May 2002 Armchair General's Revue

The bitter taste of cordite permeates the atmosphere as hundreds of battles rage across a multitude of landscapes, from the frozen steppes of Russia to the sun baked deserts of North Africa, the outcome of each battle dependent on the roll of the die....All Axis and Allies players have been there, whether hunched over the board in a face to face game willing the rolling bones to go their way or the often nailbiting wait for the dice roller page to click over, that rush of adrenaline and anticipation is still there ... regardless of the format.

From the President's Desk:

I'd like to open the may Revue by praising the efforts of our government. Anyone who has ever volunteered their services to any club will know how much dedication is required to make it all happen. You hear talk, perhaps accusations is a more appropriate word, from time to time that the government is akin to an 'old boys club' or 'elitist', this talk has occurred here and at other associations in the past and is usually bandied around by two categories of members, those who have not served and those who have served but do not really accomplish anything (other than to do a lot of talkie talkie but little workie workie).

Now thankfully there has been none of this talk here by our members for quite some time but as I am now in the President's chair, sofa, whatever, I am taking the opportunity to set the record straight. For all time. The lowdown is as follows: All government volunteers, from any association, are doing it for the one major reason and that is: SOMEONE has to do it and invariably the longest serving volunteers are inevitably the best because they have stuck with it and are always the most reliable. okay enuff said about that, I'll get off my soap box and you can move on and read about the exploits of our government members....

Another area I was able to spend some time working on due to this delegation was an enhanced history section (the What is IAAPA? link), including 'snapshots' of the web site from previous epochs. I hope everyone will enjoy this walk down memory lane (or a glimpse into the past for our newer members). If anyone has any screenshots of the old AOL Axis and Allies Wargamers forum, or versions of the site I missed, I will include them as well.

I also have been trying to help keep Havoc alive by submitting content I receive when people email the dice server...I do hope people continue to send content in as the Havoc is a wonderful part of IAAPA.

Finally, I would like to encourage everyone to consider whether they would appreciate the opportunity to 'chat' with other members of IAAPA, and if so, to download an IRC client (program) from www.mirc.com

Blackdog (John) and others are trying to promote this new forum and possibly revive seminars among other things. In addition, playing 'live' over IRC is a good way to speed up a PBEM game...both of you can still send emails back and forth and use the dice server, however, any questions you have (like losses, etc.) can be handled much quicker. This is what we were trying to offer with the IAAPA War Room but at that time there was insufficient interest.

As always, feel free to contact me on anything specifically relating to the web site. Until then, remember, if you really disagree with anything that the Executive is doing, blame the Aussie. :)

Regards,

micwil
IAAPA Prime Minister

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION - Gil (Tusk) - who@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF LAW - John (JohnPin569) - law@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

From the Law Office...

Greetings Fellow Warriors,
It has been a busy month. In response to member input, some new battle resolution procedures were put in place. These procedure are intended to enhance play and mostly involve naval battles. These changes will be closely monitored for an adverse affect on game speed and they will be reevaluated after a few months.

As a brief reminder, this is an e-mail club, not a face to face club. As such, there will always be differences between club play and face to face play. That is inevitable. That being said, we will continue to strive to make our club game play as close as possible to live play without unduly sacrificing the speed of play.

Also, there was a mass mailing sent out in April with some clarifications about #9 in the Battle Resolution Section. For those of you who did not get it it is repeated here:

9. If the battle is an amphibious assault, the attacker must declare which sea zone the transport/s are in prior to rolling the battle. If this is not done, the battle will be void and must be rerolled, with the correct location of the transports divulged prior to rolling.

The spirit of intent is to prevent an attacker form illegally changing the location of a transport if an amphibious assault should go awry. I will address a couple of specific questions:

1. The sea zone that the transports are "in" is the sea zone that they unloaded from.

2. "What happens if I do not list the sea zone that the transports unloaded from if there is only one option, such as Hawaii or India?"

ANS: Nothing. This rule would only apply if there was a choice or option. For example, you would not have to list "trn's to Hw sz" for a Hawaiian assault, or "trns to India sea zone" for an Indian assault. You MAY, for example, have to list them for a territory or island that has more than one sea zone bordering it, say, Mad, S.Afr, or Aus.

