Lothars Log, Stardate.........

lotharlutjens · **lotharlutjens**

Thursday, February 26, 2009

President Wilson learns of Zimmermann Telegram (see full story at end of the log)

Hello everyone. I have a couple of job interviews in the next few days and beginning Thursday I will be starting a 4 day stint as a stage hand for the David Copperfield show, I'll try to post what I can in my off hours. Previously in the past three weeks I posted the Italian Fransesco Ferruccio, the Japanese Kasagi and Kongo, the Austro-Hungarian Radetzky, Kaiser Karl VI and Erzherzog Karl, the French ships Danton, Edgar Quinet, and Ernest Renan, the HMS's King George V, Neptune, Revenge, Indefatigable, Lion, Monmouth, Agamemnon and St. Vincent, the SMS's Seydlitz, Prinz Regent Luitpold and Derfflinger, the Spanish Espana, a brand new addition to the RHN, the Kilkis (ex-USS Mississippi) and the Russian Andrey Pervozvanny. Cards are being made presently and the following will be updated soon, but there are 43 cards ready as of now.

The following list has been recently updated (2/09).

The following are cards ready to be playtested.
Great Britain = Iron Duke, Erin, Dreadnought, Canada, Arethusa, Duncan, Canopus, Orion, Invincible, Majestic, Queen, Triumph and King Edward VII.
Germany = Scharnhorst, Moltke, Seydlitz, Von Der Tann, Dresden, Magdeburg, Derfflinger, Konig, Nassau, Bayern and Schleswig Holstein.
Greece = Georges Averoff, Kilkis.
Norway = Tordenskjold
Austria Hungary = Viribus Unitus, Sankt Georg and Zenta
Italy = Regina Elena, Amalfi and Dante Aligheiri
Japan = Kasuga
France = Courbet and Leon Gambetta
Russia = Zchemchug and Peresviet
Spain = Espana

Many more are waiting to be made into cards.

In the next few days we will be adding more cards to the Beta list, we will then need YOU ! to begin playtesting.

NOTE**** I am keeping all below till we get the Beta cards done. There are a few things I might need to refer to.

OLD INFO FOLLOWS
all info from here to featured story is old. Rule changes are still valid, but card info is not.

The following are changes to cards that already exist. ( When Aquarius has enough time )

Agamemnon - Lose Spd 2, Gain Spd 1 + AAF (All Ahead Full)
Indefatigable- Lose FS (Flank Speed), Gain AAF
Queen Elizabeth- Lose FS, Gain AAF
Peresviet- Lose Spd 2, Gain Spd 1 + AAF, +1 Vital Armor
Georges Averoff- Gain AAF, -1 Vital Armor
King Edward VII- Lose Spd 2, Gain Spd 1 + AAF, +1 Vital Armor
Revenge- Gain AAF
Blucher- Gain AAF
Von Der Tann- Lose FS, Gain AAF
Regina Elena- + 1 Vital Armor
Edgar Quinet- -1 Vital Armor
Scharnhorst- -1 Vital Armor
Monmouth- -1 Vital Armor

There are now 29 playtest cards for playtesting. I have now posted playtest errata for the 29 ship cards already done by our stalwart Aquarius, hopefully, if he has the time, he can change the data on these 9 ships.

A new playtest rule has been adopted. Battleship class vessels (Dreadnought, Pre-Dreadnought and Battlecruisers) can only fire their torpedos at targets which have not moved this turn.

A rule expanding on RB's concept of Destroyers being harder to hit by Battleship main weaponry is suggested while playtesting, In the new rules Battleships need 6's to hit DD's as before but now also need 5's and 6's to hit cruisers with their main gun batteries. Cruisers are now also handicapped in using their main batteries on Destroyers as well, but not quite as bad as Battleships, needing 5's and 6's to hit the lhe little guys.
6's still count as two hits as before.

(Mini-post by Aquarius): The cards that I have finished I will highlight in blue.

