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trekaddict: Yep. Just be glad I don't mention BMoM, GA or LBtW any more :D

BritishImperial: Haha, aww. No, its not a festival. Well, it could be if it was celebrated enough but it probably won't become that celebrated, so effectively...no, its not a festival. Ah well :p

Update coming up (at last)!
 
Riga
August 8, 2007


And that was the end of our first LAN session, invading Poland. While it took us over seven months to get to that point in this here AAR, during the gaming itself it only took us, say, about ten or eleven hours I believe. 1936 alone was probably three hours, there was just so much going on. Pretty fittingly, it got fifty-five updates in this AAR—and this is the seventy-sixth. Going on that, actually, 1936 was probably four or five hours…it was a long year.

Nevertheless, 1936 did eventually end and so too did our first LAN session. We had slightly thoroughly partitioned Europe up; only two neutral European nations remained at this point. The first was Sweden, and it was bound to fall sooner or later. The second…well, the second was Luxembourg. The Germans were too frightened of their outrageously enormous war machine to even consider the invasion of that grandiose superpower. Or, well, Discomb decided that it would be funny not to invade them and have those poor souls living in fear for the rest of their mortal lives.

076-01-EuropeMostlyPartitioned.jpg

Europe by the end of 1939, mostly partitioned.

With the game saved and quit, there was nothing left to do at that late hour but go home and sleep. Therefore, I quite sensibly packed up my laptop and was off back home, at one or two or three or some time in the early morning. I don’t remember quite when, but I do remember that I was laughing on the way home because I had a devious plan to defeat Discomb. Rather, because I hadn’t been out walking late at night in Riga alone for a year and a half at least and it was good to do it again. Supposedly dangerous, but that never bothered me and I’ve not yet ever been molested by strange peoples in the dark. Once at home, I do the sensible thing and go to sleep.

The story picks up again in the early afternoon on that same day, as my time is strictly limited. Primarily because the very next day (or the day after, whichever) I was going to fly to the Netherlands. Discomb was also going to fly somewhere in the next few days, but that’s irrelevant. Anyway, it was back to his place to set up the laptop and begin playing again. I was in a new room this time and, if anything, my setup was even messier and more ridiculous than before. Proof:

076-02-SecondDaySetup.jpg

Messy, ridiculous setup.

We begin playing pretty much immediately and since there’s nothing much to say about the next two and a bit years I’ll just do a quick overview here. They can, in fact, be summed up by one single word: ‘production.’ Also possibly, ‘preparation.’ With nothing left to conquer (Sweden being conquered quickly by Discomb and his brother), all attention turned to straining our economies to the utmost to prepare for the final showdown. Discomb and his brother also apparently declare war on Equatorial Africa to take a handful of territories, but that’s kind of irrelevant. In any case, during this time I alone began the following production lines:

Code:
2x3 HQ ’39 (Cost = 37 IC)
	Begin February 11, 1940
	Ends July 28, 1941
	Total Production = 6/11 HQ

 1x2 Engineers (Cost = 3.1 IC)
	Begins March 17, 1940
	Ends May 25, 1940
	Total Production = 2/2 Engineer Brigades
3x4 Armored Cars (Cost = 6.3 IC)
	Begins March 17, 1940
	Ends August 7, 1940
	Total Production = 12/12 Armored Car Brigades
1x12 Self-Propelled Artillery Brigades
	Begins March 17, 1940
        Ends April 16, 1941
	Total Production = 12/12 Self-Propelled Artillery Brigades

2x6 Mechanized ’42 (Cost = 20.2 IC)
	Begins September 29, 1940
	Ends December 20, 1941
	Total Production = 12/26 Mechanized Infantry Divisions
2x7 Mechanized ’42 (Cost = 20.2 IC)
	Begins September 29, 1940
	Ends February 18, 1942
	Total Production = 14/26 Mechanized Infantry Divisions

There were others from earlier that were still going on as well. Discomb was similarly boosting the size of his forces.

And finally, it was 1942. Time went by slowly; we were counting down the days as they crawled by. January 1…2…3…February 1…2…3…March 1…2…29…30…

April 1, 1942.

Our armies were in place. The date was right. The time had come to declare war.
 
arghhhhhhh cant wait!!!!!!!

very good way of keeping your laptop cool, love it.
 
Here we go!
 
Foolish of Discomb not to take Luxexburg, that would have given him 5 IC more. :p Well at least Sweden's not on the map anymore, though Norway is also gone. :(

Humans VS Humans is going to be awsome, looking forward to it.

*Grabs popcorn*
 
Bah! Partisans conquered Sardinia...

Equatorial Africa DOW was for norhtern Ireland and Gibraltar. At this stage I was still expecting you to pull something fancy, given your previous obsession with Gibraltar.
 
BritishImperial: Yeah, especially since the screen was buggered anyway. Any yes, soon it will be war. Not quite yet though, as there are certain other updates before war, a couple of which might help with the understanding of the war ;)

coz1: Yep, not long now! :D

General Jac: Ehh, five IC when he's already conquered the majority of Europe? The chokepoint in his industry wasn't his IC, but rather something else ;)

Discomb: Hey, Gibraltar is awesome. It's one of the locks of the world :p

First comment day!
 
