"EMPIRE and Stars*n*Bars available once again!" Topic

A purveyor of rules down in Dallas
invited us all to his palace.
'My sway's absolute !'
but we gave not a hoot
and riposted with typical malice !

A couple of you think the thread has ended…goodbye. The rest of us will enjoy the limericks!

Ed – OUTSTANDING (especially using the word 'riposte')

The thread's dead? Does that make us dead thread heads? Nah…it's just getting fun now!

Folks say the Pitts thread is dead
Sounds like another blow to his large head
Don't forget it's true
Pitts is watching just you
So keep posting and see where it's led.

If it's rules you're trying to sell
It will not go over well
if you go to a forum
just to inform them
that they can all go to hell!

Bet that gets bleeped. Rhyme it out yerself.

Hey, it didn't!

I am feeling slightly embarrassed about introducing the Limerick theme. maybe we can go up market and use other poetic models. Haiku, perhaps ;-)

In "forgiving" mood,
Pitts sees not the consequence;
The Empire is dead

Oh, elderly ruleset
how shall I sell thee ?
Critics harping on forum TMP

(which is actually a take-off on a
classic Haiku).

Like I said before
seems to be the thread is dead
seems does not mean true

Nothing is as what it seems….or is it?

this flame war has turned into a poetry corner now.

Stupid thread dies not
Whilst snarksters keep it alive
with silly haiku.

no matter what they do
nor how hard they try
their Empire is dead

Will

The attempt at marketing viral
has put them in a spiral.
Whether up or down
tis plain their clown
Pitts, failed the die roll.

Will

no matter what they do
nor how hard they try
their Empire is dead

5-7-5, not 6-5-5 dude.

Introducing Said Rules to ye Market
He used his two Marks as his Target

He wouldn't mind the Dawg House
But 'Twas under the Bog House

Where his Shirt. with Slung 'Mudd,' wee did mark it

I'm going to tell my grandkids about this thread one day.
Heck, the way its going, even though they're not born yet, they'll probably post on it.

rollin rollin rollin
keep them doggies rollin
Rawhide!

LOL

picture
…a true 10 if there ever was one. Will

A bit more on topic. I am in the process of purchasing a small Perry based army for both protagonists. I had intended to use the Black Powder rules, and it seems from many of the original comments on the "substance" of this thread that the rules recommended by the "ole Dawg" are not the way to go. I will solo, so anyway have to include some house rules to make it interesting.

Probably aiming for smaller actions with 6-8 infantry regiments, a couple of cavalry + 2/3 guns per side. It will not likely be my main period so will not invest too much!

What would be the top three rules sets worth looking at. I want something that has the "feel" for the period.

Many thanks in advance.

ps. I know this has probably been asked many times before, but as far as I can see, not yet in April 2010 ;-)

I like Blackpowder, they're good simple gamer's rules. Also Sharpe's Practice from Two Fat Lardies for skirmish.

Not enough limericks yet . . .

Though War Event's retreaded rules
Are now being touted as jewels,
Their customer service
Makes TMP nervous
When posters are treated like fools.

Or, perhaps . . .

The "Empire" Series' revival
Is hosted on TMP's rival
But Pitts' attitude
Has drifted towards rude
And threatened his website's survival.

AppleMak, CLS with a few modifications would work well for a force the size you envision. While the rules are based on a 1 to 20 ratio you can use 1 to 40 without any trouble. They are very tactical and require written orders for each unit so you can solo by simply adding "follow orders" rolls I think. Will

Wow…amazing work guys.

Nothing I write is appropriate for TMP….(dirty things rhyme with "Pitts")

A dumb m….. f….. named Pitts
His comments would give me the s….
They always were crass
Coming right from his a..
And as ugly as fat women's cl…

I just can't do it.

fuzzybunny

Isn't CLS a Napoleonic rule set. How well can it meet the particularities of ACW. I have the impression, for example, that the ACW was essentially infantry fire-fights, with limited use of cavalry (essentially mounted infantry). Do you think it makes the transition?

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion – I really hadn't consider them at all. I will try to see a copy.

CLS? Column Line and Square? Now those rules make Empire seem new!! If my memory is not failing me ,they were never commercially presented, the way more modern rulesets have been, and they were sold by Mr. Vietmeyer(spelling?) as requested a copy at a time! Also they were the size of telephone books I think ( maybe that is an overstatement)! Are these grand old rules still played by some of you out there??

