12/31/12

todays notes -

cmyk issues with internet explorer... yar

ran a rootkit uninstaller on my deck today. good things.

my neck hurts.

finished typing the text for "THE PRINCE" theme expansion... so... that's on it's way.

finished a bunch of legwork on persia.

emailed a bunch of cool cats on deviant art about their art being in the game... added the art link on the main page...

what else...

my wife watched almost forced me to watch "pretty woman" but i got away just in time.

new years resolutions:

play more empires and generals.

spend less time watching robot chicken.

Website updates!

I know many of you have written to me asking me to fix the donate button...

Oh wait...

ONE of you wrote to me and asked me when I would have the chance to get the donate button working. It works now! Yeha! Thanks to my website provider for fixing the HTML5 issue with that.

:)

It sure would be nice to get a Christmas present from my loyal fans.

So...

Well the website is up and going in its new fashion. I understand Chrome should have fixed their HTML5 code that allowed you to right click and save JPG instead of HTM files and so I just gave up on them and went thru Blogger to host all of the files. It sure would have been neat to have it ALL ON ONE SITE but no, I am not a code monkey and did not know how to fix it.

Hopefully navigation will be a little easier for you.

I did some researching on what a great website needs and what all I offer and how to arrange it, and the skeleton looks good right now and will continue to develop. The For Sale area is next and then the Links area.

Also I would like to add a lot of pictures to the printing area.

Pretty sleepy at the moment so I won't do that.

(YAWNS)

I've been working on a novel also and sad to say I am only on chapter six... but my wife enjoys reading it. Her eyes bugged out when she ended chapter five. I like writing good fiction and that reaction was the best response I had gotten from her on anything I have done to date, except maybe a painting or two.

Ah painting. I miss you.

But back to writing...

I finished up poem 1500 and started writing poem 1501 yesterday. THAT was a GOOOOOD feeling. I posted some stuff on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/JesuslovesPaulyHart

At any rate...

Pretty tired. Going to take a 4 hour nap and get back to work. I think I might try to bang out some more sense into the "Special Edition"... It seems pretty religious to me and that was kind of the intent, but there are a couple of cards I should move to the unaffiliated.

Oh yeah, I was going to brush up the rules too.

WORK WORK

12/28/12

new changes up to main website.

still werkin on it.

12/28/12

working late tonight on the .com site

you should see some cool improvements vewwwy vewwwy soon.

Send me your photos

...and I will possibly turn them into a card

Here is fun example!

Send your best Photo or Drawing to EmpiresandGenerals@gmail.com

Thanks!

-pauly

12/23/12

working a bit on http://www.mindmeister.com/189473786/empires-and-generals-franchise

putting together some lost pieces. you should check it out.

working a bit on http://www.empiresandgenerals.com/

doing other stuff... streamlining mostly.

going to do something amazing in the next month. get ready.

Mayan Calendar

Well the time came and went and we were not all sucked into the sea.

I figured I would celebrate with a new card.

GAME ON!

The Prince Theme Expansion

Order The Prince!

The newest Theme Expansion!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/118322907/empires-and-generals-the-prince-theme

Hey! It's Simon Pegg!

Desktops And Scoundrels Dot TK has a new card!

Empires And Generals Card Video

Ancient Japan

Here are some previously released cards that went to the Tokyo in Tulsa group back in July. Today they are yours. 

Ancient Japan used a lot of bamboo. You can too, if you trade coin for bamboo. Maybe you should  get Greece? Ancient Greece has cards in it to trade any resource from any other and turn it into coin to purchase other resources.

In Ancient Japan, the Jomon People were a big believer in "Terraphim" or household gods. Whatever the impact these little statues had, one cannot say that there was not a psychological boon to having your own personal mud and wood superhero. Since there were so many, I made one card with a variety of pictures... But, since this is a common card, you may have up to five Jomon Dogu in your deck. That was nice of me. :)

Strategy - Alliance Cards

Here are some new "Alliance" Cards for you.

There is nothing to worry about right now with the word "Alliance" but it will come into play later.

As of right now, they are played like regular strategy cards.

Also, at the left top you will find "Antiquity & Medieval" This is pretty much all that has been released up til now in the main Empires and Generals Game unless it is a "Trans-Dimentional" Card.

The last names of these cards reflect all of the wonderful families that have helped me get this game going... You know who you are. God bless you all and I hope everyone finds them exciting and new.

Hit me up on the forums if you have questions.

http://empiresandgeneralsccg.forumer.com/game-questions-f44991.html

Samuel the Gravedigger and Michael the Baker

Mike and Sam are a couple of guys that I work with. They got me Christmas presents, so I repaid them in kind. I hope they like these gifts. I think fame is cooler than stuff.

Magellan

11-20-12

still on this darn laptop. have not been able to set up my PC from the move to indianapolis indiana from tulsa oklahoma. once it is set up i intend to get persia tweeked and sent out to all the orders. sorry for not responding in person. also, i am going to be releasing all of the original sets to a card publishing company so you can order them and have them in a paper form that comes from a publisher and not worry about printing them yourself. also, i might have a professional video company create our new video. i am excited about that. brainstorm idea: not being able to make cards on the PC has done some wonders for my invention. i believe that the "act of God" cards will be released along with some other "scenario" cards and they will have an assigned position as an "event"... i have been toying with that idea like... right above the strategy area of the person who drew it. i think that would be the best thing instead of keeping the act of God card there in the middle of the battlefield... i should tweek the rules soon to show that change. also, a "decisive battles" mini expansion will be released soon and you can play that into the "event" area and it would greatly modify the remainder of the game. hmmmm... at any rate, i can't log into the forums right now cause i haven't unpacked my flashdrive with all of my passwords on it. YAR. ok i think i'm going to call my video guy. check you all later. GAME ON!

November Brainstorm

Doo Dee Doo

Reading The Prince at the moment. Some really great info if you've never checked it out.

Reading leads to brainstorming...

So...

- Make cards based around Machiavelli's The Prince
- Make cards based around Xenophons's Cyropedia
- Make cards based around Sun Tzu's The Art of War
- Make cards based around Plato's The Republic

- Make cards based around social teachings from The Pentatuch, Tao Te Ching, Analects, Job, Upanishads, Gilgamesh, Bhagavad Gita, The Teachings of the Buddha

- Make the Women of Ancient History Deck

11/2/12

Cleaned up this blog a little bit.

