CNN.com - Army asks ski resorts to return its howitzers - Apr 27, 2004
CNN.com - Army asks ski resorts to return its howitzers - Apr 27, 2004:

That is so cool.
- posted by Comstar @ Wednesday, April 28, 2004 0 comments

 
Slashdot | D&D Is 30
Slashdot | D&D Is 30

Top 35 Similarities between RPG'ing and pron (Score:5, Funny)
by jcayer (206087) on Tuesday April 27, @04:06AM (#8974457)

1. The typical customer is male, unattractive, and socially handicapped
2. Both are frequently enjoyed in dark basements
3. The size of your collection is obscene
4. It's not a good idea to talk about either on a first date
5. Both revolve around fantasy and obtaining the unobtainable
6. The artwork depicts images impossible in the real world
7. When purchasing either in a store, you always ask for a bag
8. It may be fun to make your own at home, but rarely turns out as good as the professionally produced stuff
9. If you saw a woman buying either, you'd probably want to ask her out
10. Extra excitement can be added with the use of props and / or costumes
11. Low quality versions of both can be found for free on the Internet
12. Countless Usenet groups are dedicated to both
13. In either case, a gang of heavily-muscled men in leather with whips spells trouble
14. Everyone uses a silly, made-up name
15. It is not uncommon for participants to assume the opposite gender
16. Both are frowned upon by the conservative right
17. You usually take interest in both around age 13
18. New purchases are usually looked at once, then put on the shelf
19. The best and worst examples of each was produced in the '70s
20. The German versions of each are the most bizarre
21. Both are plagued with bad dialogue
22. You usually spend a lot more time enjoying each alone than with a group of friends
23. Everyone's called in to work sick at least once to stay home and enjoy one or the other
24. Both make excellent bathroom reading
25. There's always a big finish when you get to fire your gun
26. Hollywood's attempts to mainstream both have been largely unsuccessful
27. The hero's prized possession is his big, black gun
28. Plots are often present only to serve the action scenes
29. The story can be set anywhere from spaceships to dungeons
30. While the person directing the action is usually blamed for a bad experience, it's usually the fault of poor writing
31. Characters can have either high APPEARANCE or STAMINA, but rarely both
32. You can tell the climax is imminent when the characters start screaming
33. Candles and music enhance the mood
34. You can meet your favorite B-list stars at the annual convention
35. One word: Dwarves
- posted by Comstar @ Tuesday, April 27, 2004 0 comments

 
Future event : WWIIOL vs Mechwarrior
WWII Online :: View topic - Future event : WWIIOL vs Mechwarrior

Lindir, there is a HUGE gaping hole just WAITING to be filled for a Mechwarrion MMOG. Just look at how popular the Char was when it was unlimited :).

Seriously, a BattleMech MMOG, on WW2OL's current scale and nitch WOULD make money. As noted above, the weapon ranges are usually SHORTER than what we put up with.

'Corse you need the licence. Doing BattleTech Online without the original mechs that FASA err..."aquired" and then lost through legel action, just wouldn't be fair.

Exibit A:

WHD-1 Warhammer (I think that's the correct designation. All my old 2nd Ed Battletech books are in storage).
- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, April 24, 2004 0 comments

 
Damm that's impressive,
WWII Online :: View topic - bahaha - 88mm guncams


- posted by Comstar @ Tuesday, April 20, 2004 0 comments

 
WW2OL 1.13
The Player2Player Network:

Ok, for my system of

1GZ Athlon
512 Meg 100 MHZ SDram
128 meg 5200FX Gefarce
SB Live Value

i'm getting FPS of 15-20 or so, sometimes dropping down to 8-10.

I am at the MIN new requirments, and some people with roughly the same rig are reporting 20-25, so YMMV.

The forests and trees atre GOOD. YOU CAN'T SEE THE WOOD FROM THE TREES. Literly. I was trying to find a ei LMG I knew was hiding in the small cnlump of trees that replaced the 'forsts' you had neat towns. I walked over his hiding place 6 TIMES before I saw him, only due to his muzzle flash....from 6 FEET away. He hadn't seen me till then either!

ALL bushlines are now 3D.

ALL roads have ditches, mounts and trenches (you can't stanjd up in them, but you cvan kneel and hide). ALL trees are 3D speedtree and sway in the wind. On my crappy rig the detail is turned down, but I just drove a truck through one of the old impernttrable forests and was never in danager of having such a low FPS that I would be in danager of hitting anything.

Flying is tougher, yes. But I was still able to shoot down STuka's over Andenne (which with all it's hills, forests and treelines, is VASTLY improved).

