Best Books on War

May 25 is Memorial Day in the US. To honour the sacrifice of those with the courage to have served--and with express gratitude--herewith Military History magazine's list of Best Books on War, in the sincere hope that through study comes understanding.

• THE ILIAD (Homer)
• THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR (Thucydides)
• ON WAR (Clausewitz)
• WAR AND PEACE (Tolstoy)
• RED BADGE OF COURAGE (Crane)
• PERSONAL MEMOIRS (Grant)
• FACE OF BATTLE (Keegan)
• WITH THE OLD BREED (Sledge)
• BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM (McPherson)
• WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE...AND YOUNG (Moore with Galloway)
• ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (Remarque)
• FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (Jones)
• CAINE MUTINY (Wouk)
• CIVIL WAR: A NARRATIVE (Foote)
• FORGOTTEN SOLDIER (Sajer)
• ONCE AN EAGLE (Myrer)
• GOODBYE, DARKNESS (Manchester)
• EISENHOWER'S LIEUTENANTS (Weigley)
• WORLD AT ARMS (Weinberg)
• PATTON (D'Este)

As MH chose not to distinguish between fiction and nonfiction, I would add Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut), Citizen Soldier (Ambrose), Art ofWar (Sun-Tzu), War and Remembrance (Wouk) and--to round arbitrarily to 25--any history of choice by Walter Lord (my personal military choices would be either Incredible Victory--about the Battle of Midway--or A Time To Stand--about The Alamo; Lord's research may by now be dated but his prose and, especially, sense of the dramatic moment of each chosen story brings history to life).

Mirror, Mirror...

There are good Star Trek movies and bad Star Trek movies.* And there are Star Trek movies the faithful--*we* faithful--like, and that we hate. Relative success or failure can depend upon many things...but it begins with 'Is it Star Trek?'

Star Trek *isn't* Star Wars. It isn't like any other franchise-- science fiction or otherwise--and creators violate it's core tenets at their peril. These can be trivial (expansive, symphonic scoring *is* Star Trek, insipid, folk-rock song ballads are not) or they can be moral/ethical/philosophic (placing others above self *is* Star Trek, personal quests--especially for God but also for family, or revenge, or selfish gain--are not), but whenever creators of big-screen motion pictures or small-screen series have defied them, the result has usually been rejected (and, to the justification of the faithful, has usually been as bad as it has been disliked). And--continuity matters. That has always been a part of the Star Trek legacy. Those behind the final series incarnation, 'Enterprise,' nearly killed the franchise, they broke so many conventions (see 'ridiculous song' above)--but their cardinal sin was rebelling against what they described as slavish continuity restraints so violently that what they created-- whatever it's other merits--wasn't Star Trek.

It is into precisely such peril that creator JJ Abrams steps, in his feature film attempt to reboot the franchise: how do you make something exciting and fresh and new which relies so at its heart upon all that has gone before?

'Star Trek' accomplishes the dual goal of being good *and* good Star Trek by--as all good Trek feature films before it did--being Star Trek first. There is not a frame of film, not a moment of dialogue, not a chord of music which disrespects what has gone before...and when it indulges it's past most directly, the moment is moving to the brink of tears.

Quibbles are as numerous as tribbles, and enough of these there may be that some faithful will not like the movie; the shape of this Enterprise (likeable in angles emphasizing its 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' esque saucer, awkward when its 'Next Generation' hull and almost ugly when its assymetric, lightbulblike nacelles dominate) is polarizing, whether some of the cast evoke their originals nearly to caricature while others fall hopelessly short of their predecessors' charisma is already a heated debate...as is whether the degree to which the film cribs from the series' most successful, 'The Wrath of Khan' (for my purposes--if you are going to emulate something, pick something good).

By the time the last Star Trek film whimpered from theaters, however ('Nemesis,' which had its sentimental adieus but was neither very good nor very Trek) the franchise was at best an irrelevancy, and bordering on becoming a cultural punch line. 'Star Trek' is good enough on its mainstream merits to moot that, to reinvigorate a hopeful, optimistic, bold and smart storytelling vehicle again (at a time when we could all use that kind of bouyancy)--and to set an example in so doing that respecting someone else's sandbox when you come play in it does nothing to diminish the beauty of the sand castle you may create there.

May this Trek universe go on to Peace and Long Life.