Google adwords is going away?

LOL... I never made any money on it anyway.

The Leonids

If you don't have the rest of the Act of God cards, you're missing out.
Here's another freebie to decimate the battle with.

The Thirty Moves in Chess

Just a bit of gaming fun if you are a strategy buff and enjoy chess.

==============

The Thirty Rules

TEN OPENING RULES

1. OPEN with a CENTER PAWN.
2. DEVELOP with threats.
3. KNIGHTS before BISHOPS.
4. DON'T move the same piece twice.
5. Make as FEW PAWN MOVES as possible in the opening.
6. DON'T bring out your QUEEN too early.
7. CASTLE as soon as possible, preferably on the KING SIDE.
8. ALWAYS PLAY TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE CENTER.
9. Try to maintain at least ONE PAWN in the center.
10. DON'T SACRIFICE without a clear and adequate reason.

For a sacrificed pawn you must:
a) GAIN THREE TEMPI,
b) DEFLECT the enemy QUEEN,
c) PREVENT CASTLING,
d) BUILD UP a strong attack.

TEN MIDDLEGAME RULES

1. Have all your moves fit into definite plans.
   Rules of Planning:
      a) A plan MUST be suggested by SOME FEATURE IN THE POSITION.
      b) A plan MUST be based on SOUND STRATEGIC PRINCIPLES.
      c) A plan MUST be FLEXIBLE,
      d) CONCRETE, and
      e) SHORT.
   Evaluating a Position:
      1) MATERIAL,
      2) PAWN STRUCTURE,
      3) PIECE MOBILITY,
      4) KING SAFETY,
      5) ENEMY THREATS
2. When you are material AHEAD, EXCHANGE as many pieces as possible, especiallyQUEENS.
3. AVOID serious pawn WEAKNESSES.
4. In CRAMPED POSITIONS free yourself by EXCHANGING.
5. DON'T bring your KING out with your OPPONENT'S QUEEN on the board.
6. All COMBINATIONS are based on DOUBLE ATTACK.
7. If your opponent has ONE or MORE pieces EXPOSED, look for a COMBINATION.
8. IN SUPERIOR POSITIONS, to ATTACK the ENEMY KING, you must OPEN a file (or less often a diagonal) for your HEAVY PIECES (QUEEN and ROOKS).
9. IN EVEN POSITIONS, CENTRALIZE the action of ALL your PIECES.
10. IN INFERIOR POSITIONS, the best DEFENSE is COUNTER-ATTACK, if possible.

TEN ENDGAMES RULES

1. To win WITHOUT PAWNS, you must be at least a ROOK or TWO MINOR PIECESahead (two knights excepted).
2. The KING must be ACTIVE in the ENDING.
3. PASSED PAWNS must be PUSHED (PPMBP).
4. The EASIEST endings to win are PURE PAWN endings.
5. If you are ONLY ONE PAWN ahead, EXCHANGE PIECES, not pawns.
6. DON'T place your PAWNS on the SAME COLOR SQUARES as your BISHOP.
7. BISHOPS are BETTER than KNIGHTS in all but BLOCKED pawn positions.
8. It is usually worth GIVING UP A PAWN to get a ROOK ON THE SEVENTH RANK.
9. ROOKS belong BEHIND PASSED PAWNS (RBBPP).
10. BLOCKADE PASSED PAWNS with the KING.

10/10/2012

great news for slower connections.

EandGGO.TK

is now up and running.

it's just a basic link site.

pretty cool.

also...

i have noticed that the sites are now being monitored by some bots.

that's pretty cool. i was wondering how 6 hits could instantly appear on the trackers the second that a new post or change was published...

also... i must now sleep. too much computer makes my face melt.

10/8/12

added a couple new cards to http://stickdeathccg.com/




thanks tigermisu!




yesterday added a card to http://desktopsandscoundrels.blogspot.com/




the day before that, sent out the quarterly-but-sometimes-monthly email to all the subscribers. they got a free card (pertaining to chris columbus) as well as some really cool news about empires and generals in 2013.




working on some more stuff today. will update soon.

10/6/12

in case you didn't know... i just mailed out the october newsletter, you can sign up by dropping a line at empiresandgenerals@gmail.com - it's got a surprise ending.

Empires and Generals and Google

Great news about "Empires and Generals" on Google.com.

The SEO is up now to include the break from "Empire" to "Empires"

So when you are typing it in, you should have the autofill "and Generals" when you type in "Empires".

This is really good news. I know it is at Google.com but not at some of the other domains for google.

e.g. Google.co.uk still shows "Empires and Allies".

Here are some pictures of this great progress:

Happy Birthday to Empires and Generals

Empires and Generals was created two years ago this month.

Empires and Generals has been online for one year.

We have around 2,000 players worldwide.

We have had around 500,000 hits on EmpiresandGenerals.com

We have around 6,000 returning visitors to EmpiresandGenerals.tk

Help us continue to grow.

Tell your school friends and school teachers about this FREE history game.

Use the new DONATE button on the homepage of EmpiresandGenerals.com

Blog about us.

Write about us.

Complain about us.

Do something constructive and creative.

Be Awesome.

GAME ON!