To keep in the "spirit" of this thread, Mr Bowden generally took the research of the CLS groups on unit sizes and organizations and divided them by a third (French CLS 36 = Empire 12, Russian CLS 20/24 = Empire 8 and so on. CLS was a very tactical game and Bowden wanted larger scale battles. Bowden did not steal anything here, he just used previous work for his own project developement, nothing new! He may well have revealed that he used the old research ( I can not remember) anyway most old Nap wargamers figured out where the numbers on Btns and Regts came from on their own! Again, this is no attack on Bowden from me! Actully many folks have used Bowdens scaled down unit sizes for their own variations of horse and musket rules!!

docdennis, years ago we adapted CLS for the civil war period using the mechanics with little modification. It worked fairly well with easy fire charts, interesting artillery procedures, written orders for two segments of the same turn, and simultaneous movement. Morale is also very simple without all the modifiers so many rules sets employ making the game system very easy to learn. The basic rules are very tactical but can be streamlined for later periods with some simple changes especially for the early campaigns when the tactics were so similar.

Fred's original organizations were not well researched, some of them coming from works of fiction, which makes Scotty's use of them interesting. Will

Ok…stick to topic y'all… :)

A guy named Greg posted here
And tweaked many TMP noses and ears
His attitude was bad
His customer service sad
And has ruined wargaming in Tejas for years!

this thread made me loled out loud.

I wonder if this is the longest running thread in the history of TMP?

Naaah the thred about British generals went on for over 1000!!!…..Cmon guys only another 500!!!

DO NOT bring that up Koyote!

I refuse to post first on page 11

Clay

In that case … Ooops

I certainly hope Mr. Pitts appreciates all the effort you boys are putting into keeping his announcement at the top of the boards. If he was still allowed to post here, I'm sure he'd thank you.

That may be an unintended consequence of how this went down but frankly I don't think Mr. P's strategy was that intelligently thought out, …do you?

Looking at their site and reading all the attempts to belittle other rules sets doesn't indicate a high level of marketing knowledge, integrity or intelligence, …which quite frankly surprised me more than Mr. P's inability to communicate without making a complete 360 degree alimentary canal exit of himself. Will

The Mr.Pitts I know wouldn't acknowledge he ever did anything wrong…even years after this went down. He definitely has a severe case of terminal cranial-rectal inversion. :)

I refuse to encourage the continuance of this Lunacy by posting here! :oP

If they sell a million copies, great.

This is just for fun now. Where are the Limericks? Come on, slackers!

I'm not disapointed that Mr P was an ass-hat. I am disapointed Mr B deigned to lower himself to that level.

If Mr B is distressed about Emp.V not being popular anymore one would think it wise to sit down and update it to a new version that recognises what has been learnt these past 20 odd years about Napoleonic warfare and the Nations that fought it.

EagleSixFive

A scientific evaluation! There is no stasis in wargame rules, you are either growing or dying! As you commented, Only regular updated concepts and information cause growth, so I guess we need Empire VI then Empire ….. oh my!!

Page 11

"Never have so few owed so little to so many!"

Eagle65, I think your comment goes right to the heart of the matter. Instead of updating Empire rules with some new packaging, updated illustrations, slick photos, etc., Mr. B and company made the "conscious decision" to launch an attack on their competition as their "marketing strategy", coupled with a web attack through their "little bitty" web community of like minded miscreants.

Doesn't say much for their smarts, or their ability to adapt to the web's instancy, …does it?

In the past that same group was all about the Napoleonic Society, "honor" and "doing the right thing". Just goes to show how little their words really meant…

I wonder how many of the gamers from the Midwest who lived and breathed Empire a few decades ago will continue to support an organization that has so little to offer any more.

Anyone want to purchase several sets of Empire rules? I can remount the figures but the rules are just taking up shelf space of which I don't have enough.

So sad, …the death of Empire. Will

All Empires eventual fade into the distance ….

Which thread had 200+ pages? Can we ressurect it????

No.

Even though it's turned into a lark
And some may be left in the dark
It's no longer about Pitts
he's already had his fits
and now it's purely for snark!

There are some twits,
Like that Texan bloke Pitts,
Who try it on with Mr Armintrout,
Who was sadly then,
Forced to chuck him out…..

I wanna see the 200+ page post as well.

There was a man called Pitt(s)
His readers knew he was a twit
He wrote his woes on TMP
All the others said tee-hee-hee
Oh! I think he now has writer's squits

I am a bit naughty sometimes …

Never again whist my paid membership can be arbitrarily revoked for a month for something I said in a post two months before.

Of course, there's no CA now, but the Nappy boards appear much the same at times.

Kyote…Was it about Bricoles????

Not yer fault. Wouldn't have made me that mad except I'd already done DH time for that one, just not such a ridiculous amount.

Still, it was a good rant…

If an individual wants to post to a topic is it encumbent on that individual to have first read all previous posts?

every word!! twice if you want to be taken as a serious comment… not my rule .. start reading… or maybe not actully!!