From here to...well...it SEEMS like an eternity

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: qgaliana

One of the reasons I love this game is that, if you can resist the 'replay-the-turn' urge, little snafus like this can give you that weird sensation I get from reading history books and saying "wtf were the odds of that happening?" [:D]

Fortunately, only the AI will allow the use of the "replay the turn" button. [;)]

[Cap Mandrake]

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[Cap Mandrake]

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[Cap Mandrake]

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[rtrapasso]

So, Mandrake, have you actually tried a DAB, or are you going to stick to a recommneded drink of "rainwater and pure grain alcohol"? [:'(]

[Cap Mandrake]

*****Kai Island, about 600 km NE of Darwin, March 14, 1942******

Lt. Christopher, USAAF, peered out from a small bunker to the North. What he saw made him begin to question his decision to stay with his damaged C-47. He could see from Lt. Smith's expression, crouching in the bunker to his right, that he had tumbled to the same conclusion. They were the only two Allied personnel left on the island. Perhaps a thousand yards offshore, a dozen ships disgorged Japanese troops and even further offshore at least two enemy cruisers lobbed shells at the small airfield. Lt. Smith's plane had disintigrated on one of the first volleys. The Japanese landing seemed entirely disproportional. After all, some 800 Dutch ground support and engineering troops had been evacuated 2 days earlier and he and Lt. Smith wouldn't even be here had their planes not suffered mechanical problems before their ferry hop to Roxas, in the Philippines. The Allies weren't even that interested in Kai Island. As the Japanese response demonstrated, it wasn't really defensible. It had only been occupied to serve as a ferry hop for C-47's flying from Australia to the PI and thence to China and Burma. He thought about that great watering hole they had frequented in Darwin with the midget and his golf clubs and those crazy DAB's that had ordered. Five or six was it? Who knows? He had lost count.

He was jolted back to the present with the sound of metal grinding on coral. One of the landing barges had grounded right where they had placed mines. Lt. Christopher twisted a small hand detonator and the stern of the barge was lifted out of the water, sending bodies flying in staisfying arcs. But there were dozens of barges. Some grounded on the coral, causing severe abrasions on the soldiers' legs as they debarked. Some soldiers succumbed to the Southern Hemisphere Summer sun. Others were murderously attacked by swarms of sand fleas as they hit the beach, causing them to tear off their uniforms as they convulsed in parosysms of scratching, ripping at their own flesh. Still others struck their heads on low-lying tree branches as they advanced off the beach or were hit by falling cocconuts dislodged by the concussions of the cruisers' guns. Before long, half a thousand wounded or otherwise incapacitiated men covered the beach. But still, they kept coming.

Lt. Smith lept to the top of the trench and began firing a BAR from the hip, shouting, "Come and get us you dirty yellow bastards!" Lt. Christopher yelled back, a broad smile on his face, "Steady there Smithy, no sense making them mad". He lobbed a grenade toward the approaching mass of men.............

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

So, Mandrake, have you actually tried a DAB, or are you going to stick to a recommneded drink of "rainwater and pure grain alcohol"? [:'(]

In my experience rainwater and pure grain alcohol has this siginificant advantage over cocktails of the "Boilermaker" family; the imbiber is less likely to find himself ralphing on the host's front lawn or getting up close and personal with a porcelain fixture 2 hrs later. I went to my sister's birthday party last Friday. Her husband rented a nice motor coach to take us from place to place, a fun idea, but it is just an invitation to drink. At the second place, a sometimes ring of 5 or 6 (including one woman [X(]) were "drinking" Irish Car Bombs. The safest thing to do when you see an Irish Car Bomb is RUN, because there is a 100% guarantee there will be a casualty. In this case it was a 6 ft 3 orthodontist, who, once deprived of his normal vestibular response, required an engine hoist to move. He had a beeper on. I asked him why he was drinking if he was on call. He replied, "Oh, I NEVER get beeped."

"Good thing", I thought.

I think a DAB would work, although Fosters doesn't have the same luxurious head as Guiness. Wierd thing is..it is sort of like the "Irish Mist", which I had never heard of unitl Wikipedia [:)] "One does have to make certain accomodations to the war" (20 WITP bonus points to the first person to identify the quote)[;)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_car_bomb

[Cap Mandrake]

Fortunately, a PT boat is waiting in Roxas, for you knwo who, just in case, but don't say anything.

[rtrapasso]

"One does have to make certain accomodations to the war" (20 WITP bonus points to the first person to identify the quote)

Arghh - this sounds very familiar, and i hear it with a British accent... Monty Python??? [&:]

EDIT: in MASH (the 1970 movie), Hawkeye Pierce said something similar: "We have had to make certain concessions for the war; we ARE three miles from the front line."

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

"One does have to make certain accomodations to the war" (20 WITP bonus points to the first person to identify the quote)

Arghh - this sounds very familiar, and i hear it with a British accent... Monty Python??? [&:]

EDIT: in MASH (the 1970 movie), Hawkeye Pierce said something similar: "We have had to make certain concessions for the war; we ARE three miles from the front line."

