When life gives you chains, choke a crime lord to death

Drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra, Carrie Fisher passed away recently, as you are no doubt already aware if you read a blog about sci-fi toy soldiers.  

There's been a lot written and said about her life as an actress, writer and mental health advocate, and I'm not going to repeat that here.  I, like many of my generation, grew up with her as Leia in the Star Wars trilogy, and that character definitely made a big impression.  

Leia was a total badass.  In the first few minutes we're introduced to her, we see her as a spy, a leader, someone not afraid to trade shots with stormtroopers and then stand up to the big bad guy, the evil space wizard who just finished choking a guy to death with one hand.  You know that the Death Star had to be big if it had room for her balls.

Later she again stands up to the big villains, after presumably being tortured, and convincingly lies to their faces, well enough to fool even the evil space wizard who should have a feel for that sort of thing.  Then, after seeing her home, along with likely almost everyone she knew growing up blown to bits, she doesn't curl up in a corner and cry.  She doesn't bang on her cell door screaming at her captors.  No, she waits quietly, doubtless weighing options.  Leia is scary.  When she has a chance to escape, she grabs it and even takes charge, shoots more stormtroopers and later we again see her as a leader.

In Empire Strikes Back, the trend continues, with her taking no crap and being as active a player as she can.  

And then of course in Return of the Jedi she blows your mind.  No, not with the bikini.  With this outfit:

Sexy

We'd already crushed on Leia from the earlier movies, but this solidified it.  Her love was frozen in carbonite and held by a crime lord.  One does not do that to Leia Organa.  Liam Neeson may have a very special set of skills, but he has nothing on Leia.  She walks into the crime lord's lair and as a backup plan threatens to blow them all up with a thermal detonator.  And I take that threat seriously.  Why?  Because who would survive that blast?  Her love Han, safe in his carbonite cocoon, ready to be retrieved when Luke comes along later to sift through the rubble.  I have no doubt that she discussed that plan B with Chewie, who goes along with it.  Chewie's an awesome buddy, but that's a different post.

So, that bikini.  As a straight male, I don't deny it was a bonus when I got older and Carrie Fisher looked good in it, though at ten when I first saw it it was not a big deal.  Much more impressive was that while chained up, she then used that same chain to choke her captor to death.  Impressive in general, even more so given the size of the neck in question.  Later she goes on to help lead an assault, shoot more stormtroopers, forge an alliance with a new species in a matter of hours, yadda yadda yadda.  Just a day in the life.  Given a toothpick and enough time to make a plan, I have no doubt Leia could figure out a way to take down the Empire.

Leia certainly became a role model for me both for myself, an encouragement to get involved when trouble arises and not to give up, and a model for what I would want in a partner - someone competent and accomplished, someone who would go through hell for you, or if necessary make it hell for those in the way.  I think I've found my own Leia, and I hope all of you can too if you haven't yet.  Don't be satisfied with less.  

And if Carrie herself is anything like her most famous character, heaven better open the gates quickly if they know what's good for them.  Godspeed and lightspeed.

These are Days

More things continue to pour forth from Games Workshop these days, things that not too long ago we thought we'd never see.  "The crazy old days are in the distant past" we said.  "GW is just in a rut of re-releasing the same things over and over" we said.

Then we start getting hit with Skiitari, Adeptus Mechanicus, Deathwatch, Genestealer Cult, plastic versions of Horus Heresy stuff/different marine armor marks, and now a daemon primarch and plastic Thousand Sons with their own codex.  The crazy days are here again.  Enjoy them!

 

 Predictions if this trend (hopefully) continues:

*Plastic Sisters of Battle, with their own codex, including frateris militia.  We've got cultists and beastmen and genestealer cultists, why not militia?

*The other three cult daemon primarchs, with cult codexes.  World Eaters, Death Guard, Emperor's Children.  

 

Those two are pretty much definite, unless they change direction drastically.  They've done that in the past, but I'm optimistic GW will hold to this course for a while.  Other predictions:

*Squa-  no, I don't think they'll go that far.  But I do expect they will make Dwarves for Age of Sigmar that are pretty close, finding a fit for them there.

 

*Eldar Corsairs - either incorporated into generic Eldar or as a sub-faction

 

*Plastic Sicaran tanks - they're pretty popular, and the popular Forge World stuff tends to make its way to plastic.  I expect they'll get retconned in as more prevalent than previously thought. 

*Necromunda - With two Space Hulk releases, boxed Horus Heresy games and Blood Bowl making a return and Kill Team redone, I fully expect a Necromunda release in the next few years. 

This wild expansion does bring some problems.  The more moving parts there are in a system, the harder it is to balance things, and the harder it becomes to make changes without blanket invalidations, and the longer it takes to update things.  But enjoy the variety and craziness.  This is another Golden Age, when you can see Adeptus Mechanicus battling Genestealer Cults next to a table with a plastic Thousand Sons army facing off against Harlequins.  Drink it in.

What have we not seen yet/have teased already that you'd want to see?

Formations and special detachments - good or bad?