- posted by Comstar @ Saturday, April 17, 2004 0 comments

 
And now a poltiical word from Calpundit
The Washington Monthly


- posted by Comstar @ Friday, April 16, 2004 0 comments

 
And now a poltiical word from Calpundit
The Washington Monthly


- posted by Comstar @ Friday, April 16, 2004 0 comments

 
No one wins the 1st time they do battle.
WWII Online :: View topic - Rommel's Opinion on ANZACS: "In nearly all cases (Wake being a exception notable) US troops preformed badly, and in many cases far WORSE than the French did in 1940. Both at Kassarine Pass, the Phillapanes (Both also had large command failures attached to them, so he indervidual soliders wern't the only ones at fault) and the initial US units in New Guniea which were outclassed by both thier allies and thier enemies.

HOWEVER, once they got some practice in (This includes the Marines, who took a lot more causlties than they should of at Tarwana) the US troops perfomed just as good as the best units of other armies. The US armed forces before 1940 were TINY, so large and small scale foul ups were to be expected until they learnt how to fight.

In fact nearly ALL the allied armies had to learn how to lose before they learnt how to win. The commenwealth units had the good fortune to have thier first fights aginast the italions, and DID lose in Greece and Crete. The canadians lost at Dieppe.

What was interesting on the Kokoda trail was that the battle harded and veten Japanese advanced but fiannly LOST to a brigade of weekend milita who were outnumbered 5-1.

At the Admin box battles before Imhpal/Kohima, the veteran japanese were beaten essential by rear elechon troops.

Wake atoll didn't fall until a carrier task force and a force with about 5-1 advantage,


Everyone tended to lose thier first defensive battle. The Germans, the Russians, the Japanese, the Americans, the Commeanwealth troops (Candians excepted AFAIK, but had the good fortune of never having to do so!), EVERYONE."
- posted by Comstar @ Tuesday, April 13, 2004 0 comments

 
Political blogging
Iraq has had FIVE THOUSAND YEARS of civilaistion. They wanted to installed Democracy in 9 months.


Anyways... now think the US (and small other contingents) have lost this counter insergency. The US won't and CAN'T stay there for a decade with more troops (Hussien kept things under control with a million men).

Prediction: The coaltion will pull out...possibly trying to hand it over to the UN, who will be incapable of doing anything except get shot at (UN needs US militry support to win anyway). Iraq falls into a civil war and breaks up into 3 nations (Kurdistan, which at some point gets invaded by Turkey, An Iranin co-belligenet which acualt forces MORE pressure on Iran which then undergoes it's OWN civil war, and a old Iraq that's a dictatorship).

Bush loses in November and goes off to write his memories.
- posted by Comstar @ Tuesday, April 13, 2004 0 comments

 
Conquest 2004
What I've been up to the last 4 days
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Due to not having enough money, I was unable once again not able to pre-rego. This had unfourtunate consequences in the game I really wanted to get into, Akki Kekkon(?) didn't have other players avilable for my session. Drat. I also didn't get to play any Living Arcanis games.

So I only ended up playing 40K, Living Greyhawk and Roborally.

I didn't show up for Monday because I assumed I wouldn't get any awards for LG, but I hear that the online rego system is now working. I hope it's still working for next year to avoid the 8 hour delay in getting badges. Sorry I kept bothering people at the front desk about it.

The death of con booklets in Australian cons is depressing. I like reading them, but it seems econmic realties is making all cons do away with it for the internet. As long as it is possible to rego online, fine (I note Dwarfcon HAS online rego). Considering the problems they appenrtly had, rego gets an average score.

Canteen: Ugh. Whatever the reasons, the food was a major down from a few years ago. No soup, no BBQ as far as I know, the pies and pasties were bad. The dimsims and hotdogs were ok (no chesse on friday either), and juding from the amonut of times they wern't avilable for a few minutes while a new batch were cooked, the most popular. No throaties avilable either, though a very large selection of chocklet bars avilable. No equal for the coffe/tea/hot chocklet. Food gets a bad score.

RTT 40K: I have decided I'm going to these events for the wrong reasons. It's not to WIN 40K tounries, which I will never do. It's to fight different missons, go meet interesting armies, and kill them.

Organazition for the first misson was bad (1 copy of the misson for 66 people! This meant I played the first game without nightfight rules because neither of us noticed it). Having THREE games out of 6 use nightfight is INSANE. My IG shooty army might have at max 4 searchlights, because they only come on vechiles! I didn't mind the amout of deathstriking, that's fair enough.