Sep. 29
All 24 cards are done. ( finished on Oct. 3 )

Arethusa Bow Broadside Stern
Mains */2/1/1 5/4/3/1 */2/1/1
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 5
remove secondary

Georgios Averoff
Mains 8/7/6/4 9/8/7/5 8/7/6/4
Sec OK OK OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4
AA 3

Espana
Mains 13/12/11/9 14/13/12/10 13/12/11/9
Sec */2/1 6/5/4 */2/1

Peresviet
Mains */7/6/4 OK */7/6/4
Sec */4/3/1 6/5/4/2 */3/2/1
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

Republique
Mains */8/7/5 OK */8/7/5
Sec */6/5/3 9/8/7/5 */6/5/3

Scharnhorst
Mains */6/5/3 9/8/7/5 */6/5/3
Sec OK OK OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

Monmouth
Mains */5/4/2 8/7/6/4 */5/4/2
DEF ARMAMENT 5

Helgoland
Mains */13/12/10 OK */13/12/10
Sec OK 7/6/5/3 OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

King George V
Mains OK 16/15/14/12 OK
Sec */4/3 5/4/3 3/2/1

Sep. 30

Von Der Tann
Mains */11/10/8 OK */11/10/8
Sec OK 7/6/5/3 OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

Derfflinger
Mains OK OK OK
Sec OK 6/5/4/2 OK

Queen Elizabeth
Mains */13/12/10 16/15/14/12 */13/12/10
Sec */5/4/2 7/6/5/3 */4/3/1

Bayern
Mains */13/12/10 16/15/14/12 */13/12/10
Sec */5/4/2 7/6/5/3 */4/3/1
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

Indefatigable
Mains OK 13/12/11/9 OK
Sec */1/1 OK */1/1

Erin
Mains OK 16/15/14/12 OK
Sec */5/4/2 7/6/5/3 */5/4/2
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 5

Blucher
Mains */8/7/5 OK */8/7/5
Sec OK OK OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

Konig
Mains OK 16/15/14/12 OK
Dec */3/2/1 7/6/5/3 */3/2/1
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 5

Agamemnon
Mains OK 11/10/9/7 OK
Sec OK 10/9/8/6 OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

Seydlitz
Mains */12/11/9 15/14/13/11 */13/12/10
Sec OK 6/5/4/2 OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

Dreadnought
Mains OK 13/12/11/9 OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 3

Iron Duke
Mains OK 16/15/14/12 OK
Sec OK 6/5/4/2 OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 5

Lion
Mains OK OK */11/10/8
Sec OK 5/4/3 */2/1

Nassau
Mains */11/10/8 13/12/11/9 */11/10/8
Sec */5/4/2 6/5/4/2 */5/4/2
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

Ostfriesland
Mains */13/12/10 OK */13/12/10
Sec OK 7/6/5/3 OK
DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT 4

FINI

That makes 24 and I am so done.

Thanks Aquarius for your wonderful efforts.

Oct. 1

The following 4 are waiting to be made into cards.

Stats waiting on cards
Regina Elena is ready to be immortalized. ( In Cardstock )
Revenge is ready
Magdeburg is ready
King Edward VII is ready

Oct. 2
The following 3 are waiting to be made into cards.
Emden is ready
Neptune is ready
Grozny is ready

Oct. 3
Introduced Big gun vs Small target playtest rule.
Turgut Reis is ready

Oct. 4
Edgar Quinet is ready
Leon Gambetta is ready

Oct. 5
Zenta is ready
Schleswig Holstein is ready

Oct. 6
Lots of discussion involving alternate movement systems. I statted out the Australian Gunboat and a Norwegian Coastal Pre-Dreadnought on paper but am holding off posting them till I get a handle on which way this movement discussion goes.

Oct. 7
A whole lot of brainstorming with ND and EK on movement issues, Swarbs dangles a little Historical bait in the first part of his work up on the Spanish American War. I have temporarily suspended statting of new ships till I get a handle on where movement is going.

Oct. 8
Continuing brainstorming on the subject of movement in the advanced game. Hopefully we will settle on a viable solution in the next few days.

Oct. 9
Some more Ideas on movement being discussed, Swarbs is continuing his Spanish-American piece.

