Ish

You know how it works, @InfestedKerrigan. If you collect a Chaos Warriors army using all these shiny new toys as soon as you are 4/5ths of the way through finishing your painting backlog of ‘em, that will be when GW announces a new Lizardman army.

Detroit Consolidated MercWorks Unit Profile (as of 3020) CO: Major Isaiah Sanders-Howe XO: Captain Aretha Cooper JumpShips: No DropShips: Yes Aerospace: No Armor: No Infantry: No Unit History Detroit Consolidated MercWorks is a Mercenary Company that is most notable for being a subsidiary of Detroit Consolidated MechWorks, one of the most technologically advanced military hardware manufacturers in the Periphery. The Detroit system is located near the Appian and Linhauiguan systems and was first colonized in 2488. Detroit remained an independent Periphery world for much of its history, although the resources produced by the planet led to the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat battling for attempted control of the planet during the First Succession War. Detroit held the dubious distinction of being involved in the only full-scale conflict to be fought between Periphery states during any of the Succession Wars. The Taurian-Canopian War - also referred to as the 200-Hour War - was a brief and largely pointless campaign fought between the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat. The brief conflict resulted in a negotiated truce signed on Detroit in February 2814, which included an agreement that Detroit and the neighboring systems of Herotitus and Spencer would all be "demilitarized systems." Two centuries later, when the Concordat and Magistracy began a joint colonization venture in the area dubbed the New Colony Region, Detroit was incorporated into that region. Formation Chartered in 3015, Detroit Consolidated MercWorks is not officially a part of the government forces of Detroit. They are legally required by their charter to accept only MCRB contracts that will have them operating off world. However, a few times during their brief history they've responded to pirate raids against their homeworld "voluntarily." Detroit Consolidated MercWorks owns one Union-class DropShip, christened the DCMS-101 Menominee, and can field three Lances of BattleMechs. Maj. Isaiah Sanders-Howe Isaiah Sanders-Howe (Born 5 May 2981) is the commander of the Detroit Consolidated MercWorks mercenary unit. Known for his pragmatic and cautious approach to warfare, especially the use of long-range and indirect fire. Sander-Howe is acknowledged by most who knew him as a father-figure to his men and would go to great lengths to prioritize the survival of his MechWarriors over that of their `Mechs. Appearance Isaiah Sanders-Howe is a man of average height, slightly over-weight, with grey eyes and balding brown hair. History Isaiah Sanders-Howe was born in Flint, on Detroit, the son and grand-son of mine workers who labored in the deep chasm located between Dearborn and Flint known as the Warren Fault. The Warren Fault provided inexpensive access to many precious mineral veins, but conditions were dangerous and worker safety was a low priority for the corporations that ran the mines. Therefore, throughout his whole youth Isaiah's parents pushed him towards schooling, atheletics, trade programs... Anything that might give him a shot at a career outside the mines. At the age of 13, he enlisted with the 3rd Battalion, 4th McCarron's Armored Cavalry as a `Mech Astech, eventually working his way up to a journeyman `Mech Technician by age 20. Placed in charge of a tech crew maintaining an older Catapult CPLT-C1. During an operation to pacify a pirate operation in the Corodiz system, the MechWarrior assigned to Sanders-Howe was killed when their base camp came under enemy air assault. Sanders-Howe lept into the cockpit himself and shot down both of the pirate aerospace fighters... He was given a field promotion to MechWarrior the next day. Sanders-Howe served McCarron's Armored Cavalry with quiet professionalism for the next twelve years. Sanders-Howe was as careful with his pay as he was with his troops, eventually saving up over one million C-Bills. Sanders-Howe had planned a quiet retirement back home on Detroit, but he was approached representatives of some Detroit's business and civic leaders. Under the terms of the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat's peace treaty, Detroit was officially a "demilitarized system" and couldn't raise any military of its own. However, the risk of another war between the Periphery's larger powers (or worse a war between the Great Houses) swallowing up Detroit was seen as too great not to take some precautions against. Thus, the formation of Detroit Consolidated MercWorks. Sanders-Howe was named its first commanding officer and his million C-Bill investment allowed him to buy 5% of the shares. 1st Lance / Command Lance [ [ 17,997,185 CB ] Marauder MAD-3R [ 6,627,250 CB ] Pilot: Issiah Sanders-Howe (2/3/4) Salary: 2,000 CB Catapult CPLT-C1 [ 5,691,525 CB ] Pilot: Bhan Van Bao (4/4/5) Salary: 1,000 CB Phoenix Hawk PXH-1 [ 4,066,090 CB ] Pilot: Gesualdo Painu (4/4/4) Salary: 1,000 CB Wasp WSP-1A [ 1,612,320 CB ] Pilot: Abdur Raqeeb al-Monsouri (4/4/4) Salary: 1,000 CB (Also an Assistant Tech) 2nd Lance / Fire Lance [ 17,120,041 CB ] Blackjack BJ-1 [ 3,145,775 CB ] Pilot: Ludvig Fisker (3/4/4) Salary: 2,000 CB Archer ARC-2R [ 6,180,973 CB ] Pilot: Velizar Lazarevic (4/3/6) Salary: 1,000 CB Archer ARC-2R [ 6,180,973 CB ] Pilot: Storm Hemmingsen (4/3/4) Salary: 1,000 CB (Also an Assistant Tech) Wasp WSP-1A [ 1,612,320 CB ] Pilot: Szabo Zsofia (4/5/4) Salary: 1,000 CB 3rd Lance / Recon Lance [ 6,583,590 CB ] Commando COM-2D [ 1,823,750 CB ] Pilot: Einar Folkbiornsson (3/4/4) Salary: 2,000 CB Locust LCT-1M [ 1,612,320 CB ] Pilot: Raquel Kanashiro Bitencourt (4/4/3) Salary: 1,000 CB (Also an Assistant Tech) Wasp WSP-1A [ 1,612,320 CB ] Pilot: Tinecia Middlesex (4/5/6) Salary: 1,000 CB Wasp WSP-1A [ 1,612,320 CB ] Pilot: Josif Rudin (4/5/5) Salary: 1,000 CB Other Assets Union-class DropShip [ 15,000,000 CB ] Crew: 13 Enlisted, 1 Veteran Officer Salary: 15,000 CB `Mech Technicians Crew: 2 Veteran Techs, 6 Assistant Techs* Salary: 10,000 CB Subtotal (Monthly Salary): 40,000 CB Monthly Loan Payment: 250,000 CB * Not counting MechWarriors also acting as Assistant Techs