Despite getting 27 out of 30 for army selection, my army selection from my oppenets was low. I guess an IG army that comes with 100 infantry is...err what? Not fluffy enough? 1 Tank? Mabye it was the 2 powerfists. Perhaps it was because I think 3 of the 6 had never PLAYED an IG army so were somewhat put off and didn't know what an IG is supposed to look like (Tanks, Artiallry, Heavy Weapons and a LOT of flashlights). And from my sportsmanship, I am a poor loser.

I blame the bad lighting for getting 27 (max) out of 30 for the paint job. The 5th game aginast a Chaos player very much deserved his 30 out of 30 for the top 3 paint jobs and put mine on the same table to shame.

I won 2 games and lost 4. 3 of the losses were annailantions with less than 10 men out of 100 left. The Salamder was a waste of points. Having 80 infantry just meant one squad always sruvived to not do much. 1 loss was a close one that was my own fault because I forgot to move a Armoured Fist unit. 1 win was an near wipe out of a chaos player, that I blame on the table. He had 1 small building for cover. I have an IG army not moving and firing across open ground. There was NO way I could lose that one.

With 4 losses AND a low sports (4th lowest out of 67 people!) I am going to change my army. Armour all the way! Tanks, Heravy Artiallry, Mechenzed infantry in Infantry Fighting Vechiles. Anything I can't shoot I'll run over. Screw being a nice guy. Any rules questions, I call them and enforce them, My sports and amry selection will be even LOWER, but I might as well win games in the process instead of losing games AND having a low sports score.

Note, *I* gave average or above average scores to all my oppenents, and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Guess they didn't enjoy playing me. I have learnt my lesson. No longer will I be s sore loser. Winning at all costs, that's the way to have fun (and yes I *know* that means I won't come near to the top 50% in a tounry. That's no different from now).

Roborally: It's being re-relased next year folks. I could have perhaps gotten a top 3 finish but I stupidly forgot that I HADN"T made checkpoint one in the final game before going off to cheakpoint 2! DOH! Blew a huge lead and let everyone else catch up with me.

Note to all those in game 2 that were screwed by the scrambler. It's a ONE TURN effect, not the entire game!

Tarquin requests someone else to run it next year so he can play it for once, but he will run it as usual if no one else will. He's also planning on running a Stargate SG1 freeform of some sort next year.

Living Grekhawk:
Tropical Revendous: Was an interesting group. Me, a new fighter, a barbarian (I think) and a infurnating dwarves cleric who follows the gawd of fate and thus is quite happy to let fate work out if the other characters live or not, rather than acting as a cure light wounds battery.

The adventure was EXTREAMLY linear. EXTREAMLY dangerous for a low level party. badly writtin for APL2 IMHO. Combats where the party is surprised, attacked by creaters level 1 characters probably can't HIT and d8+3 damage on characters with about 6-15 hit points...oh nice.

Amazingly it DID lead to some actual ROLE playing by the characters while we stoof outside a temple and argued wether we were supposed to go inside or not. Rare to see in LG games.

Mind Games: I won an award.

Well, the team did. A very much *political* adventure (seems to be a lot of those in Perrenland). Pretty linear, but it was nice to have a confusing game of "who's releated to who and has a feud with X over Y but Z whats to kill A who's the brother of Y and the son of B who wishes to marry lady C". One of the bards in the party drew a family tree, which we all needed. Unlike the last game, it gave the bard characters a chance to be diplomatic, but still had a good fight at the end. MUCH better writtin than the core game above. Unfotunaly, my thief skills wern't used much in either adventure, not much as a lock to pick or a trap to see off.

The team won the award for best team, which was suprising to me, but it WAS a good adventure.

Both GM's for the the LG games were very good.

- posted by Comstar @ Monday, April 12, 2004 0 comments

 
More 40K Humor
I did not write this.