Oct. 10
Still involved with debate on the movement system, hopefully this will come to a head soon. ( Like a giant pimple )

Oct. 11
Looking at all the submitted movement and facing suggestions, I hope that a decision acceptable to most will come out of this. Personally, I am politicking for things to stay fairly close to WaS.

Oct. 12
Posted a slightly altered speed system for the basic rules, we'll see how that goes.

Oct. 13
Putting together some errata for certain ship cards, this will involve SA's and speed

Oct. 14
Note to self : Do not allow your mother to use the computer to pay bills. Don't know what she did but it took most of the day to be able to get back on line. Hope to get some work done tomorrow.

Oct. 15
Posted new speed table in the guidelines, had a discussion with ND about exploring a "side-line" movement system just to see where that might lead.

Oct. 16
I got caught up in my real life today and didn't get to post anything new. Don't worry though, I have a lot of stuff coming your way soon.

Oct. 17
Got a little accomplished today by figuring out what cards needed errata due to the new speed table. (9 in total)

Oct. 18
Personal business kept me busy today, I will try to stat some ships tomorrow.

Oct. 19
Statted out a few ships on paper but now need to post them. Hopefully sometime Monday.

Oct. 20
I have several ships statted out and intend to post them ASAP.

Oct. 21
The following three are ready for transformation into cards.
Moltke
Prinzregent Luitpold
Erebus

Oct. 22
I have requested schematics for 4 Battlecruiser classes that up to now have been overlooked, I already have their stats worked out and will post them as soon a someone sets up the schematics.

Oct. 23
I have recieved good schematics for HMS Invincible and HMS Tiger, HMS Queen Mary will probably need a new one. SMS Hindenburg is still needed.
Will post stats on Invincible and Tiger this morning.

Oct. 24
I was unavailable most of the day today, likely most of tomorrow as well, Some work has been done on a possible schematic for Hindenburg.

Oct. 25
Participated in a 16 Dreadnought slugfest multi-player game tonight and had a blast. It's one thing to know a ships stats, but quite another to use them in a game, it was most illuminating.

Oct. 26
HMS Tiger is ready
HMS Invincible is ready

Oct. 27
The French Courbet is ready
HMS Queen Mary is ready

Oct. 28
Requested a whole list of schematics to try and flush out the capitol vessels of England and Germany. They already have 3 or 4 waiting in DR General and I will move them over to DR units soon.

Oct. 29
Placed under review HMS Queen, HMS Orion and SMS Kaiser. I will add their stats today.

Oct. 30
Had to take a fast job for the next 3 or 4 days and will probably not have time to do much. I am sorry but I must eat.

Oct. 31
Still working.

Nov. 1
Still working, one more day to go. ***Battle of Coronel was fought today***

Nov. 2
I have finished my job and will work on some DR stuff this week. Sorry I couldn't add much this weekend but sometimes one has got to make a living.

Nov. 3
HMS Queen is ready
HMS Orion is ready
SMS Kaiser is ready

Nov. 4
Made a few corrections on some ships that are waiting to be made into cards.

Nov. 5
Danton is ready

Nov. 6
HNoMS Tordenskjold is ready.

Nov. 7
Sankt Georg is ready

Nov. 8
Zhemchug is ready

Nov. 9
Canopus is ready
The Emden was sunk by the Sydney 94 years ago.

Nov. 10
Duncan is ready

Nov. 11
Majestic is ready

Nov. 12
Revised some Vital Armor formulae ( Pre-Dreadnoughts, Armored Cruisers, Protected Cruisers and Destroyers )

Nov. 13
Working and just to doggone tired tonight to get much done.

Nov. 14
Working

Nov. 15
Last day to work this job.

Nov. 16
Dallas beat Wahington 14-10 ( Marion Barber Rocked ).
Triumph is ready.

Nov. 17
HMS Drake is ready. ( Now we can get ready for a Coronel scenario )

Nov. 18
Dante Alighieri is ready.

Nov. 19
Viribus Unitis is ready

Nov. 20
Amalfi is ready
Posted a request for any ideas on handling torpedoes a little differently.

