Tag: Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game

New X-Wing Strategies for Scum and Villainy: Lean Han and the Outrider

It has been a busy end of the 2014 year and there really hasn’t been time for all my hobbies. Really, I have too many interests, so my enjoyment of the Star Wars Miniatures game X-Wing has been on hold for a while. I did manage to watch the matches of Paul Heaver at the Worlds X-Wing tournament at Fantasy Flight Games and enjoyed watching his “Fat Han” build dominate the competition. Those matches can be seen below and are well worth viewing for their strategy. X-Wing has become even larger over the last year and there are no signs of it stopping. It’s a fabulous game as I’ve said before—and it keeps getting better. Even with all the innovation that has went into X-Wing from FFG it was great to see the Han Solo build win Worlds. I have used a similar build from the start of X-Wing but it was the addition of the Headhunters and the Artoo card that put the Fat Han build over the top—and Heaver exploited it brilliantly over the course of the 2014 season.

For anyone who has been wondering about the content of the new Star Wars films, hard-core fans know that the rumored abandonment of the Expanded Universe is purely a false flag attempt to throw people off the trail of the actual plot. In the gaming universe, FFG has shown that more than ever the Expanded Universe is shaping the future of Star Wars for the better and for me personally, there has been nothing more exciting than the Wave V addition of the Rebel faction YT-2400 Outrider which fits perfectly into a strategy I had been wanting to work on for the 2015 evolution of the meta game. imageThe news coming out of X-Wing is so exciting that sometimes I wish I could afford to just play that game all the time. I would love to spend the rest of my life playing it all day every day and I’d never tire of it. For guys like Paul Heaver they are able to delve into every aspect of the game strategically which would be a lot of fun. I can maybe get a game of X-Wing in about two times per month. But some people who I know are able to play several times per day and 12 to 20 per week which is the best way to really get good at the game. Now with all the expansions coming into play, there is a lot to keep up with—but its fun trying. For 2015 the biggest news is a Star Destroyer huge ship coming to the Empire faction and the advent of the new Scum and Villainy faction. It is that new faction that had my interest in devising a new strategy in how to deal with them once they hit the market. For me, that will involve the new Outrider.

It took me until February of 2015 to finally get to play a game with the YT-2400 but I’m happy to report that it is the perfect complement to the traditional Fat Han build replacing the old Twin Falcon builds as a viable strategy. The Outrider fits in as a perfect complement to the Falcon with its 360 turret ability, and barrel roll. On the Falcon I typically use Expert Handling ability to get a barrel roll out of the Falcon so having two large ships that can barrel roll in and out of firing arcs is the key to making this a build that I think will work best in dealing with the new faction of Bounty Hunters.

What will set the Scum and Villainy faction apart from the previous Rebel and Empire factions is that the bounty hunters will utilize illegal armaments and dirty tricks. So it will turn the game meta on its head and make the game so much more dramatic—as if it needed it. The addition of the new Boba Fett Firespray under the Scum faction is going to be a really difficult ship to deal with along with IG-88 and other pirates. So firepower will be needed that can fire behind those dirty tricks. That’s where the YT-2400 comes in. The feature build is the use of a Heavy Laser Cannon from range 2-3 to pick off foes from a safe distance using the barrel roll to stay out of the line of fire.

The version of Fat Han that I’m using is a very fast Falcon that I’d call a “Lean Han” and the YT-2400 decked out with a HLC and the Outrider card which allows for that secondary weapon to become the primary. With the two speedy YT family ships on the board at the same time using Han’s re-roll ability to make sure he hits each round, it will be the most effective counter to the meta-game that is coming if you are a Rebel player—which of course I wouldn’t consider playing as anything else. The games I played with the pairing were very successful even against a TIE Swarm so the YT for me is a dream come true.

The guys who are playing double-digit games of X-Wing per week are really lucky. I would consider retiring from all my many tasks and becoming a professional player just because it’s so much fun to play. I think it far surpasses Chess as a game of strategy and is showing signs of maintaining great depth for the future. The game is huge now, but after the next Star Wars film comes out in less than a year it will really explode because of all the new ships and characters who will be made into ships in the game. The Scum and Villainy factions along with the Outrider are great examples of how FFG has used the Expanded Universe to build a great mythological gaming experience and for Star Wars to really work; the new films will need to tap into all this background going into games like X-Wing. Many of the cards offered with the ships come from characters only referenced in the novels and comics, so the direction of X-Wing indicates the direction of the Star Wars franchise from Disney over the next six years. A decade from now X-Wing may be a massive game full of loyal fans that will greatly eclipse what Magic the Gathering is today. It is really fun to watch this phenomenon mature into something special.

I played a game over the weekend at 4 AM and found myself so consumed with the strategy of X-Wing that I felt like I was on vacation from the mundane world of normalcy. It’s no wonder the game is gaining so much in popularity. What’s better is that every month more and more players come to the game as newcomers and with them will come a host of bizarre strategies and attempts at innovation. Right now, Paul Heaver is the top player in the world—for two years in a row. The trick in becoming so good is in figuring out what the new meta game will be, and developing a strategy in how to deal with it. “Fat Han” was last year’s strategy. This year it will have to be something else. For me, it will be a twin Falcon/Outrider build with a Lean Han advancing with great maneuverability through and around obstacles. From my perspective speed and firepower are the only ways to really deal with the Scum and Villainy faction. But we’ll see. Part of the fun with the game is in figuring out those kinds of things—and seeing how they play out in real life against a real player. As usual, FFG is at it again, and stronger than ever. They really are an amazing company. Their products bring me great joy, and I know by the game’s popularity that I’m not alone. It is certainly one of the bright spots in the modern world. Myth made into a community of neat people who give me hope on humanity. I love X-Wing Miniatures.

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Rich Hoffman

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Beating “Bucketheads”: The strength of Individualism over Collectivism

In the upcoming television show Star Wars: Rebels one of the characters named Zeb is seen joyously dismantling squads of stormtroppers singlehandedly.  This has provoked much online forum discussion about how easily the stormtroopers are defeated by a single person.  For instance, after seeing the clip below one online commenter uttered the complaint, “If these stormtroopers are supposed to be the scourge of the galaxy and strike fear wherever they go by committing atrocities and striking down innocent people left and right, they sure ain’t getting that across here in this new Disney series.  And to be honest, that might be the whole f**king problem right there—Disney.”  Watch the clip in question for yourself.

One of the reasons that Star Wars as opposed to other kinds of entertainment hits such a nerve with people—and has for generations—is because it is essentially a realistic fantasy.  It is true that one motivated rebel like Zeb could dismantle a whole squad of stormtroopers because it happens every day in real life.  People like that complainer have been taught that there is strength in collectivism–in numbers.  And while this may be true in physical force, often collective masses are cumbersome in their thinking and easy to exploit.  This is certainly the case with the Empire in the Star Wars stories who have subjected themselves to the tyranny of an emperor.

A term that is used to discuss stormtroopers in Star Wars is “buckethead.”  The big difference between the bucketheads from the period of the Clone Wars and these in Rebels is that as the Empire was built upon a premise of collectivism becoming larger and more robust, the individualism of the bucketheads became less developed.  The key is that through individuality the traits of decision-making and strength are developed.  If individuality is lacking then thought becomes less of a priority and a squad of bucketheads can find themselves defeated by a lone rebel.

Star Wars is a very anti-institutional storyline.  Within that mythology, societies who are too collective fail and societies that prosper are often driven by very individualistic personalities.  This period of the Rebels is just such an example.   Strong individuals beat collectivists in the rock, paper, scissors game of life if pure mass can be avoided.  A prime example of this is in the X-wing Miniatures game where the current reigning champion of strategy is to run 7 ship squads of TIE Fighters against 2 to 3 ship formations.  For  instance, I have been practicing a 6 ship squad against the Millennium Falcon and only one other ship—and if such a formation is taken on directly, the TIE Fighters will shoot six times to my two per each combat round, which is a great way to get killed.  But, if I can get in behind that formation while they are forced to turn their entire formation around and get their guns pointed in the right direction again, I can disseminate them quite easily.  Their TIE Fighter ships are unshielded and pretty weak one on one.