10/02/12 persia notes

notes:




all of the resources from persia will be DARIC COIN. caps for

emphasis. most things will cost a smaller amount of coin than normal

because only uncommon cards will be able to be kept, the rest are one

time use only... so it's a bit different.




the ultra rares are really old zigurats that still charged for

admission, prayers, services...




this is to reflect the persians who had NO ECONOMY other than

taxation. seriously. no major markets... nothing of any significance.

weird.




all taxes were paid by satraps in gold dust and sometimes horses.




also:




"ultra rare soldiers" are real life war-generals and the "uncommon

generals" were real life lieutenant, colonel, major, general.




also:




i haven't moved any of the strat or tactics away from common. still

working on that.


so... also i have no common generals. that is a new one as the generals are evenly spit between uncommon and ultra-rare... but there are 12 of them or so...



what else...


oh yeah...


i keep tweaking resources. i have 21 resources so far...


they are


3 common

5 uncommon

7 rare

6 ultra rare.


the reason for this goes back to the whole way they ran their economy. i'm not the worlds leading historian, but from what i can figure, the government was very very liquid.


the taxes came in, in the form of gold dust, which the treasury turned around and melted and used for their standarized daric coin to pay everyone.


the wealth stayed in the various three or four capital cities.


if this were done in the united states, it would look like new york, los angeles, miami and chicago would be the only beneficiaries of the entire countries wealth. it was a very VERY rich/poor society.


craftsmen were paid well when they worked on government jobs.


and if you didn't work for the government then you were poor.


very poor.


crazy.


ok so that's the situation with resources for persia as it stands by itself...


what i might do (as i did with the greeks) is use "coin" as well with the three common resources which are all day laborers in some respect.


so this benefits the other decks in that: getting 15 day laborers in your deck that make one coin each per turn and do not need to trade with a coin trader to use the coins... means no more STONE HEADACHES for those wanting to use great wall or pyramids.


your coin is a universal resource.


so that's a cool freebie for the multi-culture players.


if i were playing samson and his hun rush-control deck, i would suggest to him to only use day laborers and throw in a couple of cheap items from other decks as well to balance out the deck... but you guys can discuss that stuff on the forums.


ok... thanks for reading this craziness. hope it makes sense to ya.

oh yes, they will be included

just in case you were wondering

The Red Snake Wall of Gorgan

Sadly, I cannot include this awesome piece of architecture in the edition for the Persian Empire 550-326 BC. But rejoice! It will be a card one day. I might give it to Macedonia.

-------------------------

The Enigma of the Red Snake
January 23, 2008 By CA Filed Under: World News

from http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/world-news/the-enigma-of-the-red-snake.htm



It is longer than Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall taken together. It is over a thousand years older than the Great Wall of China as we know it today. It is of more solid construction than its ancient Chinese counterparts. It is the greatest monument of its kind between central Europe and China and it may be the longest brick, or stone, wall ever built in the ancient world. This wall is known as ‘The Great Wall of Gorgan’ or ‘the Red Snake’. An international team of archaeologists has been at work on the snakelike monument and here they report on their findings.

The ‘Red Snake’ in northern Iran, which owes its name to the red colour of its bricks, is at least 195km long. A canal, 5m deep or more, conducted water along most of the Wall. Its continuous gradient, designed to ensure regular water flow, bears witness to the skills of the land-surveyors responsible for marking out the Wall's route. Over 30 forts are lined up along this massive structure. Their combined size is about three times that of those on Hadrian's Wall. Yet these forts are small in comparison with contemporary fortifications in the hinterland, some of which are around ten times larger than the largest Wall forts. The 'Red Snake' is unmatched in so many respects and an enigma in yet more.

Who built this defensive barrier of awesome scale and sophistication, when, and for what reason? Even its length is unclear: its western terminal was flooded by the rising waters of the Caspian Sea, while to the east it runs into the unexplored mountainous landscape of the Elburz Mountains.

An Iranian team, under the direction of Jebrael Nokandeh, has been exploring this Great Wall since 1999. In 2005 it became a joint Iranian and British project. Our aim: to answer the fundamental questions of when, who, and why.

No ancient textual source refers to the Wall, no inscription, and no coin has ever been found on it. With respect to the ‘when’ question, rather than basing our dating on historical guesswork, we felt that we needed to obtain independent scientific dating.

Dating the Enigma

So when was the Wall built? Some thought it was erected under the Macedonian king Alexander, who reached the area in 330 BC, but died seven years later – indeed the Wall is also known as 'Alexander's Barrier'. Others suggested it was built as late as the 6th century AD under the great Persian king Khusrau I. (AD 531-579). Owing to his 1970s fieldwork, Muhammad Yusof Kiani, and many scholars thereafter, have favoured a 2nd or 1st century BC construction. Who was right?

Fortunately the Wall's engineers had used construction techniques eminently suitable to modern dating techniques. Running mostly through a landscape of windblown loess and, in sections, treeless steppe, there was no sufficient supply of stone or timber for construction purposes. The loess, however, was an ideal material to produce tens, if not hundreds, of millions of fired bricks. Each of them was square and of standardised size: 37cm diameter in the west of the Wall, 40cm in the east and some 8cm to 11cm thick. These huge bricks were produced on an industrial scale. Our surveys indicate that brick kilns line most of the Wall. In some areas we found kilns under 40m apart, in others almost 100m. Overall there were probably several thousand brick kilns built for the sole purpose of creating the ancient Near East's greatest linear barrier.

Could the kilns yield the evidence we needed to date the monument? If they used wood fuel they would have left charcoal, a material suitable for radiocarbon dating. Furthermore, a kiln seemed a promising candidate for a second independent technique: optically stimulated luminescence (or OSL) dating. Each time sediments are exposed to direct sun light or, in our case, heated up by fire, the luminescence clock is set back to zero. This allows for them to be OSL dated, which in turn promised to reveal when the kilns had last been used.

With these possibilities in mind, in September 2005 we ventured to the vicinity of the Wall's easternmost known point in the foothills of the Elburz Mountains, where a kiln had been located in a previous survey. Our chosen kiln seemed particularly suitable: it was just 13-20m away from the Wall, and it was on a slope without traces of settlement of any other period and so steep that it was sometimes difficult to gain a foothold when excavating it; we could thus be certain that it had been constructed specifically for burning bricks for the Wall – and it is unlikely anybody would have re-used it at a later date. Soon we established that it had virtually identical dimensions to a kiln excavated in the 1970s over 60km further west and also next to the Wall. Our kiln and the others known so far were designed for 10 stacks of bricks sideways, and 17 to 18 lengthwise. They were all replicas of a single prototype – powerful evidence that the Wall-builders were behind the standardised design.

