We recently mentioned JJ Abrams involvement on Star Wars but we’re not forgetting that other franchise that he successfully rebooted for Paramount Pictures. Star Trek Into Darkness once again stars Chris Pine as the maverick captain James T Kirk. This time the crew try to stop a bad guy played by everyone’s favourite, Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch. Is he Khan, Gary Seven or just a mutated Tribble?
Watch the latest Star Trek Into Darkness trailer:
As a Star Wars fanboy, the news of yet more Star Wars films on the horizon was brought a lot of excitement. I’ve grown up with the Star Wars franchise since the early Eighties and since grown up with the various iterations of the famous saga since.
Without a doubt, The biggest let downs of recent times have been Episodes 1-3, spoiled by Lucas’ lack of skill writing screenplays and his stilted direction which laboured past celluloid glories without reacting to modern film tastes. Fans wanted the Matrix, not Ben Hur. Audiences wanted fully developed characters but got wooden acting (It was like the Snowspeeder pilot who delivers the immortal line: “3 ships against a Star Destroyer?” repeated in the entire saga). It seemed that Lucas had buckled under the weight of his own creation. There were certainly some plus points for the prequels but not enough to merit a place in the hearts of true Star Wars fans. The films deflated our faith in Star Wars and the question became apparent: what next for the franchise? Lucas was accused of killing his own creation, infuriating fans further with the revisionist re-edits of the original trilogy.
The news that George Lucas had released his grip on Star Wars to Disney is the huge question to tackle for fans in 2012 right up to the release of Ep. 7 in 2015. The main worry is what would a Star Wars look like under control of the Mouse? We’ll see an change in the credits with Tinkerbell sprinkling fairy dust over the mighty Disney castle rather then the famous Fox trumpets and plinth for starters! Would Disney squander the franchise and put $4bn investment in crisis? Even if Disney has had a very mixed bag with Sci-fi brands to name a few: Tron, John Carter and the Black Hole, it’s quite unlikely they’ll produce a sub-standard Star Wars entry. The names associated like Kathleen Kennedy, who oversaw a lot of Spielberg hits over the past couple of decades, is welcomed and she’ll come aboard as producer. Michael Arndt , who wrote Toy Story 3 finds the unenviable task of resurrecting our favourite trilogy characters on screen. Since then we have heard that Lucas had indeed created a treatment for Episode 7 so he says. The big news was when J.J. Abrams was announced as director. Personally, I feel that this has been the right choice. I had the fortunate pleasure of watching the IMAX Star Trek into Darkness preview footage appended to The Hobbit in December and I was jazzed up by it. I still remain a fan of his Trek reboot and he did an excellent job marrying Trek legacy whilst injecting something of his own vision to the takings. Maybe that’s why he was chosen and it does raise a little of the unknown into the proceedings. Abrams has become something of a tease when it comes to film making. He loves his mystery hatches and unnamed characters and Episode 7 will probably be given the same treatment.
This week, there has been a lot of speculation about the reuniting the main cast of Episode 4-6. Mark Hamill is probably the most likely to star in any continuation from Return of the Jedi. This is probably the biggest fanboy conundrum which needs to be answered and that is what did Luke Skywalker do after the events of Jedi? Will it follow some of the expanded universe storylines for instance. Rumours all aside, Hamill’s inclusion is almost guaranteed. Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford have also expressed interest to reprise their respective roles of Leia and Han Solo. Recently there’s been something of a backlash about bringing aged characters back. Indy 4 was an example of missing the right opportunity to bring back Harrison Ford. It was a terrible film which I felt was laboured the point that Indy was old at every point. Let’s hope there’s some perspective, we’d love to see the crew in their prime battling the Empire but expecting Han Solo to be chasing Stormtroopers singlehandly down corridors this time wouldn’t be right. But neither do we want them to be seen as burnt out has-beens.
We’ll have to wait and see what develops. It’s pretty much all in the early stages right now to get too worked up about. But the great thing is that Star Wars fans have tons of movies, books and games to enjoy in the meantime.
