King Mekhet

They'd have trouble proving damages since the rules are fan-made and being distributed for free. Though I'm not a copyright lawyer, and it's been a years since I took any IP law classes.

My only complaint about the movie is that it doesn't slow down to appreciate the scenery. Too crowded jumping from one action scene to the next. Though quite honestly, the same critique can be levelled at ANH which is only SLIGHTLY more evenly-paced.

Question is whether that was what it was initially meant to refer to, or whether thats what a writer used to plaster over the initial error :P

Yeah that's exactly what I was trying to say: Star Wars is a light, fun, fantasy space adventure. It is not meant to be taken so seriously. Elements like the Death Star are meant to be awesome, thematic, and evocative, not critically analyzed for whether they're technically feasible. Same thing with Rei's technical prowess...I took this pretty clearly to be a manifestation of her force powers, and again something meant to be cool and not really scrutinized at 1000x magnification. The hug at the end I also saw very differently apparently. Leia is hoping against hope to see Han returning with her son. She waits expectantly as Finn and Chewie exit, not saying anything. But when Rei walks off the Falcon, nobody coming after her and with that sad look on her face, Leia knows what's up. But she's a mother, a general, and a career politician and leader...her first instinct isn't to see to herself, but to comfort Rei's obvious pain and grief first. And so the two shared a hug, mutually grieving the loss of someone they both cared for.

Watched the movie this afternoon, after marathoning the original cut trilogy, so here's some thoughts while it's all fresh: PROS: Rey was the highlight of the movie for me. Well-cast, well-written, well-developed. I like how we see her as a badass right off the bat, and how they indirectly showed how her latent force powers bled into all her other abilities. Cool. I liked *aspects* of how they paralleled ANH. A good mix of old and new, paying tribute to the original trilogy while ushering in the new Disney era. The thematic parallels were the better part (except for some bits, which fall into the con category). Rylo Ken was a good antagonist. He captured well the sort of person who would fall to the dark side, without the cartoonish evil that Darth Vader sometimes fell into. Good mix of humour and seriousness. Thought the movie took itself a little too serious in the beginning, but they let off on the humour in the middle and brought it back in line. CONS: Some of the fan service was a bit excessive and clumsy, especially some of the Han Solo and Millenium Falcon bits. Some of the scenes with Rey and Han in the Falcon felt like bad fanfic, Rey standing in for that inner child of ours who really just wanted to hang with Solo in the cockpit of the Falcon and gush about how much we loved him and his ship. The Bigger-Better-Death-Star jumped the shark a bit too. I mean...it was cool and [big bad swear word], but JJ Abrams really needs to learn how to direct a movie where the fate of the entire [big bad swear word]ing universe isn't at stake. Which leads me to my biggest criticism... ...the pacing. It felt like they crammed a good 20% too much action into this movine. It could have really benefited from slowing down just a bit more, letting the audience take in the sights a bit. The original trilogy was so awesome because it made the whole universe seem really real, whereas TFA relied too heavy on familiarity to accomplish the same thing. VERDICT: Solid 8.5/10. If I were to rank it objectively in terms of quality, I'd probably drop it below Empire but above A New Hope. Yeah it was cheesy at times, and the science didn't aways make sense, and there were plot holes abound...but that's Star Wars. I think much of the criticism of this movie comes from people who have placed the original trilogy on an unassailable pedestal. They're very flawed movies...but that's part of their charm. They great in part because they *dont'* take themselves too seriously. Because they *don't* let hard science get in the way of a cool visual effect. It's a space fantasy, replete with knights and wizards and magic.

It's a strategy game played with toy soldiers. Just like Risk. Just like Chess. The compelling aspect of the game is the depth of strategic choice, which entices you to learn the game, to learn the decisions available to you, to *improve* your ability.The depth and complexity of those decisions is especially important here, given that we're talking about a "Masters" event, which is at least superficially about deciding who is the best player in North America at our game of choice. Honestly though, what's most important about the Masters is the spirit of competition. An entire event dedicated to those players who have put in the time and effort to learn a game inside and out. Where each game you play you can expect to be challenging and evenly matched. Depth of strategy is just as important to that, as without strategy the people you play will just be the ones with the best dice rolls over the preceding season. @Krieger: I too love pouring over a 200+ page rulebook. I love mastering all those same janky shenanigans that Beasley referred to. I loved rolling over ideas about tweaks to my army and character builds in my head throughout the day, and calling up friends to discuss some whacky new list idea I had for the next tournament. Kings of War is a game that is purpose-built to avoid much of that. It is a game designed to put player skill and tabletop decisions above all else, and to shunt army and character builds to the background. Which is really unfortunately. However the tabletop experience is also top-notch. It's a really compelling game, and rewards planning and clever decisions. I'm kind of torn on it personally. On its own...I'm not sure how invested I would be, just playing in a garage with my friends. However as a tournament game I'm intrigued, and if it picks up steam going forward I would absolutely be more interested in getting on board. Especially given that I already have the models. That said...I also have my Darklands models and rulebook arriving soon, and that has me a thousand times more amped up than Kings of War. It's basically the polar opposite of Kings of War: enormously complex rules and unique, distinctive factions that are dripping with flavour and backed up with truly stupendous models. Not sure how it's going to fare as a tournament game, but it definitely has my attention at the moment.