Sediments washed down the steep slope had preserved our kiln remarkably well. Its eleven arches survived on the hillside to their full height of two metres, not counting another metre of superstructure. Two collapsed arches offered an opportunity to dig a sondage into the interior without destroying any preserved architecture. Eventually we reached a dark layer of charcoal and, immediately underneath, the kiln's fire-reddened bottom. We had achieved our goal. Dr Jean-Luc Schwenninger and Dr Morteza Fattahi, of the Universities of Oxford and Tehran, flew in to take OSL samples in October 2005. They also sampled various sections of the Wall itself and of a second shorter wall further west (the Wall of Tammishe) as well as a kiln next to it that we had also excavated. We impatiently awaited the results. The OSL and radiocarbon samples demonstrated conclusively that both walls had been built in the 5th or, possibly, 6th century AD.
The White Huns

With the benefit of hindsight it is easy to see why the walls would have been constructed at this later date. It was near the northern boundary of one of the most powerful empires in the ancient world, that of the Sasanian Persians. Centred in modern Iran, it also encompassed the territory of modern Iraq, stretched into the Caucasus Mountains in the north-west and into central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent in the east. The Persian kings repeatedly invaded the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. Yet, they also faced fierce enemies at their northern frontier. Mountain passes in the Caucasus and the coastal route along the Caspian Sea were closed off by walls, probably to prevent the Huns from penetrating south. Those further east may have been directed against the Hephthalites or White Huns. Ancient writers, notably Procopius, provide graphic descriptions of the wars Persia fought in the 5th and 6th century against its northern opponents. We know that the Persian king Peroz (AD 459-484), when campaigning against the White Huns, spent time repeatedly at ancient Gorgan (next to modern Gonbad-e Kavus, the site of our base camp just south of the Wall). Eventually he had to pay with his life for venturing into the lands of the White Huns. It would have made perfect sense for Peroz, or perhaps another Persian king shortly before or after, to protect the fertile and rich Gorgan Plain from this northerly threat through a defensive barrier.

Discovery of Massive Buildings

Important questions still remained unresolved: was the Wall a heavily defended frontier for centuries – or an ambitious engine
ering project, perhaps abandoned after no more than ephemeral use? Fort 4, some 14 acres (5.5 ha) large, was selected for magnetometer survey in 2006. To our amazement, Roger Ainslie's highly sensitive equipment revealed three buildings of c.228m length. So much detail was visible on the plots that that we could see individual rooms. The regular layout suggests that they served as barrack blocks. We started to excavate.

Where the magnetometer survey had pinpointed a room division, we found a massive mud brick wall, 1.20m wide and surviving to a height of c.3.30m. Originally, the buildings must have been much higher, as their collapsed remains still form distinctive mounds today. Satellite images show that fort 4 was not a oneoff, but that numerous other forts on the Wall (and originally probably all) contain collapsed barrack blocks as well. The quantity of pottery and animal bones from our two trenches in fort 4 excavated in 2006 and 2007, which also yielded some glass and metal, demonstrates powerfully that the fort's interior bustled with life. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the fort remained occupied until at least the first half of the 7th century. It is too early to tell whether or not the Wall was abandoned then, perhaps because troops were needed for a major assault against the Byzantine Empire, fighting off the Byzantine counter-offensive or against the Arab invasion from AD 636 onwards. The evidence is mounting, however, that the Wall functioned as a military barrier for at least a century and probably closer to two.

A Powerful Military Garrison

How many soldiers guarded the Persian Empire’s most elaborate military barrier? If we assumed that the forts were occupied as densely as those on Hadrian's Wall, then the garrison on the Gorgan Wall would have been in the order of 30,000 men. Models, taking into account the size and room number of the barrack blocks in the Gorgan Wall forts and likely occupation density, produce figures between 15,000 and 36,000 soldiers. Even the lowest estimate suggests a strong and powerful army, all the more remarkable as our investigations focused just on 200km of vulnerable frontier, a small fraction of the thousands of kilometres of borders of one of the ancient world's largest empires.

How many soldiers may have been stationed in the hinterland? In 2007 we launched a major geophysical survey, followed by three trial trenches in Qaleh Kharabeh, a square fortification covering half a square kilometre, a little over a mile south of the Wall. Analysis of the pottery from Qaleh Kharabeh by Seth Priestman suggests that the fortification was occupied for a short period, perhaps in the earliest phase of the Wall's history. Small mud brick houses seem to line its central roads. We excavated one; analysis of material therein indicates that its occupants consumed a rich diet, including fish, presumably from the Caspian Sea, some 45km further west. Yet, we do not even know whether these erstwhile gourmands were soldiers or civilians. The regular square layout of the defences and the neat rows of rectangular enclosures inside suggests in any case that the Wall-builders had created it. Was it a failed urban foundation? Was it a temporary camp for the Persian field army, reinforcing the Wall’s garrison during war? Or was its sudden abandonment linked to the army moving from the hinterland to the Wall forts?

Geophysical survey at fort 16 suggests that there are brick kilns underneath and that this fort was not part of the original design. Is it possible that some or all of the forts were only added to the Wall at a later stage – and that troops had originally stayed at sites like Qaleh Kharabeh?

The Wall and its Landscape

The Wall did not exist in a vacuum. The dense occupation of its fertile hinterland explains why it was built and how its garrison was fed. The project was thus not confined to the Wall itself, but included a wider landscape survey. The scale of such a survey is ideal for understanding the works of ancient empires, because both the landscape itself and the public works of empires cover vast areas. Because of the large areas that needed to be covered, fieldwork of the Gorgan project proceeded at three different scales. At the regional level we used satellite images to map the entire area of Wall and ancillary structures; individual structures (forts, sites and kilns) were then mapped using geophysical survey to recognize hidden and underground structures; finally details were carefully targeted for excavation.

Within this programme the landscape itself was studied using the capability of satellite images to map the entire region of the Wall and beyond. Clearly the c.195km long 'Red Snake' required a huge amount of labour for its construction. But what was not generally known – until Nokandeh, Omrani and colleagues discovered a large dam and associated canals – was that the process of wall construction was even more labour intensive. This is because a huge landscape engineering project was initiated at the time of wall construction to capture and divert water into the ditch that ran along the north side of the Wall.

