American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Under Club Rule 3.3.4.3, Campaigning, this thread is provided for Presidential Election Candidate General David W. 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

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General Ernie Sands
President ACWGC -Sept 2015- Dec 2020
7th Brigade, 1st Division, XVI Corps, AoT
ACWGC Records Site Admin

"If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there."

Gentlemen of the American Civil War Game Club,

For those who don’t know (or remember) who I am, allow me to introduce myself.

I started in the hobby of Civil War games with a paper map game, “Great Battles of the American Civil War”. For a Civil War buff like me, those were wonderful. The biggest problem was having to manually calculate the movement points used for every hex a unit moved into, depending on the type of unit, the formation of the unit, and the terrain type. “It would be great,” I thought, “if someone would just computerize all that, freeing up the players to focus on tactics of the battle instead of mechanics of an imposed system.” When I ran across some Talonsoft games in my local computer store, I purchased “Shiloh”. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Then I discovered this club, and I knew I had!

I can’t find the records of exactly when I joined the club, but I’m pretty sure it was not “four score and seven years ago.” Actually, it was probably around the year 1999 - give or take a couple of years. I had been thoroughly whipping my A/I opponent and I thought I was hot stuff. I signed up as a Reb and entered VMI. The only game I had at the time was Shiloh, so the training scenario was a Shiloh variant, special-made for cadets. I didn’t know anything about saving maps or anything, and I ended up playing the scenario on the full Shiloh map when it was intended to be played on a much smaller map. I did wonder how my instructor ended up getting a gunboat into the middle of the woods, but I just figured that was the way the scenario was set up (like a bunker, perhaps?). It wasn’t until several turns into the game that my instructor, watching my replay on his (correctly modified) map, saw my units WALKING ON THE WATER OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER to outflank his gunboat and realized something was dreadfully wrong. By then, I had a Major Victory.

Looking back, I like to call that my Kobayashi Maru training scenario.

After a trip to the VMI Commandant’s office and a few demerits for insubordination and “disrespecting the direct commands of a drill instructor”, I was finally allowed to graduate and was assigned to a brigade in what was then called the Army of the Mississippi.

My first battle was against Field Lieutenant Stacey Jemay, the “Gal in Blue” - to my knowledge, the first female member of the club. Having bested not only the A/I but my VMI instructor, I actually felt sorry for this lady and wondered if I should go easy on her.

To make a long story short, she cleaned my clock.

Based on a wager I had made with her when we started our game, I ended up having to go into her army’s tavern and polish her boots in front of everyone!

Humbled, I did learn a lot from that encounter, and from several future encounters with the “Gal in Blue”, as well as other club members.

I picked up more and more of the games. (I would often buy several at a time when volume discounts became available and hand the disks to my wife when they came in, so she would have something to give me for Christmas, my birthday, our wedding anniversary, and any other special occasions over the next year!) I eventually worked up to division and then corps command, serving as a VMI instructor myself along the way. I was being groomed by General Gene Nix to command the Army of the Mississippi when the position of CSA Chief of the Armies came available. I tossed my hat in the ring and (being the only applicant!) won the election, having entirely skipped over the positions of army and theater command.

I had the pleasure of attending two “Tiller Con” conventions (in Kansas City, Missouri, and Franklin, Tennessee) and got to meet several of my opponents in person. I met Generals Dave Danner and Larry Bertolino on a trip my wife and I took to New Orleans. Later, I went on a two-day tour of the Shiloh National Military Park coordinated by General Dave Danner, meeting several other esteemed members of the club, including the late, great General John Dragan.
Serving as CSA CoA introduced me to the Cabinet and the behind-the-scenes workings of the club. Being as much a bureaucratic nerd as I was a Civil War nerd, I fell right into place.

The club was only nine years old, and General Pierre Desruisseaux had been the club’s only President. At that time, the Club Rules consisted mainly of instructions on battlefield conduct and club points, with some rudimentary administrative rules (including the structure of the Cabinet, office of President, etc.). One big weakness was there were no term limits for the Club President (and poor old General Desruisseaux was starting to get tired of corralling all the cats, so to speak). The Cabinet decided it was time to take a look at rewriting the Club Rules, and I was appointed to the committee to investigate that.