The same type of strategy can be applied to a board room with several executives sitting around a table.  If taken as a group, they may appear daunting.  But once you get in behind their defenses it will be discovered that they lack individual strength and can easily be picked off and out maneuvered by a single assailant.  This ironically is exactly how the Obama administration has been behaving for years.  As a collective ideological mass, they look overpowering—but if the efforts of Jen Psaki are measured individually, they look and act like girls trying to get a date to the prom in a high school cafeteria.  No terrorist organization in the world is going to fear them once it is determined that individually they cannot take responsibility for anything—not even simple decisions like where to go for lunch.  Meanwhile the ISIS army in Northern Iraq is driving around unorganized in beat-up cars posing as military vehicles striking terror to the high offices of the United Nations who scramble about like buffoons as to what to do next.  The reason is that the collectivists are functioning from institutionalized behavior while the aggressors are driven by individual action—random—unpredictable conduct.

In Star Wars as the Empire rose to power, individual initiative was driven from the bucketheads.  Even their pride to serve the Old Republic was driven by individual value—their fear of disgrace in not doing a job well.  The bucketheads of the Rebels show is the result—beat down individuals who simply take orders and have lost the ability to think.  So bucketheads are only dangerous if taken collectively.  If they can be broken down and handled out of a collective formation—they can be easily defeated and this is the important lesson of the show and the overall Star Wars mythology.  Collective institutionalization destroys value and without value bucketheads are easy to beat.  Nations are easy to destroy if they are functioning from collectivism as opposed to individualism.  The primary reason that the Second Amendment works in America is because it makes it difficult for an enemy to attack a nation of individuals as opposed to a collective mass such as the National Guard.  If only a military had to be overcome, North Korea, China, or even Russia would have attacked a long time ago.  But, it is impossible to overtake a society that is driven by individuality.  While mass can defeat all in head to head combat, once a collective body is outflanked—they are vulnerable simply because they can’t out think their opponent.

So the concept of Zeb beating a whole squad of bucketheads by himself is quite realistic.  The real threats in the upcoming series are not the stormtroppers but the people who give them their orders, individuals like the Inquisitor and ultimately Darth Vader.  Most of the time the real fight to most battles occurs between two individuals, not collective masses—and the keys to victory are in identifying who are the motivating minds behind a collective mass.  In a boardroom, once it is discovered who the mind is behind their institutional values—they can be beaten through direct exploitation of their poorly developed individuality.  This is why Star Wars has more value for people than say, Star Trek or some other science fiction show—because it deals with a mysterious concept that is elusive to most people—why individualism beats collectivism when society has been taught the opposite.  Star Wars is more than a fun show and entertainment venue—it is a philosophy that has value in individuals over collectivists—which is a primal concern as old as time itself.

For all those reasons, that is why Zeb rocks!  And this new Star Wars: Rebels isn’t just for kids.  It’s for  everything that breaths and thinks.  It is game changing in so many ways.  Mark my words.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

E-wing Fighter from Fantasy Flight Games: Signs of the future for the Star Wars Expanded Universe

Given my recent comments about the importance of mythology, it should come as no surprise when I do these occasional articles about the Star Wars Miniatures game, X-wing. It is a participatory mythology that is a real step up from the old days of exclusively verbal and written myth. As a strategy game it has a real power to it that never ceases to impress me—as a creative endeavor. I find it an amazing game which I play often. With that said, within the game I have a new love which nearly mimics the response of a new ship called the E-wing from the video below. The Millennium Falcon, which is my favorite ship, now has a rival, the E-Wing fighter has become a close second. A ship for the Rebellion, it is their best offering and fits nicely within a 100 point squad at the lowest pilot rating or the highest which features Corran Horn—one of my favorite Star Wars characters. For anybody who has played the game, the reaction of Steven should not come as a surprise once they have been used in a combat engagement.

I thought the Fantasy Flight Games inclusion of the E-wing was interesting. They have to get all their designs approved through Lucas Licensing—who already knows the contents of the new Star Wars films. Corran Horn and the E-Wing in general are exclusively creations of the Expanded Universe which supposedly Lucasfilm is abandoning with Disney’s urging. I am not one of those people who believe that Disney is scrapping the EU—as the media currently advocates. In fact, I think I know the entire plot—at least how Episode VII begins—but I’m not going to trample on what the filmmakers are trying to do. They are deliberately creating rumors to throw people off the truth of the film’s plot—so it is important to them to maintain that for their own reasons. So don’t believe what the media is reporting—because most of it is wrong. To confirm my beliefs about Episode VII, the inclusion of the E-Wing to the game X-wing speaks loudly about how much value the EU will maintain in the creation of further Star Wars stories. The E-wing was a ship that Corran Horn flew with Rogue Squadron several years after the initial Star Wars films and are comfortably into the years following the original trilogy, which delights me as to how it fits into the overall mythology. But the ship itself is one of the best that the rebels have. All Rebel squads should include at least one after I have spent some considerable time using them.

For those who do not know much about the E-wing this Wiki article should shine some light on how they fit into the EU story. The E-wing escort starfighter was a single-pilot starfighter developed by FreiTek Inc. It was the first fighter designed entirely under the support of the New Republic.

As designed, the E-wing was intended to match, or exceed, the performance of the preceding X-wing series in nearly every respect, and was originally intended to replace the older design in New Republic service. However, the craft suffered from some significant problems when first deployed among front-line squadrons, including malfunction issues with the laser cannons and the new R7 astromech units. As a result, many pilots continued to fly upgraded versions of the venerable X-wing.

Despite the initial problems, improved models of the E-wing would see wide-spread use by the New Republic, particularly by the Fifth Fleet, and later by the Galactic Alliance. They would play a significant role in every engagement from the Black Fleet Crisis, through the Yuuzhan Vong War, and beyond.

By the time of the Second Galactic Civil War, the E-wing had matured into an excellent starfighter design and equipped several elite squadrons of the Galactic Alliance. However, it never achieved the same popularity or wide-spread use as the X-wing.

The E-wing was considered an excellent combination of firepower, maneuverability, speed, and armor, but initial models required the use of the R7-series astromech droid, which was exclusively built for the E-wing.

The spaceframe of the E-wing was surrounded by two aerodynamic foils which provided stability and increased weapons ability. The nosecone contained the starfighter’s powerful sensors, while a concealed astromech droid could easily be positioned midway through the craft. Directly in front of the astromech slot was the cockpit.

The fighter was heavily armed with three laser cannons and oneproton torpedo launcher with a magazine of sixteen torpedoes. Like most Rebel designs, the lasers were spread out and could be set to converge at varying distances.

A single E-wing cost 185,000 credits.

Much of the great cost of the E-wing came from the use of the R7 droid, a much more sophisticated and expensive astromech than the classic R2 and R5 astromechs. Later models of the E-wing starfighters were however able to interface with earlier astromech models, such as an R2 or R5 unit.

The Republic introduced the E-wing during Grand Admiral Thrawn‘s campaign to rebuild the fallen Empire. The fighter later served in the fight against the “resurrected” Palpatine. Built with cutting-edge weapons, shielding, and propulsion systems, the fighter was extremely powerful and well-rounded. It was intended as an escort fighter and could also serve as a medium-range assault craft. It had enough speed to counter TIE/In starfighters and had better armor than other New Republic starfighters, including the X-wing. They were used by the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances during the Second Galactic Civil War, during early skirmishes with Corellia.

The E-wing had some initial teething problems relating to the placement of the wing lasers near the outboard engines. The synthetic Tibanna used for the lasers tended to degrade at accelerated rates, which swiftly rendered those guns near-useless (and cutting gun firepower to a third). Rebel engineers came up with a temporary solution during the World Devastator assault on Mon Calamari. Those problems were eventually resolved and the fighter entered fleet service. It is known to have served at least with the New Republic’s Fifth Fleet as the primary fleet space superiority fighter. When the Fifth Fleet was moved to the Koornacht Cluster during the Black Fleet Crisis, many E-wings saw action against the Yevetha in the conflict that ensued.