*--The 'Good' Star Trek movies, for the record (the specific order is mine, but the consensus is pretty broad):

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek (8): First Contact
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Many would elevate The Voyage Home above The Search for Spock (the one anomalous 'odd-numbered Trek movie' which inarguably defies the 'odd ones suck' curse); certainly, it is the most popularly-accessible and mainstream of the series, but STIII's operatic sensibility has its adherents as well and II, III and IV work best as a trilogy in sequence anyway.

Star Trek (7): Generations also has proponents and is probably the best of the 'not so good' Star Trek movies--but while its dramatic successes are profound and elevate it for those of us who really like it, its failures are enormous and difficult to work past, for those who do not.

Star Trek (9): Insurrection has a nicely-nuanced mature romantic subplot undone by ridiculous villains and a general sense of inconsequence, and Star Trek (10): Nemesis feels uncanonical and indulgent. The less said about Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the better; probably, in light of the evidence of the latter two, 'Enterprise's' ridiculous song and various citable instances from every iteration of each series, any vocalizing in a Star Trek incarnation should be prohibited.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture cannot be discussed objectively here. As noted, there is good and bad Trek and Trek which is loved and hated, and they needn't be the same; so it is that I am emotionally inextricably hung up with this film. It brought my beloved 'classic Trek' back from the dead, in glorious 70mm widescreen with the most soaring Jerry Goldsmith-composed music and the most aesthetically beautiful starship ever designed. It may be slow, even uncinematic, and cerebral to a fault. But I can quote every line of dialogue from memory and will stop-down for it every time I run across it on late- night TV and when the Admiral orders Sulu to take her out I will get a lump in my throat till the day I die. Because it *is* Star Trek.

Two New IG Armies In One...

With the release of the newest edition Codex: Imperial Guard, many hobbyists will be considering how best to begin such a Warhammer 40,000 army. As it happens, GW has provided an ideal framework through a recent Datasheet for Apocalypse: following its guidelines in constructing a starter 40K IG army will conveniently provide a player with an assembled force useable in two different kinds of play, simply by adding the Datasheet's centerpiece Superheavy tank. Let's walk through the process.

The Datasheet in question is the 'Shadowsword Domination Force,' published in White Dwarf (US issue 351). One of the first 'combined arms' Datasheets GW has released for Apocalypse play, the Domination Force assembles a 'Tank Fleet' around a single centerpiece Superheavy model, in this case the wonderful new Shadowsword Titan-killer variant from GW's recent all-plastic modular Superheavy tank release. The Shadowsword itself would be key, for Apocalypse play: these enormous games are magnitudes more fun for participants who bring Superheavies as parts of their forces--and the special rules of this Datasheet address keeping that Shadowsword alive (and thus more fun to have along) as long as possible.

The 'Fleet' the Datasheet provides guidelines for building around the Shadowsword, however, is entirely composed of traditional Imperial Guard elements straight out of the new Codex; following these guidelines through the prism of the 40K Force Organization chart will give the army builder not only an entire, coherent Apocalypse force to bring to the table but--absent the signature Superheavy--a very nice starter 40K army, as well.

The first thing the Datasheet requires (in fact, the *only* requirement other than the Superheavy--everything else is optional) is a minimum of three and a maximum of six Leman Russ Battle Tanks. These act as 'escorts' to the Shadowsword in Apocalypse games; in a 40K Imperial Guard army, they constitute Heavy Support choices, and come in a multitude of variants (seven, largely distinguished by the configuration of their main gun). A standard 40K Force Org allows up to three Heavy Support choices, easily accommodating the three-Russ- minimum the Datasheet requires--but the new Guard Codex allows such tanks to be purchased in Squadrons of up to three, each Squadron taking only one Heavy Support slot, so the Datasheet maximum of six Russes is equally feasible, as well.

The next 'Fleet' option in the Domination Force is the addition of 0-2 Hydra Flak Tanks, to protect the land task force from aerial harassment. Whether to include any Hydras in the starter 40K army needs to be considered from the outset, because they are Heavy Support choices in Codex: Imperial Guard, as well: to select even one, a player will have to devote one of his three available HS slots to it (although both could be taken with that one Force Org slot if any are, as they are available as Batteries), meaning at least one set of Russes will have to be fielded as a Squadron, as well, to get the Apocalypse minimum three on the 40K battlefield. There are advantages and disadvantages to fielding vehicles in Squadrons; for beginning IG players, it is probably most straightforward to avoid placing such 'big ticket' points-intensive models as Leman Russes in Squadrons if at all possible.

The rest of the Domination Force's components form the 'fleet's' pickets--light perimeter assets designed to scout the task force's path ahead and prevent penetration by an enemy to it's essential core. Conveniently, these forces are chosen from desirable elements of a 40K Imperial Guard army.

