[GZG] Re: Gzg-l Digest, Vol 8, Issue 61

[Ken Bywaters <argentnova@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I actually rather liked the VIP concept for a scenario card.  Britain wouldn't have collapsed if Prince Andrew had been killed, but I'm sure it would have had some impact on morale - and also led to even more rage and indignation towards the dreadful "Argies" for doing so.  The media would have whipped up even more dehumanisation and objectification towards the Argentinians if such an event had occured.

 

Plus maybe the air group commander or the carrier captain wouldn't have seen his career advance much afterwards either. So in terms of the fleet commander that could easily be a "you lose the scenario" personal result. 

 

Of course the morale thing is a bit of a double bind if you go to war while a royal or other VIP is serving in your military.  Solving it by taking them off the ship just before it sails into harms way or by not deploying their vessel is a bit obvious and doesn't do much for the morale of anyone else in the fleet who is bound to notice that they are considered more expendable...

 

Of course, we should also not forget the plot of the film "Whoops Apocalypse!" either! 

 

If "war is diplomacy conducted by other means" then it is appropriate to explore the politics and dilemmas around the war too, and scenario conditions like this VIP example help do this IMHO.  

 

 

>Prince Andrew, I think?
>
>Can't be bothered to google it, but I think it was him, and if he'd
>bought it the Brits would hardly have "automatically lost" the entire
>battle...


That suggestion for the special effect card was SLIGHTLY
tongue-in-cheek, and followed on from the earlier discussions on this
topic.....
I fully agree it's an unlikely scenario, unless you assume that the
loss of said VIP snotty would cause such a huge fuss with the public
back home that the political fallout would outweigh the military
outcome of the battle..... in which case, as John A mentioned, he
shouldn't be out in the firing line but back on some support or
training ship in the home system.

For a more realistic view of it, assuming the kid gets into that
situation before he can be reassigned to a nice safe berth, then
maybe just a lesser penalty of some sort on the player's victory
conditions rather than an outright loss. But don't let's all get too
hung up on it, it was only one example suggestion to get the ball
rolling! ;-)

Jon (GZG)

---

Yahoo! Photos ? NEW, now offering a quality print service from just 8p a photo.
_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.csua.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l