Four major models appeared to have been designed; the last (Series IV) was introduced around the time of the capture of Coruscant by the Yuuzhan Vong. By that point in the war, the XJ X-wing was rapidly equipping most squadrons in the massive military expansion; the more sophisticated E-wing may have been limited to some elite squadrons. The Series IV E-wing remained in service through the transition from New Republic to Galactic Alliance, and was still in operation as of the Second Galactic Civil War.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/E-wing_escort_starfighter

During the era of the New Republic the Rogue Squadron was expanded vastly, turned into a multi-fighter unit based around E-wings and B-wings, and based on Lusankya, which Antilles departed the squadron to command, leaving Celchu as Rogue Leader. This unit first saw combat conquering Phaeda.[30] Shortly after that campaign, the last leaders of the unified Empire were defeated, and the former galactic power dissolved into warlordism.[29] Horn stayed and weathered these changes, which were only temporary, as the squadron was back in X-wings and at regular strength within the year.[8]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Corran_Horn

After reading all that it is quickly evident that if Disney were abandoning the EU, they would not have approved the inclusion of the E-wing into the canon of the X-wing Miniatures game. The game will continue selling for years and once the story is out upon the release of the new Star Wars film, the market potential for a non canon ship would be extremely weak. There is just too much story and history present to abandon those stories in favor of an alternate timeline within the Star Wars Universe. Time will tell the truth but for now, the E-wing is encouraging and brings with it a very rich history directly from the EU. There is so much potential for Disney and Lucasfilm to explode their merchandising base off the EU it would seem evident that the E-wing is just the tip of an iceberg. There should be much more to come. It is possible the decision to use the E-wing was exclusively to milk everything that could be milked to bring forth new ships for the hot selling strategy game, but as important as story has always been, and will always be in Star Wars—the E-wing is an exciting inclusion that points to wonderful things on the horizon.

For one of my nephews, Corran Horn was his favorite character created during an Expanded Universe novel series called X-wing. Corran would later become a Jedi Knight under Luke Skywalker and eventually serve on the council being a big part of the Yuuzhan Vong War. The literature produced for Star Wars far exceeds the content of the movies, so watching those EU elements percolate into the gaming world is a lot of fun.

Strategically speaking however, the E-wing is one of the best ships made in the game. It is a must for any collector and player. I doubt ever again I will create a squad of ships that does not in some way include an E-wing—they are just too powerful and nimble not to. I have spent many hours dazzled by mine and enjoyed the immense game play that they bring to a table. But what is most fun of all is knowing that the X-wing game is reflecting all the wonderful aspects of that larger world which is the Expanded Universe. While reporters are hinging on every morsel of information and scrap photo taken from the paparazzi about the new Episode VII movie, some of the best secrets are those hidden in plain site. Behind the E-wing are the answers that many Star Wars fans are looking for. Nobody is hiding the information, it’s there for all to see—if you know a little about the mythology of Star Wars—and in our house, we have one room full of every Star Wars book ever written, then its obvious. Nobody in the business of making money—which Disney is—would  let those rich stories fall into decline and disrespect. The E-wing is a part of the EU that is very important only to the values of events after the movie Return of the Jedi.   And it was given a dominate role in X-wing which greatly enhances the game play. Needless to say, Steven was right about that ship—it is a thing of wonder and beauty for more reasons than that it gives players a strategic advantage. It is a member of the cherished EU and hopefully a sign of great things to come.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

A New X-Wing: Capitalism helps a ‘Force for Change’ benefit the world

Charity is only a bad thing when the altruism involved masks other behavior designed to win social favor instead of genuinely using productive excess to help those suffering from stifled freedom.  The Star Wars: Force for Change initiative, linked below, is one of the good ones.  The intent is to bring the benefits of capitalism to the far reaches of planet earth, and that is wonderful.  There are many children suffering under countries with poor political philosophies or economic systems that do not capture the natural innovation of their inhabitants—but instead stifles them needlessly.  Force for Change is intended to use the excess of capitalism created by the mythology of Star Wars into actually making people’s lives better which is something everyone should emphatically support.  And as usual, J.J. Abrams has provided a teaser of the new movie, Episode VII in a final week push to drive up the numbers.

 

http://forceforchange.starwars.com/

The new ship looks like a classic Z-95 Headhunter from the pre-years of the X-Wing fighter seen in the original trilogy.  But the claims are that it is a new kind of updated X-Wing—whatever the case it looks fantastic and is proof that the crew working on the new Star Wars film is going to extraordinary measures to produce something wonderful.   The clever presentation of the Force for Change material during the production of Star Wars hints at the level of creativity emerging from the endeavor and is truly something to be excited about.

It will be hard to avoid this new Star Wars movie once it is released—so news from it is important to everyone, even those who are not dedicated fans of the series.  Star Wars is a direct creation of capitalism and without it there would not be a Force for Change initiative and a number of other charities which trickle off the mythology that takes place “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”  Certainly under no socialist government could Star Wars have been made, and it is particularly under socialist style governments that many of the children the Force for Change is attempting to help.  England is hardly a bastion of capitalism, but they are also directly benefiting from the production of Star Wars being shot in their country—in England over a billion pounds of wealth was created by production companies filming in and around London—Star Wars among the most notable and Abu Dhabi has seen an increase by 19% in hotel reservations from fans all over the world traveling to the left behind film sites to visit the location of the Episode VII props.  Without a story nothing would be shot in London or Abu Dhabi and without that story meaning anything to anybody, there would be no desire to pay money to buy plane tickets to fly to such places just to take pictures of what was left behind during the creation process.

And that is what J.J. Abrams is doing in his Force for Change videos; he is using the props created for the film—which will be seen by hundreds of millions of people the world over.  The film may generate $1 billion in global revenue just in the first two weeks—which is astonishing.  It will likely go on to make several billion more dollars dwarfing anything previously done by any film anywhere, because the buildup is so intense.  But on top of that Walmart, Target, and anywhere Star Wars toys are sold will see sharp increases in profit.  Fast-food tie-ins will dramatically increase their sales with promotional campaigns.  And the Disney Parks will also see spikes in attendance and interest in their new property from t-shirts to DVD sales.  J.J. Abrams knowing all this is using the props from the film already used to tell the story as a way to help some kids suffering from the lack of creativity their economies have imprisoned them to—and that is a wonderful thing.

Star Wars is capitalism at its best and is something worthy of support not just of the product itself—but the spillover it has which helps feed and clothe many millions who otherwise would not have the opportunity.  Because of Star Wars, there is a Force for Change—and the nature of that change is one of depravity to fulfillment through investment driven by passion for the subject matter.  And in that regard it is very exciting to see a new ship from a future Star Wars film.  I’m sure Fantasy Flight Games is already making plans to have it in their miniatures game which is so much fun.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

Fantasy Flight Games Does It Again: Wave 5 release to include a YT-2400!

In the context of my lifelong interest in global mythology and comparative religion, I see all the news coming out about Star Wars as infinitely good in so many ways.  When Harrison Ford was injured recently filming the new Star Wars Episode 7 movie, the world stopped as he was airlifted to the hospital in England.  With all the news going on globally, terrorists taking over Iraq, Obama’s parade of scandals, election impact of new blood in the Republican Party, it was Harrison Ford’s injury which captured the headlines of virtually every news source.  Some of that is deliberate misdirection, but a lot of it is genuine interest, and concern for a mythology which touches the heart of so many people. On the same day as this terrible news about Harrison Ford, who will bounce back from such things as he always does—came the latest news from Fantasy Flight Games popular X-Wing Miniatures game.  For Father’s Day my wife hosted a big party for our family, which was wonderful.  But much of the best parts of it were the weekend of playing X-Wing Miniatures with the people who came.

