Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with battle

Tell me about competitive music

bjrn — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:41:48 -0800

Which other musical styles besides rap have battles, and for how long have they been around? The wikipedia article on freestyle rap says that battling originated in the early 1980s, but I know very similar forms have been around for a lot longer than that. Within calypso there's the very similar format of picong (terrible, short wikipedia article) has been around for over a hundred years at least. Picong is very much like a battle, except that the rhymes are sung instead of spoken. Calypso also has extempo and extempo war.

Are there other musical styles which have similar competitive improvisational forms, and how long have those been around?

Why Do I Suck at Total War?

Alabaster — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:50:49 -0800

Help me to be awesome at the Total War series of games... So I have Medieival II and Rome: Total War.

They're amazing games and exactly what been looking for for a long time.

But I suck at them. Even when I win I feel like I'm mostly getting lucky.

Can't seem to find a lot of worthwhile strategy information on the internet, and I'm not sure it's worth spending money on a strategy guide (unless someone here highly recommends one).

I'm mostly interested in the battle tactics and general gameplay strategy -- not so much interested in the Civilization-style kingdom building aspect (although I could be convinced).

I am mostly interested in playing 1-player battles against the computer AI -- not really an online play kind of guy.

Any advice? Or directions/links to a good resource?

The French had great military victories. Let's find them.

Flying Saucer — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:05:01 -0800

I'm tired of the conventional wisdom that the French don't know how to fight, or are cowardly, or always surrender. I'd like to put together (or find) a list of the great French military victories from ancient Gaul through WWII. It particularly puzzles me that France is called out as the big cowardly loser in WWII, a war in which Hitler bulldozed through a dozen countries. Why doesn't anyone call the Polish "surrender monkeys"? They succumbed to the Nazis in only a few weeks. Why not the Czechs, who let England and Germany carve up their country without even putting up a fight?

Added to this is the fact that (warning: generalization) many deeply patriotic Americans from the South share this view of the French as bungling military idiots...yet would never say a word against the Confederate army, which surrendered all over the place -- Vicksburg, which cut the CSA in half, comes to mind.

Even when I try to search for bright spots in France's military history in Google, I get a joke response: "Did you mean 'great French military defeats?' What is going on here?

We all know about Napoleon and Lafayette's assistance during the Revolutionary War. Help me find (or create) a timeline of French military victories. I'll start -- The Battle of Tours in 732 AD, when a French army led by Charles Martel held off an Islamic invasion and saved Christian Europe. You don't hear anyone mention that in discussion of the "War on Terror", do you?

Anyone else want to help me save France's military reputation?

Best poems about the glory of battle?

clockworkjoe — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:18:06 -0800

What are the best poems about glory in battle and valor in warfare? Most of the poetry I've read is modern, so when it comes to war, it's pretty much about the horrors of war. I'd like to see some examples of poems extolling mighty warriors, the thrill of battle and so forth.

What are the Names of all the riders involved in the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade led by Lord Cardigan during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War?

complience — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 13:32:35 -0800

Names of all the riders involved in the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade led by Lord Cardigan during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War? I'm looking for the complete list of names and ranks for every rider involved in the charge, with special interest to the those ranks of the 11th Prince Albert's Own Hussars.

2nd most important battlefield. After love.

gaspode — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:09:54 -0800

How to get London - Battle on public transport? My husband and I are in England next week, and we have an ongoing in-joke about battlefields. To that end, we want to go to Battle, to check out the battlefield site. We've worked out trains to Hastings, but frankly, are confused by the plethora of bus/train information and the crappy websites we keep finding. Can anyone clearly explain how to get to Battle, from Hastings presumably, on public transport?

The Arts and Crafts of War

Bookhouse — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:02:19 -0800

Send me to war college. I've developed a new interest in war and strategy, and am interested in reading and learning more. There's already been some good threads to start with, but I want more.