Minsk Train Station
June 20, 1988


Nikifor and a recently de-uniformed Arsenij stepped to the door of the wheezing train and hesitated, staring out onto the platforms at the Minsk central train station. As the hub of all rail traffic in the area of Byelorussia, the station was always busy. Today, however, it was especially busy for it was that day that hundreds, if not thousands, of old men were marching off to war. Their war, the war that shaped a generation, the war that only lived on in their memories, in monuments and in books. The station was full of grey-whisked old men, bustling in their tired old way from trains incoming from various other regions toward trains outgoing in exactly one direction—toward Bialystok.

Hesitating, they looked toward each other for support before stepping down onto the platform and into the gentle maelstrom of veterans. Their reminiscent babble was overwhelming, Nikifor and Arsenij found it difficult to converse as they slowly progressed toward the sign that indicated the timetable of trains coming and going. Nikifor craned his neck, trying to catch glances of others’ faces, hoping to perhaps see others he might recognize despite the years. Arsenij did the same, while at the same time keeping a firm grip on Nikifor’s shoulder so that they would not be separated in all the pushing and shoving of the crowd.

Suddenly, a piercing train whistle cut through the air, which had been heavy with conversation. Everyone became silent for a moment as another train pulled out of the station and headed westward toward one of the most scarred of all the battlegrounds during the war. As conversations resumed, everyone looked toward the notice boards as the little blocks of letters and numbers flipped. Once they had settled again, the timetable gave notice of two more trains leaving for Bialystok in the next few minutes. Nikifor looked over the heads of everyone else to read that one of the trains was waiting at platform four, which was the very platform he and Arsenij had so recently left.

With a sigh, he turned around and gently pushed Arsenij back in that direction, yelling in a weak voice over the din of the changes mentioned on the timetable. He nodded understanding after several tries to communicate the message and turned around himself, using his hands to force a path through the crowd back toward that train they had just left. Looking over the many intervening, bobbing heads they saw that it was already being flooded by veterans who had felt the currents of the crowd shift back their way and turned around to climb up into the train themselves. Nikifor and Arsenij watched with saddening eyes as the train began filling up, wondering if they would ever get aboard a train and reach Bialystok themselves. Doubtless many men were wondering the same thing.

But suddenly there they were, right in front of the train. It was nearly jam packed full, with old men crowding the aisles in their desperate need to be at the memorial ceremony, ready to stand during the entirety of the journey west. Nikifor and Arsenij did not hesitate to clamber up, knowing that they would likely not get another chance at transportation so easily or quickly. Once the train was as overcrowded as it could physically get, the whistle blew and set off toward Bialystok. The men inside were crammed as tightly as sardines, but they did not seem to mind. They had a need to be at the ceremony, to celebrate a great victory at Bialystok. Indeed, many had likely experienced much worse conditions during the battles themselves, decades ago. After all, what was such mundane and temporary physical discomfort compared to the great pressures of war, or to the desire to celebrate it?

They had been through the most terrible war that had ever ravaged Eastern Europe; they knew that it was horrible. They had lived through it, and that was why they did not want it forgotten—they wanted to be remembered, they wanted later generations to know the sacrifice that had been made by their elders in an attempt to defend the honor and integrity of their mother land. They were soldiers once, and it had been an experience that was indelibly imprinted upon them in any myriad of ways. They would not be able to forgive those that forgot.
 
ooh, film reference :)
 
Band of Brothers - The Russian Version tm, produced by Myth. ;) Nah, not that similar I guess, but it reminded me somewhat of BoB.

Veterans meeting up with eachother and sharing their experiences and all. :)
 
BritishImperial: Yeah, a bit. I've not actually seen the film yet, though :p

General Jac: Haha, perhaps a bit. It wasn't a conscious inspiration, but I actually had seen it a few years ago so it might be working in my subconscious a bit :p

First comment day!
 
Myth said:
BritishImperial: Yeah, a bit. I've not actually seen the film yet, though :p

oh, come on now: 'they were soldiers, once'
 
It is actually surprising that so many old men are left to celebrate such a thing if the war was so very horrific. You'd think the bulk of the veterans would be deceased.
 
Why is USA in the possession of Gibraltar and Egypt? Were USA and UK at war? (I dont really read what you write, I just see the pictures). And second, why dont you edit the game and remove that ugly yellow province from Finland?
 
i believe they gave all the colonial territory to some sort of colonial union thingy, which uses the same colour as the yanks.
 
BritishImperial said:
i believe they gave all the colonial territory to some sort of colonial union thingy, which uses the same color as the yanks.
Yep. Equatorial Africa is there to mark boundaries for fight.
 
Delex said:
The color should be unique. Something like dark green or without color.
Why? America is not appearing in this AAR.
 
heh, it would have made this particular conversation never have happened :)
 
BritishImperial: Yes, I know what movie I was referring to. But only title-wise, as I've never actually seen the movie. Therefore, kind of :p

coz1: Well, to be fair, this is only one train station, even if it is the biggest in the SSR. Given that millions of men were engaged, thousands showing up isn't terribly much, I think ;)

Delex: Because it's not the USA, as has been said. It's Equatorial Africa. That question has been asked four or five times, at least twice by you. I mean, really, reading isn't that hard. As for Helsinki, why would I edit it out? That'd be cheating :p

4th Dimension: I see you're back to prove that you deserved that PanzAARcookie :D

Second comment day!