A topic that I'm sure has been discussed before, but I'm just getting into seriously considering using formations and alternative detachments.  My armies were pretty much built in the olden days of one force organization chart to rule them all, and even newer ones have been built with that mindset.  I had considered a Khorne Daemonkin army using their special detachment and formations before deciding to just do more regular CSM instead.  I have some other ideas floating around that may fit better with some of the special arrangements out there than a regular combined arms detachment, so I have been thinking more about the idea behind current ones.

Bring back the awesome

As we get older and more experienced, it can be natural to become jaded.  You've been there, done that, seen it and have the t-shirt.  In some ways, time can give you a deeper, more fulfilling experience with what you love.  But there's that danger of becoming jaded, of taking what you love for granted.  It can happen in your relationships with people, and it can happen in your relationships with the games and fictional universes we love too.  That thing you used to love and find joy in becomes a chore to deal with, a glaring mess of flaws that obscures the good.

I recently ran across a couple of things that brought this up for me.  One, a bit of a rant from Recalcitrant Daze about his reactions to the 7th ed books and the new Ork codex.  He's sad to see some of the more fun, creative things not making it into the publications - conversions giving way to stock models, evocative art giving way to more pictures of stock models, rules and text that are less evocative (YMMV).  As an old grognard he's seen what he considers the glory days and has access to it - but what about the new players, those who are being exposed now?  Is 40K forgetting to bring the awesome?

The second was a wonderful blog about a gamer who somehow has never been directly exposed to much of the stuff that geeks hold in high esteem and quote at each other across the table.  Dude's never seen Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, etc. until recently.  As he watches them, he writes his reactions.  And they're great reactions.  Check his "instant reviews" out at Some Wonderful Kind of Noise.  After multiple viewings over many years it can be easy to lose the sense of wonder we had with our first exposure.  But I think if we try, we can get it back.

What's great about 40K?  What drew you in?  Was it getting to use tape measures and foam transport cases?  I doubt it.  More likely, it was guys in powered armor being fired at a planet from space, leaping into battle with guns that make people explode and chainsaw swords.  FREAKING CHAINSAW SWORDS!  Daemons bursting out of people's brains, rough and tough aliens with crazy technology that usually manages to work (when it doesn't blow up in their faces), relics of a heroic and dangerous past, a galaxy of wonders and terrors met with deliberate ignorance and hatred.

Did I mention FREAKING CHAINSAW SWORDS?

Embrace the awesome.  When there's someone new to the game or universe, don't discourage them with technical rules arguments and complaints.  Stoke their enthusiasm for the awesome, and leech some of it off for yourself. 

And don't forget the chainswords.

The road ahead for 40K

A while back in a post from 2012 I laid out where I thought we would see 40K headed.  I'll post some of my thoughts from then and current feelings below.  Overall, I think GW has gotten very invested in this edition, incorporating their new mechanics deeply into codicies and other releases, making it hard to see them making a major shift away from them anytime soon.  If they did, it would be an earthshaking change perhaps even more dramatic than the 2nd-3rd edition changes.

Missed opportunities

Snowed in here in the South, but getting a post out while we still have power!

I have been thinking for a while as to why I didn't like some of the newer units and things added in to the Imperial factions.  I think I have some answers.

Warning: This post contains D-weapons!

I have Stronghold Assault waiting for me under the tree.  I don't have immediate plans to get Escalation, but have almost gotten a Stompa and Baneblade a dozen times over the years.  I have no real plans to get any of the Advent dataslits (tm Jaded Gamercast).  

There's a lot of screaming about all of these all over the web and on many of the podcasts I've heard. They're concerned about more power in 40K.  I agree more power is coming, but I'm not sure it's cause for concern.

I don't think they're too bad, at least from the position I'm in.  I rarely play in tournaments, and if I do I'm not too wrapped up in the outcome.  Heck, the last few months I rarely play, period.  I've always been up for easily accessible ways to play the game, even if those ways aren't ones that interest me personally.  Giant 50Kpt games of Apocalypse?  Not my bag, but I appreciate it being there.

40K Seventh Edition - What's probably coming and what would we like to see?

Sixth edition is a little over a year old now, and there are some good retrospectives and reflections floating around about the first year.  We'll likely see a lifespan of a few more years with this edition, but another one is undoubtedly coming.  Given subsequent releases, what are we likely to see, and what would we like to see?

Why I like the new Codex: Space Marines

I really like the new Space Marine codex.  Not because of price drops, or how awesome White Scars tactics are, but because of the inherent play variety it offers.

For me that kind of variety is what makes some books stand head and shoulders above others.  For some books, when you see armies made from them, a lot of similarity in build, and therefore play style, will be evident.  When you face them again and again it can get repetitive.  

Thoughts: Does everything in the background have to be represented by rules?

We've all heard it, and have probably engaged in some of it ourselves: such and such rule doesn't reflect the background!  X chapter of marines should have rules for XYZ!  We've heard the clamor for ways to differentiate marines, chaos legions, eldar craftworlds, ork klans, guard regiments, tyranid hivefleets, etc.

At some level it makes sense.  Imperial Fists are supposed to be masters of siege warfare, Bad Moons are supposed to have the best equipment, Saim Hann use a lot of jetbikes.  Why not give them special rules to represent that?