Cranky

Hello All - I've just been doing a bit of work on a Scenario for CMAK set in the Western Desert in April 1941, and wanted a bit of advice about representing the terrain as realistically as possible. I've done a fair bit of preliminary research, but thought I'd see what other people think. Note please that I'm NOT asking about the topography of the Great Sand Sea, but more about the area around Msus or Bir Hakeim. Specifically: ELEVATION : how to best represent dunes - how high, how much space between their peaks? How flat is this part of the desert? SOFT SAND : would there be areas best represented by 'Soft Ground ' tiles? Thanks in advance to anyone who can help (been there?) or point to useful links.... Cheers.

This is what works for me (Windows XP, I doubt that it's changed?) : Ctrl-PrtScr, then open Microsoft Photo Editor, open the EDIT tab, and select 'Paste as New Image' your screenshot will be displayed -you can then edit it - resize it, for example - and then SAVE AS.

Thanks Fenris - I'm definitely looking for Retirees

"Irving is not to be trusted. He makes things up. That he may believe his own inventions does not exonerate him." Perhaps. I can recall when Irving was considered to be quite a brilliant historian by such figures of the Establishment as Trevor-Roper. At one time he had a reputation for unparalleled thoroughness in his research. His book 'The War Between The Generals' features many excerpts from the diary of Everett Hughes, whose terrible handwriting had defeated historians up to then. Irving found someone who could read it and transcribe, revealing some very interesting observations from Hughes, who was in the inner circles of Patton's entourage. Now, I am well aware of the Deborah Lipstadt trial and the verdict. I am also aware that Mr Irving has several times been refused a visa for Australia. I am further aware that 'Holocaust Denial' is in fact a crime in many countries, and really for that reason is a matter best not discussed As far as 'making things up' , did you see that Stephen Ambrose (of 'Band of Brothers' fame) lied about the degree of involvement of Eisenhower in Ambrose's books on the subject? Shocking Cass Timberlake, on the other hand, I know to be an honest woman, though perhaps she is engaging in some self-deception when it comes to her feelings for The Handsome Stranger... Cheers, Matt

Oh, and two more things: R.Pearsall also a great book called 'Night's Black Angels: The Forms and Faces of Victorian Cruelty'. The expected spanking and birching stuff is all there, to be sure, but there are also several great chapters on what were known as the 'Cruel Trades' - assorted occupations that would mess you up quickly or slowly but always definitively... Not quite as funny as Baldrick's TV series....actually pretty ****ing grim. AND: Charles Booth's landmark Victorian social history project "Life and Labour of the People in London" is available online here in various formats: http://www.archive.org/details/lifelabourofpeop07bootiala Make sure you find out what a 'Bird-Duffer' does Cheers, Matt

And DT: You find that both you and Mr Emrys are currently interested in the same book. You offer a link (and fascinating it was) to a book about Gladstone and his paramour. I just happen to have just started reading Edelman's 'Disraeli in Love'. Then I have a look at the first page of your LibraryThing: Right there is Wendy Northcutt's 'The Darwin Awards', which I've just brought home, together with its sequel, after I rescued them from somebody's rubbish bin... Poor old Jung puzzled over this kind of non-coincidence for years. I just accept that things work that way A post-Jungian stance, if you like Probably has something to do with that Quantum stuff, I daresay.... Cheers, MK

"Turned out to be surprisingly good. He is clearly a Churchill partisan, but is not at all shy about calling a spade a spade when he comes across one of Churchill's less admirable traits—which happens fairly often." David Irving's "Churchill's War" was a great read for that; his picture of the compulsively talkative, often inebriated Churchill summoning people to all-night conferences in the government bunker while dressed in a kind of infant's jump-suit has stayed with me. Ditto the depiction of Winnie receiving the Ultra intel each day of the Blitz - knowing when & where the Luftwaffe were going to bomb, scooting out of town for the night, to return next day to be seen touring the fresh rubble and commiserating with Londoners whilst making brave speeches. Anyway, we could talk about books all day, no? As that old pinball machine (was it '8-Ball' ?) used to say: "Stop Talkin' , And Start Chalkin' "

Thanks, Michael- I'm always on the lookout for interesting new books. I'll follow up both the 'Swansdowne Seat' and Manchester's Churchill bio. On the subject of Victorian sexual mores, I'm sure you've already read 'The Worm In The Bud' by Ronald Pearsall ? And probably also 'The Dark Angel' by Frank Harrison? May I recommend the works of Edward Sellon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Sellon And finally, I've got to mention Margarete Von Falkensee, who pursues the pornographic novel as brilliant political satire in 'Blue Angel Nights', which satirizes German society of the late 1920's quite brilliantly. Her other books are a little less sharp, but still very readable. Cheers, Matt

