for the USA to lost any of the West Coast, or Hawaii. And once again, Japan wins by not losing so fast.
So yeah, EoTS, have at it, guys!
And the Zeros are awesome. And irreplaceable…
LoL, yep. That game is a masterpiece. I’ve been meaning to try the latest version of Erasmus. Have you tried it?