Every time I turn around starting about a year ago, Fantasy Flight Games has been improving their product line.  What they are doing with X-Wing Miniatures is cutting edge stuff that is launching tabletop gaming into a whole new dimension.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  There have been for years great games like Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons, and Magic the Gathering, but this effort with X-Wing Miniatures is game changing.  As the new films hit the marketplace and return to the mind of society in general as part of their daily dialogue—which is already happening, this Fantasy Flight Games production of X-Wing Miniatures is about to explode.  Mythologically speaking, I think FFG’s relatively new game is the best vehicle to express and maintain new mythological trends that exist.  It is more powerful than novels, more relevant than the films themselves, and more participatory than video games.  Playing the game does essentially what some of the highest minds in the world do at Esalan at the Mythological Roundtable sponsored by the Joseph Campbell Foundation.  X-Wing Miniatures recreates myth and allows players to directly participate actively, as opposed to passively.  They take control of their own mythology, which is what I think is the key to the success of the Fantasy Flight Games venture.

http://www.jcf.org/new/index.php

During Father’s Day my family played the game extensively, and as we played we talked heavily about the new ships coming out in Wave 4, in just a few weeks, and we discussed the very exciting news about Wave 5 set to hit the marketplace later this year—2014.  The most exciting news of that announcement is the YT-2400 from the old video game Shadows of the Empire from Nintendo 64.   That particular ship will go well with my Millennium Falcon to cause all kinds of trouble in a game that has become a mild obsession.  Here is the press release from Fantasy Flight Games published as news poured out to the world the Harrison Ford would quickly recover from his injury.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of two new starships for X-Wing™!

In this, the game’s fifth wave, two large starships arrive ready for the heat of battle: the Rebellion’s YT-2400 and the Imperial’s VT-49 Decimator.

In addition to their starships, each of which is sculpted faithfully at the game’s standard 1/270 scale, the YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack and VT-49 Decimator Expansion Pack introduce a host of new upgrades and terrain pieces that allow you to explore a wide range of new tactics in your space battles.

You’ll also find a large cast of characters drawn from the expanded Star Wars universe, the first Imperial turret weapon, and upgrade cards designed by the game’s first two World Champions.

YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack

A fast and resilient light freighter, the YT-2400 features no fewer than thirteen weapon emplacement points, making it an attractive vessel for smugglers, mercenaries, and other individuals looking for a heavily armed “transport.” Although a stock YT-2400 light freighter has plenty of space for cargo, much of that space is often annexed to support modified weapon systems and oversized engines.

The YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack brings this formidable light freighter to your table as a Rebel starship with two attack, two agility, five hull, and five shields.

The highlight of the YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack is its detailed miniature starship, which is enhanced by one new mission, three debris cloud tokens, a maneuver dial, all requisite tokens, and four ship cards, including one for the famed smuggler Dash Rendar.

VT-49 Decimator Expansion Pack

To be granted command of a VT-49 Decimator is seen as a significant promotion for a middling officer of the Imperial Navy. A heavily armed transport, the VT-49 Decimator is one of the Empire’s most feared warships, often used to provide long-range reconnaissance or to deploy raiding parties past enemy forces.

The VT-49 Decimator Expansion Pack brings this intimidating Imperial gunboat to X-Wing as the game’s largest ship yet designed for Standard Play. Even at the game’s signature 1/270 scale, the expansion pack’s detailed miniature towers over its base and smaller starfighters.

In addition to its imposing, pre-painted miniature, the VT-49 Decimator Expansion Pack introduces four ship cards, three debris cloud tokens, a new mission, a maneuver dial, and all the tokens you need to fly your Decimator into the thick of combat. Finally, you’ll find thirteen upgrade cards, which introduce a variety of crew members like Mara Jade and Fleet Officer designed to help you fill out the Decimator’s three crew member slots.

 

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4869

X-Wing Miniatures as it stands today is one of the coolest games on the market.  I have never seen something like it which has united my family the way it has—from young to old and all economic groups.  Everyone who plays the game loves the game—even if they aren’t very good at it.  I would say that is because of the strength of the mythological nature of it—it pulls players into a story which they control, and that is what separates it away from novels, movies, and video games.  In those forums, participants simply unlock what someone else created, but with X-Wing Miniatures, Fantasy Flight Games simply provides the tool box–the players use the tools for their own stories.

In my personal story arc, I’m a YT guy in every way possible—and to get my hands on a YT-2400 that barrel rolls and has a turret that can equip a secondary weapon is extremely powerful.  This will be the build that replaces the twin Falcons and with the meta game moving away from TIE swarms and toward the devastating aspects of Whisper who flies the upcoming Phantom Wave 4 ship shooting with 4 dice.  The game is getting faster and more maneuverable.  Rebel ships can’t just sit around with no agility waiting to get picked off.  They will also have to be able to shoot every turn just to survive the weapons the Imperial players are throwing at them—and that is where the fun begins.  Figuring out those types of problems and letting the mythology play out based on the thought of the players.

I think this game X-Wing Miniatures will replace Monopoly as the newest, hottest selling game that brings families to the kitchen table to play—because as the new films hit the market over the next 6 years, and the new Rebels television show on Disney XD gains in popularity, the innovation created by Fantasy Flight Games will have hit critical mass and the general population will find themselves every bit as addicted to the sheer joy that the game brings—only for them the learning curve will be steep.  What started as a simple game with just a few ships has turned into a very complex web of tactical entertainment with a seemingly infinite combination of strategic options which can keep a mind occupied for years.  But beyond that—there is a story to this game which has more power than Chess, all the ambition of a novel, and more edge of the seat excitement than a year’s worth of video games—and the new additions never stop coming—the most exciting for me yet is the YT-2400.

Rich Hoffman www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

Why Pay For A Public Education System That Doesn’t Work: The evidence of a ‘Water’s World’ segment

I blame public education and modern colleges for many of our contemporary problems because they deserve it. They have not earned such high wages for teachers and college professors as they are currently receiving because they are failing at their jobs.  I hear all the time from teachers who think I am being unfair to them, and should show respect for their professions.  They also continue to state that they are overworked and underpaid which is completely ridiculous at this point—as I have labeled most teachers in public education as very expensive baby sitters.  Kids are not learning anything in public schools and colleges.  They are only learning how to take directions, they are not learning to think, and that is a massive failure in any education system.  For proof, this segment of Water’s World done during the Bill O’Reilly show shot during Memorial Day Weekend provides all anyone needs to confirm my statements.  Those poor children featured are the future of America.  They are future voters and decision makers—and they will as shown—fail at life.  They aren’t able in their present form to even raise a child let alone run a nation with the massive wave of problems coming at them.   Watch the segment for yourself.

That is just disgraceful, and most of those kids are proud of their stupidity.  It’s cool to them to be so dumb.  Hey—I remember what it was like.  Even when I was in school the way to pick up girls was to act like you didn’t know anything.  It was like putting on a muzzle and within a few weeks of dating, they learned quickly that I knew a lot and it scared the crap out of them.  No matter how good-looking you might be, if you were smart, they were not interested.  I remember specifically, even though I was married there was a very pretty girl who wanted desperately to date me.  She practically threw herself at my feet every day I saw her.  Being loyal to my wife, I kept her at arms bay which was sometimes difficult—until one day she told me that Jurassic Park was the dumbest movie she had ever seen.  She said to me, “who wants to watch a bunch of dinosaurs running around?”  Then she laughed as though I would follow her lead in the conversation.  I told her I would.  We never spoke again.   Those are common experiences with people and I have seen it all my life, and it starts in public school at the kindergarten level.  I don’t think any teacher believes they are contributing to such stupidity—but the system they teach mandated by the state creates such a lack of curiosity in young people as shown in young women like the attractive seductress mentioned.

People wonder why I married so young when so many pretty girls were available and there was so much fun to be had.  When my wife and I married I was 19 and she was 18.  Parents on both sides thought we were suffering from a mother/father complex where we found in each other extensions of our home life as we were moving out into the world on our own.  Well, that was an inaccurate assessment if there ever was one.  What my wife and I shared was a love of thinking.  She loved to think, and so did I and neither one of us wanted to waste our time on stupid people, and playing stupid just so we could date members of the opposite sex.