Star Wars x-Wing miniatures game is available at Spinning Dice Games
Spinning Dice Games are moving into video with our new Keek profile. Keek is essentially a micro video blog much like Twitter and is limited to a 36 second video. As well as competing for most popular video with the likes of Kim Kashardian and her clan, we’ll be promoting product videos and tutorials. Here’s some of my work so far:-
Pigment tutorial
Mar 8, 2013 | My quick tutorial on how I use pigments for miniature painting: by spinningdice on Keek.com
X-Wing New Expansions Peek
Mar 3, 2013 | Our first vid micro blog post!. A look at the New Star Wars XWing Expansions we have in stock! by spinningdice on Keek.com
We’ve made it to 400 followers on Twitter!
To celebrate, today, we’re launching a Retweet competition – One lucky winner will be able to claim either a Kings of War Starter, Warpath Starter, Project Pandora: Grim Cargo, Dwarf Kings Hold or Dreadball box set.
All you have to do is simply follow the Spinning Dice Games twitter profile and retweet the message:
RT and follow to have a chance to win Mantic Games box set: spinningdicegames.com/blog/retweet-m… #competition #warmongers
— Spinning Dice Games (@SDiceGames) February 10, 2013
Competition ends on 14th February 2013 and a winner will be selected at random and informed by Twitter Direct Message where we can exchange address details to send you the box set of your choice.
As the saying goes: “You’ve got to be in it to win it!” Best of luck!
A few points:
Don’t RT multiple times (not a cool look appearing desperate) – one RT per account counts as your entry:)
A single winner is chosen and we’ll be in touch. The winner will be announced on this page only after we have made contact with him or her.
The prize will be sent out via courier/Royal mail and we’ll provide details of tracking where appropriate
Our own employees are barred from entering
The competition has now ended. Thank you to all those who retweeted and followed. The Prize will be sent within 28 days of competition end to one lucky winner.
Behold! The new edition of Warhammer 40,000 is upon us mere mortals! The highly anticipated 6th Edition has been circulating in rumour central for months but this is the real deal.
We’ve spent a few hours looking over the details and highlighted some of the glorious changes to what is arguably the most played table top wargame in the World!
This gigantic tome runs at 432 pages long and it’s a fascinating read. It may seem a little daunting to the beginner but the rules span only to page 131 before the book delves into the world of 40k and the culture surrounding the entire hobby. There’s just over 100 pages of background info and another 90 or so pages about hobby related goodness. All this is in detailed colour with fold out pages and oodles of illustrative work from old favourites like Blanche.
The Rules: What’s Changed?
Pre-measuring is now in! The gripe with me with 5th (and versions before) was that advanced armies like Space Marines are equipped with tons of latest tech but can’t judge an enemy within shooting distance! Movement remains the same with unit coherency exactly 2 inch as before.
Shooting has taken a little of an overhaul meaning that Saving throws are now taken before wound allocation. Wounds are then allocated to the target unit member closest to the unit that it shooting at it rather than the player removing from the back. Makes sense. There is the inclusion of ‘Snap Fire’ allowing units with some heavy weapons to fire even when moving. The new shot, “Salvo”, these can fire at maximum range with a full number of shots if the model carrying it only if that unit doesn’t move, or at half range and with half the number of shots if the model moves.
The Assault rolls remain unchanged but notably models in base-to-base contact with the enemy get removed as casualties as opposed to models which aren’t.
The much taunted change to the Psykers means that they are split in to psychic disciplines with 7 powers to choice from in each discipline. It makes these guys pretty powerful troop choice to consider although there are some restrictions to what discipline you choose depending on your army.
The other big notable change and potentially the most controversial is allied detachments. Some may argue that it’ll add a distinct whiff of cheese to army selecting. However, this adds a tremendous dynamic to the game and one I’ve been personally hoping for. To add Imperial Guard troop choices to my existing Space Marine army sounds really exciting and it’s up to me to devise a whole new strategic approach. It’ll also inevitably force my opponent to think long and hard about upping their game as well. Awesome stuff!
Summary
Games Workshop have really have put thought and much engine tweaking to keep on top of the game. To say that this book is essential to 40k players is an understatement. As well what I’ve mentioned in this review, there’s a ton of other rule tweaks and changes I’ve not even mentioned such as Fortifications, Flyers, Lethal Terrain and Warlords. The book oozes with quality and the full colour layout brings to life this superior table top game. All eyes will eventually turn to the Autumn for the release of the boxed starter set but for now, you can’t really go wrong with this comprehensive rule book.
Order the new Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook at just £36.99: Buy Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Rulebook