So... The hours I've spent bashing my head against Campaign Operations isn't necessary? Because I seriously just spent the last five hours figuring out the peacetime fuel consumption of a Union-class DropShip; the monthly salaries of my MechWarriors, tech crews, and the administrative support staff; and peace-time ammunition consumption costs... Arrrgh!

RED GUARDIAN! RED GUARDIAN! RED GUARDIAN!!!

That's a much more sensible number of gates.

The charges are operating an unlicensed personal flight conveyance within Mega-City One, carrying -- several -- unlicensed concealed weapons, and impersonating a Judge. How do you plead, punk?

I think Pascal manages to convey quite a lot simply through body language and blocking. I feel like I can understand the Mando-with-No-Name's emotions/decisions quite clearly despite the mask, just from his line delivery and posture. I find him compelling, and a bit unpredictable, which is what you want in your Space Western Anti-Hero... Compare and contrast High Plains Drifer, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Yeah, you can see Clint's face in all of those, but he might as well be wearing a solid steel mask for all the expression Eastwood gives. "The Clint Squint" is about as hard to read as the Mandalore' T-mask. We're also only four episodes deep into an eight episode series that will undoubtedly be followed by a second series (and a third... and a fourth...) unless they seriously screw up things. There's just too big a buzz around these series for it not to last for at least another few years. So we should see a lot more character development from the Mando-with-No-Name over the coming years. I'm hoping he never takes his helmet off, although if they pull a minor retcon and introduce a Mandalorian helmet design that allows us to see his mouth, that wouldn't be the worst retcon introduced to the Star Wars setting over the years. Just fly Karl Urban over from New Zealand to give Pascal some scowling lessons.

