Moral-Flexibility.Net

When I was a kid my grandfather told me war stories. He had fought in the Finnish army during World War II and would tell me tales of Ski troopers and tanks, molotov cocktails and machine guns. Military David and Goliath stories.

This sparked an interest in military history which has stayed with me since, and is likely responsible for my interest in both firearms and strategy games. I’ve spoken enough about my interest in firearms, so now I’ll bore you with some rambling about my favorite video game.

Years ago I came across The Operational Art of War by Norm Koger and was immediately hooked. The game is essentially an automated board game on a grand scale using hex maps and counters. The game takes care of all the humdrum details of maintaining unit statistics, supply, morale and effectiveness and allows the player to concentrate on the battle itself. A powerfull scenario editor is included which, while not for the faint of heart, allows one to build their own scenarios varrying in scope from small engagements to massive campaigns. Of course for those less interested in building something pre-packaged scenarios came with the game covering the major engagements of WWII.

(British Paras Land too close to the bridges in Arnhem)

I played this game for days. Usually ending with the Operation: Barbarossa scenario which is a logistical nightmare. Sadly the game would not run under Windows XP, and I dedicated an old laptop as my personal TOAW computer. Thankfully I can now retire the tired old laptop, as The Operational Art of War: III has been released and I can now play to my hearts content on the desktop PC at home.

(Chaos reigns due to bad drop-zone selection)

The game allows you to play multiple what-ifs out, and to see if you’re a top notch armchair general. Bad choices leave your troops exposed and poorly supplied, easy pickings for the enemy. Play too cautiously and you’ll fail to meet the historical objectives.

You really have to be a history buff or old school Grognard for this game to have any appeal. There are no animations, no glitzy menus and no magical objects that will save your armies from the abyss of bad leadership.

The appeal for us history buffs, is seeing the battle play out on maps before our eyes. Having the choice of replaying history as it is written, or rolling the dice and seeing if we can do things a little better. If this sounds at all like you, then go give the game a try (The website allows you to download a copy for free when you purchase one for delivery, instant gratification is everything it’s cracked up to be.).

That’s the ramble, now I’ve got to run and see if I can save those Red Devils from disaster in Arnhem.

Yesterday morning I spent a few relaxing hours drinking my coffee and reading “Alchemist of War: the life of Basil Liddell Hart” (A perfect Christmas gift I might add), and then loaded my copy of Operational Art of War III and invaded Russia (a Christmas gift to myself, but more on that later).

More mundane errands dragged me away, but it was certainly turning into the sort of Saturday morning I had hoped for after all the holiday rushing around.

Ok, things are going to get a touch chaotic from this point forward. We’re to be in Toronto this evening for the family Christmas celebration, our attendance is contingent on the car repairs going without a hitch, which is contingent on my job being reasonably incident free today, which is contingent on Murphy paying attention to some other poor sap for the next little while.

If all goes according to plan we’re going to be jumping around like mad, so before we get tucked right into it I thought I’d take an opportunity to wish all a Merry Christmas from me and my family to you and yours, and just to get some Christmas cute on here’s a pic of Jilly with Santa.

Mid October the city of Guelph tore up the street in front of my office. This construction project appears to have been managed by Mickey-Dumbsh*t Construction Ltd, and the result was that every two or three days the workers would abandon the project during a rainstorm and allow the road to become a mini-version of the Somme complete with trench systems and shell-holes. As the construction was taking place across the only way in or out of the parking lot I had no choice but to drive through the mess 10 times a week in my poor beat-up Taurus. Even at low speed (5km/h) zig-zags the car would inevitably catch a pot-hole and bottom out with the usual distressing crunch noises.

One immediate consequence was that my passenger side front tire gave up the ghost, picking up three nails in ten meters (an inspection of the scene makes it pretty clear that the potholes had caused some building supplies to fly clear of what I assume to be a contractors truck as the roadway had a nice coat of nails, and some misc scrap scattered across it) in a single trip. A used tire replaced the old one, but the vehicle still drove as if the alignment had been knocked askew.

The construction has finally reached a point where the road is passable (paving having mostly been done) and I figured it was time to get the vehicle sorted out. Turns out it’s more than the alignment (and brakes) and there’s a littany of issues with the front end (which I’m largely blaming on the off-roading I was forced to do ten times a week).

The car goes in on Monday, repairs slated at over $1,000. Here’s keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t discover anything else when they’re mucking around underneath it.

A Bulgarian Army Officer attempted to smuggle a Panzer IV out of the country and was caught by the secret service. Collectors would pay a small fortune for the World War II era tank, and I’m not too shocked, I’d personally love to have a Panzer parked on my front lawn, whether I’d put it on blocks to drive the neighbors nuts remains to be seen.

What does kinda shock me here is that this was his second kick at the can, having already shipped a tank over the border. Uh, now I’m no customs agent but doesn’t a multi-ton armored behemoth with a big f*ck-off gun sticking out the front attract some sort of attention? Or did he just drive it over claiming it was the newest sport-ute on the market?

[Hat Tip: Conservative Scalawag]

A slightly antagonistic conversation with the boss today led him to ask me if I was sticking with the company for a while. I gave my stock answer, which is basically;

“If anyone offers me a buck an hour more to do any less I’m gone”

Which, while not strictly true, (the schedule has been more important to me than the wage, particularly as daycare for Jilly has been an ongoing scheduling nightmare) captures the mercenary spirit that I hold true to my heart. Now that mercenary mentality means that I represent my employer to the best of my abilities, and that I protect their interests, I don’t barter their secrets and I don’t quit on a moments notice. Leave? Oh yes, undoubtedly. It’s not personal, it just means you got outbid.

I’ve had to remind my boss before, I didn’t lie to him in the interview. I told him that I don’t job-hop, that I am typically with an employer for 2 years, more if things work out well. I could make the appropriate noises and claim I’d be there for decades, but it’d be a huge lie, and I’m a mercenary not a liar.

For those that are planning to take part in the most recent Zombie Postal Match (and I have to be honest here, one participant has burned some significant bandwidth sending in several entries) I’ll be posting more shortly.

I appreciate your patience, and for those that haven’t sent anything in, what are you waiting for? Christmas?