Public schools breed a lack of curiosity about life.  This behavior extended into college which we both detested—obviously in the case of the Water’s World segment it was the University of Maryland that was failing.  Any child who arrives at age 18 to 19 as those kids are and is still that stupid about the world—it is not their fault—it is the fault of their parents and teachers who failed to inspire in them a love of learning and curiosity about life.    I have never forgotten the Jurassic Park comment from the attractive girl.  She went on to have a series of bad relationships and ended up being a stripper at New York New York in Franklin, Ohio.  What I knew of her was that her father left her mother when she was very little for another woman and she barely knew anything of him.  As a result of that unhealthy relationship, she had a father complex.  She was filling her life with people who filled the father role in her life—but she was ultimately attracted to abuse.  She was not able to even consider a healthy relationship due to her unfortunate past leaving all her contact with other males to be superficial.  At the time Jurassic Park came out and I mentioned it favorably she didn’t understand.  I have heard the same kind of comments from people about Star Wars, Star Trek, and most films and books that inspire thinking.  Because I didn’t look “geeky” girls would seek me out as potential company, but after just a little inquiry, they learned that I’m not like them and they’d move on to someone else.  My wife and I got married not just because we fell in love, but because neither of us wanted to play that stupid game.  We are both the kind of people who would expect to be five for five if interviewed by Jesse Waters and would expect nothing less.  It would ruin our day to miss one of those questions—because we care about knowing things.

Without a curiosity about life, there cannot be any success and the kids interviewed during the Water’s World segment have no chance at success in life.  The girl in that thong who giggled at all her missed questions—she will not raise good kids and have a good life.  She may manage to snag some rich slob who will leave his old wife for a new younger one, and the thronged girl may live in a big house, drive a big new car and have diamond jewelry—but she will look like a dirty rug by the time she’s 35, and she’ll be alone and bitter—no longer giggling her way through life—because the elements to her future failure are already in motion provided to her by her education up to that point.  It is a serious problem.

Women are taught as young girls in their public schools to seduce young boys.  Because teachers are teaching everyone to be the same, the only way to lure boys to girls once puberty kicks in is to give them bits of sex—which is taught in sex education as early as the fourth grade these days.  Once that happens the neat little children who had been building cars and airplanes out of Lego blocks and watching lots of educational television on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel begin learning to shut down their creativity and channel their energy into dumbing themselves down for potential sexual partners.  By the time children turn 10 to 11 years old, most of them find their minds destroyed by public education methods that have only taught them the basic low-level ambitions such as food acquisition, sexual release, and general social skills—which are already instinctual.

Movies like Jurassic Park are not one of the most beloved blockbusters of all time because people didn’t like it.   That girl who spoke despairingly about it to me likely would have enjoyed it as a little girl—before her puberty years when there was still a curiosity about the world.  She probably did like it when she saw it with her eventual children.  But during the mating game, which her life was so much about—she couldn’t let herself enjoy such things because the guys she had been talking to up until that time, and after also played stupid with her—and got so good at it after 10 years that they just stopped thinking.  They do such a thing to themselves because sex with young girls like the girls in the Water’s World segment is impossible if they show too much ambition of thought.

Finally, I raved yesterday about my positive experiences at Yottaquest where I played in an X-Wing Tournament.  One thing that was missing in those places was women.  There were no pretty girls coming in and playing X-Wing.  But the guys who were playing had already decided in their lives that they didn’t care for such things.  Most of them were married for much the same reason my wife and I married.   They don’t want to play the game of being stupid to have sexual partners.  Once you are married, you can share your intelligence with your partner and be free of the foolishness of single life stupidity which is staged during the public education experience.  I have two daughters and they are very attractive—but they enjoy places like Yottaquest because as a father I always taught them how not to be like that poor girl who hated Jurassic Park.  Such girls will never land a good guy in her life which she can share her real thoughts.  It’s not a mystery, I taught my children to be curious and full of lifelong learning—and Jurassic Park is one of their favorite movies—and their husbands are grateful for it.  Stupidity is shackles for the mind—and is just as limiting as literal shackles on arms and legs.

The seeds for thought are planted in children very young by their parents.  If the parents are not very good, the children will suffer.  But even parents who do plant the seeds of lifelong curiosity find their children have those seeds extracted by the public education process and destroyed.  By the time kids reach 12 to 15 years old their minds are gone—mentally and destined to be like the kids from Maryland College.  There are a few kids who escape and I find them in places like Yottaquest on a Saturday afternoon, or at an X-Wing Miniatures event—or playing Magic the Gathering in a booth at Trader’s World.  But for most people, they are destined to be like that poor girl who didn’t like Jurassic Park—who had lost the adventure of learning too early in her life to save her from future tragedy.  Not that liking Jurassic Park would have helped her with me, my wife already had me, but she could have met another good-hearted person who could have enriched her life.  Instead, she is old and bitter, and all used up as just another former has been for a series of dimwitted males crippled in their minds from an insufficient public education that destroys most of the people it processes.

So why are we paying for such a stupid thing to happen with tax dollars?

Rich Hoffman

  www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

Assault at Imdaar Alpha: The TIE Phantom is clearly the new dominate ship

I had the fortunate opportunity recently to spend the day with one of my son-in-laws who has brought to our family something very unique.  He is a tabletop gamer and a rather good one, and the more I have come to know him, and watch him over the years I  have learned of an important social trend that along with many other things is changing our social fabric.  One year ago while on vacation in Florida, he and two of my nephews convinced me to play a Dungeon and Dragons type game called HeroScape which had been out of print for some time but my nephews actually had it. I enjoyed the experience as the ocean beat at the beach outside our condo balcony but saw something else sparkling in their minds while playing that I thought was very positive.  Just a few weeks later while looking for a copy of the game on eBay I saw that Fantasy Flight Games had just created a Star Wars game called X-Wing Miniatures.  So I picked it up as it was a brand new game at that time and started playing it with my table-top gifted son-in-law.

After so many years of shouting to the wind regarding politics, business, and other enterprises that always point to the same human failures and finding the temptation to become bitter about it very overwhelming—I have immersed myself into this new X-Wing Miniatures game at a level that made me want to participate in my first ever tournament for X-Wing which took place all over the world during the last weekend of May 2014.  Before the tournament, just to get a feel for how things would be I was watching footage from a German group of players as the time zones were that far ahead of my location in the Eastern United States.  It was truly a global event which centered around another mythic relic from my past experienced with those same aforementioned nephews.  These tournaments were played in gaming stores—in Cincinnati it was Yottaquest in Mt. Healthy which held the regional.  My son-in-law and I played in it and it was a wonderful experience.  The main thing that attracted me to this one was that it was named Assault on Imdaar Alpha and provided an opportunity to see the new ships coming out for Wave 4 specifically featuring the TIE Phantom.

I ran across the term Imdaar Alpha during the 90s playing a game with my nephews when they were little boys called Rebel Assault II.  The nephew who had the HeroScape game in Florida last summer used to stay up with me playing Star Wars: X-Wing and its sequel—Tie Fighter all night on the weekends—which was a computer flight simulator, and of course we played Rebel Assault nearly burning a hole in the CD disk that played over and over in the newly formed home PCs at the time.  So these names were familiar to me.

imageImdaar Alpha was a moon of Imdaar. Grand Admiral Martio Batch had a massive research station there which was fastened on the most part of one of the moon’s hemispheres. It developed an advanced cloaking device and the first of the TIE Phantoms. However the moon appeared empty since the station itself made use of the cloaking technology, being thus invisible.

The moon lost a significant part of its mass when the Imperial facility exploded.

The TIE Phantom, also referred to as a Phantom V38, was a prototype TIE series starfighter developed by the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. A modified V38 assault fighter, the TIE Phantom was the result of a development project led by Grand Admiral Martio Batch and was equipped with both deflector shieldsand a hyperdrive, along with a technology not seen for decades—a stygium cloaking device.

The development process began in response to the Rebel victory at the Battle of Yavin. After some initial troubles, Batch was able to secure a supply of the stygium crystals required by the cloaking device, and the fighters entered production on Imdaar Alpha. When the testing process was completed following the Battle of Hoth, Darth Vader intended to use the new starfighter in a devastating assault on the Rebel Alliance Fleet. However, over a series of encounters, the Rebels learned of the new threat. Recognizing the danger, the Alliance dispatched pilots Rookie One and Ru Murleen to capture one of the fighters for study.