Nov. 21
Canada is ready
Requested setups for 4 more British Dreadnoughts

Nov. 22
Agincourt is ready

Nov. 23
Bellerophon is ready

Nov. 24
Colossus is ready

Nov. 25
Got a call out to work the Papa Roach, Seether and Stained concert, I really busted my tail and I am exhausted, so, nothing new today.

Nov. 26
With family and friends for this Thanksgiving weekend, I will try to post a few more ships bu Sunday.

Nov. 27
Celebrated Thanksgiving. Got a call to work Oliver Friday-Sunday so definitely won't get any DR work done till Sunday

Nov. 28
Working Oliver

Nov. 29
Working Oliver but managed to sneak one in.
HMS St. Vincent is ready

Nov. 30
Oliver is over and I have time for a little work now.

Dec. 1
SMS Braunschweig is ready

Dec. 2
IJN Kasuga is ready

Dec. 3
Fransesco Ferruccio is ready

Dec. 4
Kasagi is ready. (So I don't forget, I predict Arizona Vital Armor at 13 and AA at 6, although I am shakier on the latter)

Dec. 5
Got a little involved with WaS discussions so no new progress.

Dec. 6
Set target date to begin switching to LMS system as Dec. 17

Dec. 7
Statted out USS Arizona as last Alpha test series. We still need her costs so she is not ready. Started a thread to get opinions on what constitutes what on gun size specifications.

Dec. 8
Put forth the idea of some generic SA's for DD's

Dec. 9
Did a little paperwork to get an idea of how a couple of ships might stat out in the new LMS system. Will post an example before Dec. 17

Dec. 10
All is quite on the Western Front, still treading water till the 17th

Dec. 11
NeuralDream has discovered a Turkish delight....A website.

Dec. 12
Treading water

Dec. 13
Posted the new King Edward VII

Dec. 14
Treading water

Dec. 15
NeuralDream has made the first "Beta" playtest card. HUZZAH !

Dec. 16
Like the Germans in the Ardennes, NeuralDream has suprised attacked me and the LMS system switch over has begun. I don't mind, I was ready to begin anyway.

Dec. 17
Converting data from the old system to LMS system, will post a list of all ships ready for playtesting Monday. I've been called for work, I'll be busy till Monday.

Dec. 18
Having to work this weekend, but still managed the Turgut Reis

Dec. 19
I am working this weekend but have added Turgut Reis, Lion, Sankt Georg and Nassau to the LMS conversions done.

Dec. 20
Kaiser, Konig, Agincourt and Erin converted to LMS stats.

Dec. 21
Orion, Scharnhorst and Queen are ready. (LMS)

Dec. 22
Courbet, Emden, Erebus, Zenta, Zhemchug, Leon Gambetta and Drake are ready. (LMS)

Dec. 23
(LMS) versions of Canopus, Invincible and Bayern are ready.

Dec. 24
Celebrating Christmas Eve, requested a few things that weren't completed on a few ships. (cost, poor schematic, etc)

Dec. 25
Celebrated Christmas ( my ma can still cook at 70 )

Dec. 26
My father has bee admitted to a hospital for pneumonia and congestive heart failure.

Dec. 27
Majestic and Duncan are ready

Dec. 28
Canada is ready. My father is still being hospitalized.

Dec. 29
Magdeburg and Dresden are ready.

Dec. 30
Triumph is ready

Dec. 31
Arethusa is ready

Jan. 1
Peresviet is ready

Jan. 2
Mary Rose is ready

Jan. 3
Aetos is ready

Jan. 4
Sick in bed.

Jan. 5
Torpedoboot 1916 is ready, still sick though.

Jan. 6
Queen Mary is ready. Still sick but I believe I'm getting better.

Jan. 7
Colossus is ready.

Jan. 8
Gayunda is ready.

Jan. 9
Grozny is ready.

Jan. 10
Blucher is ready.

Jan. 11
Von Der Tann is ready.

Jan. 12
Bretagne is ready.

Jan. 13
Not able to work on project Today

Jan. 14
Having to work and make money yesterday and today.