Every standard 40K mission requires forces composed with a minimum of two Troops slots from the Force Org chart. The Domination Force Apocalypse Datasheet calls for 0-4 Infantry Squads; in IGdex parlance, those are Troops choices. The easiest way to represent the former via the latter is to choose Veteran Squads: each Squad of a Veteran Sergeant and 9 Veteran Guardsmen is bought individually, so selecting two properly composes your 40K army with the two required minimum Troops choices, and you may select as many as two more and remain consistent with the structure maximums imposed by your Apocalypse Datasheet. Moreover, each Veteran Squad is allowed to equip with a Chimera Armoured Transport--another requirement the Datasheet imposes (in order that the infantry can keep moving with the 'fleet').

The heart of almost every Imperial Guard army since the days of the first V2 IGdex has been the Infantry Platoon...and you *can* stay within the structure imposed by the Datasheet and build from a Platoon to meet the two Troops choice requirement of a standard 40K army--but it reduces your options considerably: a Platoon consists at minimum of a Platoon Command Squad and two Infantry Squads, constituting a single Troops choice. In the new Codex each of the three can be given a Chimera, so such a minimum sized Platoon could be constructed leaving a Veteran Squad to be chosen as the second Troops choice (and fourth and final Datasheet Infantry Squad). The advantage of such a construction is the Command Squad, with its junior officer's access to Orders and wargear; the disadvantage is that the two regular Infantry Squads are inferior to the Veterans, that you aren't getting access to some of the best things a Platoon offers an IG player--the optional Heavy and Special Weapons Squads--because they cannot get Chimerae, and that you use up all four of your Datasheet 'Armoured Fist' allowances just meeting the Troops requirements: choosing Veteran Squads instead would allow up to two of those slots to go to such interesting Infantry Squads from the new Codex with Chimera access as Storm Troopers, Psyker Battle Squads and Ogryn Squads. As Company Command Squads are classified as Infantry Squads, the 40K-Mandatory HQ Force Org requirement could even be filled (but see following).

The remaining picket option for the Domination Force is 0-3 Sentinel Squadrons. The '0' means none are mandatory--but any 'fleet' commander who ventured out without at least one of (and likely as many as possible of) these fast, mobile, versatile and hard-hitting Imperial Guard walkers to scout his path and protect his flanks would deserve whatever ill befell him. Sentinels are Fast Attack choices in the 40K Force Org, come in Squadrons of 1-3 per slot, and are available in both Scout and Armoured varieties (the Armoured variant increases Front Armour from AV10 to AV12, adds the Extra Armour upgrade at the expense of the Move Through Cover and Scouts special rules, and adds the Plasma cannon as a primary weapon upgrade). Filling all three Fast Attack slots with full Squadrons of Sentinels is very tempting (especially for Apocalypse play, where the Datasheet's 'Piquets' special rule allows the fielding player to sacrifice the cheaper Walkers for Russes or Hydras--or Structure Points on the mighty Shadowsword itself!).

Unless the player opts to make a Company Command Squad one of his four Chimera-borne Armoured Fists, however, he still has the question of the 40K mandatory HQ Force Org slot to address. In the Apocalypse Formation, the Shadowsword is the command platform of the entire 'fleet,' it's commander the ranking officer of his Domination Force. The Superheavy cannot see the field in a standard 40K game-- but that does not mean said commander must be absent. Imagine the 40K version of this army is the assembled land force, enroute to pick up its designated Superheavy charge: it would not be unreasonable to picture the Shadowsword's command crew alongside them for the journey--in fact, I can picture an excellent themed tournament army being constructed around such a notion, with the battles of each tournament round representing hostile encounters along the convoy's journey, and perhaps with the Shadowsword itself present as the centerpiece of the army's display base--and that leap to provide a single additional element to the 40K version of the army over-and-above the Datasheet's minimum/maximums opens up a variety of juicy extra modeling and gameplay options.