This exercise in water management appears to have been part of an integrated approach to wall construction. In such a semi-arid area, the water required for manufacturing bricks (as well as for use by the inhabitants of the forts) was not readily available. Water was therefore brought to the building site via a series of at least five canals that then directed the water into the ditch on the north side of the Wall. Although this ditch was evidently a defensive feature, it must also have been used as the source of the soil for the bricks used in the Wall. Initially field evidence had ,implied that the water was impounded behind massive earthen dams like the so-called Sadd-i Garkaz. However, fieldwork conducted in 2007 has demonstrated that the water was instead gathered from much further afield by a major canal that collected water from a river located to the south-east of the Gorgan River. Water was then led across the top of the 'dam' (which was actually a huge earthen aqueduct) into a canal which led water northward towards the main ditch along the Wall. In addition, this canal supplied a second canal located to the south of the Wall and parallel to it, perhaps to supply the ubiquitous brick kilns. Although the precise mode of water capture of the other canals is less clear, these appear to have received their water directly from the Gorgan River, presumably via a water diversion off-take as is customary with major canals in alluvial plains.

Not only did the Sasanian kings create a new landscape by the construction of water supply canals, they also cut through the pre-existing Parthian and earlier Sasanian landscape like a knife. This resulted in the Wall severing preexisting landscape features such as a canal that had probably provided the essential supply of irrigation water to the massive site of Tokhmaq a few generations earlier. The Gorgan Wall appears to have cut through at least one other major earlier canal system again cutting off its recipient settlements. There is, however, nothing to say that a massive and wholesale abandonment of land took place at the time of wall construction. Rather, our site surveys as well as studies of the associated pottery by Seth Priestman, suggest that a considerable area of arid steppe to the north of the Wall, which had been occupied intensively several centuries earlier, was abandoned long before the Wall’s construction, with the result that it was a redundant landscape that was severed by the Red Snake. This is a model that requires testing by future work.

Wall Search under the Sea

The 'Red Snake' is by far the longest and most elaborate Persian defensive wall, but it has several smaller counterparts. The land corridor between the Caucasus Mountains and the west coast of the Caspian Sea is closed off by a series of walls. The most famous is the Wall of Derbent in modern Dagestan (Russia). Then, much closer to the 'Red Snake' is the contemporary Wall of Tammishe, which runs from the south-east corner of the Caspian Sea into the Elburz Mountains. The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland sea and depends on inflowing rivers for its water. Its water level has thus fluctuated much more over the centuries than that of the oceans. In 2006 we excavated a test pit into a Sasanian brick kiln, next to the 'Red Snake'. Though it is now 7km inland, it is overlain by marine shells. Radiocarbon dating revealed that the kiln had in fact been submerged under the waters of the rising Caspian Sea in the 14th or 15th century. Whereas when the Wall was built, about one millennium earlier, the Caspian Sea's water level had been a few metres lower than it is today. Today, the Derbent Wall runs into territory currently flooded by the Caspian Sea and, according to a report by the 19th century British traveller Charles Edward Yate, so too is the 'Red Snake'. The only wall, however, so far explored by underwater archaeologists is the Tammishe Wall. Discovered by an Iranian team, involving the underwater archaeologist Hossein Tofighian, a joint Iranian and British team followed in their footsteps and dived into the murky water of the Gulf of Gorgan in 2007. Despite the shallow depth of around two metres, visibility in the uniformly greenish to yellowish cloudy water does not reach as far as one foot. The divers, notably Julian Jansen Van Rensburg, relied solely on their sense of touch. Yet, the knowledge of local boatmen, a satellite image and a depth survey allowed us to precision- target promising features. In some areas the sea-bed was so densely strewn with fragments of Sasanian bricks that one hardly ever touched the seabed without feeling the rough surface of yet another broken piece. Our map of high brick concentrations, not all in one line, suggests that there must be more than just the Wall running into the Sea. Future work may tell what other monuments the Caspian Sea conceals: perhaps a Sasanian fort, perhaps a harbour?

An Ancient Super Power

Our project is seriously challenging our traditional Euro-centric world view. At the time when the Western Roman Empire is collapsing and even the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire under great external pressure, the Sasanian Persian Empire musters the manpower to build and garrison a monument of greater scale than anything comparable in the west. The Persians seem to match, or more than match, their Late Roman rivals in army strength, organisational skills, engineering and water management. Archaeology is beginning to paint a clearer picture of an ancient super power at its apogee.

Empires and Generals - Desktops and Scoundrels

Farting around with some odd ideas for game creation... Plugging in some old TV shows into my system might be fun.

It's at: Desktops And Scoundrels.TK

Abydos Fortress

Behold the goodness. And it's rare too, so each player can use one.

9/27/12

note #1


very excited to be working on the persians. learning a lot about cyrus. actually, october 29th is cyrus the great day. i am beginning to understand so much about this wonderful country under cyrus. it's really amazing...


note #2


pondering making a mini-expansion featuring "battle" cards. the top 25 or so most decisive battles in the world pre 450 AD. the cards would be played like strategy cards but let's say you played: "battle of thermopylae" or "battle of marathon" and you were greece and your opponent was persia... well... you may just have a better fighting chance than if you played something else. i think i will make it after i finish persia for Christmas. i've set up a pre-order page for persia that you can go to and order it. i hope you do, i think it's going to be just as cool as ancient greece. https://www.etsy.com/listing/110074446/pre-order-persia-for-christmas




note #3




really. ok. i have to watch the hollywood movies "alexander" and "prince of persia" just to root out things NOT to include in the game. no, there were not war elephants everywhere... no this, no that... so confounding. but i DON'T WANT to waste my time watching these crummy movies. ugh, how hollycrud ruins things.


note #4




after watching both movies, i have come to the conclusion that alexander was a little off, while prince of persia had just as much historical accuracy as conan the barbarian... and in case you were unaware: that is around 0% accurate.

THE TRUTH BEHIND ‘300’

===================================
DISCLAIMER: Empires and Generals is NOT giving any opinions about ANY governmental power or other power in existence today. Empires and Generals is not FOR or AGAINST any party, political, religious or otherwise in existence today. This article is not written by us and is intended for information only.
===================================

From http://spentaproductions.com/300themovie_the_truth_behind_300.htm

For many Iranians the cinematic movie '300' may come as a shocking revelation. But to those of us who came up through America's school system, the 'Battle of Thermopylae,' which is what the movie '300' is based on, is as familiar as George Washington's fabled "cherry tree" episode.