I had served on by-laws review / re-write committees for several other organizations, and the committee allowed me to draft the initial set of new rules. The committee revised and reworked my initial draft, it was approved by the Cabinet and presented to the entire club for a vote. Lo and behold, the club approved the changes.

Then the sticky situation came up about what to do with the office of Club President. As I mentioned, General Desruisseaux was looking forward to taking a break, so we needed to hold elections. This would be the first big test of the new rules.

In order to hold an election, we needed at least one candidate. Knowing that it had been my idea to institute term limits, and that as the principal author of the rules I knew the new structure as well as anyone, I once again tossed my hat into the ring. I do remember getting one officer from each side of the club to present my nominations: Generals Ned Simms and Den McBride. (It wasn’t until later that I realized I had selected two gentlemen who not only were from different sides but whose first names were spelled the reverse of the other - which ended up adding a ‘coolness factor’ to the nominations - at least in my mind.)

I ended up winning the election, and my name is listed on the ACWGC Cabinet page as the second Club President. I served two terms. There were one or two tough episodes I won’t go into (old-timers in the club will be Notso Quick to remember these), but for the most part everything went smoothly. I can sincerely say that serving as President of this club was one of the proudest accomplishments of my life.

After my second term expired, I gave up the keys to the Presidential liquor cabinet and stepped back into brigade command. With extra time on my hands, I ended up exploring other internet games and, sadly, drifted away from the ACWGC.

Every once in a while I would open one of these games and play against the A/I again. It was nice to ‘revisit’ some of the old battlefields, but it was like shadow boxing. Something was missing. Not only were most of the club members MUCH better than the A/I, but the camaraderie of the A/I was sadly lacking. Finally, I was able to retire from being painfully employed (oops, I meant to say “gainfully employed”!) a couple of years ago and decided to rejoin the club. I expected to have to start over as a Field Lieutenant, but was pleasantly surprised when I was restored to my former rank. Of course, my battlefield skills are still a bit rusty as compared to the old days, but I’m still having a blast.

Upon returning, I was invited to serve as Chief of Staff for the Army of the West, under the capable leadership of General Cam McOmish. He has patiently taken me under his wing and helped bring me back up to speed - although he still hasn’t trusted me with a set of keys to his personal liquor cabinet.

Since reenlisting, I’ve been mainly involved with helping to playtest some new scenario variants. But I now have the latest versions of all the John Tiller Civil War games and am looking forward to taking on new and old opponents on the battlefield.

I still hold to the VMI motto, attributed to General Dragan, “It’s better to win a friend than it is to win a battle.”

When I heard that the second term of President Ernie Sands was about to expire, I decided to offer my services to the club once again. I am thrilled to see others interested in the top post, as well. Although I do plan to vote for myself, I will be happy to support whoever ends up as the next President of the American Civil War Game Club.

Per Club Rule 3.3.4.3.1, I now open the floor to "comments and/or questions from any qualified voter"

Your humble servant,
Gen ‘Dee Dubya’ Mallory

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General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

As always I like to ask a few of the same questions to each candidate and then a few different ones based on what they have written.

I have known Walt for just a few months but since meeting him have found him to be a very dedicated Member of the Club and someone who whole-heartedly believes in the future of the Club. Walt seems to always be thinking of how to grow the Club rather than looking back and focusing on what was. He also has actively embraced and encouraged different ways to connect with other online Civil War Groups and has supported our recent forays onto Facebook and YouTube. I think he would make a fine president and would be happy to have him at the head of the Club! That being said I also have known DW Mallory for a long time. He was in the Army of the Mississippi when I joined in 2010 and was one of the most reliable and responsive officers in what, eventually, became my Army. As president he was always honest and gracious and when he left office in 2012 it was to me he handed the executive washroom keys to and made the transition an easy one. Over the years he was someone I could feel comfortable emailing about any topic knowing that he was a good confidant and someone who would give you a balanced opinion on any topic. I honestly can say that were he to serve again as Club president I would be just as happy as I would be if Walt were elected.