The Shadowsword's command crew could be constructed with the Company Command Squad options in the new IGdex, as above, and given a Chimera of their own, perhaps uniquely decorated as would befit such a 'captain's skiff' (to carry the Domination Force's naval analogy further). This would not preclude the already-referenced Chimera- mounted Company Command Squad, if the player wanted a command structure for his escorting force from their own chain-of-command (and the Force Org Chart allows two). If the player just wanted to add the 'fleet admiral' himself (assuming his crew awaits his imperious arrival at the Shadowsword), he could use the Lord Commissar IGdex entry as a template to fashion a 'counts as.' Or a player looking to make his Superheavy commander and crew play more uniquely might consider building such an heroic figure and his retinue from either of the existing Inquisition Codices. He could even give such an officer a Rhino instead of a Chimera, which the Alien and Daemonhunter army lists allow, if he wanted the Shadowsword proxy to really stand out. Most interestingly, however--if the player showed some restraint in maxing out on those Fast Attack Sentinels, above--would be the option of having the command crew born aloft for the journey above their landbound battle convoy in a Valkyrie Assault Carrier: not only would this add mobility and punch to the 40K force and give the new Imperial Guard hobbyist access to the niftiest new model in the IG army in his starter force--but Valkyries come in Squadrons, too...and what high- ranking 'land admiral' would go anywhere without a couple of squads of highly trained, well-equipped bodyguard squads (Storm Trooper Elites)?

And even though these flyers would exist outside the parameters of the Datasheet for Apocalypse games--the great thing about Apocalypse is that, beyond a chosen Datasheet or Formation's specifics, there *are* no Force Org requirements: a player can add such top cover without issue!

Given the various options outlined above, then, this is one straightforward sample build of a Warhammer 40K army which, with the addition of a Shadowsword kit, would become immediately playable as a Shadowsword Domination Force in Apocalypse events, games and multiplayer megabattles:

HQ1: Shadowsword Command Crew - 110Points: Company Command Squad (Company Commander w/ Power Weapon, Veteran w/ Medi-pack, Veteran w/ Domination Force (Regimental) Standard, Veteran w/ Vox-caster, Veteran w/ Lasgun).

TROOP1: Armoured Fist Squad Starboard - 145 Points: Veteran Squad (Vet Sgt, Veteran w/ Vox-caster, Veteran w/ Plasma gun, 7 Veterans w/ Lasguns; Chimera Transport).

TROOP2: Armoured Fist Squad Port - 145 Points: Veteran Squad (Vet Sgt, Veteran w/ Vox-caster, Veteran w/ Plasma Gun, 7 Veterans w/ Lasguns; Chimera Transport).

TROOP3: Armoured Fist Reaction Squad - 200 Points: Veteran Squad (Vet Sgt w/ Power Fist, Veteran w/ Vox-caster, Veteran w/ Grenade launcher, Veteran w/ Flamer, Veteran w/ Heavy flamer, 5 Veterans w/ Lasguns, Grenadiers; Chimera Transport).

FAST ATTACK1: Sentinel Pickets - 138 Points: Scout Sentinel Squadron (3 Sentinels w/ Missile launchers, Searchlights).

FAST ATTACK2: Command Crew Shuttle - 125 Points: Valkyrie Assault Carrier (Lascannon, Sponson Heavy bolters).

HEAVY SUPPORT1: Leman Russ Vanquisher - 245 Points (Knight Commander Pask, Hull Lascannon, Sponson Multi-meltas).

HEAVY SUPPORT2: Leman Russ Battle Tank - 170 Points (Sponson Heavy bolters).

HEAVY SUPPORT3: Leman Russ Battle Tank - 170 Points (Sponson Heavy bolters).

At 1448 Points, you may add vehicle options such a Extra Armour or alter weapons kit-out as suits, to reach a standard 1500 Point 40K army.

With the 'Knight Commander Pask' tank commander template character aboard, the Vanquisher is considered the Command tank; it, along with the Valkyrie and the Sentinels are optimized for anti-vehicle/anti-monster duty, with the two standard Leman Russes and the three Chimerae maximized for anti-personnel. The Sentinels' Missile launchers can back up anti-personnel if the opponent is of the horde variety, and the tanks' battle cannons provide additional (if imprecise) anti-armour capability should that need arise.

This force is light on 'boots on the ground' and significant hand-to-hand combat ability; if I were expanding it to 1750 or 1850 Points (or more), I would add a Commissar Lord with a Power fist to the Armoured Fist Squad tooled up for Reaction, and some Regimental Advisors to the Command Crew in their Valkyrie--particularly the two allowed Enginseers, one of which would immediately join the Lord Commissar in the Reaction force (one mechanic for the Superheavy, one for the escorts)--and probably a second Scout Sentinel Squadron; a fourth Veteran Squad Troops choice probably makes more sense than a Chimera full of Ogryn for the last Chimera picket, too...though the latter sure sounds like more fun.

