OpForce against OpForce

as you say you would lose detail unless we are talking one of those daft sets where the pieces are 3 feet tall.

with further thought i'dd add LACs as pawns and replace the DN with a CLAC.

admittedly that does restrict you to navies that have a CLAC which is only the manticore alliance and haven but manticore only had as many DNs as it did as it could not then afford to do SDs

cthia wrote:

Dauntless wrote:I would buy that chess set as well but one question.

If SD (king of ships) are rooks/castles then what will you use as king/queen.

I'm thinking DD for rooks, Cruisers as Knights, bishops BC queen DN and king a SD

In the case of the RMN, the likeness of Elizabeth as Queen, and although he's called Prince Justin, I'm sure he's the King of Elizabeth's heart.

For the RHN, Eloise's image as Queen(President), and I don't think she'll mind using Giscard's image as King - and I'm certain Rose won't mind at all.

Popular chess sets are the ones where the Kings, Queens and pawns are readily identifiable, and not mistakable. They should be people.

Um.... Elizabeth and Eloise should be the King, not the Queen. As head of their respective governments, they are the most important piece in the game, but unable to do much attack or defense by itself. And I would go with Hamish Alexander-Harrington and Tom Theisman as the Queen.

Dauntless wrote:as you say you would lose detail unless we are talking one of those daft sets where the pieces are 3 feet tall.

with further thought i'dd add LACs as pawns and replace the DN with a CLAC.

admittedly that does restrict you to navies that have a CLAC which is only the manticore alliance and haven but manticore only had as many DNs as it did as it could not then afford to do SDs

As a player and collector of sets, trust me, you don't want to deviate too much from the basic shapes of the traditional most popular Staunton type pieces - used in tournament play (for obvious reasons).

The Star Trek set is a very popular set because it didn't go overboard representing pieces as ships. You want the set to become collector's items for sure, but you also want the set to be playable - amongst your favorite sets to play on. In this case, form must definitely follow function. Queens, Kings and Pawns should be people - very readily distinguishable pieces. During an actual game, players are quickly scanning and rescanning the board for optimum moves. Having to divide your attention further, between game logic, strategy, tactics, memory and piece identification is detracting and a threat to the sets playability and it won't be used for playing an actual game. (Other than a few times initially for the novelty of it.)

And many collectors/players will refuse to buy the set for that reason alone. Trust me, or don't.

Pawns should be people. I vote for Marines in battle armor.

The idea is to sell as many sets as possible.

To crewdude who corrects me that Elizabeth should be King, I say "Doh!"

Excellent catch. Thanks. She does wear the pants - literally too!

Dauntless wrote:as you say you would lose detail unless we are talking one of those daft sets where the pieces are 3 feet tall.

with further thought i'dd add LACs as pawns and replace the DN with a CLAC.

admittedly that does restrict you to navies that have a CLAC which is only the manticore alliance and haven but manticore only had as many DNs as it did as it could not then afford to do SDs

Did you say that sets with 3 feet tall pieces are daft?

My sister once thought that too. When asked now if she still considers it silly. "I no longer think it's silly. But I do think it's stupid - if you don't want part of your home commandeered by pirates!"

After remodeling, my sister had a considerably large space that she needed to do something with off the side of the breakfast nook which my niece talked her into making into a chess room. A little over 3 feet tall pieces with the entire floor as the board. It is so popular that her guests make appointments to play on it. She was once offered a grand to entertain a game. Players get so enthralled into a game that my sister realized that she had once left her home to go shopping for the day and returned late with players still in her home - still playing!

One night she got up for a snack and heard all of the commotion. Yep, players still in the chess room. They are all very close friends of hers but still. I recall one of my sisters telling me about it. "She couldn't get them out of her home. One more game. One more game. Then I saw her disappear a bit frustrated. You know that look she gets when she's frustrated."

"Yea I do."

"Well I'm thinking she's going to get her shotgun. Instead, she had other, more sinister plans."

"What?!"

"About 15 minutes later Tierney, half asleep dressed in her pink pajamas saunters into the room. I peer past her and see your sister smiling. Less than an hour everyone bolts out of the room heading home. Tierney was taking them all on and kicking ass!"

" "

So you see Dauntless, I'm assuming you've never had the pleasure to play on a floor specifically designed for pieces that high. It gives you a god's eye field of view of the layout. I've played my best chess on that floor. It's amazing how well you see the battlefield. I'd wager it to be more addicting than heroin. In fact my sister teases "They're in the crack room playing chess." Sis calls it an intellectual form of the highly addictive crack.

My sister could charge rent space and make a fortune. Don't knock it 'till you try it. Each visit there my niece is grinning like a cheshire cat because she knows we'll end up there -unless my sister forbids us to get lost in it for hours. Which we'll do!