The Rebels successfully infiltrated the Super Star Destroyer Terror as it prepared to launch the fighters against the Alliance and escaped with one of them, which they used to destroy both the Terror and the facility where the fighters were produced. However, the Rebels’ acquisition of the fighter was short-lived—when the stolen TIE Phantom’s self-destruct mechanism activated before the Rebels could examine the fighter, the technology was lost.

 http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Imdaar_Alpha

Fast forward to the Fantasy Flight event nearly 15 years later taking place all over the world at the same time and it was obvious that the makers of the new tabletop game loved the old video games as much as I did and have carried over the mythology explored there into this new—and better X-Wing Miniatures game.  So with all those events culminating together, I attended my first tournament and found layers of hope in the back room of Yottaquest in the players I met during the event.  I learned a lot of cool little tricks that I had not even considered until competition brought the issues to the surface.  But most pleasurable to me was in seeing how much reading comprehension goes on at these events from the players.  I had been to gaming stores like Yottaquest because I have went to them with my kids a few times, but while playing in that tournament I was impressed by the level of reading comprehension that the players who averaged from their late 20s to mid-30s displayed and it was obvious that the recent explosion in tabletop gaming which Yottaquest represents is satisfying the deep human yearning for participatory mythology that cannot be experienced by just passively watching a movie—or even reading a book. X-Wing like the other games at Yottaquest is a recent rendition of pure mythology which is my primary interest due to my own background in comparative mythology through the Joseph Campbell Foundation.  The players all shared a love for mythology as the game experience pulled them into that world to resolve a story driven by human need—not fulfilled by any other social mechanism.image

After watching the final match between the store’s best two players that day, it was clear that out of the four new ships coming out during the upcoming Wave 4 release from Fantasy Flight Games that the TIE Phantom was the dominate ship.  It is firing five dice at Range 1 with a gunner and a cloaking device.  In the game I watched, it easily tore through the other ships flown by a very good player.  It was obvious that once again, Fantasy Flight Games has managed to up the bar with their tabletop gaming experience and the new latest trend will be those TIE Phantoms.  Three of those flying in formation will be terribly hard to beat—but that is the fun of the game after all—seeing what your opponent puts on the table and figuring out ways to beat it with all the variables available.

For me, it was wonderful to step away from the world of problems which is a daily burden and live in a functioning mythology with my son-in-law and those other X-Wing game players in that back room of Yottaquest.  We had a uniquely bottled Coke imported from Mexico and enjoyed watching that final match learning more in just that one day than I had managed to learn over the whole previous year about some of the nuances of the game itself—that can only be realized through competition.  If I were in my mid-twenties and did not have nearly the amount of responsibility that I do now, I would be inclined to travel the world playing in those types of tournaments every weekend—I enjoyed it that much.  There wasn’t anything like that around when I was that age, not at this level.  Places like Yottaquest and games like X-Wing are a fairly new invention driven purely by human desire for a mythic experience and I love it enough to spend as much of my time as possible experiencing them.

imageBut the early scouting report is that the TIE Phantom will be dominate—very much so.  If I were an Imperial player—which I’m not, I’d get four of them.  Likely, I will get that many anyway just to practice against—because they will be hard to beat with their clocking device which grants two extra evasion dice when used.  But their sheer firepower is so far the best in the game—which is saying a lot.  They will have to be countered with pilots of a high rating shooting decent firepower at close range—and that will be a challenge.  But that is what is wonderful about events like Assault at Imdaar Alpha and the world of X-Wing Miniatures in general.  This game is far more enjoyable than the old video games and the interaction with other players also on similar mythic journeys is unique and indicates a major change in human value that is very positive.  It gives me hope where it is difficult to find elsewhere.

Rich Hoffman   www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

A Force For Change: The deep power of mythology to unleash human imagination and potential

My friends at Nostalgic Ink in Mason, Ohio promised that they would have a Tantive IV Blockade Runner for my upcoming game with X-Wing Miniatures—the popular new tabletop game featuring Star Wars dog fighting tactical strategy. I checked around lunch on Thursday the 22nd and the store sorrowfully told me that their truck had not yet arrived with their deliveries. But they informed me a few hours later that it had arrived, and I promptly drove my motorcycle back there to pick it up. They had it waiting for me behind the counter and for a $100 dollars, it might have been one of the most glorious things I can remember beholding my eyes upon. My next thought was how I was going to get that package home on my motorcycle—because it was so big. You can see it in the picture below.image

As much as I dislike progressive politics, a failed teaching system world-wide, socialism and all forms of statism my first love is not politics or even conservativism—but mythology. I am not a huge supporter of group behavior and love my independence, but there are a few groups I support, and one of the organizations I have the most reverence for is the Joseph Campbell Foundation. My love of mythology is my number one enjoyment without there being a close second. My love of the Star Wars Miniatures game, X-Wing has a deep history in the old X-Wing computer games I used to play with my nephews all hours of the day for entire weekends. Many times we had to run missions against those Corellian Corvettes and they were at times, very difficult—which is why I still remember them 15 years later. The wonderful people at Fantasy Flight Games have found a modern—low tech way of re-inventing the great mythological storytelling of that old video game with new gorgeously detailed models that really make modern mythology come alive in that game. That’s why I love Nostalgic Ink and many of the people who frequent those places. Likely they wouldn’t agree with me on my views on modern education, politics, drugs, and even traditional values—but they love the mythology evoked in many of the tabletop games sold in that palace of thought—giving us common ground.image

But Star Wars isn’t just about spaceships and fantasy as I have elaborated often. It is about modern mythology and the perpetuation of goodness and as I have stated—the filmmakers of the series and the people at Disney now behind it—wish very much to use mythology to be a force for good in the entire world. I have said it many times, there isn’t anything happening in the world right now that will eclipse the good work that will come from the Star Wars partnership with Disney. The first traces of this attempt at goodness through mythology can be seen in the J.J.Abrams message below while on the new Star Wars set for the seventh film. The video was posted on May 21st and by the time I picked up the Tantive IV at Nostalgic Ink it had seen nearly 2 million views within that 24 hour span on YouTube. There isn’t a government on earth or organization anywhere that has the kind of ability to reach so many people. Star Wars advocates itself to be a force for good by advocating a force for change. The change they are talking about in the video is not silly progressive politics for the sake of social alliances—but real, genuine change born from human innovation to benefit all of humanity with the gifts of creativity.

 

Star Wars: Force for Change wants to create a brighter tomorrow for thousands of kids and families around the world. With your help and creativity we can develop innovative solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. By acting as a Force for Change, your contribution to support UNICEF’s Innovation Labs and other innovative work for children will fund dozens of life-changing projects like these in communities across the globe: • Portable, solar-powered learning kits being built-in China, Uganda, and Burundi to ensure underprivileged children in these countries have access to relevant, high-quality educational materials. • Mobile phone application developed in South Sudan and Uganda, and used in the Philippines, that helps reunite children with their families after an emergency. • A text messaging solution in Zambia that helps families receive infant medical test results from clinics, in half the time, through mobile phones. Join us! Help create a brighter tomorrow for thousands of kids and families. Be a force for change.

http://www.omaze.com/experiences/starwars-episode-viiimage

Immediately following that message Lucasfilm sent me this press release which did not surprise me at all. As much as I have raved about Gareth Edwards after his spectacular work directing the new Godzilla movie he was named as the new director of the first Star Wars standalone film—staring either Han Solo or Yoda—likely the later. This to me was tremendous news as I had been saying that Disney was positioning Star Wars to be more than just a huge money-maker for their company—but again, a force for good by using mythology to reach behind political ideologies to get the human race pointed in the right direction. The hiring of Edwards and his response to the alignment I think will have a major impact on the mythmaking experience and the results on a worldwide audience.