The Battle of Thermopylae was of course written by the classical Greek author, Herodotus, who lived in the Persian city of Halicarnassus. His book, 'The Histories' became part of Western folklore only recently. It was not until about 1850 that America embraced Herodotus as the leading authority on Persian history.

Before 1850, however, the West had a very favorable impression of the Persian Empire. That's because the West's main source for Persian history was the Bible and the 'Cyropaedia,' written by another Greek author named Xenophon.

But the Cyropaedia glorified the monarchy of Cyrus The Great, and in the wake of two bloody revolutions fought by America and France to liberate themselves from their own monarchies, a major campaign began, around the mid 19th century, to promote democracy throughout the rest of Europe, and Herodotus was the perfect propaganda tool.

Herodotus was a democratic groupie and was quickly ushered in as the "Father Of History." Around 1850, his 'Battle Of Thermopylae' came to symbolize the West's struggle for democracy against the powerful forces of Persia's monarchy.

The story is easy to buy into: 300 brave Spartans saved Western democracy from 2.7 million evil Persians. But aside from the fanciful numbers which need decimal-point adjustments, this whimsical tale has far graver consequences than a mere biased account of history.

The 'Battle Of Thermopylae' has been the single most powerful wedge, which has divided East and West for over 2 millennia. In a time when East and West should be reconciling their differences, along comes the movie '300' to drive that wedge even deeper.

What is most disturbing about this movie is not that it lacks historical accuracy. It is not that Xerxes, the Grandson of Cyrus The Great and loving husband of Esther, is shown as an oversized drag queen. It is not even the outdated racist cliché of casting the Persians as Africans and the Spartans as white, blue-eyed 'Chippendale dancers,' when in reality the roles may well have been reversed.

What is so distressing about this movie is the realization of the tremendous power Hollywood wields in determining a people's identity. It is the same nightmare Native Americans endured during the whole 'cowboy-movie' genre.

But for those who are quick to dismiss '300' as a fleeting fantasy flick aimed at the insignificant, 17 to 24 year-old male video-gamer, think again. First there was Alexander, now '300,' next could well be the 'Battle Of Marathon,' another one of Herodotus's glowing accounts of ancient Persia.

Herodotus is accepted blindly by virtually all Western demographics. Even the New York Times is not immune. Here is how it described the Persians in its April 20, 2004 issue about the Battle Of Marathon:

"the defeat of a ruthless state (Persia) that had enslaved much of the known world from the Balkans to the Himalayas."
- William J. Broad,
(NY Times)


"the ancient Greeks defeated the Asian invaders (Persia) and saved Europe in what scholars call one of the first great victories of freedom over tyranny"
- William J. Broad,
(NY Times)

What stretches the limits of hypocrisy is that there isn't a single shred of archeological evidence that the Persians ever owned slaves. Yet we know that slavery was an integral cornerstone of Greek society. Aristotle's manifesto even sanctions it. Persia, which was once a haven for runaway slaves from Egypt, Greece, and later Rome, is today branded as a slave-hungry empire by cultures which were built on slavery!

What makes Herodotus's propaganda so difficult to refute is that it is peppered with facts. But in reality, it is a desperate diatribe. Perhaps his biggest ploy is his attempt to equate democracy with freedom. These two words are used virtually interchangeably throughout his book. And the West has swallowed it hook-line-and-sinker.

But America's founding fathers knew better. They implemented many safeguards to protect freedom from the pitfalls that mired Athenian democracy. Even Winston Churchill said, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others which have been tried."

Democracy may well be the best form of government. But what makes America great is not so much democracy, as it is its Bill Of Rights. And this is exactly what made Persia Great. Democracy can often lead to tyranny by the majority as was the case in democratic Athens, where women, slaves and foreigners did not have the right to vote.

In monarchic Persia, however, women enjoyed a level of gender equality unmatched even to this day, and slavery was not practiced. The fact is, Persia's monarchy was more free than Athens' democracy, all because of Persia's Bill Of Rights.

No one exemplifies Persia's freedom better than Herodotus himself. He describes Athens as the bastion of freedom, yet he chose to live in Persia. Xenophon, on the other hand, who actually lived in Athens, reminisces enviously about the monarchy of Cyrus The Great.

Herodotus claims Persia had enslaved most of the known world, yet we know Herodotus was not a slave. He traveled freely throughout the empire, openly criticizing it.

Why did Herodotus not live in Greece? Because Persia - the empire he is so quick to demonize - afforded him the very freedom to publish his scathing report of it. People want to live where their god-given rights are protected, regardless of whether its democratic or monarchic.

These god-given rights were first drafted into law by the founder of the Persian empire, Cyrus The Great. In fact, ancient Persia may well have served as the blue print for America's Bill Of Rights. Both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the architects of America's Constitution, were great admirers and owned several copies of Xenophon's Cyropaedia.

Today, no other country resembles ancient Persia as closely as does the United States. If any country should sympathize with, rather than celebrate, Persia's quagmire in Greece, it is the United States. Few events in history mirror America's war on terror as closely as Persia's war on Greece.

The Greeks had been carrying out terrorist attacks on Persian holdings for years. They had attacked Persian cities, set fire to Persian temples, disrupted key trade routes, and pirated merchant ships crossing the Bosphorus. They incited rebellions inside Persian provinces, but perhaps most abhorrent to the Persians was the ease by which the Greeks broke their treaties and betrayed Persia's trust.

Rather than resort to violence, however, Persia tried to keep the Greeks in check by financially supporting Greek politicians who were "pro-Persian," much the same way America fights its proxy wars. But what finally triggered Persia's wrath was an act rarely mentioned in the West, though well documented, even by Herodotus (7:11).

Persia's 9/11:

In 498 BCE, Athens carried out a terrorist attack on Sardis, a major Persian city, which made 9/11 seem like child's play. Aristagoras, an Athenian, set fire to the "outlying parts" of Sardis trapping most of its population "in a ring of fire." (Herodotus 5:101)

More innocent civilians died at the hands of Aristagoras than Osama bin Laden could ever hope to kill. And just as most of the world supported America's retaliation against Al Qaeda, so did it rally in support of Persia's attack on Athens.