It's a rare win/win situation as we have two solid candidates! Huzzah for the ACWGC!

That being said there are a few questions I have for both candidates:

1) What role should the President and/or the Cabinet play in the promotion of the Club and in its recruitment efforts? Is this better left to the individual members to do as they see fit or should we have a Club-sponsored approach to the effort?

2) [The wording of this question was difficult – hopefully I didn’t butcher it] We live in a different world than existed in 1997. I have always found the Club to be a very welcoming and accepting place where all are welcome. Yet the Club has no official declaration of the fact that we do not condone any sort of racism or prejudice and will not tolerate any member, ever, using our boards in any way to promote any hurtful or hate-filled messages. Our use of the Confederate flag is to both honor our ancestors [for us southerners] and because it is a relic of the period we portray. We do not display it as a symbol of intimidation or hate. The Blitz Wargaming Club has a very blunt message on their site that they do not tolerate any racist remarks or actions by their members using the forum. Do you think it is time the ACWGC state officially what we have always taken for granted? That all are welcome and while we do portray a historical period many find uncomfortable and painful to remember that we are a group of online gamers who treat others with only courtesy and respect.

3) If you could accomplish one major goal while President what would it be?

4) What is the best non-war movie you have seen?

5) If you get “one final meal” what are you ordering?

Now for the specific questions for each candidate based on their earlier statements:

Walt:
1) Your second point seems to be directly attempting to get the Cabinet involved in the monthly mustering of officers on both sides of the Club. Is this not better left to the individual CoA’s? How could a collaboration of Cabinet Members improve mustering practices when it is, I think, better left to the CoA’s? Monitoring and mentoring are, again, the roles of the CoA and his chosen subordinates. How do you see the Cabinet improving those aspects without invading the “states rights” of the two sides?

2) I was confused by point 4. I believe you mean that you feel there should be a Club-wide, Cabinet-sponsored, guidebook to how to be a Club Member and what things each member should know, right? Again, isn’t that the role of UMA and VMI? Part of each school should be to educate new recruits on the basics of Club Membership. VMI has numerous tutorials on these issues and ideas always on our website and in the CSA-only forum. I imagine UMA does as well. How can this be improved upon then by a Cabinet committee?

David:
1) I think there are two types of ways to be president – you can let the Club bring issues to you and then work with the Cabinet to address the proposals and concerns that come to you. Or, you can take the reins and try to lead the Club in a certain direction and see if the members fall in line behind you. Either way has its advantages and disadvantages. Do you favor one style over the other or do you have a different philosophy in mind for the role?

2) Walt seems to be favoring a much more “hand-on” approach to the role of President than we have had in a while. Do you have any opinion on the role of the Cabinet in the recruitment or retention of members or is this better left to the CoA’s as the leaders of their individual sides?

Thanks to both candidates for reading all this and for the answers I trust both will give. I wish both the very best of luck and appreciate them running for one of the most thankless and time-consuming jobs in the Club!

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012

Captain Strickler,

Thank you for the thought-provoking questions.

1) What role should the President and/or the Cabinet play in the promotion of the Club and in its recruitment efforts? Is this better left to the individual members to do as they see fit or should we have a Club-sponsored approach to the effort?

I see the President's role as being one of moderator of the Cabinet (Club Rule 3.3.2.1). The Cabinet's role is to interpret and enforce club rules, to approve promotions, to provide a forum for member grievances, and to arrange for club elections (Club Rule 3.3.1.2). There are currently no provisions in the club rules for the President or the Cabinet to perform other functions. In order to remain viable, though, any organization needs a steady influx of new members. I wouldn't be opposed to an amendment to the rules allowing the Cabinet to 'perform other functions deemed necessary for the health of the club', which could include coordination of membership-building efforts.

