The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[ny59giants]

I know John's address and if you pull it up on Google Earth, you can see the shiny yellow Union Pacific caboose next to his driveway. [:D]

[Encircled]

Its Wales, specifically the view just down the summit of Snowdon looking down the valley deeper into Snowdonia

[BillBrown]

I was right, it is on Earth. [:D]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

I know John's address and if you pull it up on Google Earth, you can see the shiny yellow Union Pacific caboose next to his driveway. [:D]

His HOA allows that!!? Don't tell Cap Mandrake!

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: poodlebrain

I'm amazed by the lack of human presence in the photo. Looks like the land would support some sort of agricultural activity. Are there terrain features outside the view that isolate the area?

You need to get out more, the best parts of the world show no sign of humans!

[dave sindel]

I was in Wales this past May, and took a train trip through Snowdonia. Awesome scenery the whole way.

[Bif1961]

Is that where Edward Snowden is from?

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

Is that where Edward Snowden is from?

No, that would be Edward Snowdon - a lowly museum worker who discovered one day that his DNA was part mastodon and he rampaged about the countryside. All the areas he touched were rechristened Snowdonia.

[paullus99]

I really miss Canoe kicking John's ass.....

[Canoerebel]

I hope to continue. A month ago, John said he'd be ready to resume after Labor Day. I haven't heard from him yet, but it's still a bit soon to get antsy. He was out of town for the holiday and probaby is focused on work during this week. So I won't molest his gaming tranquility for another week or so. Perhaps, in the meantime, a turn will pop up.

He posted in a a thread last week about how he had been kicking the snot out of me in this game until recently. He's referring, of course, to Sumatra. He simply has no comprehension how everything (including Sumatra) was part of the bigger picture that led to exactly where he is in the game at this moment.

I hope that failure to perceive continues. I think it will. If he comes back to the game, he's going to come back aggressively. It'll be bloody. I may take it on the chin. But the chief objective remains to attrit the Kaigun, and the northeastern DEI is an excellent place to do that.

[SuluSea]

Looking forward to this game starting up again.... The break does give you time to plan future assaults but
if I'm honest I'd admit to wondering if he has the stomach for the defensive. I say that because I don't recall
John ever being on it for the long haul. (in AE)

[Anachro]

One option I'd advise if Jon drags his feet too long or becomes too busy with other things is to look for someone who is willing to pickup the game. I actually think it makes the game more interesting, mirroring perhaps a real life change in command. Then again, every Japanese commander pretty much stuck to the same plan of waiting for decisive battle.

I'm sure you can find some enthusiastic people willing to pickup. Would probably make sense to ask that they continue the opposing AAR, if possible.

[Canoerebel]

John is stirring from his lethargy. We've exchanged brief "hey, where are you, what are your plans?" emails, but thus far haven't connected to work out any real plan to resume.

This is the email I sent John last night that seems to have gotten the ball rolling: "We're three months into the one-month hiatus, so I thought I'd check in and see if you plan to resume the game.  I hope that you plan to.  But, as I've said before, I'm afraid that your morale took a heavy hit when the Allies flipped Sumatra around and used it to advantage.  Japan is in deep doo-doo, which is right where Japan should be."

This was a pretty obvious mind-games email. It verges on taunting, but I figured that was the one thing that might ignite a fire under John's tail. Ordinarily I try to do everything possible to avoid any communication that would come across as a taunt, but shock therapy seemed necessary in this case.

I should add that the email does reflect my true thoughts. IE, I wasn't exaggerating. John is in a desperate situation. There's much fighting to be done. He'll get his licks in. But he's got a long way to go to untangle a major mess as the game nears the end of 1943.

Let's see if he's willing to resume.

[CaptBeefheart]

Good luck with that. Would be great to see this epic struggle resume.

Cheers,
CC

[jwolf]

I would think (or hope?) John would want to continue, if for no other reason than to get some good solid playtesting of his fancy mod, particularly in the late war stages. Granted the strategic situation isn't what he wants to see as Japan, nevertheless he has a great opportunity to see the effects of his mod on both sides. Maybe you can use that argument on him.

[Canoerebel]

John sent an email that suggested, vaguely and a bit cryptically, that he was prepared to do something (implying, so I thought, that he was ready to resume the game or at least discuss doing so). He promised to call the next day, then....nothing.

So I sent him a brief email last night to nudge him along.

No reply.

I'm going to send him another email tonight. If that doesn't get him moving, I'm going to then give him a deadline of perhaps five days (not to resume the game, but to give me some kind of information as to what the heck he is thinking).

It's pretty frustrating dealing with him. I think he assumes that people can read his mind.

[Canoerebel]

...and then, presto, a turn shows up in the inbox.

I won't run it for awhile since I'm at work, but one of the first things I'll have to check is if the turn is for the right day. There was some confusion at the end, back in early July, as John couldn't get the turn to run on his computer. This resulted in a great deal of angst as he tried working with his computer, re-installing the game, etc. In all the confusion, I hope he didn't lose sight of which turn it was (it matters, because on the very last turn I think something bad happened to Japan - either a bunch of Jills got shot down or some BBs got hit hard enough to require some yard time).

It's been 90+ days since our last turn, so getting caught up is going to take a bit of time.

[dave sindel]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

...and then, presto, a turn shows up in the inbox.

I won't run it for awhile since I'm at work, but one of the first things I'll have to check is if the turn is for the right day. There was some confusion at the end, back in early July, as John couldn't get the turn to run on his computer. This resulted in a great deal of angst as he tried working with his computer, re-installing the game, etc. In all the confusion, I hope he didn't lose sight of which turn it was (it matters, because on the very last turn I think something bad happened to Japan - either a bunch of Jills got shot down or some BBs got hit hard enough to require some yard time).

It's been 90+ days since our last turn, so getting caught up is going to take a bit of time.

Hope you get your "restart" issues resolved quickly. Very happy to see that this game might resume after all ! Good luck.

[Canoerebel]

It looks like the last turn I sent to John was 11/21/43. He ran the turn back in July and I got the combat report: BBs Mutsu and Ise took heavy bomb damage north of the Celebes. A turn or two before, he lost something like 130 Jills from KB. Those two events really rattled him as he was trying to parry the ongoing and massive Allied invasion of New Guinea and the eastern DEI.

For those who wish to do a little reviewing to catch up to where we are, see pages 247 and 248 of this AAR. They include a number of good maps.

Both sides have a lot of powerful units in close proximity, so there is a great potential for clashes going forward.

[Canoerebel]

So, John's had three months to think about things. I doubt he's decided to play conservatively: to pull back and focus on building a new line of defenses in Borneo, Mindanao, etc.

He will attend to his defenses, but his focus will be on seeking opportunities to strike. I have an ongoing invasion to attend to. High priorities are to get supply ashore, replenish carrier sorties, replenish ships, get LBA forward to new bases, and to throw together a quick invasion of Ambon. But amidst all that, the biggest task is to figure out how to let John impale himself on Allied defenses.

...and there's the ever-present risk of Jap subs circling about massed Allied shipping in confined waters.