(Took me longer than it should have to get that !!)

The nearest I get to using AI, is to tell 'Alexa' (on the tablet) to switch itself off.
It's annoying that even though I've got Alexa permanently 'switched off' it still seems to hear what it sometimes thinks is its name if I'm listening to the radio or a talking book.

This is in a big part because the 'AI' is really a LLM (Large Language Model) so it is synthesising the answer from text it can find. It is very poor at any kind of logic or counting.

The oddest examples I had where trying to use ChatGPT to give me suggested answers for a word filling quiz - one where you get the length of the word and a few of the letters from other words, and a single word clue. Asking for words of 7 letters starting with C (for example) was hopeless as it would often return answers with 8 letters - if you corrected this it would accept this and give an suggestion of the right length then the next time go to a random length again.

The AI summaries on Strava constantly fail to give the right number of PBs you have got on a ride, even though these are listed on the ride report a bit further down.

So whilst the AI helpers can be useful for providing some info they really do need some vetting for more factual content. 

Ace Frehley from Kiss

A stuart Asquith scenario using BPII and broadly Napoleonic.

Can't help but feel that as that is the temperature of the photosphere of the Sun, that would be the least of the problems...

That will kill it stone dead, and spoil the taste too

David & I met up at Leighton Buzzard for a BKC game, using his points of 2085, we put our lists together, David dusted off his troops, as he used to play Stephen at BKCII, and off we went.
David's force:
Co & 2 x HQs and FAO
2 x 25lbers
2 x Mk3 Honeys
5 x A13s
3 x Crusaders
3 x Valentines
3 infantry platoons in trucks
2 x 2lber portees

It's a lot of armour and not much infantry!

My force:
CO & 2 HQs
3 x Panzer IIIJ
3 x Panzer IIIH
2 x Panzer IVD
1 x 222
2 x verteran infantry in Hannomags
1 x HMG & Mortar in truck
4 x infantry
2 x PAK36s
1 x Pak38s
1 x HMG
1 x Mortar
1 x motorcyclists

A lot of infantry, but not much armour!

For reference, in David's force; red counters donate killed, blue = surpressed and yellow show hits (we played the hits stay on varient)
And indeed, so the my armour really went for it turn 1, well over the half way line, and ready to pick on David's 8th Army on my right. On the left, my infantry advances towards the village, while the mechanised infantry is ready to debus into the left of the village.


DAK filling every cm² of space in the village!


With the German managing the first blunder of their eight of the night (when you roll lots of activations your chance of a 12 goes up I suppose), my armour breaks cover and comes forwards to threaten the British tanks that were struggling through a palm grove. Pity two 25lber batteries and two Honeys were also in the area and those 25lbers put out a lot of shots!


"We interrupt this broadcast for a quick look at the other table..."
Mark and Dave R were playing 1000 points, by turn 5, Mark only had 250 points on table!! Yes, his command rolls were on fire!


Back to desert. Behind David's Matilda IIs, British motorised infantry was having a really bad time from HMG and mortar fire from my left hand sections in the village. I was also hammering his two attached 2lber Portees (think David regretted bringing them).


One Panzer IIIJ in exchange for a 25lber. Not really a fair swap. My 222, after taking 2 hits, retreated behind the palm grove to add support rather than sit in the open. On the right, a Honey takes damage and the two platoons of light tankshide in the palm groves.


So, that's one battery of Pak 36s vs 3 Valentine, 3 Crusaders and 5 A13s.
Might be a bit of an unfair fight for the A13s?


Very quickly it wasn't five A13s, or three Crusdaers!
(Okay, the massed German tanks and a battery of Pak38s may have been a little bit of a help)


With the inhumation removal of the British infantry and Portees, my DAK try and reinforce the left of the line with a battery of Pak36s to at least make the Matildas think before charging into our rear.


The amount of tanks David could throw forwards was impressive (yes, another blunder had forced my tanks backwards, the 222 was glad of company in his thicket. Lybian scrap metal merchants would have been rubbing their hand with glee as we picked off all the A13s.


A blunder meant my lead veteran infantry stand took 11(!) shots from the British as it poked its head over the wall, but thankfully only two landed and the CO rallied them off. He also moved the Hannomags back out the way so they weren't a target or blocked the Paks. Unfortunately, that meant the Matildas could really focus on the Paks and they didn't last long!


By game end, what a mess! I had done in 50% of David's forces, while he had not yet done 25% of mine (an awful lot of infantry hiding in the village helps).
Major DAK victory!
I had lost four tank platoons and a Pak36, David had lost 5 A13s, 2 Honeys, 2 25lbers, 2 Portees, three infantry, two crusaders (and a partridge in a pear tree). His command rolls all night had been dire, hardly keeping and initiative, whereas my Germans usually got their second or third move, then blundered!


Another top game, what a great set of rules, and what huge laughs it produces, I play again next week against Phillip who wants to try them out too.

I'm not sure AI is completely correct here...
 

 

QuoteHomebrewing temperature varies by brewing stage, but the most critical is fermentation, which for most ales is best kept between 6672F(1922C) to prevent off-flavors. For mashing, the temperature typically falls between 148158F (6368C) to activate enzymes...

Finished "The British Cheer: Psychological Warfare in the Napoleonic Era" by Paul Thompson. After FSN reviewed this book above, I needed to get it.  I delve into all sorts of things military and naval, and this was intriguing.

I do believe the British Cheer did have some physiological affects against their enemies, but this book put me in mind of the old column vs line controversy some decades back.  It was most likely a factor, but a volley and charge would have been pretty effective in its own right.

It seems to fill out the book any cheering, not just in battle,is reported. Going home, hearing about a victory, a favorite general rides by - exuberant but not psychologically intimidating.  And, as the author states, essentially all other countries also cheered - so what?

In any event, a different book with many quotes from participants.