Jan. 15
Working.

Jan. 16
Last day of work, hope to get back to the ships Sunday.

Jan. 17
Hope to get a few things done now that I am through with my lil job.

Jan. 18
ND has started doing a few cards. Ehenry may become involved in the card making.

Jan. 19
35 cards are ready for playtesting.

Jan. 20
Watched Obama.

Jan. 21
Kilkis is ready.

Jan. 22
Espana is ready.

Jan. 23
Its my Birthday! Very Happy

Jan. 24
Still partying.

Jan. 25
Derfflinger is ready.

Jan. 26
Seydlitz is ready.

Jan. 27
King George V is ready.

Jan. 28
A close friend had surgery and I was otherwise busy.

Jan. 29
Danton is ready.

Jan.30
Ernest Renan is ready.

Jan. 31
Radetzky is ready.

Feb. 1
Kasagi is ready.

Feb. 2
St. Vincent is ready.

Feb. 3
Fransesco Ferrucio is ready.

Feb. 4
Kaiser Karl VI is ready.

Feb. 5
Edgar Quinet is ready.

Feb. 6
Erzherzog Karl is ready.

Feb. 7
Working.

Feb. 8
Neptune is ready

Feb. 9
Revenge is ready.

Feb. 10
Prinz Regent Luitpold is ready.

Feb. 11
Indefatigable is ready.

Feb. 12
Out of town.

Feb. 13
Andrey Pervozvanny is ready.

Feb. 14
Monmouth is ready.

Feb. 15
Working.

Feb. 16
Kongo is ready.

Feb. 17
Texsword's surgery.

Feb. 18
Texsword recovery.

Feb. 19
Texsword released from hospital. I will probably be able to do some work soon.

Feb. 20
HMS Lion is ready.

Feb. 21
Kaiser was made into a card.

Feb. 22
Agamemnon is ready.

Feb. 23
Job interviewing

Feb. 24
Interviewing and testing.

Feb. 25
Interviewing.

New playtest rules that have been adopted.
Battleship class vessels (Dreadnought, Pre-Dreadnought and Battlecruisers) can only fire their torpedos at targets which have not moved this turn.

Large batteries need 6's to hit small targets (DD's) and need 5's and 6's to hit medium size targets ( cruisers.)
Medium batteries need 5's and 6's to hit small targets (DD's).
In all of these cases 6's still count as two hits as before.

92 years ago today, President Wilson learned of the Zimmermann Telegram, and this was the story....

February 26, 1917

President Wilson learns of Zimmermann Telegram
In a crucial step toward U.S. entry into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson learns of the so-called Zimmermann Telegram, a message from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico proposing a Mexican-German alliance in the event of a war between the U.S. and Germany.
On February 24, 1917, British authorities gave Walter Hines Page, the U.S. ambassador to Britain, a copy of the Zimmermann Telegram, a coded message from Zimmermann to Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to Mexico. In the telegram, intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence in late January, Zimmermann instructed his ambassador, in the event of a German war with the United States, to offer significant financial aid to Mexico if it agreed to enter the conflict as a German ally. Germany also promised to restore to Mexico the lost territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

The State Department promptly sent a copy of the Zimmermann Telegram to President Wilson, who was shocked by the note’s content and the next day proposed to Congress that the U.S. should start arming its ships against possible German attacks. Wilson also authorized the State Department to publish the telegram; it appeared on the front pages of American newspapers on March 1. Many Americans were horrified and declared the note a forgery; two days later, however, Zimmermann himself announced that it was genuine.

The Zimmermann Telegram helped turn the U.S. public, already angered by repeated German attacks on U.S. ships, firmly against Germany. On April 2, President Wilson, who had initially sought a peaceful resolution to World War I, urged immediate U.S. entrance into the war. Four days later, Congress formally declared war against Germany.

Just a little flavor :
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Gaming for 36 Years.

NeuralDream · **NeuralDream**

Do you delete your old blog posts and keep only 1 sentence? I see only up to Feb 2.
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My new blog, specialised in the military equipment of Greece (1821-today).