Gareth Edwards and Gary Whitta Onboard for Star Wars Stand-Alone Film

May 22, 2014

 

In addition to the episodes of a new Star Wars trilogy, Lucasfilm and Disney have begun development on multiple stand-alone movies that will offer new stories beyond the core Saga. Gareth Edwards will direct the first stand-alone film, with a screenplay by Gary Whitta. The film is due out December 16, 2016.

Gareth Edwards blazed into the filmmaking forefront with his acclaimed work on Monsters, a film he wrote, directed and served on as cinematographer and visual effects artist. The skill and vision readily apparent in Monsters earned him the high-profile spot directing this year’s smash hit Godzilla.

“Ever since I saw Star Wars I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life — join the Rebel Alliance! I could not be more excited and honored to go on this mission with Lucasfilm,” said Edwards.

Gary Whitta’s screenwriting credits include 2010’s The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington. He is also well-known as a journalist and editor in the video game industry, as well as part of the BAFTA award-winning team on Telltale Games adaptation of The Walking Dead.

Whitta states, “From the moment I first saw the original movie as a wide-eyed kid, Star Wars has been the single most profound inspiration to my imagination and to my career as a writer. It is deeply special to me, so to be given the opportunity to contribute to its ongoing legacy, especially in collaboration with a film-maker as talented as Gareth, is literally a dream come true. I’m still pinching myself.”

http://starwars.com/news/gareth-edwards-and-gary-whitta-onboard-for-star-wars-stand-alone-film.html

image

So there was a lot to be excited about this week, and especially over the last 24 hours. Through all the years that I have been a member of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, George Lucas—the creator of Star Wars—has been on the advisory board so that he could help guide teaching mythology to a new generation. People like me and Edwards are the obvious benefactors. Edwards makes a living from his education in mythology, where I use mine in real world application—both I would consider equally important. If there was ever a man who deeply cared about the direction of society in a positive way—in a way that Walt Disney did—it is George Lucas. Through his deep commitment to mythology he not only produced films like Star Wars which take story telling to powerful new places—but inspired through the Joseph Campbell Foundation to teach a new generation of filmmakers like Gareth Edwards and J.J. Abrams to take movies to places that Lucas and Steven Spielberg could only dream of. Even small little companies like Fantasy Flight Games in Minnesota are helping advance a mythology that literally touches every corner of the world with messages advocating goodness through their table top game X-Wing Miniatures. As for the Force for Change campaign mentioned by Abrams, that is something I can certainly support. I could care less about being in the new movie, but I do care deeply about the advancement of goodness throughout the world, and there isn’t any vehicle anywhere but Star Wars with Disney at its back that has the power to pull it off. It is for those reasons that the new Tantive IV by Fantasy Flight Games is one of the neatest things I have ever seen for the price of $100.

The Tantive is just a model, but it’s what it represents that matters. It is a force for change that leads to good—and that makes it wonderful and worth pursuing on the cusp of a wave that is hitting the world in very positive ways.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

My Wife Saves The Day: Fantasy Flight’s Corellian Corvette–just in time

I work hard, and I am involved in a lot of real life crusading on many fronts, and part of my stress management—especially lately—for the last year has been the new Fantasy Flight Game, X-Wing Miniatures.  It is so fun, and so exciting, that I could literally speak on it for hours and hours without a single pause.  It is good in so many ways that I find it’s creativity and contents redeeming in intellectual recharging leaving me to spend much of my spare time in the world one can create within its framework as a tabletop game.   My love of the game has been so intense that due to the new Epic Play format which requires a tabletop play area of 3’ X 6’ I had to find something better to set up these huge games involving the new capital ships and rules associated with them.  My wife found some really large fold up tables and benches that will allow the setup of this massive game just in time for the new Corellian CR90 Corvette which is coming out this week and has had my interest for nearly a year now.team-epic-4

The next two weeks for me involves a lot of X-Wing playing, some of it requiring traveling.  So it’s been on my mind.  This very interesting Corellian Corvette ship is coming out right in time for some of these events, and just weeks after this release is the distribution of the Wave 4 ships, which will feature the E-Wing—specifically the Corren Horn card I am very eager to put my hands on.  My previous weekend was busy learning how to fly these big ships, and tracking down a second game mat to encompass the second half of the gigantic play area for Epic Play and Cinematic play.  My wife found a match to the one we already have from a remote distributer out-of-state and ordered it ahead of our pressing weekend events.  But that left us looking for a proper set of tables that could be set up and moved around easily depending on where we were playing.

My wife again found the perfect set; a pair of fold up 8’ X 2 ½’ tables that put together side by side gives plenty of play surface.  Such an area is just too big for most dining room tables and is nearly impossible to travel with.  She found these tables at Wal-Mart along with matching bench chairs that easily can be packed up and traveled with so that X-Wing Miniatures can now go anywhere in the world we wish to take it.  After receiving my Rebel Transport, CLICK HERE TO REVIEW, I had been stuck trying to figure out how to play it and still have room to spread out all the other items it takes to play the game comfortably.  One problem we have in our family is that when we have large get together events, the women tend to conjugate in the kitchen talking while the men and boys all want to play something—like X-Wing.  But then we have to wait for the dining room table to be clear so we can play, it leaves us impatiently waiting for dinner to be over so we can gain control of the dining room table—which ruins the purpose of a nice dinner to begin with.  With these new tables it will no longer be a problem.  I can set the game up outside, in the living room, in the basement, in an upstairs room, anywhere we want.

I love that the game is getting so big.  It is exciting for me, because I love all the complexity of having massive scenarios of strategic opportunity.  It is interesting to me to have so many variables above and beyond a few ships dog fighting to the death.  And my collection is getting so large, that setting up everything literally takes up an entire large room.  The Rebel Transport which came out a few weeks ago showed me quickly that more space would be needed because once the Corellian Corvette comes out; space would become a necessity leaving me scrambling for solutions ahead of its release.  Below are the stats and benefits of the new CR90 as described by Fantasy Flight Games.cr90-corvette-fore

The Corellian CR90 Corvette in Combat

At ninety squad points, the Corellian CR90 Corvette eats up a massive chunk of your available resources, so how does it hold up in battle?

  • For starters, the CR90 features a primary weapon with an attack value of “4” that can fire at enemy ships as far away as Range “5.” Accordingly, if you’re approaching your squad-building with an eye toward your economy of attack dice, shields, and hull points, the CR90 forces another wrinkle into the equations. By firing before other ships are even in range, the CR90 is effectively adding actions and attack dice to your squad.
  • Then, how about those shields and hull points? Both the fore and aft sections of the CR90 feature their own shield and hull point values, and altogether, between the two, the ninety points you spend on the CR90 nets you eight shields and sixteen hull points. That makes the CR90 a rather difficult starship to destroy, especially when you factor in the ability to reinforce either the fore or aft section, adding an evade result to each attack against that section made during the round.
  • Even after the CR90 takes a pounding, it can use the recover action to spend energy to recover shields. The result is that if your opponent doesn’t throw absolutely everything against your CR90, it has a good chance of surviving and recovering to turn the tide back in your favor. Of course, if your opponent does focus all of his guns against the CR90, that means your other ships are free to wreak havoc.
  • Meanwhile, the CR90 can spend energy to fire powerful secondary weapons like Single Turbolasers and Quad Laser Cannons. Because you can equip up to two of these hardpoint weapons on the CR90’s fore section and another on the aft section, your CR90 may perform as many as four attacks each turn, all with attack values starting at three or four.
  • The CR90 also has access to a number of upgrades that simply aren’t available to smaller ships. For example, the Rebel Transport Expansion Pack introduced several members of the Echo Base command, including Toryn Farr, Carlist Rieekan, and Jan Dodonna. It also introduced the WED-15 Repair Droid, which could partner with the R2-D2 from the Tantive IV Expansion Pack to work fast repairs on your ship every turn. Also in the Tantive IV Expansion Pack, Raymus Antilles works wonders when his CR90 is supported by starfighters with Ion Cannon Turrets or Ion Cannons.
  • Finally, as a huge ship, the CR90 simply obliterates any small or large starships that get in its way. If a small or large starship gets caught in its path, that ship is destroyed… no attack rolls necessary. This means that the mere presence of a Corellian CR90 Corvette in your squad is likely to force your opponent to adjust his intended flight patterns.

