A wee favour to ask everybody and, of course, Boa in particular.
It’s almost a year since JW and I fell out seriously on MyT and decided to settle it with a game of ‘Battleships’.
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/jwilson/jw/11615111/Scottish_Civil_War/
Given our Jockish nature, we just cannae let it go. I’ve being doing the naked triumphalism bit (no pictures available) since then and he’s been sulking big style.
But, to be fair, it’s time to give him the chance for revenge. Now, we would do it on MyT but that is, also to be fair , a total pile of keech these days, in my opinion.
So, would it be a problem to anybody if we fought the good fight hereon on a sensible, well-run site with all the necessary functions properly enabled?
My soon to be non-pal JW wrote this on my own site:-
‘My loyalty to the mother ship (or is it daddy ship) kept me from Bearsyland. And I thought two Scots is too much for one board allied to the fact you’re doing us proud and I didn’t want to let the country down. However, if you tentatively ask the regulars if we could have our game and if they’d let me join, I’ll throw a torpedo or two at you.’
He’s probably right about having too many Scots on any one site (although we could then do a ‘Dashing White Sergeant’ if Sheona felt up to it).
But, this is the tentative, proposed request to the regulars from JW and myself. For the avoidance of doubt I will understand, but be incredibly humphy, if you don’t like the idea.
We will, of course, be happy for you to join in. I get to decide the themes for the ships, JW gets first pick of names and I get first salvo.
Sadly, not allowed on voyage as ‘tracks’ are banned.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Not my decision of course, but for what it is worth and at risk of offending somebody Jockish, I would not have a problem with this, because JW is one of my favourite people.
I rarely understand a word he is saying, of course, but I would be happy to sink a few destroyers, or battleships, if that is what it takes.
Having just followed your link, I must congratulate you both. It was a very discrete war. I did notice the odd comment floating past but nothing that disturbed the peace.
Ara, ‘discrete’? You’re not Welsh are you?
Or, did you really mean ‘consisting of distinct or unconnected elements’ as opposed to ‘prudent self-restraint’ as in ‘discreet’?
In which case, I apologise, and that’ll be you cheering on JW, then?
Feel free John – I don’t know about anyone else, but I more than welcome a variety of posts here!
Go for it!
Ahem, I thought it looked a bit dodgy, John; not Welsh, but careless!
No apology necessary but yes, if I have to take sides here, JW my favourite, he has a tendency to be discrete, but I don’t mean this unkindly. 🙂
go for it, but the loser buys us all a malt 😉
Frankly it is at moments like this that I really miss my Antipodean Spellchecker! I’m really missing him!
I do hope Bearsy is feeling better.
JW can do no wrong, imho, despite his birthplace.
I followed the blog, slavishly. Despite my lack of understanding, it had definite soothing qualities. Bring it on!
Hi Boa. I also hope that Bearsy’s health is improving. Please give him my best wishes.
Fine, as long as you supply a glossary of terms including Lammas, humphy and ach weel. 🙂
As long as I don’t have to play Battleships…..
welcome to JW. Looking forward to his contributions.
Oi, John. I saw that!! I knew discreet anyway. Ara was just using the maths term to give you something to pick on. She knew it would make your day.
Yes, so tell JW to drag his combative Scottish ass over here and let battle commence. MyT has had it. It’s no use to man or beastie.
I would welcome the entertainment, John.
I have always admired the cut o Jay Dubyas jib. News that he may be joining our merry war cart is very well received indeed.
OK he’s a sweaty, but not even I am perfect. 🙂
A sweaty! Hahahahaa!
Evenin’ all.
IMHO you can’t have too many Scots on the Chariot.
No, let me type that again. You didn’t hear what I was saying.
IMHO you CAN’T have too many Scots on the Chariot.
😀
But in the case of JW an exception must be made. He is an erudite and amusing blogger who could enrich both sites, but why he maintains his misguided loyalty to RMS MyT as her stern tips into the air while Leonardo and Kate pitch into the icy oggin is quite beyond me.
😀
Have I put enough smiley things in this?
OZ
Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I can’t believe these comments were for me; my mother will be proud. John has warned me to be on my best behaviour and not take any flights of fancy. I never listen to the man so expect some drivel soon.
