tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post2355981152314616724..comments2024-03-29T02:18:02.207-07:00Comments on The Mad Padre's Wargames Page: Tuesday Boardgame: GMT's A Distant Plain, First ImpressionsMad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-18087963313997097612014-08-30T21:04:12.771-07:002014-08-30T21:04:12.771-07:00Very interesting situation and your review explain...Very interesting situation and your review explains quite a bit. I may consider this game.Jonathan Freitaghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07862373894196924886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-8839712793551051282014-08-28T15:31:42.835-07:002014-08-28T15:31:42.835-07:00It was more a case, I think, of registering there ...It was more a case, I think, of registering there protest in emphatic fashion for the duration of the Tour. What the thing amounted to was a clash between two strongly held points of view; the one opposing the then existing Apartheid regime in South Africa (Nelson Mandela was still a political prisoner at the time); the other enthusiastically supporting sports contacts (allegedly so the regime would be led by the example New Zealand's harmonious (yeah, right) race relations), and it was true to say that the Springboks were always the toughest opponents world wide for the All Blacks to face.<br /><br />The protest movement was very popular movement, and all sorts of people from all sorts of lives marched on motorways and streets and other public places - professional people, retired pensioners, schoolkids, factory workers, you name it. The then National Government tried to make out the marches were conducted by Rentamob, each being paid by the well-known long-term anti-apartheid movements in this country. Funny thing: I seemed to be parting with $20 from time to time towards expenses - I sure lord was never given any money for wearing out shoe leather. <br /><br />No: it was a popular movement, only barely controlled by the protest organisers (not helped by more violently inclined groups like Maori gangs, or police agents provocateurs). There was some violence, but that really erupted only during the final game of the Tour, the final Test Match in Auckland. It was a miracle I think that it didn't happen to any major extent earlier.<br /><br />When the Tour ended, most of us simply went back home. That was it, and everything returned more or less to normal. The schism in Kiwiland that had been exposed took a long time to heal, I think. A few years later an All Black tour of South Africa was mooted, we now had a Labour Government, which, though in fact run by ultra-right-wing NeoCons, retained enough of a left wing ethos to let the NZRFU know that any such tour would not have the backing of the Government. So an unofficial team went, and not all established All Blacks chose to go. There was a bit of moaning in pro-Rugby circles, but when it emerged that the ''Cavaliers' were being paid (it was never clear to what extent this was a true or fair accusation), a certain revulsion of feeling set in, as at that time Rugby Union was an amateur sport. At that, the Cavaliers were suspended for 2 subsequent official Internationals. Their replacements (the 'Baby All Blacks') proved so capable of dispatching their opponents, not many Cavaliers ever recovered their former place in the National side.<br /><br />Archduke Piccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15533325665451889661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-56303073533804790802014-08-28T05:03:34.581-07:002014-08-28T05:03:34.581-07:00Thanks Robert. I'm ALWAYS behind in my blog r...Thanks Robert. I'm ALWAYS behind in my blog reading. I hope to have more to report on ADP in next Tuesday's post.Mad Padrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-9083119508561210382014-08-28T05:02:55.754-07:002014-08-28T05:02:55.754-07:00I did a graduate course in sociology last term foc...I did a graduate course in sociology last term focusing on Social Movements, and learned that some movements can draw players from smaller groups and movements (the movement of solidarity with Latin America and against US involvement there in the 1980s in North America was one such example). Did the NZ rugby protestors go back to other apartheid groups, or did they regard the hub done once NZRFU was discredited?Mad Padrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-32725634715402588522014-08-28T04:56:48.916-07:002014-08-28T04:56:48.916-07:00Great story Ion. I was a marcher myself back then...Great story Ion. I was a marcher myself back then. It's interesting how we can see current and political events with fresh eyes if we've had a chance to game them. I was reading a blog post a few days back by a fellow who went to GenCon and got into some huge multiplayer political NDSM (National Security Decision Making Game) about contemporary events, where he represented his country's steel industry, and his victory conditions involved resisting sanctions and encouraging arms sales. I know these types of games are huge in political studies and government think tanks - there's a prof at McGill, Rex Brynen, who I knew vaguely in under grand, who teaches them.Mad Padrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-15670300475590993592014-08-28T04:49:59.485-07:002014-08-28T04:49:59.485-07:00Hi Pete:
You're talking about the Andean Abyss...Hi Pete:<br />You're talking about the Andean Abyss game, which I think is sadly out of print. I've heard goof things about it. GMT also has a game about Cuba and Castro in that series which looks interesting. <br />I think ADP will be fun once I get the hang of it.Mad Padrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-34791597723537981492014-08-27T20:52:53.308-07:002014-08-27T20:52:53.308-07:00Sorry falling behind on my blog reading. There is ...Sorry falling behind on my blog reading. There is a lot going on in this setup.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04802420094217299660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-68735972936491323542014-08-27T20:35:18.022-07:002014-08-27T20:35:18.022-07:00It is remarkable sometimes that, reminded of a lon...It is remarkable sometimes that, reminded of a long forgotten event or action from the distant past, one's memory grows with the thinking about it. I mentioned the Press as one of the factions in the game I mentioned in the previous comment. I was mistaken: it was the NZ Rugby Football Union, whose invitation to the SARFU triggered the whole kerfuffle. I also recall that I was still leading in that final turn, but whatever action I chose benefited the government or the NZRFU, one or the other. At the same time I lost some cred.<br /><br />It says a lot about the balance of the game, too, when I recall that maybe just two, possibly three, points separated first and last (somewhere in the 'teens'). Now that I recall the fourth faction correctly, I don't think I did finish last - rather it was the Protest Movement and the NZRFU that jointly brought up the rear. Now this might be thought ironic, when all's said and done, but I rather think the game result accurately forecast the end result of the affair. 1981 was election year, and the sitting National Government (helped by a gerrymander that added value to rural seats, allied to the popularity rugby enjoys among our horny handed tons of soil) retained the Treasury benches. The Police got (as I rather figured at the time) some training in this kind of affair that they would never otherwise have got. Rugby took a knock in popularity that was really only revived come the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. Meanwhile the NZRFU's utter failure to learn squat was demonstrated by the 1985 'Cavaliers' Tour to South Africa. The South Africans regarded it as a full All Black's side, of course, and by extension New Zealand's endorsement - by and large fictional - endorsement of its apartheid regime. The 'Cavaliers' were thrashed on the field; the returning players were dropped from the All Blacks - many of them for good; and the NZRFU I think never thereafter recovered its public voice. And the protest movement, despite efforts by activists to keep it alive to deal with domestic racial issues, simply evaporated the moment the Tour ended.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />Ion Archduke Piccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15533325665451889661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-44578010995677002522014-08-27T19:58:22.860-07:002014-08-27T19:58:22.860-07:00Reading your description of this game reminded me ...Reading your description of this game reminded me of something very vaguely similar from over 30 years ago - 1981, specifically. At that time, against quite a lot of popular opposition, the South african Rugby Football team, the Springboks, toured this country, playing several provincial games, and four (I think) 'Tests' (i.e. international matched against the New Zealand All Blacks). During the whole course of the tour, every day there was a match on (Saturday and one week day), there were protest marches somewhere in the country - especially Wellington, where I was living at the time. I know about these marches, because I was on every Saturday march and about half the weekday ones.<br /><br />Now, my story concerns a table/board game someone produced about half way through the Tour. The four game players represented the Government, the Media, the Protest Movement, and the Police. Of these, three of the 'factions' tried to beef up their public support (it was some points system which represented this support, or some kind of cred, anyway - I'm going by a 30+ year memory here). These three began with zero, and tried to increase their score. <br /><br />Not so the Police. They began with a considerable fund of support.cred/goodwill, 30 points, I think it was, and what ever they did they could only lose points - or try and avoid losing points. <br /><br />Probably the most intriguing aspect of the game was that it was far as your 'A Distant Plain' is from a zero-sum sort of game. An action that gained you credit might well gain someone else credit as well, and it might not be who you would want it to be.<br /><br />As I recall, in the only occasion I played this game, I was the Police. Now, I rather think the order of play was predetermined, and the Police went last. At any rate, the game was drawing to a close, and I, as Police, was called upon to make my move. It was quickly obvious the Police could not win. There was a choice between two actions (I forget what they were specifically). Neither hurt the Police, all right, but one added to the credit of the Press, and the other helped the Government. Whichever got the benefit, won the game. There is something about a game in which one player, with no chance of winning, gets to decide who does win. It isn't so much fun if neither option appeals! I no longer recall which side I came down in favour of. But the Police and the Protest Movement came out joint last.<br /><br />Considering it was a pot boiler hastily produced, it was a very playable and enjoyable game, lasting maybe an hour or so. And it very well encapsulated the conflict, the issues and the the way in which actions and rhetoric could bring in support or alienate public goodwill. I wonder whatever happened to it.<br />Cheers,<br />IonArchduke Piccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15533325665451889661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-59331961595065724312014-08-27T19:55:16.713-07:002014-08-27T19:55:16.713-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Archduke Piccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15533325665451889661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-1719155768020557302014-08-27T11:15:02.258-07:002014-08-27T11:15:02.258-07:00Pleased to see you taking on this game. I'm a ...Pleased to see you taking on this game. I'm a big fan of the COIN series since the Colombia game, it's quite a monster but plays well, though the more human players the better imo. You'll get hours of gaming from it.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Pete.Pete.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06668389518826053090noreply@blogger.com