2) [The wording of this question was difficult – hopefully I didn’t butcher it] We live in a different world than existed in 1997. I have always found the Club to be a very welcoming and accepting place where all are welcome. Yet the Club has no official declaration of the fact that we do not condone any sort of racism or prejudice and will not tolerate any member, ever, using our boards in any way to promote any hurtful or hate-filled messages. Our use of the Confederate flag is to both honor our ancestors [for us southerners] and because it is a relic of the period we portray. We do not display it as a symbol of intimidation or hate. The Blitz Wargaming Club has a very blunt message on their site that they do not tolerate any racist remarks or actions by their members using the forum. Do you think it is time the ACWGC state officially what we have always taken for granted? That all are welcome and while we do portray a historical period many find uncomfortable and painful to remember that we are a group of online gamers who treat others with only courtesy and respect.

I understand the sentiments of this question. Personally, I feel Club Rule 1.3 covers this, when it states "rude, antagonistic behavior will not be tolerated".

3) If you could accomplish one major goal while President what would it be?

If I could accomplish one major goal while President it would be to moderate Cabinet discussions in such a way that all participants come away agreeing that their voices had been heard.

4) What is the best non-war movie you have seen?

I have far too many "favorite" movies (or songs, or colors, or whatever) to narrow it down to one. Even simple questions like "Boxers or Briefs" can have many valid answers, such as "Boxers", "Briefs", "Both", "Neither", "It Depends", or - once we've reached a certain age - simply "Depends".

5) If you get “one final meal” what are you ordering?

See my answer to #4, above.

Now for the specific questions for each candidate based on their earlier statements:

David:
6) I think there are two types of ways to be president – you can let the Club bring issues to you and then work with the Cabinet to address the proposals and concerns that come to you. Or, you can take the reins and try to lead the Club in a certain direction and see if the members fall in line behind you. Either way has its advantages and disadvantages. Do you favor one style over the other or do you have a different philosophy in mind for the role?

As I stated in #1 above, the Club Rules spell out the duties and responsibilities of the Club President. The role of a moderator is to moderate discussion, not to lead or sway the discussion. A moderator needs to remain neutral. According to Robert's Rules of Order, the moderator of a meeting isn't even to vote unless his vote would change the outcome (in essence, in case of a tie). If a meeting moderator feels strongly that a particular issue should be taken up, he should work behind the scenes to convince someone else to present the idea.

7 ) Walt seems to be favoring a much more “hand-on” approach to the role of President than we have had in a while. Do you have any opinion on the role of the Cabinet in the recruitment or retention of members or is this better left to the CoA’s as the leaders of their individual sides?

I do like the idea of a club-wide, centralized approach to new member recruitment. As such, I could easily see this being a Cabinet-led initiative. Such things as the ACWGC Facebook group I've been seeing I think should be sanctioned by and coordinated by the Cabinet, although (as I mentioned above) the Club Rules don't currently give the Cabinet authority to perform such functions. It could just as easily be done by a bi-lateral committee made up of representatives from both sides, appointed by the respective CoA's. That would be for new member recruitment, though, not member retention. Retention should be a function of Division Commanders (which is why they are allotted OBD points each month).

Your humble servant,
Gen 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

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General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

Gen. Mallory, what are you thoughts concerning the subject of alternate identities; that is, one member registering in the club, secretly or not, with two or more different names and e-mail addresses?

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General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

Gen. Mallory, what are you thoughts concerning the subject of alternate identities; that is, one member registering in the club, secretly or not, with two or more different names and e-mail addresses?

I just checked the Club Rules and was surprised that I couldn't find anything specifically regarding this.

I'm certain that the standard has been that one person can only have one 'membership' in the club. I do remember, long ago, there being a court martial (on the CSA side) for a player who did this very thing (made up a fake persona and joined the Union side using that fake persona, in order to spy on the other side by gaining access to closed forums).

For the record, my stance is that any one individual is only allowed to have one membership in the club.

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General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

Thank you for your response, Gen. Mallory. Based upon your answer, do you think would it be acceptable for one individual to leave the club for any reason under one identity and then attempt to rejoin later under a different identity?

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General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

"[D]o you think would it be acceptable for one individual to leave the club for any reason under one identity and then attempt to rejoin later under a different identity?"

As I was preparing my answer to your earlier question, I considered just such a scenario. I can see an individual 'making a mess of things' to such a degree that he felt the best way to clear things up would be to start over with a clean slate. However, I believe the better option would be for that individual to apologize for any wrongs he has caused and to make amends, rather than resort to what would amount to subterfuge.