The Spartans were not even targets of Persia's attack, until they violated a universal protocol by killing a Persian messenger who Herodotus claims was asking for Sparta's submission but in reality was probably sent by Persia's king, Xerxes to convey the same message America sent to the entire world after 9/11: "you're either with us, or against us."

The Spartans were Greek Jihadists who lived only to die. They were by all accounts ruthless savages who murdered Greek slaves known as "Helots" just for sport, cultivated a culture of thievery and rape, and practiced infanticide, as the movie '300' rightly points out in its opening scenes. Sparta was not even democratic. It was an oligarchy at best. Despite knowing all this, the West continues to hail the Spartans as the saviors of Western democracy.

Yes, the Spartans died fighting a foreign invader. But so do countless terrorists. Yet few would consider them "good guys." Those who do are then not much different from Westerners who cheer for the Spartans.

Persia was drawn into a protracted war against terror, much the same way the U.S. was. Cheering for the Spartans merely because they were underdogs, is like cheering for Osama bin Laden today.


Cyrus Kar

New Stick Death CCG Strategy Cards

http://stickdeathccg.blogspot.com/2012/08/submitted-strategies.html

Woohoo!

Submit your ideas today!

empiresandgenerals@gmail.com

Ancient Hillock

Ancient Hillock added to the game! Try it out tonight!

 

Accurate Historical Persia

I am not a historian by trade, but here is one of the more accurate videos that I have found.
 

9/21/12

working on persia today.

tigermisu has been submitting some really awesome cards on stickdeathccg.com

samson also has an updated pinterest page at http://pinterest.com/samsoncorner/e-g-empires-and-generals/

i figured i could get more work done as a general if i got my soldiers to do all of my work.

one day i should make the "game factory" set and have me as a card. i still have room for more generals and soldiers. :)

Persia for Christmas?

Give your loved one a taste of history this Christmas.

Give them an Empire.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110074446/pre-order-persia-for-christmas

Here is the new card from Persia that i am giving away to everyone.

Also, I put ancient greece on sale as well.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/101944056/empires-and-generals-ancient-greece-deck

New Stick Death CCG General

check out firespray!

http://stickdeathccg.blogspot.com/2012/09/firespray-general.html

Oh how far we've come...

Late Summer 2012 Email sent

I just emailed the late summer newsletter including 4 new cards that you won't see unless you email empiresandgenerals@gmail.com and request to be put on.

I will be sending this newsletter out again in a couple of days to those of you who sign up now.

Included cards mailed -

Mancala Magician
The Gamer
Liubo Logistics
Xiangqi Students

(I just realized that this is my 200th post. Seems like just yesterday...)

Questions from Alex

I recently received an email about a couple of issues.


===================


Hey Pauly,




We're still having loads of fun playing your game, we have all constructed our own decks. I took your advice in trying to make a full water deck but as of yet I am still reliant on some food cards. However, we do have some questions over a few things:




1. Civil Union's "No tactics cards may be played whilst civil union is in play". Does this mean the owner can't play tactics cards or everybody can't?




2. When an ability such as Prisoner Enlistment's "sacrifice three water and take opponents soldier card" is played, can the card owner then repeat that ability during the same turn?




3. When a general is attached to a crucifixion card, is it possible for the owner of the crucifixion card to sacrifice or discard that general?




Thank you very much for this awesome game!


===================


Let's take a look at those issues one by one.


Question 1 - Civil Union's "No tactics cards may be played whilst civil union is in play". Does this mean the owner can't play tactics cards or everybody can't?


Answer 1 - No tactics cards may be played whilst civil union is in play.


Comment 1 - Yeah, it seems a little odd that you have something that limits you, but it is for the purposes of deck-building. If you build a deck with no tactics in it, this card comes in handy.


Question 2 - When an ability such as Prisoner Enlistment's "sacrifice three water and take opponents soldier card" is played, can the card owner then repeat that ability during the same turn?


Answer 2 - Abilities are used once per turn unless stated.


Comment 2 - Each Ability may be played each turn, Effects only happen when the card is played.


Question 3 - When a general is attached to a crucifixion card, is it possible for the owner of the crucifixion card to sacrifice or discard that general?


Answer 3 - Yes.


Comment 3 - Wow, I actually had to read the card again. Love this idea and I really wanted to say No, but the rules state that you can discard a General at any time during your army phase, and since the tactics card do not change the "general" into a "crucified general" then I guess, yeah, you can throw him away when needed. It would be cool to turn City Walls into a General and then Crucify the Wall. lol.

Lesser Samurai

Previously only released at conventions - Now available to the public!

New Djoser Card

Comments

Comments have been turned back on. :)

new ideas on free cards

to support the cause for learning, i have decided to go ahead and teach as well as have a good game.

here is the first card in the family edition:

Cao Cao

StickDeathCCG.com Card Making Guide

A quick guide on how to make your own card:

go to stickdeathccg.com

Choose a template you want to edit.

Right click and save the format card you want in a folder on your hard-drive.

Open it using "Paint" on your PC.

Or go to http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/ and get the MAC app.

Draw Away!

The pictures can be as silly or as serious as you want them.

They can be easy doodles or serious masterpieces.

Send it in to EmpiresandGenerals@Gmail.com

----------------------------------------------------

Every card must contain:

1) The PICTURE you drew
2) The TITLE of the Card
3) The EFFECTS and/or ABILITIES of that card
4) Your NAME or WEBSITE

Type 1 Cards (Kingdom, Strategy, Tactics) must also contain:

1) EMPIRE this card belongs to
2) The COST of the card

Type 2 Cards (General and Soldier) must also contain:

1) EMPIRE this card belongs to
2) The COST of the card
3) The STRENGTH and LIFE of that card

Type 3 cards already have the EFFECTS and ABILITIES filled in for you

----------------------------------------------------

Here is an example

Phase 1 - Blank Card

Phase 2 - Stuff to put on that card

----------------------------------------------------

I retain the right to reject publications for nudity, racist bigotry, and other stupid stuff.

Have fun!

Game On!

-Pauly Hart

8/20/12

up late at night wondering what's next for the game.

i've taken these last three weeks off from the game due to much needed reflection and have made some decisions that you will like.