Here's what I have: Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, the Five Rings and Robert Greene's entertaining strategy books. I'm trying to get better at chess. I'm looking for more books on war and tactics, historical books with a highly military bent (even fiction like The Virtues of War), and war games for the Mac that aren't resource-harvesting Starcraft-y games. Websites would be good too.

Out with the streamlining, in with the RL physics

Gordion Knott — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:28:55 -0800

Let's say you're thrust headlong into a dogfight engagement in space. Era and galaxy of your choosing. What would the real-world physics look like? Fessing up here. I'm a dedicated, white-knuckled fan (er, on occasion) of the dogfights in Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, with their dopplering sound effects, banking fixed wing aircraft, and atmosphere-based physics in "space." All the same, I sometimes wonder what a real-world engagement would look like. In particular:

-Fighter design: Streamlining is out the window, of course. But what would an optimal design be? Spherical, cubical? Riddled with gun emplacements (due to the lack of air friction)?
-Tactical issues: Assuming we want manueverability, what types of rockets and thrusters would be used? Problems with inertia in a gravity-free environment?
-Strategic issues: Would a space dogfight even be feasible -- or desirable? How about those dreadnought-class battleships, a la Star Wars. Would these be useful platforms for battle? (You'd assume they'd exert gravitational pull on smaller craft).
-Non-Classical physics: Particle entanglement, extra dimensions, quantum effects -- any way to exploit these?

WWJPlay? (The "J" is for "Jack")

Mayor Curley — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 15:41:02 -0800

I have been reading Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, and I like it a lot. Now I want to play video games set in the era (or thereabouts). Are there any good ones that simulate the Napoleonic Wars or other European and Colonial wars of the general period? Or that have better sailing ship naval battles than the new Pirates!? I liked that a lot at first, but it's too simple and repetitive for me. I have modern computers running windows, OSX, and Linux and a PS2. My favorite game (for reference) is Medieval: Total War. But I will consider anything concerned with the era or anything with good naval battles featuring wooden ships, even if the setting is earlier.

A literal battle of the sexes?

ontic — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 15:36:46 -0800

I am trying to find an account of an actual historical battle between male and female "armies". I don't think I imagined learning about this, but numerous searches have netted nothing. I don't remember what cultures were involved, but it might have been germanic peoples, norse peoples, or the scots. The account I remember had a male army that went off to war, and while they were gone something happened on the home front. Either the army was killed and the female army rose up against the enemy or the men returned to very unhappy women who rose up against them. I'm pretty sure the female army was defeated and probably slaughtered or worse.

Any help, or is this something I made up?

WWII History

geoff. — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 19:42:07 -0800

I'm trying to find out what my grandfather did during World War II. He was in the 101st and I know he saw a lot of the worst of the Battle of the Bulge. He mentioned going to Hitler's retreat (I believe he means Eagle's Nest). He also won, I believe, an important medal that he refuses to accept and was invited to France to do something. He hates talking about it, he's getting up there, and I was hoping to figure out as much as I can. Sorry to be vague but I'm telling all that I know. My preliminary google searches don't turn up anything. More inside. I know he doesn't like talking about it, or else I'd ask him. I know he saw the worst of it, I don't believe he was in Bastogne or it probably would have been mentioned. He has a super-common name (Edward Smith) but I was hoping to at least get information as to what he was in and track down what his company/whatever did.

I have no idea where to start looking for something like this. I would assume there'd be a registery of enlisted men somewhere, or if he's won medals which I believe he has -- he should be on that registry.

Any help would be appreciated. Also I realize I gave out his name in a very public place, and I'd respect that no one try to you know, stalk him. He did kill Nazis after all.

Oh yeah on preview, I remember that he did definitely parachute in and he was involved sometime in mid to late Decemeber because he was talking about being knee deep in snow, taking the man who just got shot next to him's bazooka and blowing up a tank. Yeah that's what I got when I asked why he doesn't talk about it.