The spelling on this site has to improve, I think. Obviously, Ferret meant to say sweety jock. Ostensibly (wow) I’m here to play Battleships but I’d like to ask Boa to upgrade me to author status. This is exciting as my CV can now say “and an author as well.”
You might be wondering about The Royalist name; it’s a long story. For simplicity and an easier to type alternative I can be addressed as JW. Not sure how you go about changing names and I don’t want to mess things up. See, that’s the dumpling in me shining through.
Give my regards to Bearsy, Boa. I remember him mentioning he was a rocker. Play him some early Led Zeppelin. A tonic as good as any.
Thanks again everyone,
JW
All done! You are now an author! Welcome!
Woo Hoo,
Welcome indeed Jay Dubya. A happy day and no mistake. 🙂
Jolly good! Welcome, JW! 😀
Right then, JW.
First proposal. This may take a bit of thinking through and might be unworkable but I would like to explore the possibility and to involve the bystanders, if possible.
I suggest a ‘Battleship’ grid of 20 x 20 =400 squares. 2 Aircraft carriers at 10 squares, 2 battleships at 8 squares, 3 destroyers at 6 squares, 3 frigates at 5 squares and 3 submarines at 4 squares.
We agree our theme and pick our names which must be the same length as the craft (non-masonic reference for the avoidance of doubt). So, a battleship has an eight letter name and a sub has a four letter one etc.
Then, as a variant and to take account of your love of ‘Hangman’, we do not share our names. Thus, for example, if you say A4 and it is a hit, I tell you what class the ship (boat?) is and the letter you hit.
Turn by turn and said bystanders can have a guess at the name. We would neither confirm nor deny their guesses but might choose to use and credit their input to plan our next salvo.
As to theme, I suggest a musical one. I get classical works pre 1960 and relevant composers and performers. You get rock post 1960 with the same addendums/addenda.
Scratchy, scratchy heid. Let me try and work this out. Firstly and easily, I take it usual Battleships rules apply. Letter coordinates on the horizontal, numbers on the vertical. 20 letters = A to T, 20 numbers =1 to 20. No ships on the diagonal and of course, the contiguity (I knew I’d get to say that word again) rule.
Like the theme very much although for me I’d prefer rock post 1970, remember I’m a young pup. Probably better if my battleships are named after bands, album tracks are too obscure for the regulars then again you never know. Most of the bands I like nobody will have heard of except die hard rockers or my old hangman buddy, Brendano, who sadly won’t be able to assist you. My classical music knowledge isn’t as bad as you might think. I know Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia for starters; my supporters will help me with the rest.
Sometimes my Christian faith grows weak and I can’t believe you don’t expect me not to cheat this time; especially after getting gubbed first time. Is it possible to lodge (non Masonic reference for the avoidance of doubt) our coordinates with an administrator or other trusted source? I do not want my victory questioned in any way. (Victory- German heavy metal band, close friends of the more popular The Scorpions)
I’ll leave you to decide how many projectiles in a salvo and don’t have a clue what an addendum is. Where are my manners? Thank you Araminta, boadicea, Bilby, ricksrant, Janus, Pseu, Jan, tomkilcourse, Ferret and OZ. I’m trying to round up a posse (fleet?), John, and steal your neighbourhood.
🙂 Smiley thing to annoy you.
As remarked on Toc’s post:
“JM and JW, I’ve noticed that mountain tribes usually disagree. It was the reason why Scotland, Norway, Wales and Switzerland could never get it together politically until they could visit more enlightened flatlanders and learn some stuff.”
Sounds like a song to me!
♫ adden den da ♫♪ adden den dum ♫ den dum ♪ den dum ♪ den da da ♫
(Talking Heads perhaps?)
😉
Morning JW.
Take an example. You have a sub. I give you co-ordinates. You reply Hit, Sub, ‘B’.
That could be Bono or Abba or UB40 and all your chums on the site (I’m beginning to feel like Richard III just before Bosworth, by the way) could shout out helpful, or unhelpful, suggestions. Giving the correct one would not sink the sub, but will help to locate it on the grid a bit more quickly. I would still have to use another 3 turns to zap it.
Only reason for 1960 was to give you the chance to include some aged performers. Moving to 1970 would take out Bono, for example, which would not, in my opinion. be a totally bad thing. 1940 might be even better from your viewpoint to allow you to throw in rock dinosaurs?