Portent Forums - 40k humor:

"1. Thou shalt not refer to the Adeptus Soritas as 'Bolter Bitches,' nor shalt thou go anywhere near our sisters during the time of their 'Red Rage,' lest thou wishes to be the first human to enter orbit without the aid of a shuttle.
2. Thou shalt not comment on the odd shape of the Inquisitor's head.
3. Thou shalt not do 'wheelies' or 'donuts' on you bike.
4. Thou shalt not have a 'kegger' on the eve of battle, thus making yourselves less effective on the morn.
5. Thou shalt not refer to the Almighty Emperor as 'The Righteous Dead Dude.'
6. Orks are not 'cute!'
7. Thou shalt not make jokes about the Imperial Guard's weapons.
8. Thou shalt not refer to the Rhino transports as 'pimp wagons,' nor shalt thou use the phrase, 'If the Rhino be rockin, don't come a knockin.'
9. The Chapter Master is not a 'drag'.
10. Thou shalt not check to see if your bolt pistol is loaded by looking down the barrel!
11. Thou shalt not go on panty raids into Sister Of Battle monasteries.
12. Thou shalt not use thy scope for anything outside of battle. Anyone caught using them to spy out life mates shalt lose privileges.
13. Do not sell thy extra organs on the Black Market.
14. Though it is entertaining, thou shalt not wave a fly swatter near the Tyranid fleets.
15. Thou shalt not use thine chainsword as a backscratcher.
16. Thou shalt not use thine pistol as a q-tip.
17. Thou shalt not attempt to imitate heathen noise marines with 'heavy metal' or 'death metal' through thine com-speakers.
18. Although tempting, do not attempt to give a Tau a 'high-five"
- posted by Comstar @ Tuesday, April 06, 2004 0 comments

 
Murphy's Laws Of <40K> Combat Operations
Murphy's Laws Of [40K] Combat Operations

Someone over at WARGAMER AU FOUND this list, woot!

Unforuantly those nogs at warhamer au have stuffed up thier mail server and won't let me take credit in person!! AGHGHGH!

Murphy's Laws Of <40K> Combat Operations

This is from http://m-joke.8m.com/murphys.htm. I removed some I

couldn't "improve" to 40K levels, though I'm sure others can do it way

better than me. It probably helps to know the original quote. Does

anyone

have the old versions I vaguly rembember seeing here ages ago?

-------------------------------------------------------------

Friendly fire from Guess Range Weapons - isn't.

Suppressive Rapid fire - won't.

You are not Superman; Sentinel Drivers and Hellhound crew take note

(Space Marines can ignore this one).

If it's stupid but it works, it's probably an Ogryn,

Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo and not want to

waste a bolter round on you.

If at first you don't succeed, call in an Marauder.

If you are forward of your position, your Griffin will fall short.

Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself (this explains

why Guard and Marines can't ally in the one detachment anymore).

Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder to the

Adapatus Mechaniacas.

If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush mission.

The enemy rhino you're ignoring is their main HQ unit.

No army setup ever survives initial contact with the enemy.

Five second fuzes always burn three seconds (this explains how V3

Grenades aren't used to hurt anyone).

There is no such thing as a disbeliever of the Emperor in a foxhole.

A routing enemy will always regroup.

The easy way is always booby trapped.

Large Platoons are essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot

at.

Don't look conspicuous; it draws fire. For this reason, it is not at

all uncommon for Bright Red Blood Angle Land Raiders to be known as

bomb magnets.

When you have secured the area, make sure the enemy knows it too (Orks

and Tryanids Take Note!).

Indirect Basilisk fire has the right of way.

No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection (this explains Plastic

Catachans).

No inspection ready unit has ever passed combat (this explains Big

Toof River).

If the enemy is within range, so are you (Elder Guardians,

Battlecannons, Earthshaker's and Manticores Excepted).

The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming

friendly fire (Unless you're fighting Space Marines or Orks)

Things which must be shipped together as a set, aren't (Note you only

get ONE Heavy Flamer with Leman Russ Platic Kits).

Things that must work together, can't be carried to the field that way

(IG Battle Tanks and IG infantry never fit in the same carry case).

Commlinks will fail as soon as you need the leadership reroll.

Anything you do can get you killed, including failing your leadership

rolls.

Make it too tough for the enemy to get into Close Combat, and you

won't be able to get out of Close Combat.

Searchlights work both ways.

If you take more than your fair share of objective counters, the other

player will get the last objective counter automatically.

When both sides are convinced they're about to lose, they're both

right (I think that happens to me every game).

Professional wargamers are predictable; the world is full of dangerous

munckins.

Fortify your front; you'll get Space Wolf Scouts in your rear.

Random Mission selections ain't neutral.

If you can't remember, the Scatter dice will roll towards you.

The Adaptus Astares doesn't always come to the rescue.

Earthshaker's are the ultimate close support weapon.

Ratling Sniper's motto: Be sure to have a good lunch 1st.

The one unit you need is never available to buy on Ebay.

When in doubt, stand still and rapid fire.

The side with the simplest uniforms wins (this explains why Marines

typically only have 2 colors).

Combat will occur on the ground between two adjoining table edges.