I would start this army with the plastic Battle Force box of choice (either Cadian or Catachan) and one Squad box: that will provide all 35 Guardsmen needed, plus the first Sentinel, for under US$120. An Apocalypse three-tank Leman Russ Squadron box would add the essential mandatory 'fleet' tanks at a discount from buying them individually; the Chimerae, additional Sentinels and Valkyrie will need to be added a box at a time, unless relevant future Apocalypse or Squadron combination releases appear. What vehicle-heavy forces add to outlay, however, they tend to subtract in assembly and painting time; this is a compact, seven vehicle/three walker/35 infantry IG army that should be easy to use (you know what it does well and what it cannot do), especially for the starting IG commander--plus it is easy to transport, fun to start, assemble, paint, finish and play--

And, with the addition of that centerpiece Shadowsword Superheavy tank, beautifully themed...and best of all, ready to bring the might of the Imperium to the enormous amount of fun that is Apocalypse wargaming. Twice the Imperial Guard fun for the investment, by careful planning from the outset.

Good luck, 'land admiral.'

Why War of the Ring?

If you ask a Games Workshop hobbyist to identify themselves with one primary game system, most will come down firmly in either the Warhammer Fantasy Battle or Warhammer 40K camp (various Specialty Games--Blood Bowl, Epic, Mordheim, Inquisitor, Warhammer Quest, Space Hulk--might once have had significant adherents, but it has been so long since any were regularly available on shelves few fans remain active in the hobby who are not first a player of one or the other 'primary' systems). The fact that GW has--and continues to fully support with both new-on-shelf product and regular White Dwarf magazine coverage--a third primary game system is not reflected by the hobby base...something Games Workshop is taking a major step to address.

The Lord of the Rings miniatures game enjoyed huge popularity during the theatrical runs of Peter Jackson's movie adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's seminal fantasy. Some sources indicate Lord of the Rings product outsold Warhammer Fantasy product in the US and Warhammer 40K product in Europe during those years (some sources suggest it outsold both product lines worldwide). Games Workshop took the opportunity to release a basic boxed set with each of the three feature films, including film-specific miniatures and rules-tweaks...then saved the best for last, releasing the game's current basic-box incarnation--which includes beautifully-sculpted members of the Fellowship, goblins and a cave troll all in plastic, plus terrain and the most polished iteration of the rules yet--once the film trilogy was complete. They have continued to support it with marvelous new plastics, highly-regarded pewter sculpts (Peter Jackson himself is a huge and public fan, so much so he included a number of GW sculptors and Studio creators in his final Rings film) and, perhaps best of all, supplemental rules books exploring areas of Tolkien's world and work either in greater detail than the previous general rules allowed, or which were not covered at all by the film series (with miniatures to match). LotR support in White Dwarf by the Studio personnel assigned to the game system has consistently been the best, most creative and highest quality the magazine has offered. In short, Games Workshop has not only *not* dropped the ball in supporting their LotR game line following completion of the three films, they've stepped up their quality of effort, laudably so.

It is just that few hobbyists have noticed.

That doesn't mean the line has been unprofitable; in fact, some sources indicate GW's LotRs miniatures line is still the third-best selling line of games miniatures in the world (behind WHFB and 40K). It simply has gone from being the closest thing the miniatures gaming industry has yet seen to a mass market product, at its height, to the kind of niche product line most other miniatures lines are and remain. And that isn't GW's fault...it is simply the nature of being a franchisee of a media phenomenon which has reached its emotional conclusion. Just as Star Wars product fell off the marketing map after Return of the Jedi in 1983 because much of its fandom felt 'the story was over,' so Lord of the Rings toys, costumes, replicas, trinkets, etc have largely disappeared from shelves following Return of the King. GW has soldiered on (no pun intended) with their miniatures game because the line remains profitable, and the system is good--but they would emphatically like to see their models for it not just sold and collected but actually played with.

To that end comes War of the Ring.

The one consistent limitation of the Lord of the Rings system created by GW observed by regular players is that, as a ruleset designed first around the scenarios, settings and adventures of the first film, which were mostly small-unit affairs, it became awkward to handle as the size of the armies and battles increased. GW tweaked this as the scope of the story expanded with The Two Towers, and again to accommodate the vast spectacle of the climactic battles in Return of the King...but at its heart, the Lord of the Rings game was and is at its best, most fun and most playable replicating skirmish-level encounters.

The new War of the Ring game takes the basic LotR rules concepts and mechanics and re-gears them for the monumental.