All together, the CR90 can harness its raw bulk, its primary and secondary weapons, and its many possible crew options in order to punch gaping holes in enemy squadrons.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4821epic-tantive-1

The new Epic Rules allow for up to 300 point squads which means there will be a lot going on during a game which can quickly become overwhelming.  So it was refreshing that my wife found such a wonderful solution at Wal-Mart—of all places.  For just over $300 dollars I had my problem solved so that 12 people could sit around this massive table top and play X-Wing Miniatures comfortably—and still spread out all our stat cards and squad builds without struggling to find space around the periphery of the game mats.  The tables work so well I would have paid $1,000 for them—they are that good.

For me this whole hobby experience has become a bit like a model train obsession.  Fantasy Flight Games has done such a good job of hitting that market and giving such well made models something useful to do.  The CR90 will just add a tremendous layer of mythology to an already deeply involving game.  I probably spent 6 hours alone over this past Saturday just reading through all my cards in preparation for the events coming up over the next couple of weekends.  The game itself isn’t that expensive, but with ships like the CR90 costing around a hundred dollars of actual money, this is a hobby that can chew through several thousand dollars, which is where I’m at.epic-tantive-2

The money is worth it because when I set up that world and play the game, a lot of the nonsense going on outside in reality gets put on pause for me.  It manages stress in ways that might otherwise become unbearably overwhelming.  It allows players to live in a mythology that isn’t imposed upon by a story teller, but is happing by the decisions made by the players and it has a logic to it that fits my real world concerns.  So it’s an exciting time for me—especially in the world X-Wing Miniatures.  There is a lot for me to look forward to regarding that hobby, and I am so happy to have the leisure which that game brings to spend my time with and share with the people who matter most to me.

Sometimes the best things in life are the smallest—and this is one of them which ironically is growing in EPIC proportions.

Rich Hoffman

  www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

The DEKA Arm: New inventions inspired by ‘Star Wars’

I speak often about Star Wars not just because it is a cool story or that society has a need for escapism but that it has entered the realm of myth which will affect human civilization for millenniums going forward. Star Wars has more power than all the stories of the King Author legends, all the tribulations of Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha, the Greek gods of Athens or the gods of Norse legend. Star Wars has had such an impact on global youth from 1977 that we are now seeing the effects of a new generation of invention which is only just now manifesting. A few months ago I told the story of Leia Display Systems, CLICK HERE FOR REVIEW. That communication device is directly influenced by Star Wars. It is a case where the mind of invention desires to make mythology into reality. With just six films and a handful of television shows accompanied by books and comics, Star Wars over the last 30 years has had a major impact on world culture. And now, under Disney—it will become much more pronounced.  I predict within ten years that Star Wars will inspire changes in religion, philosophy, education, science, politics, and every creative endeavor from architecture to engineering. Star Wars is reaching a critical mass in its mythological development that is driving us all in a new direction.

Yet again, Star Wars has inspired a new invention, this time a device for amputees. Anyone who knows the Star Wars films understands that both Anakin and his son Luke Skywalker both had to make use of robotic arms and hands to overcome handicaps.   One of the central themes of the films are the reasons that individuals become mechanical—whether literally—biologically, or metaphorically by surrendering individual will to institutional necessity. Star Wars tackles a lot of deep issues including handicaps—and this has driven many science obsessed minds to solving these problems in the real world. CNN is among the many media outlets covering the results of this breakthrough endeavor.

(CNN) — Amputees will soon get help from a groundbreaking bionic arm, thanks to the inventor of the Segway and a little inspiration from “Star Wars.”

After almost eight years of research and testing, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the DEKA arm, a prosthetic controlled by signals from the brain. Unlike most current prostheses, the DEKA can perform such delicate tasks as zipping up a coat, unlocking a door with a key or handling an egg without breaking it.

Funded by DARPA, the research branch of the Pentagon, the DEKA project was overseen by Dean Kamen, who invented the Segway personal vehicle. Kamen nicknamed the DEKA arm “Luke” after Luke Skywalker, the “Star Wars” hero who was fitted for a prosthetic after losing his right hand in a light-saber duel with Darth Vader.

The FDA is calling the device the first prosthetic arm that can perform multiple, simultaneous movements via electromyogram electrodes, which detect electrical signals from the contraction of muscles close to where the prosthesis is attached.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/12/tech/innovation/deka-bionic-arm-kamen/

I see this device as a rather primitive version of a coming reality that is before us all. It is only a matter of a few years where there will be robots driven by complicated processors that can articulate movement as well as these prosthetic arms. Humans will simply grow new body parts in the future. But what is driving this science is the mythology of Star Wars. More and more we are seeing inventions dedicated to the inventor’s favorite film—often Star Wars and the frequency level is increasing.

When I speak so often about the miracle of Fantasy Flight Games X-Wing Miniatures table top game I am not just talking about a neat game—but a mythology that is boiling over into other aspects of culture where more inventive activity will transpire. My excitement about these events is that there is a creation of new things that will pave the way for a new kind of renaissance in human thinking. For instance, it does no good to have a great economic system like capitalism if philosophically society is following Immanuel Kant and is held by back religiously by a Roman interpretation of Christianity calling for sacrifice and altruism as the building blocks of civilization. Star Wars deals with these problems in a modern way that has more relevance. Adversely, it does no good to give away ourselves in sacrifice if nobody makes anything. In Star Wars, without Han Solo—the equivocal capitalist—Star Wars would fall apart. In fact, of the two most popular Star Wars characters are Han Solo and Boba Fett—both capitalists who are the most valued characters. The self-sacrifice of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Senator Amidala, or even Obi Wan Kenobi are not as respected. Fans of the movies generally feel reverence for these characters, but they don’t respect them in the same way. This is an important distinction that sets Star Wars apart from other entertainment venues.

I read the early script of Star Wars as George Lucas intended it, and let me tell you—it sucks—“may the force of others be with you.” Yuck. Lucas needed the hot rod hero of Han Solo to give context to Star Wars—and to his own life. After all, here was a deeply concerned young hippie from the USC film program learning about the values of socialism in college who became one of the biggest and richest capitalists on planet earth. There is a lot of Han Solo in George Lucas—more than he’d like to admit. He wanted to think of himself as Luke Skywalker, but deep down inside, Lucas is still the race car driver from Modesto, California who wanted to grow up to be an anthropologist. So he took those two traits and put them together in the character played by Harrison Ford—Indiana Jones and science was changed forever for all different reasons. But Lucas was rich, and Star Wars to the business world is about making money by selling mythology to a world hungry for every morsel of value enshrined from it. Star Wars cannot be described by generalizations—because it is concerned with deep-seated primordial necessity.

Inventions dedicated to Star Wars will explode under the new Disney ownership and let me say—I am extremely happy about it. This new prosthetic arm is just the tip of the iceberg. I can see it as clearly as the words on this page. The next 50 years of human evolution will be among the most exciting in all history—and Star Wars will be a tremendous part of it—it will touch even casual fans in ways they cannot possibly imagine.

For those who are looking around and wondering if there is any hope……………there is. It’s not just in invention that Star Wars is reshaping the way we see the world. I think philosophy will be far more impacted than even science, invention and religion will mold itself around these new philosophies introduced by Star Wars. Those philosophies will not be limited the way humans have confined themselves under Kant, or Marx, but will prosper in a ways that Aristotle always intended. There is real power in the teachings of Yoda that extend well beyond conventional science fiction, and those lessons have raised a new generation who thinks nothing of naming their new prosthetic arm after Luke Skywalker. Behind these new ideas are parades of new inventions that will flood the marketplace with a new kind of human being—who have been taught to be a little bit like Han Solo, a bit like Luke Skywalker, wise like Ben Kenobi and even efficient like Darth Vader.   It is OK to invent things that help all of society, and it is OK to make money at it. George Lucas did both with Star Wars, and all those who have been inspired by it have learned to walk that balance leading to a prosperous future in more ways than one. That future is an exciting one.

Rich Hoffman www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com