DieselTaylor, would it possible for you to sponsor me at WeBob? You're quite right in saying that I will find interested players there...I've just been checking it out. Email me please if you need to. Cheers, Matt

"As for using the AI for the defence that falls over doesn't it in terms of how it can be played and saved?" I figure like this: Player A moves his forces. SAVES. Sends SAVEGAME to Player B, who moves his forces, SAVES, and send SAVEGAME to Player C, who determines fire support outcomes, and presses GO. The AI then makes it's move, and Player C sends the next turn to Player A. Am i missing something? "Two players as the attackers. In fact if they plan at least two minute turns then only one player needs to do moves each turn." The kind of battle that it is, each player will want to control their own troops all the time, and make their own decisions. Thanks for the tips about PBEMHelper and clubs - that's very useful. I should point out too, that this battle is for CMBB - I posted in both forums As far as depending on a single person goes, I find myself suddenly retired, with plenty of time on my hands I can only spend so much time each day writing smut for lad's mags cheers, Matt

"Georgette Heyer, a Georgian age specialist" Absolutely, DT - Heyer was one of the great bodice-ripping authors of all time. In a slightly different vein (Victorian London) I highly recommend 'Walter: A Secret Life', being the memoirs of a gent about town - very honest and sometimes quite poignant. And a fair bit of detailed rooting as well... cheers, Matt

"Cranky you are a natural. [i will take a guess you will take that as a compliment] I had no idea that you read that sort of novel.!" Read? Hah! Check out Picture Magazine, August 2009: section 'My Best Threesome' - classic Cranky story called 'Hot Nazi Twins'. "Ve must both get on our knees together, Darling", Ursula cooed. "Ve must move vis military precision, Liebchen", Jutte added. "You see, ve are conjoined at der vaist...." "Ja ja, conjoined...after all, ve do not look Siamese, do ve Darling?" laughed Ursula, shaking her long blonde hair down over her ample Aryan boobies.

"One thing you should know from the outset: Cass is female" Bro, good thing you mentioned that, eh? I was just about to get to work on a novel about Dr Timberlake's younger days, called "The Boy Hunter". If you have further details/backround I need to know, send me an email... Oh and one other thing: Normally when I write on contract - either as 'Stephen King', 'Steven J. Gould', 'Stephen Hawkins' or 'Madonna Stevens Ciccone' - I receive between $3 and $7 a word, as well as a substantial per diem. In this case I'm willing to waive my fee, and work pro boner as it were, on the condition that you supply me with some kind of North Woods Porn unobtainable in the normal market - I'm thinking of a second-tier adult actress (like Michelle Barrett, perhaps) freely copulating with a grizzly bear or giant sea-otter... cheers, Matt

E.G: "Ooh, Doctor Timberlake" gasped the young widow, her flimsy raccoon-skin chemise falling open to reveal the glorious globes of her mammalian heritage. Cass felt himself drawn to her across the stamped-earth floor of the tiny cabin, his man-truncheon already swollen with unprofessional desire. [Or is that too racy for the younger set that may have come here to discuss model aircraft and how cool the Germans were?.....only the Moderators know for sure]

As long as it doesn't have to be TOO clean, I'm in.... Innuendo & flowery language can go a long way to hide what is essentially a depiction of **** her tits. I take it Mr Emrys that actual factual knowledge of (a) medicine or ( the North Woods would be necessary? I have in fact watched 'Due South', and consider myself an expert on the Mounties accordingly...is that close enough? Cheers, Matt

Thinking further about Kingfish's suggestion above to 'Cut out the Middleman' I realized that Player D (the defender) can be played by the AI. The defender's role in this battle is to staunchly resist the landing - amid a situation of intense bombardment from sea and air which renders their communications useless and their responses uncoordinated. I figure the AI can handle this: in fact, that's what it's good at Judicious placing of victory flags will help. The most important features of this particular multi-player battle - competition and/or cooperation between the two attacking commanders, and the need to obtain artillery support from higher command - are catered to with only 3 players. cheers, Matt

Also, I must say that I am not altogether comfortable to be in any way justifying Western Australia's existence. A great deal of the state looks like Mars, and people are few and far between, many living underground like their insect equivalents. The great advantage an Easterner like me holds when visiting this province on the edge of the world is that the local females can sense that you carry fresh DNA, and are accordingly receptive, typically lying on their backs with their legs in the air to indicate friendliness. cheers, Matt

"as an American they are not taught geography..." There is truth in that, and I do appreciate your support, Dieseltaylor, but in all fairness the mistake was mine. Calling somebody a 'Sandgroper' when they are not could get you glassed in certain circles, or pre-emptively nuked in others... I'm assuming that for Mr Emrys to understand my jibe-in-error, he would have Wiki'd 'Sandgroper' and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandgroper_%28insect%29 In which the term 'Degenerate Mole Cricket' is used. From my reading of Classics Illustrated version of 'Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox', I understand that in the Great North Woods such a slur would lead to a duel with chainsaws, followed by a hearty meal of flapjacks with moose-butter for the survivor. cheers, Matt