Glitter and Elmer’s Glue will run you less than $5 at Wal-Mart, but give you enough to cover a 5’ x 5’ table, let alone a few bases.

The old reliable plastic Warriors of Chaos kit was a great kit, but being designed for the “rank and flank” days it really only worked if the models were properly formed into blocks. These new guys add some energy and dynamism, but shouldn’t look too out of place mixed in with units of the old guys. Hot damn. Just... Hot. Damn. I’ll be in my bunk.

Have you considered using something other than a PlayStation as a web browser?

Depends on the rest of the weather conditions. Windbreakers are called that for a reason.

Or maybe... and I know this is a radical idea, but hear me out... You could just ignore the ads?

Well, obviously, because at 22° Kelvin, you’d be dead.

Fair point, I forgot about the "track the princess to the hidden fortress" plot point... But wasn't that plot hatched when they just thought the terrorist scum heroic rebels that had come to rescue Leia were, y'know, regular rebels? I think it's pretty plausible that Darth Vader upon encountering Kenobi would "call an audible" and switch his goals from 'let the princess pretend to escape' to 'capture or kill the second most wanted religious fundamentalist terrorist Jedi Knight in the galaxy'? Especially given the seething hatred of Kenobi that Vader has been nursing for twenty years. Yeah, he probably would have gotten a stern reprimand from Tarkin, but it wouldn't be out of character for a Sith (especially Vader) to prioritize personal revenge and the Sith/Jedi feud over more conventional and pragmatic military goals. That's the problem with letting evil space-wizards run your society... To all you Vader-Haters out there...

He's got some serious warping problems with his corrugated cardstock bases on those piles, better to use basing material that won't curl... I like to use good old fashioned Citadel slotta bases. They fit nicely in a D&D-style dungeon-crawl map grid, you can label their under sides easily enough ("Pile A contains the Dagger of Tooth-Decay +3, Pile B contains the Scroll of Summon Really Tasty Donuts).

Don't let your silly notions of "entertainment" and "storytelling" interfere with my rant! This is serious business! I demand total realism in my movies about space-wizards and laser-swords!

As am I...

Yeah, the pacing of Chapters 1-3 was a little more decompressed. Chapter 4 felt a little too compressed... He should have spent a month or two in the village, so the spark with the widow would feel a bit more organic. Instead, it feels like he spent a three day weekend there.

I'm assessing the situation of two trained soldiers facing each other in a combat situation with lethal weapons drawn, decades of personal grievances against each other, and an both intending to stop the enemy from interfering in their mission (Kenobi's mission is to ensure Luke and the rest can escape the Death Star, Vader's mission is to prevent them from escaping). But, okay, Kenobi doesn't want to kill Vader because he's the Good Guy. That explains why he begins the fight in a defensive posture, avoids taking some easy one-hit finishes, and so forth. Doesn't explain why Vader fights like an idiot and it doesn't explain the pirouettes.

