The Off Topic Topic

[Ideologue]

Are you sure your CCCP sympathies aren't clouding your judgement?

Yep, I'm sure.  The Sovs were an ill-led bunch of ninnies, but the Germans had set themselves to a nearly impossible task.  The only time a conquest of Russia would have been possible would have been 1945 to 1948, or perhaps a little beyond, and the only combatant capable of doing so would have been the United States, because we didn't have to take cities, we could obliterate them.  It would've been interesting to see a VVS with minimal experience in combating RAF/USAAF-style terrorbombing try to cope with B-29s and atomic warfare.  And by "interesting" I mean "comically one-sided."

But anyway, Germany was simply incapable of fighting both Britain and the USSR, and possibly the USSR alone.

The USSR lived and died on a lend-lease they may never have received if the Japanese did not attack America. Irrespective of the forces tied down by an IJA attack, that alone seems pretty fatal.

Lend-lease increased the mobility of the RKKA and was pretty important to Soviet offensives, although possibly not determinant--after all, every Soviet offensive prior to Operation Uranus was a failure or extremely qualified success, and no great mobile breakout ever manifested in that phase of the war.  American trucks and Spam were not available in great amount in late 1941, when the war turned against the Germans.  American aid simply accelerated German defeat.  (How much is really hard to say; it's easy to claim that the Sovs could not have done what they did without the 2/3 of their automobile and locomotive transport provided by America, but it's not as if the USSR was incapable of building trucks itself.  The effects would have been felt in fewer armaments.  This is, imo, unlikely to have been decisive.)

Beyond that, American lend-lease to the Soviets had come into existence prior to Pearl Harbor, on October 1, 1941.

The IJA's army was amazing. Gyokusai! Noblesse Oblige.

Amazing how?  Willingness to do their best impression of the British Army on July 1, 1916?

[Eddie Teach]

Yeah, I have no idea how that got through even basic playtesting, even 40 (or whatever) years ago.  I mean, the USSR gets knocked out every time against remotely competent Axis players, unless something ridiculously lucky happens (like terrible dierolls in the battles for Leningrad ).

Sounds like the British and Americans aren't doing enough then. I've played a fair amount of Axis & Allies games by myself* on the computer(), the Allies usually win unless the Axis are the ridiculously lucky ones.

*Thus all sides being equally incompetent. 

[Caliga]

They like to hide in the dark.  We had the sirens go off around 7 PM a few days ago.  The tornadoes that destroyed Lambert.

The weather dudes on the news this morning were saying that they thought there were probable touchdowns in my county, maybe 5 miles away.  All of my trees were fine and my trash can didn't even blow over, but of course tornado activity can be extremely localized.

[The Larch]

A worthy sacrifice! I want anime with DASH and ELAN where the protagonist dies in defense of the empire suppressing Chinese revolts in the hinterland.

At least, if Imperial Japan wins cherry blossoms as a motif won't be any less stupidly overdone.

I thought current anime often glorifies IJ, Nazis, totalitarian governments, and an obsession with blood-type.  So, alt-history-IJ-anime should be underground, and all about freedom and brotherhood, and an acute lack of schoolgirls and giant robots.

[Duque de Bragança]

Wasn't it the article that Hans used to derail High-speed rail once ? As for Paris-Lyon, that line is close to saturation while most others in France make a profit.

I doubt it.  My article was published last weekend.

Then it's not, but it's still wrong.
The Northern French line at the centre of the triangle between London, Brussels and Paris not making a profit ? There have been plans for a while to double it with a straighter design via Amiens unlike the current high-speed line which avoids it and thus makes quite a tour when heading to London.

[Ed Anger]

The IJA's army was amazing. Gyokusai! Noblesse Oblige.

Ching chong, ching chong.

[Caliga]

Amazing how?  Willingness to do their best impression of the British Army on July 1, 1916?

Yeah, IMO the Japanese army performed pretty badly in WWII.  I don't think it was till Iwo Jima that they seemed to learn the concept of defense in depth, for example.

[Ideologue]

Yeah, I have no idea how that got through even basic playtesting, even 40 (or whatever) years ago.  I mean, the USSR gets knocked out every time against remotely competent Axis players, unless something ridiculously lucky happens (like terrible dierolls in the battles for Leningrad ).

