"Most Popular 'What If'..." Topic

Aside from the debate that all wargames are what if:

1. What era do you consider gives the most interesting variances of politics, technology, war and society?

2. How 'tight' do you prefer your alternate history-detailed Point Of Departure or a freewheeling cause and effect?

3. Does alternate history and alternate science/technology create a alternate culture?

4. Do you find alternate guns/afv's/ships/planes/tactics/personalities threads to be tiresome/tedious?

5. Are you on the Alternate history.com forum?

alternatehistory.com

What if TMP had a Cathouse instead of a Dawghouse? :)

Most What ifs for me were Cold War goes Hot

In the same vein are they given these countries/armies what if the "X" War started earlier/later

Roman empire, either never fell or never raised to empire ( crushed by carthage or a westward bound alexander the great).

I like the late nineteenth century for what ifs:

* Guns are not quite yet a disproportionate advantage:
** Rifling is still under refinement
** Rapid loading and firing is available, but not ubiquitous
** Interchangable parts are at a maximum
** Everything isn't factory produced yet

* Rapid industrialzation creates interesting conflict
** Big economic drivers
** Cottage industries can still be players
** WMD (and the means to create them) are available and not univerally banned

* Colonization creates interesting conflict
** Imperial vs Economic vs Self Determination motives
** Different technologies
** Different tactics
** "High Tech" empires at the end of their logisitics train

* The world is not all mapped yet
** But its close
** And all of it is reachable
** What if 17th cent European-style country borders hadn't taken over the world?
** What if they eneded up different?
** What about small conflicts on the borders of "empires" that also want self-determination?

* Technological (not just scientific) expansion
** What if tech X blossomed instead of tech Y?
** Wild theories that are fun to play as true
** The potential to play feasible things that didn't happen

* And, of course, Fashoda … what if there had been a war at Fashoda?

My "Imaginations" area is from Crimea to Istanbul in the 1850's and 60's.

I also find the nineteenth century a 'what if' playground.
Victorian British vs Germany in Africa. Or the British vs the French, also in Africa. Or even a more successful Egypt.
How about the Dervish invading Egypt after Khartoum? Maybe an alliance with the Abyssinians?

19th C is the most flexible, WWII is the most debated, Modern seems more free wheeling to me.

Ancient to medieval the most strategic in cultural expansion?

Modern.

Seems there is a lot of gamer interest in WWII. For example, "What if Hitler Died Earlier and the Nazis Allied with the Western Allies against the Soviets?". Also, the classic Weird War II never runs out of options. As well as, "What if the German's did invade England?"

Also, there are many possible pasts related to steam-powered Victorian science fantasy.

I rarely see Napoleonic or Renaissance what-ifs.

Pretty much whatever Harry Turtledove writes I'll read.

My all time favorite is when H. Perot Ross (ahem) sent back a group of mercs to win the Alamo. Awesome book.

> My all time favorite is when H. Perot Ross

I've got a lot of his books, but not that one. Do you remember the title?

as for the original questions.

1: Cold War gone hot (VERY happy it did not in real life mind, but makes for great fun on the game table).

2: Very tight, what if Fred went left instead of right, what if the balloon went up in the eighties type stuff. (I'll happily read zanier stuff – no inclination to wargame it though)

3: It would, especially alternate technology.

4: NOPE, I'm pretty good at ignoring that stuff these days (serious discussion about what might have been is fun, name calling is what such threads usually devolve into – that is when I bail out of them and move on)

5: No

Lots of opportunities in the Ancient realm. Alexander lives and turns west. The Gauls crush Rome and that sets up Gauls & Greeks vs Carthage, or Carthage & Greeks vs Gauls. Rome finally beats the Sassinids and heads for India. All plausible, all great fun.

I think the Napoleonic period is best for what-if because of the large number of midgets in Europe at that time.

Ours usually degrade into something like:

What if Michael Knight was driving the General Lee, would he still fight crime? Or was KITT the real star of the show?

Yes. That did come up…

Ancients. Would have liked to have seen Alexander invade Britain, Caesar penetrate the Sahara, and Octavian invade China.

Rome doesn't fall, Hannibal takes his supporters and ends up in South America, take it to the modern day. Makes for a interesting rpg setting.

I'd like to see Hitler go to war against Czarist Russia (Lenin's parents are eaten by bears).

Dynaman8789 Oh snap, it totally wasn't Turtledove! I remember picking it up at the same time I started reading Turtledove so it must have all blended together in my mind.
link
Great book.