I won't deny that the above sequence is extremely well edited, skillfully shot, and with very good special effects... I think it's a terrible disservice to the original scene, which is actually one of the only sequences of realistic swordplay in the entire Star Wars franchise. I've been fencing since I was a teenager (sabre), fighting SCA heavy and cut-and-thrust combat (sabre, broardsword), and studying HEMA (sabre, broadsword, longsword) for about a decade now. I'm probably one of the worst people in the world to watch a movie with if that movie is going to feature sword-fighting in any way... I have a tendency to yell things at the screen. 1:48 - Vader walks into measure (the distance at which you can attack your enemy, but also the distance at which he can attack you) when Kenobi is clearly in a longpoint guard (chūdan-no-kamae in kendo). Vader isn't in defensive posture at all, he's saber is facing down and away from his opponent. He's standing completely wide. Kenobi could end the fight here and now with a simple thrust. 1:52 - Vader telegraphs his attack like he was swinging a baseball bat. Rather than end it, instantly, with a thrust to Vader's exposed abdomen (or pelvis, legs, neck, and/or head), remaining in the longpoint guard he was already in, or stepping backward to void the blow, Kenobi instead DROPS HIS GUARD(!?) and steps into Vader's line of attack(?!) 1:53 - Vader over swings, slashes the wall, and recovers by swinging at Kenobi's blade instead of at Kenobi. Meanwhile, Kenobi swings at Vader's blade instead of attacking Vader. Always conveinent when your opponent in a swordfight cooperates with you like this... Otherwise someone might get hurt! 1:53-1:59 - Flynning! Take a shot for every time they attack each other's sword instead of their opponent. 2:00 - Blade Lock! And they use the blade lock as a chance to talk! Drain the rest of bottle. 2:06 - Kenobi decides not to thrust directly into Vader's exposed and unguarded face (or throat or chest) and instead pirouettes backwards! 2:07 - Vader watches Kenobi's spin and polietly lets him finish his dance instead of attacking. He drops his guard, again, stands completely lateral to Kenobi and walks close to him. 2:08 - Kenobi almost sems to accidentally thrust, but stops himself before he accidentally hurts Vader. Careful guys, these things are sharp! 2:19 - Vader uses telekinesis to throw a box at Kenobi from behind. Kenobi turns around completely to slash at it. Vader politely declines to take advantage of his unaware opponent and does not attack. 2:25 - Vader is now on fire (even though Kenobi was the one standing in the fireball?) Both men continue to attack each other's swords. 2:26-2:33 - Flynning, pirouettes, and baton twirls! Chug, chug, chug. 2:34 - Both men stand with their backs to one anopther and baton twirl. I'm going to need a liver transplant. 2:35-2:42 - High speed flynning! 2:43 - Camera cuts away from the swordfight. 3:12 - Camera cuts back to Vader and Kenobi who flynn around a corner and then quickly go for a blade lock so they can have some dialogue. 3:30 - Oops! Vader has knocked his opponent down, better do some pirouettes and disarm myself to give him a momement to stand back up. You wouldn't want to do anything rude like lunge at him and thrust him through the tosro. Someone could get hurt that way. 4:00 - Flynning with lumberjack chopping swings, that's a whole new kind of flynning we haven't seen yet in this fight.

They come four to a sprue and individual sprues seem to be selling for about $1 on average over on BrickLink... But you'd need to buy a lot of them to cover even a modest sized base, since they're only about 6-7 mm in diameter as they're slightly smaller than a single Lego brick (a one stud Lego brick is 8 mm wide x 8 mm deep x 9.6 [or 11.2] mm tall [depending if you measure to the top of the stud or not] in size).

Like most Corman flicks, BBtS actually is a lot better than it has any right to be. I mean, it is cheesy schlock but it is really fun cheesy schlock. And it was delivered on time and under budget. Because Roger Corman doesn't @#$% around.

And of course, no discussion of the Magnificent Seven Samurai trope and Star Wars can neglect to mention Battle Beyond the Stars! The spaceship was a flying uterus with tits. The spaceship was intentionally designed to be a flying uterus with tits... God have mercy on our souls.

To be fair, it would hardly be the first time Star Wars has blatantly ripped off been inspired by Kurosawa.

Chapter 4 wasn't a bad episode, on its own merits, but it wasn't as good as Chapters 1 through 3... It felt a little rushed and a bit trope-heavy, since the Seven Samurai / Magnificent Seven / High Plains Drifter / Blazing Saddles plot of the helpless townsfolk recruiting the wandering-warrior-with-a-mysterious-past to drive off the threat but he ends up training them has been done so many times before. I mean, those four movies all did it, but darn near every Western, Sci-Fi, Action-Adventure, Superhero, Chanbara, and Wuxia television series has done a whole plot reference episode. Hell, it was a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay module way back in the early Eighties and a Warhammer Fantasy Battles scenario in that game's 5th and 6th Edition. The mind boggles at how many official, unofficial, and home-brew D&D modules used the set-up. It was a good episode, with a great action sequence at the end, nice character development for the Mando With No Name, and a decent (if a bit wooden) performance from Carino... It just happened to be the follow-up for three extremely strong episodes. Hard to live up to that.