In short, I think such an action would be ungentlemanly and, therefore, not in the spirit of the club. I can't come up with any valid reason for anyone to attempt such an action.

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General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

A number of times in the past club members have taken the time to submit carefully written and endorsed proposals to the Cabinet for consideration, and then stood by as the seven members exclusively deliberated it among themselves, completely shutting out the author, seeking no outside discussion, and rendering their vote in secret without explanation. As a candidate for the Club Presidency do you view the Cabinet as a secluded, final authority unto itself, free from oversight, or as a clearinghouse for the shaping and molding of proposals to permit club-wide discussion and then a club-wide vote.

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General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

"As a candidate for the Club Presidency do you view the Cabinet as a secluded, final authority unto itself, free from oversight, or as a clearinghouse for the shaping and molding of proposals to permit club-wide discussion and then a club-wide vote."

An excellent question. I see the Cabinet as acting like a clearing house. If there have been overlapping proposals, or less-than-carefully-thought-out (some might even call 'frivolous') items suggested to the Cabinet, I don't see the point of getting the entire club involved in those discussions. On the other hand, if a club member takes the time to carefully write out a proposal, it behooves the Cabinet to keep the presenter informed about the status of Cabinet deliberations and perhaps to invite the presenter to provide additional input to the discussions. I think it is standard practice (or at least it should be), once the Cabinet has debated and approved an item, to share the final, Cabinet-approved version with the club for club-wide discussion and vote. The Cabinet is not, and should not be, an independent entity.

The U.S. federal government has three branches: The legislative branch (Congress), the judicial branch (Congress), and the executive branch (President). It hasn't been discussed much, but I see the role of the Cabinet as being more like the U.S. Supreme Court than the U.S. Congress, in that the Cabinet 1) interprets current rules and 2) decides which, if any, items ('cases'?) it deems important enough to deal with. In this club, I see the role of 'executive' as being handled by the two CoA's. The Club President, in this context, serves more like the Chief Justice than the President of the United States. Legislative functions (changes to club rules) are handled by a coalition of the Cabinet and the rest of the club members. For purposes of legislation, the Cabinet serves as a congressional committee, to review and refine proposed legislation and - if said legislation is approved (i.e., "makes it out of committee") - it is then debated and voted on by the rest of the club.

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General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

Thank you for that response, Gen. Mallory. Yet at the moment we are left with the rather broad and insulating club rule describing the Cabinet's duties.

3.3.1.2 Duties of the Cabinet
a) The duly elected Members of the ACWGC Cabinet with a majority vote, subject to veto, determines all interpretations, understanding and application of club rules. They may also make a determination on any situation not otherwise specifically covered under these rules with a majority vote, subject to veto.

Rather than trust or risk the interpretation of this rule to each new Club President, ought not the processes you've just described be more nearly formalized within the rule for all future proposals?

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General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

"Rather than trust or risk the interpretation of this rule to each new Club President, ought not the processes you've just described be more nearly formalized within the rule for all future proposals?"

Believe it or not (and I know how hard it might be to believe it, given how large the body of Club Rules is), we tried to keep the club rules as simple as possible, including not specifying every procedure. Personally, I see no need to change the rules to include my own interpretation. If I am elected and the Cabinet disagrees with me on this, I wouldn't veto an change to the club rules in this matter, though.

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General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

Why or why not, in your opinion, Gen. Mallory, would it be conducive for the ACWGC to enlarge the club by 200 members in one year's time?

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General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

It's imperative for the health of any organization to grow its membership. Not that growth for it's own sake should be the end goal, but if new members aren't continually brought in an organization will wither and die due to attrition (members losing interest and drifting away, dying, etc.).

I don't have an opinion on the specific number 200, but it's always good to have a goal of some sort. Then plans can be made toward achieving that goal.

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General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

Kobayashi Maru. A Trekee?????

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Colonel Jason "Skeedaddle" Campbell
The Mahoning 4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corp
AoT
"Let's fill up our canteens, boys. Some of us will be in hell before nightfall and we'll need the water"