If you can keep your head while those around you are losing theirs,

you must be a Commissar.

If two units are required to make something work, they will never be

in the same part of the battlefield.

Whenever you lose contact with the enemy, wait for the deepstrike.

The most dangerous thing in the combat zone is an officer with a low

leadership value.

If you really need an Commissar in a hurry, wait for the failed

leadership roll.

There is nothing more satisfying than having a Marine Force Commander

with a MasterCrafted Weapon, take a shot at you, and miss.

If your sergeant can't see you, you're not fighting like a Space Marine

(Cover? We don't need no stikin cover).

You'll only remember your frag grenades after you finish the Assault

Phase.

Well .. It could be worse: It could be a night mission .. and we could

be fighting in Tryanids in it..

So the Commissar said, "Cheer up: it could be worse!" So we cheered

up. And it got worse.

The ping you heard was the Advanced Commlink equipped Sentinel being

killed turn 1.

Rules of the Figure Case

1. No matter how carefully you pack, a Figure Case is always too

small.

2. No matter how small, a Figure Case is always too heavy.

3. No matter how heavy, a Figure Case will never contain the unit you

needed to fight Army X.

4. No matter what figure you need, it's always at the bottom.

Phillip's Law:

Rough Terrain Modification just means you can roll worse, more often.

Weatherwax's Postulate:

The degree to which you overreact to an enemy unit will be in inverse

proportion to its dangeresnes.

Brintnall's Second Law:

If you receive two contradictory orders from the Commissar, obey them

both.

Oliver's Law:

Experience is something you don't get until after your veturan unit is

destroyed.

Lackland's Laws:

1. Never be first to set up.

2. Never be last to fire turn 1.

3. Never volunteer to pick table edge.

Rune's Rule:

If you don't care how badly you're losing, you ain't losing.

Hane's Law:

There is no limit to how bad things can get (I didn't change this

one!).

-------------------------------------------------

Rules of Close Combat for the Imperial Guard Commander.

1.Avoid them like the plague

a.Be aware of what is going on around you by staying at least 25

inches away from the Enemy.

b.Have a plan or two. (If not, a Ogryn Unit will do.)

Corollary: No Ogryn Unit survives contact with the enemy.

2.Bring at least one gun (don't bring a CCW).

a.Bring a Battlecannon.

3.Bring friends (2 Full Platoons of 50 Men at least).

a.Let Leman Russ Battle Tanks and Balasiks soften-up the

target for you. ;-)

4.Make use of available cover.

a.Remember the difference between your saving throw and a

Lascannon.

b.Don't get shot (Use cover to your advantage).

5.Place your shots well.

a.Pay attention to where your Mortar shots fall for next turn.

b.Don't devivate

c.When it does deviate, hope it deviates onto something

better.

6.Rules of drawing

a.If you're Imperial Guard, draw & shoot first.

b.If you're Space Marines, draw second and shoot first.

7.Never turn your back on an Gretchin Mob, that's when they start

to kill your troopers.

8.Rules of wounds

a.A "sucking chest wound" is the Emperors way of telling you

to slow down.

b.If you're bleeding to death, hope you have 2 wounds.

c.If you're actually dying, hope the unit makes it's moral

check.

9.Never assume your opponent is out of units.

a.Bring lots of units.

10.In combat, you will be scared. You will have a tendency to shoot

screening units. Shoot the expensive ones.

11.Rules of quitting

a.Don't quit just because you're lost your Leman Russ

Battletank. Kill his Land Raider.

b.Never quit, period (so long as their is a Commissar in your

unit and you're the Officer).

c.There is no prize for Best Generalship at Grand Tournaments.

12.There's no such thing as "unfair advantage" when you're an

Imperial Guardsman. You need all the support Artillery you can get.

13.He who lives to run away will live to run another day (excluding

units with Commissars).

14.It is better to charge into Close Combat than receive a charge

into Close Combat.

17.If your opponents didn't have the courtesy to show you his army

list before beginning, assume that there's a Deep Strike Terminator

coming in.

20.Distribute press releases indicating you target belongs to a

Chaos cult.

21.Drop the one with the Lascannon first.

22.Afterward, write the battle report to show you won despite the

Victory Point Score.

23.Use cutesy green-and-purple colored weapons and ammo so the press

won't show any video of your non-evil-looking equipment.

Fuzzy rifle-wrap works best (Chaos units take note).

24.Insist on at least 50K points from the Commissar for Battle

Reports on the IG mailing list.

- posted by Comstar @ Tuesday, April 06, 2004 0 comments