Time for a new folder

[Matt W]

Congrats Larry! Now if they only fight as big as they look!

[larry marak]

They've got pretty thick skins at least, not like the French super-tanks designed in the 20's.

Mike even incorporated my background in Water and Power. I doing billing now, but I used to spot broken mains and do street closures for emergency repairs.

[larry marak]

Reading Matt's comments on Panzer Cruiser assaults, I get flashbacks to Ming's deck officer giving the order to repell borders, and imperial marines grabbing their laser-rifles as they do combat on the deck of the cruiser (from the 1978 Flash Gordon).

[Coniglius]

Remember, he saved every one of us!!!

[ParaMarine]

I like the continuity they are going with. Sort of like the Victorian age never came to such an abrupt end but technology still advanced.

The Czar's forces would be more interesting to me, but France isn't bad. Elan + tactical sense and innovation = a winning combination.

[larry marak]

Indeed ParaMarine. At sea the Second Great War is just a WW2 naval variant campaign, with multiple navies adopting the U.S.'s flying aircraft carrier combat. But on land, the Second Great War is diesel punk.!!!

[Matt W]

Leaving the Kaiser in place with his affinity for all things naval leads to some very interesting concepts being carried into the land war. Land Cruisers are merely the tip of the iceberg. Consider the lift capacity of Zeppelins or riverine warfare with submarine troop carriers, etc. The Germany and Austria-Hungary (and to a lesser extent the Ottomans) of this timeline have spent 23 years growing their population and their economies while France, Italy and Russia have spent the intervening years nursing their grudges and spending on massive armies rather than investing in technological advances. If the war is a long one, and trade with the US is still possible for the Central Powers, it is hard to see the Entente winning. Everyone, however, will have secret weapons and not all of them will need to be "long" pieces.

On the other hand, I expect that the SGW thread will always take a very significant back seat to the real campaigns that are either uncovered or covered only by out of print items as far as PG goes. Certainly there will be enthusiasts of the thread but they will never be more than a subset of PG players. Commercial considerations will need to be taken into account.

[ParaMarine]

I agree that commercial decisions are most important, but I love how AP is so ballsy with giving us alt history. Maybe I'm just weird, but I think alt history is a lot of fun.

The best part about SGW is that you can make lots of conclusions about how it could have gone. I picture Rundstedt being an important general for the Germans still. The Prussian core of the army would probably replace the SS and Panzer Divisions as an elite force.

Russia could be the airborne pioneers. Alexei could be a true militarist Czar, made more aggressive by experiences fighting the failed revolution.

France could take its ethos of élan and combine it with the most modern tactical doctrine. The Tank as the modern chevalier is an easy supposition.
France's history makes for a lot of interesting icon choices. The Gallic Rooster isn't nearly as good or as revanchist as the Vichy 'Frankish axe' or the De Gaulist Cross of Lorraine.

[larry marak]

And the next big release for the SGW family of games has not yet been announced :-). I'm ready for a JP4R expansion.

[zaarin7]

I'd expect to see more of the story at sea first.