Crayz9000 wrote:You know, all this talk got me thinking about how the Baldricks would fare if the Message happened during WWII.
In terms of air power, we'd have a bit more difficulty because the Germans are the only ones flying jets and let's face it, the Me262 wasn't available in large enough numbers, and a lot of the other prop planes only had .50 cal guns.
The British had jets too. Not that jet technology was really mature enough to manufacture enough jets of sufficient reliability to be useful. Massed waves of prop-driven fighters could probably make up for their lack of speed, and .50 caliber machine guns have been proven to be more than sufficient medicine against baldricks. What would be a fun thought to consider is what happens when harpies run into massed AAA fire...
On the bright side, the standard American sidearm is the Colt M1911, although it's limited to a 7-round capacity it gives better stopping power.
Better stopping power than what, the 9mm NATO? While that is true, the .45 ACP is not a bear gun. You'd be better off digging out all those Colt M1909 revolvers from storage and buying as many Colt New Service and Smith and Wesson .357 Magnums as possible. The .45 "Long" Colt with it's original black-powder ballistics would cleanly penetrate
horses from stem to stern, and the factory loadings for the .357 Magnum in those days were far more potent than the ones used today.
Though I must admit that the thought of American doughboys using Thompson SMGs against baldricks does warm my heart. Many rear-line troops would've been using M1 Carbines, though, and the dinky little .30 caliber round they fired was entirely inadequate against people, let alone demons.
As well, the M1 Garand is in use...
That's true. Though this is the M1 Garand that had to be reloaded using clips, instead of its box-magazine using descendant the M14. Most other armies in the world during WW2 were still relying heavily on bolt-action rifles, often in the hands of ill-trained conscripts. The Germans and Soviets semiautos in limited numbers, and the British never developed them at all until after WW2. Though most bolt-action calibers in existence at the time would've carried much more hurt than the 5.56mm NATO of today.
Even better, while most tanks don't have very good anti-armor weapons, most of them have guns starting at 20mm, even the little Polish and French tankettes.
Of course, now I have this funny image of Hitler launching a blitz into Hell itself... not that it would turn out very well for anyone involved, but it would be amusing to see Panzers punching their way straight through Dis and stopping at Satan's throne.
Not to rain on your parade, but I am doubtful that the crude electronics of the day would have the sensitivity needed to detect that the baldricks are using electromagnetic phenomena to pull off their mind-tricks, let alone give them even the inkling of opening counter-portals to carry the war to Hell itself. The leadership and scientists of WW2 Earth might not have picked up on the need to construct metallic brain-shielding headgear. Not to mention it was still fashionable to lobotomize the mentally ill in those days. Though the military leadership and public of the day would've been far more tolerant and willing to sustain casualty rates in the hundreds and thousands per day. And given that we lacked the stand-off fighting capability then that we have now, I'm fairly certain a baldrick invasion of WW2 Earth would've been far, far bloodier and the baldricks far more likely to have achieved victory through weight of numbers.