3. "Do I have to list the sea zone if there is only one possibility, even though there is more than one sea zone bordering the territory or island?"

ANS: You do not have to list the sea zone is there is one and only one possibility. For example, you would not have to list "trns to NE.Aus sz" for a Japanese assault on Aus from Hw, as the NE Aus sz is the only possibility. You would have to list the sea zone for an assault with choices, such as India to Mad, or New Guinea to Aus, etc. Remember, the intent was not to allow the attacker to later, and illegally, change the location of the trn's if the assault went bad, not to burden players with having to write unnecessary things in their send.

That is all for now.
Take care.
John

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF STATS AND LOGS - Eric (Raist) - logs@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net - stats@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

1) All logs are current as of this instant I've typing (April 30th, 3:23 pm). They may not be posted, but if you look at your stats, there should be a "Yes" under the game log recieved

2) Please include both game start and game finish notices in the logs.

3) Just for everyone's interest, since last Revue there have been 112 gamestarts in IAAPA (9713 to date) - a little more than 3 a day.

4) For ANY game where you need the stats changed i.e. entered the wrong winner, you want to declare the game a draw, etc., e-mail me at stats@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net, and I will change it for you.

5) Players CANNOT null games. If you want to null a game, email law@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net . He will then approve the null, and pass it on to me. I will then enter it.

I will be looking for a helper in the next little while, as I have another project that I want to work on. So anyone interested in helping out can email me at stats@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

With regards to rankings and logs, based upon the results from the elections, and other factors, I will be making the following two suggestions for change to the current system.

-the games played requirement be removed from the levels of Lieutenant and above.

- allow the loser to submit a log if the winner does not. This will depend on my discussions with Michael and Halldor, as we must find a feasable way of doing this.

Eric AKA Raist
Minister of Stats & Logs

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF MEMBERS - John (Blackdog) - herald@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings,

Prior to the elections, our Exchequer submitted a proposal. The proposal contained details that would help define his office and create a procedure to follow with regards to requesting the release of funds. After a period of discussion, the Legislature changed the proposal and sent the approved bill on to the Senate for discussion. The bill deals only with the procedure to request the release of funds. EDITOR - This is now reflected on the IAAPA government page.

Traditionally, the government does not get involved with legislating duties of the Chancellors. It is left to the Chancellor to direct his office as he sees fit. However, individual government members do get involved, providing suggestions and/or information.

As Minister of the Members, I feel that the budget is the single most important issue in the club. We need to be sure that the money is handled correctly. We must have explicit trust in our receivers. To make that trust unshakable, the handling of the clubs money should be laid out clearly. That is why I put the Exchequer's proposal up as the first order of business for the Legislature.

Currently, the Exchequer is revamping the budget page. Your input can be crucial in this endeavor. Let him know what information you would like to see included on the budget report. You may also contact me at herald@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net with your ideas about the budget, or with any other concern that you have.

In closing, the Legislature currently has two proposals tabled. 2002:04 Offensive Aliases, and, 2002:08 Gentlemen's Agreements. I hope to have them opened for discussion in the upcoming month. Look to the message board for weekly updates on Legislature activities.

Thankyou,
John (Blackdog)
Minister of the Members

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF RECRUITING - Alan (Spud) - recruiting@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings from the Recruiting Office.

April has been a bit of a slow month...perhaps it is true that a young man's fancy turns to love, not war, in the Springtime (either that or the threat of a kiss from our president...I was only kidding about that guys, but was RedDwarf ever disappointed to find out it was only a joke). Since the last Revue we have had 3 more members join our ranks. Say hello to SpaceAce, bigdog, and Wasp ..welcome warriors.

Another reminder that the next set of renewals will come in July..those that are due will receive a series of reminder emails from the recruiting office starting in June, with instructions on how to re-enlist. If you think your membership expires this July but don't receive an email from me in early June, give me a shout to check up on your status, or check on-line at .

This now brings our total active membership to 205 and growing.

That's all on the recruitment front...till next month.

Spud
Minister of Recruiting
IAAPA