Now, players will be able to really recreate the feel of the siege at Helms Deep, or the Battle for Pelennor Fields. Vast armies will sweep across tabletops, invest enemy fortresses, or mount massive cavalry charges.

To quote one GW source, 'WotR will do for LotR what Apocalypse did for 40K.'

And, as with the basic Warhammer 40,000 game and its Apocalypse supplement, nothing GW does for WotR will diminish the LotR game: it will remain the choice for best retelling tales of indivual heroes and their warbands on the tabletop, for quick or pick-up games between friends.

There will be no basic boxed game version of War of the Ring. Like Apocalypse, it will be presented in a beautiful, lavishly-illustrated and comprehensive hard cover book. Its comprehensiveness is its signal virtue: every army an interested hobbyist might want to build for WotR is covered in the basic book, along with all of its variants, potential leaders and heroic characters/villains/monsters, and all of the rules one need know to play WotR. Players of LotR will recognize most of the terminology and mechanisms--but GW is treating WotR as a 'start from scratch,' so that no previous familiarity with LotR is required.

And as a new system, everyone will be starting from a level playing field, in building their armies for either fun or competitive play. And their WILL be competitive play: GW has never dropped LotR from its GTs, and expects WotR to generate a resurgence of interest in playing the game tournament-style.

This is a very good thing. I think LotR is GW's *best* game from both the pure 'fun to play' and the competitively-balanced standpoints. Fans of earlier iterations of WHFB and especially 2nd Edition Warhammer 40K are encouraged to give it a look--much moreso than either current version of GW's staple games, the role of singular heroes, and the impact they can have on battles, is dramatically more pronounced in LotR...just as any ruleset replicating a great tale of great heroes ought to be. However, the balance is generally spot-on: Aragorn, Boromir, Gimli, Legolas and the Nine *lead* their armies, but are not so powerful as to *be* the army. Sauron and the Balrog approach that level of power...but then, they should, and are distinguished by that singularity. It is an outstanding and evocative system, which moves quickly and feels 'heroic' (so much so, I have adapted the LotR rules for historicals gaming in the post-Roman 'Arthurian' era for personal use, after being repeatedly frustrated at the 'realism' of most historical miniatures rules systems failing to evoke the more mythic feel I wanted, and have been extremely satisfied with the result...and those who know me will tell you I take matters Arthurian very seriously, and with a difficult critical eye to satisfy :).

GW is hoping upping the scope of this game, to recreate the enormous battles which are among the trilogy's highlights, will provide a jumpstart for dormant hobby interest. The War of the Ring ruleset for just such huge battles seems to have retained much of what is so good about Lord of the Rings, added scope, size and spectacle, then leavened with some rules alterations to make so vast a game still proceed at a brisk pace (I particularly like the 'rather than modify results, roll as many dice as possible' approach). And they've added some marvelous lures: the base rulebook is a beautiful thing, as noted, the first new models (especially the plastic Ent!) are likewise--and the movement trays, designed to make GW's round-based LotR miniatures easy to use ranked up, for WotR, are terrific: I suspect 40K players will find them appealing for display and perhaps even play applications, as well as dedicated WotR use.

GW has built it; now, will the players come?

I hope so, for all of the reasons noted above and more. For one thing, discovering GW's line of LotR/WotR miniatures will open up a whole new area of collecting for players who've not tried the system: not just the new plastic Ents or Kingdom of the Dead figures, but the whole catalog of LotR miniatures crafted since the game's inception will open up to--and be 'like new' to--such hobbyists. And there are some wonderful miniatures in that catalog, from both the plastic and pewter versions of the Balrog to the awesomely villainous Sauron to the modular dragon--as well as original creations like Gulhavhar the daemon, which boast a laudable commitment to fidelity with Tolkein's universe.

If War of the Ring rejuvenates hobby interest in the Lord of the Rings miniatures game, such 'new converts' will not be the only ones who benefit: every closet fan of the game who has boxed up their figures for lack of opponents will profit, as well.

I've a vast cohort of valiant Rohirrim waiting for the call from sequester, to ride to Middle Earth's defense, should new Orcs, Olyphaunts or Easterlings appear on the tabletop horizon, because of War of the Ring...
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The Illustrated Alamo 1836

In the pre-dawn of March 6, 1836, the fate of an unknown number (but probably around 200) of Tejanos, Texians and American Texas immigrant rebels and an unknown number (but probably in the high hundreds to low thousands) of Loyalist Mexican soldiers was decided at a place almost everyone has heard of...but that almost no one can properly visualize, as it was on the day: the crucible of Texas liberty (and an anvil upon which was struck much of subsequent North American history, from the nineteenth century through the present)—the Alamo.