I’m struggling to fit names so some tweaking might have to be done – LBEETHOVEN to get me to 10, for example.
No ‘tracks’ is fair enough so I could have Cosi Fan Tutte but not my favourite trio therefrom. Light Opera, including Operetta, included on my side for the avoidance of doubt.
I trust absolutely in your integrity and honesty and am looking forward to the fray, once we agree the rules. It’s just a shame that, yet again, you’re going to be playing DA Hamilton Burger to my Perry (a Masonic reference).
This sounds huge fun… I shall, of course, resist the temptation to take sides!
You have a clootie dumpling in your heart, JW? My favourite sort, smothered in custard, I hope.
We look forward to being a-Muse-d.
OK John, fair play to you; I trust you as well. The Presbyterian code should be adopted by all nations.
A few final, minor quibbles. What happens about the double-named singers/bands and multiples thereof e.g. Kate Bush. If you hit the E square, do I say E or E/? And addendendumming from that if you hit the B square, do I say B or /B? Have to get the rules of warfare cleared up before battle commences.
The obscure bands I listen to (Diamondhead and Blade Loki, anyone?) will alienate my support and as you know I’ve been canvassing furiously. Is it OK for my fleet to be named after singers/bands 1960-present day? I’ll use well-known/medium-known performers and the regulars can then guess my stars with more confidence.
This afternoon I’ll draw up my grid, put the boats on it and Christen them. The West coast military readiness has been ratcheted up from Defcon 3 to Defcon 2.
For Janus-
Glasgow Patternacular#1- Dumpling.
In the context used this means not very good or to be more frank, utterly useless. Normally affixed to a rotten footballer. Example sentence.
“That Georgios Samaras is a pure dumpling, by the way.”
For Jan-
Have you heard the new Muse single: Neutron Star Collision? As you’d expect, it’s terrific.
Morning, JW.
Today’s the anniversary of our first little local difficulty so I suppose we’ll just have to break the Sabbath to kick the next one off.
Good point about the ‘/’ and agreed. It would indeed be obfuscatory if we did not use it.
Been thinking about the grid and worrying that it’s maybe too big or that we don’t have enough ships. Bit of a bore for the bystanders if we just keep missing.
I stand foursquare (possibly a slightly masonic reference) with Rear Admiral Ewart Hodgson and his remarks when giving evidence in the Case of the Twelve Red-Bearded Dwarves (1937), as reported by Beachcomber:-
‘There can be no peace in Europe until our British-built warships lie keel to keel across every knot of the Seven Seas.’
So, I’m announcing a major re-armament programme to give your chums more chances to stick their oars in. I suggest the fleet should be 2 Aircraft carriers (10), 3 battleships (8), 4 destroyers (6), 5 frigates (5) and 5 submarines (4). I make that 101 active squares, but I could, of course, be wrong.
Off to Methil for the annual friendly. Always a joy – the bowling club is on the ground floor of the dance hall where Mum and Dad first met.
Jm, so it IS the ten-pin variety. I had you down as a green bowler – indoors come winter.
Janus
Strangely enough, the bowling club where we will be drinking is indoors but the green bit that we will be playing on is outside.
JM – What in the name of all that’s holy are you and JW banging on about? I can make more sense of Mornington Crescent.
Whimper!
OZ
Good late afternoon John,
OK, that’s my sitting ducks named and placed.
Aircraft carriers 2 x10 =20
Battleships 3 x 8 = 24
Destroyers 4 x 6 = 24
Frigates 5 x 5 = 25
Submarines 5 x 4 = 20
Total = 113 squares. I take it you are not a fan of Carol Vorderman.
And already the mind games have started as I see you have edited in a blousey little tune at the head of the blog. My commanders insisted I insert our aptly titled anthem in direct reply to this.
I was going to say how much I liked the Dorabella, so much so that I checked out the YouTube site and found it was Susan Graham. My favorite female singer at the mo, as y’all would say, or possibly of all time.
Like the Pied Piper and his rats, as well.
You two have forgotten the lifeboats!
When a craft is sunk, lifeboats are then added to one’s grid (3 squares in size). Lifeboats are only available for Destroyers (1 lifeboat), Battleships(2) and Carriers(3)
😉
JW – yes the Muse single is brill. Anthemic.