#1 keep the Family Edition free
#2 continue making other versions on the same franchise
#3 have some versions free, others to be purchased
#4 continue making other games

notes on #2 -are here... have you seen this? this is pretty cool.

GAME ON!

-pauly

Stick Death CCG

check out http://stickdeathccg.com/

it's a new breed of empires and generals.

YOU ARE THE CREATOR.

you can submit your stick death characters to be put on cards.

you can submit the stats.

you can submit the effects and the abilities.

you create the cards.

your name is on the card you create.

get on board. make some cards.

7/30/12

ancient greece done and shipped.

act of God cards finalized and re-shipped.

stick death ccg in the works... i made this card and bought stickdeathccg.com so i may be committed.

Olympic Games Card

Celebrate Uzbekistan's Bronze medal in Judo! Won by Navruz Jurakobilov!

GO NAVRUZ!

Here is a free card for you dedicated to that struggling country and their determination!

Ancient Greece release is August 1st

lol. i want to sing the little orphan annie song:

tomorrow! tomorrow!

ha.

just in time for the Olympics though eh?

ancient greece! order it today!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/101944056/empires-and-generals-ancient-greece-deck?ref=af_shop_favitem

GAME ON!

ICADE WINNER

At Tokyo in Tulsa we held a drawing for a winner of an I-CADE.

And the winner is Zach!

I met him at Toys R Us and delivered it to him today!

Congrats Zach!




Enjoy it and thanks for playing!

GAME ON!

-pauly

monster juggle progress

thanks to my work with empires and generals, i am developing monster juggle.

hopefully this will be on sale soon.

http://monsterjuggle.blogspot.com/

"ancient greece" definition

for the scholars, the ancient greece deck contains antiquity as well as some classical greece and the macedonian deck will include some classical greece as well as hellenistic greece.

adding videos from TNT

added some new vids to http://www.youtube.com/user/empiresandgenerals

7/28/12

finishing up some changes to greeks as well as some other things.

made a map of proposed game editions with mind meister. pretty cool stuff.

you can check it out here -

http://www.mindmeister.com/189473786/empires-and-generals-franchise

7/27/12

posted some videos on the youtube chan.

the panel video is yet to come.

i might have to break that one up into parts.

7/25/12

on working on the panel vid that was taken and uploading some more vids from the con.

ancient greece and act of God cards are released in 6 days!

vanguard tcg

i saw this played at a con yesterday. looked too quick and too lucky. no long term strategy, just a bunch of money spent and high hopes for the draw. it's a shame that when you make a card game and sucker in the weak willed and unimaginative only with the lure of flashy art and no meat. i would rather they have spent a little more time developing the arena skills and abilities and instants instead of the evolution idea. it's a great gimmick but i don't believe it will last that long.

con day 3

panel was awesome. should have some video feed soon.

my brother tim came out to see me at the panel. that was awesome.

he and i hung out playing with some other folks from a couple of states.

met another couple who were there on their honeymoon. sweet!

finished public testing the greeks.

gave away an i-cade. that was nice.

all in all, had a terrific time.

will update soon with more videos.

right now... i need some ZZZZZZZ's.

con day 2

great con day.

thanks to david pesta, who showed up and helped us demo.

david is a facebook app developer in real life.

click here to play his new game trillionaire.

also thanks to pathfinder game systems and GM rob.

con day 1

the con started like any other con.

volunteers there at the crack of dawn going over rules and regulations, followed by a get-together with the area heads.

after that was some set-up and prep and then we were released to come back a couple of hours later.

jennifer and i wandered around for a while looking at this or that.

they had an issue with my t-shirt so i was almost not admitted to certain areas.

once the con got going, things were swell.

people came and people went and we had some visitors but no one stayed to play.

on and on all day this went until near 8:00pm i had one player.

it was nice as he was also into game design.

as i packed up for the day, i realized that todays con goers are interested in flashy wonderful shiny things that they already know... like pokemon.

i may have been better off doing a demo at a local chess club.

that's ok.

i know i am but a small fish in a BIG pond and am competing with games out there that have flashy artwork and colored cards and cool packaging.

empires and generals may be a youngling in the CCG/TCG market, but it is virile and i am not daunted.

-pauly

7/20 23:20

due to certain circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to stream anything from the conference besides a twenty minute test video.

once the con got going, the wifi was clogged and all bandwidth for anything streaming was brought to a halt.

this will continue to be a problem tomorrow and sunday so i will be uploading videos as the con ends.

sorry for the inconvenience.

-pauly

7/20 7:20

so begins the convention.

let us pray for

sublime sleep
enchanted encounters
and
mystic meals

amen

live video streaming from convention

there will be live streaming from the convention

i have changed the program i am going to run.

i will be using live streaming from google hangouts instead of from ustream.

we are -5 GMT in my time zone and i will posting the actual URL to the google stream on THIS SITE each day and, hopefully, on the main page.

also, will be recording the panel.

the panel is going to be a lot of fun.

so make sure and watch us!

we should be online -


friday

2pm - midnight CST

saturday

10am-midnight CST

sunday

11:30am -1:00pm (for the panel) CST

2pm - 5pm CST


-pauly

ramping up for TNT

funny thing. they call tokyo in tulsa TNT. not TIT. i think that's for the best.

ok.

going to be very excited to be a tokyo in tulsa this year demoing the game.

i am giving away some very special cards at the convention that will not be anywhere else so if you are in town, you can pick one up there.

also, i've created a backup CD that i will soon be releasing online AFTER tokyo in tulsa is over that will have all of the family edition, special edition, unaffiliated and the special TNT cards. also in them are the two cards that i have released to the people on the mailing list.

if you are not on the mailing list and do not own "the gamer" and "mancala magician" then it's not too late to get them.

you can sign up for the newsletter by putting "newsletter" in the subject line and "sign up" in the body text and send it to empiresandgenerals@gmail.com

again, i will be selling the backup CD online soon.

here is a little video that i made for the TNT CD

7/17/12

working like a dog getting everything ready for tokyo in tulsa.

also beta testing a facebook app from a friend of mine. pretty cool turn based strategy game. more info on that to come. 

Friday the 13th

Nobody said my sense of humor was normal.

Ancient Greece and Version 1.1 Testing Night