"Oh but I was thinking of the whole country" Indeed Sir, and your point is well taken - but I would suggest that the country as a whole has markedly improved in the last two decades - not only have the wild animals been successfully eradicated from the major hamlets, but you can pretty much get a decent cup of coffee anywhere - conditions that I'm sad to say cannot be taken for granted in the U.S.A. As far as Lycanthropy goes: I don't know if you are rigorous in keeping up to date with advances in the biological sciences (I myself take several academic journals home from the barber's upon every visit) but recent research has fairly conclusively disproved any congruence between hyper-hirsuiteness and mental instability. In plain english, werewolves may be BAD, but they are not MAD. cheers, Matt

"My understanding is that the whole place is a little...odd. Or maybe not always so little." Well, I think so - but I'm a Sydneysider, which is a bit like being a New Yorker -to us the whole rest of the country is backward, and the home of sister-chasing 2-headed inbreds. Actually Western Australia tried to secede from the Commonwealth in the 1930's - but the rest of the country voted against it - not because of the inherent beauty of the Sandgroping females, but because W.A. is full of gold, diamonds and the world's biggest iron-ore deposit. "The mental ward, I take it?" I'm actually not expert enough to know whether Cook County Hospital even has a Mental Ward as such - and I'm not clever enough to use the Internets to find out. I would imagine that even in 1965 they would have had SOME sort of containment facility for those presenting to Emergency with clear-cut psychosis. I was born with unusually hairy ears, it is true, but that falls more into the realm of physical deformity, rather than lunacy as such. Cook County is famous as a TEACHING hospital: Apparently some of America's top military surgeons have honed their gunshot trauma skills there on Friday nights.. cheers, Matt

"Don't confuse me with an Aussie. It's insulting to both of us." LOL - I was actually born Chicago, IL myself....and hold both Kangaroo Republic AND Eagle Empire citizenship... Having hitchiked up the whole of the Western Australian coastline, you'd think I would've known that there is no Port Townsend...but there are a lot of little oddball places there...perched on the rim of the Great Desert.... As far as Torrenting 'War & Peace' goes, I should point out that the copyright/piracy issue is moot, since the collapse of the Evil Empire. Under the Soviet Regime, any infringement of State Control of People's Films was zealously punished by a special department of the KGB - the Buro Kopyretski Kino Spetnasy - which would identify anti-social internet brigands by their IP address, infiltrate a special kill-team into their country, and assassinate them using a tiny pellet of anthrax fire from a specially-modified potato-gun... cheers, Matt (Ex-Cook County Hospital, 1965)

Thanks Erwin- That really is THE issue, isn't it? I myself have plenty of time on my hands (hence designing complex scenarios). Hopefully there are 3 other people out there who can at least commit to a turn a day It promises to be a lot of fun. It's probably about 85% finished. I will return and advertise for players (and post screenies) closer to the mark.... Cheers, Matt

"I seem to recall a movie on Bruneval" ... It was in fact THE RED BERET (1953) which I saw on late-nite TV more than 30 years ago... I can't remember whether it was any good, but it had a great cast : Alan Ladd, Stanley Baker, Anton Diffring (as 'The Pole'), and Harry Andrews! (courtesy of IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046161/) And on that subject, (red berets) I recommend THE LONG DAYS DYING (1968) if you can find a copy. Quite rare and brilliant (anti-) war film with David Hemmings about some paras behind enemy lines... Not really suitable for a CM battle, though...only 4 characters, IIRC....

"watched the first half of that in theater in late '69 or possibly early '70 and have wanted to see the whole thing all the way through ever since" Absolutely, Mr Emrys - an incredible film. No CGI, Just a division or so of troops Do you use Torrents? I can probably find something suitable. English subs? Or do you pa russki? Normally, I wouldn't help a Sandgroper, but you were on our side in the last war, so for old times sake... (Actually I spent quite some time in Fremantle...and a day in Poret Hedland, 2 hours in Geraldton and got pissed on cheap longnecks at the Fitzroy Crossing turn-off) cheers, Matt Central South Welshman....

Suggested new thread: "Books and Movies I'd Like To See Made Into A CM Battle" I myself had a go at 'Ice-Cold In Alex' (Starred John Mills, Sylvia Sims) for CMAK, but it's really not that interesting as a battle Sven Hassel's novel 'OGPU Prison' , however would work nicely for CMBB... I myself am currently working on a CMBB scenario based on Bondarchuk's film version of 'War And Peace', which, with it's 10,000 Red Army extras, is about at the upper limit of what CM1 can handle Actually, I'm not