Recent content by ottarrus

And in the Sengoku period, it wasn't so much 'expansion'. Nobunaga invaded Korea with the daimyo and clans that were most 'rambunctious'... those who still thought that they could conquer their neighbors with impunity. Inasmuch as Oda Nobunaga spent the last 15 years of his reign trying to...

So we settle the 'Manchurian Question' by labeling it 'Imperial China'. Fair enough. In regards to Korea, didn't the Two Koreas unify during the Twilight period? I don't have the books directly handy but I recall reading that. I would imagine that such a state would be controlled by the...

Fair enough, Brynn. But I want to make a key point here: Colin Dunn is the lead dog in Mongoose's edition of 2300AD, just as MJ Dougherty, Geir Landesskog and others contribute to Mongoose's Traveller. Frank Chadwick and Marc Miller have turned over the reins and that means changes to the...

So the question then becomes 'what do we call China without being too 'colonial' about it?' I submit that 'Han Chinese Successor State #731' is probably not a workable solution, then neither is 'The Middle Kingdom Under Heaven' or 'The Han Chinese Dominated Northern Pacific Alliance'. 2300AD...

Fair question. There is a great quote said during the NFL's long discussion about the Washington Redskins name. This was in the 70s and a Black Washington player was asked by a remarkably insensitive reporter what he thought of the name of the team he played for. The player replied, "It doesn't...

Going all the way back to the OP on this one. Firstly, most Westerners are not deeply read into Chinese history and especially Chinese colonial history. You'll find the term 'Manchu' in respected textbooks and military histories all over the place. It is an ethnological and philogical error? It...

As opposed to what? 'Communist kickball'? :LOL:

Resource disruption effects really does depend on what the resource is. Lanthanum is one of the rarest ores in common industrial use and cannot be synthesized or substituted for according to lore. It's so rare and in such demand that the Imperium is willing to establish Client State relations...

She brought those up as well, but I went with McCafferey's more classic work. It's a good series, 60/40 and pick 'em on which a person might recommend.

Gonna have to look at more Journalism 101 stuff and clean this up a bit.

OK, so my wife offers these suggestions: Pern series, McCaffery Chanur series, Cherryh Honor Harrington series, Weber Miles Vorkosigan series, Bujold

When my wife wakes up this morning, I'll ask her if there are some female-focused titles she'd suggest.

[OK, so I'm re-reading the Invasion set and this suddenly smacked me in the face. There are three inspirations for this: the old wartime TAS News from JTAS, the street concert videos of U2 and Midnight Oil back in the day, and all the troops singing 'Teenaged Dirtbag' in the Humvee in...

Even in the Third Imperium, with all it's Vilani and Sylean influences, it would be political suicide to drop an asteroid on Earth, the homeworld of Humaniti. There are three 'sacred worlds' for Humaniti: Bilandin [Vland], Earth, and Zhdant and of the three Earth is FAR more important. NO...

And here we come back to two points I routinely make about planetary invasions. 1. The board games do not accurately depict the issues, conditions or results of the role playing game. GDW has said this many times. 2. There is literally no point in destroying a civilization just so you can adjust...