Artist Mark Lemon has created the most thorough-going visual recreation of the Alamo to date, in his meticulously-researched and skillfully rendered 'The Illustrated Alamo 1836 A Photographic Journey'. From the 1/48th scale model Alamo he bases his work on, to the stunningly evocative photographic work which brings the model to realistic life, to the text analysis of both, including his reasoning behind some of the speculative decisions he had to make, Lemon's work is impeccable...and the result is a fuller understanding of the monumental hopelessness of a few hundred defenders securing so broad and open a 'fortress' against determined assault—and a deeper appreciation for the depth of their conviction to their cause, that nonetheless they tried.

While there are unfortunate errors in editing (Lemon consistently misspells Alamo commander William Barret Travis' middle name, for example), they are rendered inconsequential in contrast to the enormity and thoroughness of Lemon's research. Not only does he cover the physical plant of the Alamo on that fateful day (visitors to the shrine as it is currently preserved in San Antonio unfamiliar with the changes—and in some cases virtual demolition—the Alamo has been subject to in the years since 1836 will be stunned by how different a place it was), Lemon also details virtually everything known of the mission fortress' artillery battery, complete with illustrations of the guns, and provides one of the most cogently-argued analyses of which flag(s) flew over the commandery while it was in possession of the Texians, and why.

That this is a must for the library of every Alamo historian goes without saying. It will probably be of considerable interest to the model-builder and miniature military gamer, as well; though Lemon's triumphs here are ultimately in line with his intentions—to recreate history insofar as possible and do so with an artistry that transcends simple recreation—the stunning package that is 'The Illustrated Alamo 1836' is arguably one of the most beautiful, elaborate tributes to the scale modelers' art, as well, and deserves appreciation for that.

By the time the sun rose on the Mission San Antonio de Valero on March 6, 1836, the thirteen day seige was over. William Barret Travis, James Butler Bonham, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett and her other defenders were all massacred (or soon would be, depending on one's fixation with how things for each of them ended, especially Crockett). Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the 'Napoleon of the West,' would dismiss the battle as 'a small affair.' But the most experienced heart of his veteran army lay wounded, dying or dead piled high against the mission fortress' north wall, and dedication to a cause—which was arguably still smouldering in the hearts of many beyond its most ardent disciples—had been fanned to incandescence by Travis' epistolary eloquence, by the band of defenders' courage, by the mercilessness of Santa Anna's massacre. Without the Alamo, there well might never have been a Texas.

Mark Lemon's book finally brings the birthplace of Texas freedom back to life, as it was—and takes us there.
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Who Shall Lead? Part Five: Space Marine Captains

The Fifth Edition Codex: Space Marines changes the way a 40K player chooses the heroic characters who will lead his army. The previous editions' multi-level Independent Character options and near-limitless choices of Wargear from the Armoury are no more; instead, the new Codex presents an unprecedented number and variety of pre-constructed Special Characters—then encourages players to pick the one whose gear or abilities most suits that player's preferences, and use him as a 'template,' over which the player can lay his own Chapter's names, colours, history and background. And amongst the Special Characters available as HQ choices, nowhere are the options more varied than amongst the HQ type the new Codex *clearly* intends as the leader-of-choice for most V5 armies -- Space Marine Captains. Where other HQ choices have had their statistic lines bumped down a bit, Captains are actually stouter than in previous editions; and the Codex presents a total of five Captain Special Character types, plus the generic-build entry--more than the other four HQ options combined.

Which Captain suits what army-build/playing-style best?

SICARIUS: The Ultramarines representative feels the most like a traditional Space Marine Captain, from previous editions--only jumped-up on steroids. He brings army-wide Leadership, confers to another squad the ability to retain one of the Veteran Skills which might have characterized them in previous editions, and is awesome in assault against the foe. Sicarius weighs in with the Mantle of the Suzerain, a suit of Artificer Armour reducing his Save statistic to 2+ *and* adding the Feel No Pain special rule to his Iron Halo 4+ Invulnerable Save--making Captain Sicarius one of the most survivable characters in the game (though he remains vulnerable to the Instant Kill *if* an opponent can fight through all those saves with a Strength 8 or higher attack, just once).