What profound nonsense. You don't "outmaneuver your opponent" in Chutes n' Ladders. It is a game where outcomes are 100% determined by dice rolls, with zero decision-making involved whatsoever. Warhammer, Kings of War, Age of Sigmar, etc. are all *STRATEGY* games. They involve making decisions on a game board in order to outmaneuver, and thus defeat, your opponent. Wargames are perhaps not *pure* strategy games, as some element of chance is involved, but nevertheless what decides the vast majority of outcomes are player decisions (including how much chance, and thus risk, a player chooses to expose him or herself to...all factors that are known and can be accounted for in advance). How then is the relative complexity, depth, and breadth of decisions available for players to make in each game not a relevant factor in choosing the game this community sticks with going forward? Especially considering that we are talking about our relation to the MASTERS event, which is meant to be a test of a player's knowledge and mastery of the game system. Kings of War is a great game. It's a lot more complex than you would think, and the movement phase is actually much tighter and more restrictive than WHFB's ever was. This means you really need to properly plan and execute your moves in order to avoid a catastrophic mistake sewering your chance at victory. As a replacement for WHFB goes it doesn't hit all the same buttons...I think it is quite "bland" in that all the choices feel very generic, and there's not as much differentiating the factions. However it's a much better option than either Age of Sigar (which is a mess), or 9th Age (which is also bland and boring, and worst of all very played-out).

9th Age is absolutely uninspired. It's just ETChammer with a few extra changes, almost none of which I actually like. It's WHFB 8th but more bland. Furionhammer is actually quite a bit better. He made a real effort to rebalance the armies in a way that's interesting and compelling. That's something 9th Age lacks.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, everyone! To be clear, we *ARE* taking the route along the coast, to enjoy all the fun outdoorsy thingies. Also beer. We'll cut back into Portland at the end, then rip up the I-5 back home. But for most of the trip we'll be along the coast. I shall look forward to trying out these many awesome suggestions. Then making the trek back down all over again for OFCC a few weeks later haha.

Hastings confirmed many of these rumours, so it lends them slightly more credence (I'm feeling 60-40 right now). The fluff changes at least sound pretty cool. As for the rest, I would hazard that GW is keeping things under wraps until people have an actual chance to see the rulebooks. Leaking changes prematurely will just lead to people equally prematurely making sweeping assumptions and staying away from the product as a result. If they can hold off until the product actually hits, we can see things for what it is and make a determination on the merits. Basically, they don't want us dismissing things before they actually come about.

Hey everyone, Taking a week-long road trip down the coast of Washington and Oregon with the ladyfriend this Saturday (starting in Vancouver, Canada and ending in Portland the following weekend). We have some loose plans for what we want to do (largely enjoying sandy beaches and delicious beer), but I wondered if any of you folks might have some suggestions for cool places to hit up? Also any good camping spots :) Thanks!

A lot of people still really love Dark Sun. It's an iconic setting, and while it's a bit niche given the restrictions it imposes upon the campaign it still very much stands the test of time. While I do agree that the old setting had a certain timeless charm to it, it was also very stale and very generic. It's just Tolkien + historical earth. It lacked individuality. There was nothing about it to really hook you and draw you in, unless you were somehow motivated already. Quite honestly, I say good riddance to the old setting. It will remain perfectly preserved for those who want it, frozen in the same state it's been stuck in for 20 years. And now there's this great new world that people can explore. I don't really see how it's in any way "trendy" or will become quickly outdated. It shares some aspects of M:TG and other worlds that have been around nearly as long as the WHFB Old World has been. edit: NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT 9TH EDITION. That's been confirmed by basically every credible (and incredible) rumour monger on the scene. This is Age of Sigmar, which is a completely separate system. Rumour is that there will be a 9th edition to follow, which will be mass battle and much more in line with what we have now.

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?409992-Age-of-Sigmar-II&p=7468262&viewfull=1#post7468262 Hastings just verified much of the rumours posted above. ....... consists of three books (what I have heard too) - full fledged rule system; no skirmish game - meaning not restricted to low miniature count: (as I understand it AoS WILL be skirmish level, the later rules bring about massed battle rules) - there are unit cards for every (as far as I can see) old unit. I was told there would be separate rules to allow fielding of old units, however I thought these were included in the kits Setting game is set on world Regalia that is connected with other young realms through portals of the old ones. Young realms are realms that were populated by the old creators and were guided on similar historical paths. Exactly what I was told ...... Fast travel is possible through a number of ..... circles that allows mages to open portal from one to another ..... There were a long period of peace curated by the Exoatl (Old Ones) ...... Exactly what I was told The Skaven arrived on their own on Regalia and are basically the same. Exactly what I was told The Soul Mill is a huge machinery ...... to feed on the power of dead spirits..... Exactly what I was told - Lizardmen are not gone. There is a race called Servants of the Exoatl - I was not aware of the "servants of" part but the name Exoatl was mentioned to me.

Mmmmmeh. WH40K is keeping the fluff fresh by exploring the world of the Horus Heresy. WHFB doesn't have that same sort of possibility, since all the interesting historical stuff is scattered across millenia with no centrally defining or compelling conflict to generate that sort of interest. And the existing fluff was stale as balls. Quite possibly a huge troll, but it's exactly the sort of thing that WHFB needs. I know die-hard hobbyists who haven't bothered to read the fluff section of their armybook for several editions, since it's always pretty much the same. Occasionally they'll shoe-horn in a new unit here or there, but before End Times the WHFB story hadn't changed significantly since Storm of Chaos (which was very quickly retconned). Didn't exactly make the fluff a draw. Nostalgia value for existing players, perhaps, but little more than that. Seriously? Good riddance. I remain unsettled by talk of sweeping changes to the mechanics of the game, but so long as any new units are compatible with 8th (which I suggest they will be), and a new edition of mass battle is released in the future (which I anticipate will follow AoS...though perhaps not for a while), then I'm happy even if AoS is a complete bust. And if there is no more mass battle and AoS is awful then...well...whatever. There's always Darklands, Warmahordes, Kings of War...or any number of the other "also-rans" who have never quite managed to draw me away from WHFB, but which I would take as a consolation prize.

As always.