I like the new name

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

ORIGINAL: FrankHunter
I like the name Road To Versailles too, catchy

I dunno, Frank, "Road to Versailles" presupposes Allied victory.

Unless its German Tanks on the "Road to Versailles"...

or maybe even Bob Hope and Bing Crosby [:D]

[pasternakski]

Well, that's why the French planted trees along all their roads, you know, so that the Germans wouldn't have to march in the hot sun.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Discussing the name of the game?

As a non-native english speaker (yeah one can tell [:D]) I find the name "Guns of August 1914-1918" wrong to the point of being ridicolous. I mean, if we have "guns of august", then we can't have "1914-1918" part can we?

Does that mean the game will cover only five Augusts, of each year, skipping the 11-month periods in between? [:D]

BTW I have Tuchman's book, tried to read it after all the praise it got, but found it very dry so I never went beyond several dozen opening pages: this king said that to that king, then this queen intervened to try to postpone the inevitable, then that king did this etc etc - kinda boring, and I got the impression the author never got the Balkan/Serbia/Sarajevo/A-H part right (though I may be wrong here, not having went beyond the opening pages). And IIRC book deals specifically with the first month of the war, so the title is appropriate (for the book, but not for the game dealing with 4 years of conflict).

And I do agree Trench is also bad name for the game [:D]

O.

[mogami]

Hi I always liked Tuchman. She wrote very entertaining books. I loved "March of Folly"
If your going to name a game after a war I suggest calling it what the people who fought in it called it. "The Great War"

[VictorH]

Try Keegan's book on WWI.

[Jonathan Palfrey]

I have to agree with Oleg that "Guns of August 1914-1918" suggests a certain mental confusion. Either the game is about August, or it's about a four-year war. You can't have it both ways.

"Guns of August" would be acceptable by itself as poetic licence (though in principle it's inaccurate and misleading). I agree that "World War I" is boring and "Trench" is bad marketing. You might almost as well call a game "Diarrhoea".

"The Great War" would be OK, though still a bit boring.

Bear in mind that there's a much older game on the same subject called "Diplomacy", which has been been rather successful over the years. The author achieved a marketing triumph by giving his wargame a non-specific title with no mention of war in it.

[pasternakski]

Even more, I suspect that the game doesn't always end in 1918, making the title factually wrong.

Oh, well. I don't care if they call it "Mama's got a squeezebox, Daddy never sleeps at night," I just want to get it and play it.

[decourcy]

Oleg,

Please try to re-read 'Guns of August'!

I was giving a lecture on literature/problems in the American educational system and i was asked what i felt was the best 20th century work of fiction and i replied "Guns of August".

So i am having an apoplectic attack now! [X(]

michael

[mogami]

Hi, How about "Over the top" I recall reading a book by that name when I was much younger (grade school)

Never mind I see some game called Half life has a WWI mod called over the top.

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: decourcy

Oleg,

Please try to re-read 'Guns of August'!

I was giving a lecture on literature/problems in the American educational system and i was asked what i felt was the best 20th century work of fiction and i replied "Guns of August".

So i am having an apoplectic attack now! [X(]

michael

Oh I will read it for sure, and I do believe it's worth all the praises it got... I just wasn't in a mood at the time... Actually I almost never quit reading the book (any book), just postpone it. And it's easier to postpone reading when you have the book in your own library (as opposed to other books that you borrowed from your buddies etc.)

One, and perhaps the only book I really did quit was Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, back in high school - I really dropped that one down after 40-50 pages resolved never to take it again (boring and badly written IMO) [:D]

BTW, are you sure GoA if "work of fiction"? [;)]

Now back to discussing names - how about: "The Great War: Blood, Mud and Glory"?

Oleg

[Bis]

ORIGINAL: decourcy

Oleg,

Please try to re-read 'Guns of August'!

I was giving a lecture on literature/problems in the American educational system and i was asked what i felt was the best 20th century work of fiction and i replied "Guns of August".

So i am having an apoplectic attack now! [X(]

michael

Please tell me your use of the word "fiction" was a typo. I actually think her work on Stillwell and "A Distant Mirror" were better works.

[Left handed Schlieffen]

Not to mention "The proud tower", covering the crazy pre-Great War years in Europe. But I think "The guns . ." is a very comprehensive and witty book, even my son got gripped by it!

[decourcy]

Hi all,

Oops! meant non fiction!

Yeah, I loved Stilwell; anyone who calls Chiang 'peanut and his merry band of gangsters' gets my vote! I enjoyed a distant mirror,
but, heresy, i did not particularly enjoy 'the proud tower'.

A book that i have to admit i was all excited to read and never finished is 'The Three Musketeers'. [>:]

I did just read 'The Club Dumas' however which was good but not great.

Mike

[mogami]

Hi, "March of Folly" kept me laughing for weeks. I carried "Bible and Sword" around for months. "Don Quixote" was book I could not finish. (I've been reading Gibbons "Decline and Fall" over and over for twenty years. )

[Left handed Schlieffen]

ORIGINAL: Mogami

(I've been reading Gibbons "Decline and Fall" over and over for twenty years. )

I think it will take me 20 years to read it just once! (Means: I like it but it's also physical really impressive)

[geozero]

The term "Guns of August" has been used to describe the overall military and diplomatic conditions that surrounded Europe in 1914. It is a term used in American literature, newspapers of the era, and of course was the title of IMHO a great Avalon Hill game.

If you are not a native English speaking person, then it's translation will seem obscure or inaccurate. It is NOT meant to describe solely the 1914 opening battles or solely battles taking place in August, and those observations are ridiculous.

Then there's the other matter to consider of COPYRIGHTED names for games, etc. And a name that will describe quickly what the game is all about. This is needed so that the mass public which has 0% attention span can quickly determine what the box is selling.

Other English terms for that conflict are:

The Great War,
The War to End All Wars,
Over There,
World War One,
Guns and Butter

Certainly the war saw many firsts in military: use of machine guns, use of poison gas, extensive use of trench warfare, first use of tanks and aircraft, etc. So any ofthese terms or the use of these words could also assist in naming a game.

Personally the name "The Great War" would have been my favorite, but copyright wise I think it was taken.

So unless there's a legal problem with the current name with the new owners of the Avalon Hill title, I think it will adequately describe the game... at least to the English speaking world. [:D]

[Fallschirmjager]

The Guns of August is brilliant
Its mockary of tsarist Russia make for severl moments in which you laugh out loud

[decourcy]

Hi all,

Fallschirm...umm, paratrooper,

have you ever read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's 1914? Classic book.
I love Samsonov sending messages in the clear because 'there is no way anyone would be listening in to ever frequency 24 hours a day!'.
Umm, I do not like WW1 or 2 Germany BUT they knew how to do things in a methodical fashion that left nothing out and nothing to chance.

Mike

[mogami]

Hi, How about "It's a long road"

[Blitzer]

I like it Mogami,

Another possibility:

"A Duckboard Too Far"