I suppose that the difference in my sister's implementation is that it is so tastefully and artfully done. The floor is marble - white's side features white marble with natural hints of brown grain and black's side is medium brown with natural grain. Expensive. The pieces were commissioned in Italy. Very detailed Staunton type pieces with intricate carvings. They look as if they weigh a ton each but are very light high impact plastic. White and brown pieces. She waited forever for those pieces to be delivered. And the entire room was a work in progress. Each end features very adjustable high-back stools she also combed Europe to find. Very nice, very comfortable and adjustable - if and when you need to sit. Most people prefer to mostly stand. The view of the board is intoxicating. You feel like a general for certain. The entire room sits between the main dining room and the breakfast nook with floor to ceiling glass walls where others can watch a game without imposing. It's very impressive. Very beautiful. Very addictive. Very artfully done. Over the years my niece has decorated the walls with the perfect items she has acquired while traveling or from something someone gives her. During one of our visits to Germany my niece purchased a full medieval knights armor made of six-and-a-half-foot-tall imposing polished brass that looms menacingly in a corner. A 3x5 foot framed rendition of Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima adorns one wall. (I can't count how many people have tried to purchase that.)

A nice painting once belonging to our grandmother from France of the Storming of the Bastille. A pastel of the French Revolution. Replica flintlocks, gun swords, Union rifles, Roman swords, etc., all hanging on the wall. A pallad bust of General Lee. A very nice pic of Geronimo. A recent addition of Stormin' Normin.

The chess battle room of dreams!

The same sentiment of everyone first entering the room, even inwardly or out loud, you can read their lips... "WOW!"

ok that does sound like a wild adventure

Sonja Hemphill

We don't have any texts of Sonja as a tactician or strategist at the fleet level. She is known more for being a staff weenie. An effective staff weenie at the WDB, but a staff weenie.

And I know, the RMN likes to rotate senior officers between staff and fleet assignments. Bit we haven't seen her in command.

Somehow, I don't think she would be an adherent of the Jeune Ecole school of attrition if she had had to write The Letter. Two or three thousand times.

Fox2! wrote:

Sonja Hemphill

We don't have any texts of Sonja as a tactician or strategist at the fleet level. She is known more for being a staff weenie. An effective staff weenie at the WDB, but a staff weenie.

And I know, the RMN likes to rotate senior officers between staff and fleet assignments. Bit we haven't seen her in command.

Somehow, I don't think she would be an adherent of the Jeune Ecole school of attrition if she had had to write The Letter. Two or three thousand times.

There is a single example very early on; she was in command of one of the attacking fleets at the very beginning of OBS; and she's not much of a tactician, more of a battering ram. It took some fairly senior captains to convince her to let Honor and CL-56 Fearless build a sneaky plan into the first fleet exercise.

She even opposed some of the better ideas coming down the pipe early on, like the missile pods. What she became fiendishly good at was seeing small tactical evolutions and having her tech weenies at GRAM/Weyland turn them into effective ship- and fleet-level technical revolutions.

Fox2! wrote:

Sonja Hemphill

We don't have any texts of Sonja as a tactician or strategist at the fleet level. She is known more for being a staff weenie. An effective staff weenie at the WDB, but a staff weenie.

And I know, the RMN likes to rotate senior officers between staff and fleet assignments. Bit we haven't seen her in command.

Somehow, I don't think she would be an adherent of the Jeune Ecole school of attrition if she had had to write The Letter. Two or three thousand times.

SharkHunter wrote:There is a single example very early on; she was in command of one of the attacking fleets at the very beginning of OBS; and she's not much of a tactician, more of a battering ram. It took some fairly senior captains to convince her to let Honor and CL-56 Fearless build a sneaky plan into the first fleet exercise.

She even opposed some of the better ideas coming down the pipe early on, like the missile pods. What she became fiendishly good at was seeing small tactical evolutions and having her tech weenies at GRAM/Weyland turn them into effective ship- and fleet-level technical revolutions.

Of course you are referring to her actions in the fleet games, where it was also divulged that she had a reputation of tactics akin to a battering ram. However, I always wondered if her rep came from the sole assessments of her previous performances in past fleet games or if she had her ticket punched in a few actual bona fide battles of her own.

Where did I get this idea that she actually was kind of forced to become a tactical officer because it's on the carreer path, but actually doesn't have a taste for it ? I can't seem to find any reference for that. Maybe in one of the side stories ?

niethil wrote:Where did I get this idea that she actually was kind of forced to become a tactical officer because it's on the carreer path, but actually doesn't have a taste for it ? I can't seem to find any reference for that. Maybe in one of the side stories ?

In house of Steel after a "vigorous discussion" (read very loud argument that almost came to blows or appointment on duelling field) with Hamish Alexander, Roger and Janos Addack decided to send her back to the fleet for a while. partly because she did really need a shipboard assignment soon anyway but also to give her some time on a command deck and get a more rounded view of things.