Sounds like the British and Americans aren't doing enough then. I've played a fair amount of Axis & Allies games by myself* on the computer(), the Allies usually win unless the Axis are the ridiculously lucky ones.

*Thus all sides being equally incompetent. 

Well, I perhaps overexaggerate, but Russia can be knocked out virtually immediately--and, of course, China as well.  A lot of people use house-rules like "no Japanese attack on the USSR" because the realities of a terrible IJA and Siberian logistics simply aren't modeled.  Plus, they had the NAP.

Actually, it reminds me, if Lettow wants a real example of my prejudices I might mention the method by which the Nazis might have won the war, but could not have with dive bomb fetishists running Luftwaffe procurement: the Ural and/or Amerika bomber.  Imagining Sverldovsk a smoking hole?  Now that's bias.

Although without nuclear or at least very powerful chemical weapons to back it up, or even a secure base (the Azores ) a true Amerika bomber was pretty much out of the question.

Yeah, IMO the Japanese army performed pretty badly in WWII.  I don't think it was till Iwo Jima that they seemed to learn the concept of defense in depth, for example.

" 'Contesting the beach'?  That's a very strange phrase."

Now, you can't say they lacked discipline, I guess.  The Japanese were like brave Italians.  But mass surrender or mass slaughter, what's the difference?  At least one weighs down the enemy's logistics.

[Neil]

Probably not zero provocation...it's pretty cheap to conjure up a "Lusitania-II" type incident (and could well have happened anyway).  The US was all but in the war(at least from FDR's view), and chomping at the bit by December '41.  And I tend to think idea that America would be paralyzed by division over entering the war is vastly overblown.  Like Patton said...Americans love a fight (well, back then anyway).

'Conjure up'?  Are you suggesting that FDR would rig up an incident to kill Americans and justify action?  'Paralyze' might be strong, but there would certainly be a lot more division regarding the war than there was IRL.  And FDR still needs to think of a way to get Congress to declare war.

The battleship factor is probably not important, but with Japan bogged down in far east Russia, the US in the Philippines probably survive for quite a bit longer (though granted the IJN, with nothing much else to do, would blockade it in short order), likewise the Brits.  The US's biggest hindrance would be ramping up war production to go on the offensive, it'd probably be a slower start without a Pearl-level provocation.  And Germany would still be first.

Yeah, assuming a US declaration of war against Japan, the Philippines are going to have a rough time of it, although presumably the US has maneuvered their fleet so as to be as effective as possible when they go to war.

[Slargos]

A worthy sacrifice! I want anime with DASH and ELAN where the protagonist dies in defense of the empire suppressing Chinese revolts in the hinterland.

At least, if Imperial Japan wins cherry blossoms as a motif won't be any less stupidly overdone.

I thought current anime often glorifies IJ, Nazis, totalitarian governments, and an obsession with blood-type.  So, alt-history-IJ-anime should be underground, and all about freedom and brotherhood, and an acute lack of schoolgirls and giant robots.

I have a new desktop.. 

[Malthus]

A worthy sacrifice! I want anime with DASH and ELAN where the protagonist dies in defense of the empire suppressing Chinese revolts in the hinterland.

At least, if Imperial Japan wins cherry blossoms as a motif won't be any less stupidly overdone.

I thought current anime often glorifies IJ, Nazis, totalitarian governments, and an obsession with blood-type.  So, alt-history-IJ-anime should be underground, and all about freedom and brotherhood, and an acute lack of schoolgirls and giant robots.

I have a new desktop.. 

Not seen: that in the picture, he's *just about* to put on his cat ears. 

[Slargos]

A worthy sacrifice! I want anime with DASH and ELAN where the protagonist dies in defense of the empire suppressing Chinese revolts in the hinterland.

At least, if Imperial Japan wins cherry blossoms as a motif won't be any less stupidly overdone.

I thought current anime often glorifies IJ, Nazis, totalitarian governments, and an obsession with blood-type.  So, alt-history-IJ-anime should be underground, and all about freedom and brotherhood, and an acute lack of schoolgirls and giant robots.

I have a new desktop.. 

Not seen: that in the picture, he's *just about* to put on his cat ears. 

Why you gotta ruin ev'yfink. 

[Malthus]

Why you gotta ruin ev'yfink. 

I bet they have shiny "glints" on them, too. 

[Slargos]

[Ed Anger]