A Certain Point of View

George Lucas has gotten a lot of flack for his writing, some of it much deserved.  It was pretty obvious, no matter what he said, that he didn't have the full story arc and Skywalker clan  plotted out when Star Wars first hit the screen in 1977.  Over the course of three movies we learn that Luke's father is in fact Darth Vader, and that he had a hidden twin sister. Oh, and if you bitch about spoilers you've been living in a cave for close to 40 years. Suck it up and deal.

In A New Hope Obi-Wan tells Luke that Vader was his pupil, that he was seduced by the Dark Side, and that he betrayed and murdered his father.  In Return of the Jedi he tells Luke that what he said was true, from a certain point of view.

Let's play a game of what if.  What if Obi-Wan had told Luke exactly what had happened.

Luke: "How did my father die?"

Obi-Wan: "Oh, your father is still alive, young Luke. Many years ago I was tasked with teaching young Anakin Skywalker the ways of the Force. We fought in the Clone Wars in many battles. Under my watch your father was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, became a Sith Lord, took the mantle of Darth Vader,  and slaughtered many Jedi. He even went to the great Jedi Temple and murdered some thirty Jedi Younglings with that very light saber you hold.

"I confronted him, fought him, ended up cutting off his arms and legs, and left him for dead. Despite the atrocious acts he had committed I could not bring myself to kill him, to end his suffering. Because of my second bout of extreme negligence the Emperor was able to save the burned Vader and encase him in a cyborg body. In that body Vader executed the Emperor's will, serving up death and destruction throughout the galaxy."

Luke: "Oh look at the time. I think I left the oven on. Droids, let's go!"

Now, I'm not saying that this was the best way to tell the story. However, even if Lucas had planned this all out from the start I'm not sure that telling Luke that his father had become one of the most feared monsters in the Galaxy would be the best idea some thirty minutes after their first, real meeting. Not to mention Obi-Wan wanting Luke to learn the ways of the Force after telling him how his own father, under the guidance of Obi-Wan, fell to the Dark Side.

What do you all think?

Dropzone Commander - the Unboxing

One way that I judge a new game is the introductory boxed set. Some come with a few models, a cheap rulebook, but not enough to really get started.  I knew what I was getting, I had done some research. It's one thing to read about it on another site but totally different when you actually get it. Hawk has done an outstanding job with their two player starter set. enough words - on with the opening!

This is the large and heavy box I got in the mail after ordering the two player starter set.

 With the tape broken and the boxed now open I saw my prize for the first time! I love the cover art.

The back of the box to let you know just what you are getting into.  Oh the excitment!

Pulling back the bubble wrap I'm greeted by plastic sprues. They are gorgeous!  The boxed set comes with three of the same sprue for UCM as well as the Scourge.  This is the full starting force for both UCM and Scourge. Once you assemble your models you can start playing.

You get an extra Bear APC which can be proxied as a Kodiak until you get the actual model. The plastic is sturdy and hard.  All the models have great detail except for the infantry.  I'll live with that since once they are on the table you won't notice the lack of details on them.

Along with the two full starting forces you get ten buildings.  My only complaint was one of the buildings was kind of scrunched.  Hawk might think of a better way to package them, but with a little work and tacky glue I was able to sort it out. As complaints go - another very minor one. The building was still usable.

You also get two large city maps to put together for your battlefield. There are two starter army quick reference sheets that also have the cheat sheets for energy to armor damage ratios. You get a full sheet of tokens for objectives, focal points, possible objectives. You get the blast/landing zone templates.  The big deal here is the FULL Dropzone Commander 1.1 rulebook. The book is beautifully illustrated and contains all of the core races (before the Reconquest expansion) and lots pictures of fully painted miniatures for reference.

But wait - there's more!
On top of the two full starter sets, tokens, buildings, and rulebook you also gets . . .

Ten decently sized D6s and a tape measure. Not some red S&M whip thingy, but an honest to goodness tape measure.  You get all of this for between $75 and $95 depending on how you order your gaming stuff.

This is surely a loss leader for Hawk but it did the job for me.  I got the starter set and then immediately began to formulate the expansion for my UCM army.  Two friends (or even acquaintances) can each get a boxed set and trade one set of models for the other - and you can get about 1100 points for each.


I was hoping they would do an alternate release of the starter set but with PHR and the Shaltari - but I'm happy that they are about to release those starter armies in plastic as well.