20 WITP Bonus points [&o] to the winner. I trust your transcription is more accurate. Mine was recollected.

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

"One does have to make certain accomodations to the war" (20 WITP bonus points to the first person to identify the quote)

Arghh - this sounds very familiar, and i hear it with a British accent... Monty Python??? [&:]

EDIT: in MASH (the 1970 movie), Hawkeye Pierce said something similar: "We have had to make certain concessions for the war; we ARE three miles from the front line."

20 WITP Bonus points [&o] to the winner. I trust your transcription is more accurate. Mine was recollected.

Woo-hoo!!! i plan to use the 20 extra points for a virtual DAB once i get a victory in WITP... i may be waiting a while... [:D]

[DuckofTindalos]

When Robert said "British" and "MASH" I thought of David Ogden Stiers' character in the TV show, Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, of Boston, dontyerknow...

Sounds like something he might have said...

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

When Robert said "British" and "MASH" I thought of David Ogden Stiers' character in the TV show, Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, of Boston, dontyerknow...

Sounds like something he might have said...

[:D] [:D]

i think i may have been crossing characters in my faulty memory... [8|]

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso
Woo-hoo!!! i plan to use the 20 extra points for a virtual DAB once i get a victory in WITP... i may be waiting a while... [:D]

The rules for the recent "Name That Famous Drinking Quote" competition contained an error in the prize section. The figure of "20 WITP Bonus Points" should have been more clearly identified as being based on the Hobbitean base 3 / lunar phase numerology system. This would represent 6 bonus points by the accepted Western system, or, on average, 2 2/3 bonus point under a waning gibous moon (the exact value can only be determined by consulting the "Wall of Numerology", an ancient inscription in the "Cave of Doom" in Northeastern Flores, which, unfortuantely, is under the control of the Empire of Japan at this time. Redemption will not be possible until such time as the Hobbitean Time Guardian can regain access to the cave and, of course, slay the "Beast of Great Indigestion". The management regrets any inconvenience this may have caused.

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso
Woo-hoo!!! i plan to use the 20 extra points for a virtual DAB once i get a victory in WITP... i may be waiting a while... [:D]

The rules for the recent "Name That Famous Drinking Quote" competition contained an error in the prize section. The figure of "20 WITP Bonus Points" should have been more clearly identified as being based on the Hobbitean base 3 / lunar phase numerology system. This would represent 6 bonus points by the accepted Western system, or, on average, 2 2/3 bonus point under a waning gibous moon (the exact value can only be determined by consulting the "Wall of Numerology", an ancient inscription in the "Cave of Doom" in Northeastern Flores, which, unfortuantely, is under the control of the Empire of Japan at this time. Redemption will not be possible until such time as the Hobbitean Time Guardian can regain access to the cave and, of course, slay the "Beast of Great Indigestion". The management regrets any inconvenience this may have caused.

uh... a really long time... [X(] [8|] [:D]

[Cap Mandrake]

******Oakland Army Terminal, Oakland, Calif, March 11, 1942********


Army Lt. Buckley.: (on the phone to a counterpart in New York): Look, damnit, I am not given to obfuscation! Don't send me any more of those God Damned M3, 37mm antitank guns. I've got well over a thousand of the damned things sitting outside because the warehouses are full. I've enough here for 20 divisions! You know, this Arsenal of Democracy thing is all well and good, but if you want me to properly employ them, I shall require about 300,000 more troops. I don't suppose there are any more 75 mm pack howitzers? THOSE I can move. The M3's, its a no go. Can you not send them to the ETO?

Supplier: No go on the ETO, L T. They are like pop guns against the newer German armor. They are getting the 57's.

Lt. Buckley: Oh, great, well that is #$%@%@^% great! Well, I can tell you very succintly. The next shipment, I'm not signing for them. Its like that.

Supplier: Can't do that L T, they are bought and paid for by the US Army, courtesy of the US taxpayer. I have 24 passing through Sacramento right about now.

Lt. Buckley: Damn it all! <slams down phone, turns to his aid> This damnable beuraucracy. If I didn't think it might further the career of that cretin Truman, I might report this to the Senate Committee.

[rtrapasso]

You might talk to that Lt (jg) Kennedy - he has some scheme to lash them to the decks of PT boats!!* [8|] [:'(]



(*true fact, btw, although i think they might have used a different model of 37 mm gun - they were practically unusuable, but it's the thought that counts...) [:D]

[DuckofTindalos]

They used the ones they stripped out of P-39's... As well as Jap 25mm AA, among many others...

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

They used the ones they stripped out of P-39's... As well as Jap 25mm AA, among many others...

pretty much anything they could get their stick-lil' hands on, iirc... [:D]

[rtrapasso]

Actually, turns out it was a related gun that they used:

"Kennedy's PT-109 was also fitted with a 37 mm single shot anti-tank cannon that the crew had commandeered and bolted to the foredeck."

EDIT: i think we're back to Lt. Buckley's surplus M3s... [:D]