Hawk has done a bang up job of providing a starter set that you get everything you need to start the game and play. You have two full and viable forces that you can learn the tricks and tactics of. From there you can begin expanding your army. If you are looking to start Dropzone Commander then the boxed set is a great way to go.

Dropzone Commander

Dropzone Commander is my newest wargamming addiction.  DZC is produced by Hawk Wargames and is a 10mm scale game, meaning that its models are smaller than say those from Warhammer Fantasy or 40K.  It is vastly different than either of those two games and that is one of the reasons I really dig it.

I got seriously into wargames shortly after high school.  I saw Necromunda played and loved the models and the terrain.  That led me to Warhammer 40K.  That in turn led to Mordheim and eventually Warhammer Fantasy.  While I had enjoyed all of those games the fact that Games Workshop completely rewrote the rules every few years and seemed to make (IMO) boneheaded decisions I have since lost interest. That and the cost to get into either game is astronomical any more.

DZC plays differently than many other wargames.  It has an alternating activation sequence - meaning I activate a unit, they do their thing, then you activate a unit, and so on. The turns are very quick and you normally don’t sit around while your opponent moves their entire army.

The rules are tightly written and it’s almost as if they have an actual editor review them for clarity. This is refreshing after having to wade through interpretations in other systems (I’m looking at you GW). There are no spam units - every unit has its purpose and you cannot skimp on one over another.  Most of the missions are objective based - meaning that there is a goal and not just killing as many of your opponents units as you can.   You can destroy many more units than your opponent and still lose if you don’t meet the mission objectives. 

You need infantry to actually capture objectives inside of buildings.   You’ll need transports to move your infantry into position - APC’s and then dropships of some kind to get the APC’s into position.  You will need Anti-Air to shoot down and destroy the dropships.  You then need heavy armor to help destroy the AA.  There is also air support that comes on from one edge of the board, makes its run, and then flies off. The AA is designed for them as well.

If you don’t take enough infantry then you won’t be able to capture objectives.  Take too much infantry and you won’t be able to take as much AA or armor. Too much AA and you can control the skies but you’ll be vulnerable to the main battle tanks. Too much armor and your enemy can fly around you and ignore the deadly firepower.

The models are gorgeous and all to scale. The Condor dropship can be put together in such a way you can show it carrying three tanks or two Bear APC.  The PHR Poseidon can be assembled to show it carrying the walkers into battle.  You can put the Hunter tanks or Invader APC’s onto the Marauder dropship.

The boxed set is a great value as well - for about $75 you get TWO starter armies (UCM and Scourge), the full 1.1 rulebook, not some mini rulebook that has most of it cut. You get cardboard buildings for your battle field, two cityscape maps for the buildings. You get dice, even a tape measure (not some red whippy stick to harass your opponent with).  It’s a great way to get started. The models are plastic and go together easily.

I’ll be providing my views and thoughts on the various factions and units in the future.  Dropzone Commander has reignited my love of wargamming and I’m looking forward to the future with Hawk Wargames!

Battlestar Galactica - Blood and Chrome

Blood and Chrome is the upcoming Syfy telemovie.  It is being broken up into ten webisodes viewable through Youtube. Two episodes have been posted so far. This is all based off the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.

Blood and Chrome  picks after the show Caprica, ten years into the Cylon war. In it we find a young William "Husker" Adama, fresh out of the Academy, and now assigned to his first post - the Battlestar Galactica. He is a hotshot pilot who is eager to fly a Viper and clash with the enemy of the Colonies - the Cylons.  Of course the life in the academy and the realities of war are two different things.

The first mini-episode introduces us to the young Ensign Adama, his copilot Coker. Instead of the Viper he was planning on taking to war  Adama is instead put into the cockpit of a Raptor, one of the reconnaissance and rescue vehicle. Where Adama is eager to prove himself in the war Coker, on the other hand, is a veteran who has seen more than his share.   He has seen the horrors of the war. Coker plans to muster out after his second mandatory tour. Together they are assigned a milk run, a simple pick up and delivery. Naturally this  run  turns out to be a bit more than either planned for.

The cast is a mix of youthful faces who have bought into the propaganda of the war and are ready to kill toasters and those who have actually been in the war and know better. I found the story engaging and fast moving. There was not a lot of build up, you are dropped into the middle of the war. The virtual sets are top notch and the exterior space shots are amazing. I did grow a bit tired of the quick pan shots as well as the lens flares.  I enjoyed the music, especially the homage to the original Stu Philips score for the original show.

I am eagerly looking forward to future installments.  These can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/machinima