His armament of plasma pistol and Talassarian Tempest Blade complement his survivability by making him one of the most fearsome close combatants in the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes; the Blade's ability to forego all Sicarius' attacks in favour of a single strike which will Instant Kill anything it wounds is an awesome odds-evener in these days of daemonic and monstrous creatures immune to such a fate, even from Force weapons, and grabs one's attention for considering Sicarius as a monster-killer--but wielded simply as a power blade with Sicarius' Weapon Skill of 6 and four attacks (five on the charge, plus the inbound plasma shot) makes Sicarius most formidable as a rank-and-file opponent slayer...doubly so, since his own vulnerability to being Insta-Killed is lessened against most such opposition.

Sicarius adds the Surprise Attack special rule allowing his side to reroll their attempt to seize initiative, the Rites of Battle special rule conferring his Leadership to the entire army for Morale or Pinning tests, and--most significantly--Battle-forged Heroes, which allows a player fielding Sicarius to give one Tactical squad a Veteran Skill upgrade. Those missing the previous edition's Traits system should give Captain Sicarius a long look as the template choice for their army commander based on this special rule alone: granted, it affects only a single Tac squad, but being able to carry over some ability which characterized your previous era army could be a big deal, toward retaining your sense of that force's identity in this new age. Against such positives, the only downside to choosing Sicarius is his cost: at 200 points, only the Terminator-armoured Imperial Fist Lysander is as expensive as Sicarius, among the five template characters presented in the new codex. For those points, however, Captain Sicarius will provide players one of the most familiar, most potent, most threatening and most survivable leaders available to a Space Marine army--and grant them a measure of their former identity, in the doing.

LYSANDER: the Captain of the Imperial Fists is as expensive as Sicarius--and even more survivable. The only issue with choosing Darnath Lysander as a template for your own force leader is that his special rules conflict with each other, in dictating his best battlefield role--making it difficult to get maximum effect from everything he can do.

Lysander is equipped to lead from the front, in hand-to-hand combat: he has Terminator Armour and a Storm Shield for a 2+/3+ set of Saves, and the mighty Thunder Hammer Fist of Dorn--mastercrafted, striking at Strength 10, with a +1 to the result roll on the Vehicle Damage Table. Add his ability to make units in his army Stubborn and the enormously impactful Eternal Warrior, and Lysander has the special rules to increase his assault effectiveness. Much moreso than Sicarius, Darnath Lysander is a serious vehicle- and monster-killing character template.

However, perhaps his most interesting rules are best used if Lysander is held back from close combat. He can Bolster Defences like a Techmarine (an artifact of his Legion's legendary seige expertise, doubtless)--and if he joins a squad any included model may reroll 'to hit' rolls with bolt weapons, courtesy of his Bolter Drill special rule. Imagine a Heavy Bolter Devastator squad fighting from an entrenched position with Lysander amongst them: horde armies beware!

But a player choosing to field him this way is foregoing Lysander's essential assaultiness (because he wields Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, the master of bolter discipline hasn't even a gun of his own to fire); and a player who wades into the enemy with Lysander surrenders the shooting benefit he could bring to a ranged-combat-oriented squad.

The closest thing to a happy medium, of course, would be to place Lysander in the company of his fellow Terminators, who with Storm Bolter and Power Fist as standard weapons suffer some of the same cost penalty for being good at everything that Lysander does. His Bolter Drill will make their Storm Bolters even more effective, and he will certainly increase their impact come the assault. Sadly, none of the heavies available to Terminators are Bolter weapons...leaving such a unit likely to be either shooting ineffectively with small arms fire at vehicles or monsters worthy of their Hammers and Fists, or using the latter in massive overkill assaults on hordes as follow-up to their fire volley.

One tactical use for Lysander which should see some play is as a counter-assault unit for shooting-oriented Space Marine players bedeviled by infiltrating, outflanking or other 'sneak up from behind' opposing army builds. Lysander directing fire from that aforementioned entrenched Heavy Bolter squad--then detaching to deal with Space Wolf scouts intent on ruining a gun line's day, should prove more than reasonably entertaining for the player leading with the Terminator Captain of the Imperial Fists.

And at the end of the day, Lysander is the only option, other than a generic build, for a Space Marine Captain in Tactical Dreadnought Armour. For Terminator afficionados, that alone will be reason enough to field him.

Lysander is good, make no mistake; his rules just make him so expensive it will be difficult to consistently maximize that effectiveness, for such cost.

SHRIKE: The Captain of the Raven Guard suffers no 'mission diffusion' contradictions in his equipment or special rules; Shrike is the template for the player looking to have his commander lead the proverbial mobile infantry assault--and lead from the front.

With jump pack and master-crafted, Rending twin lightning claws, Shrike is equipped to get to the fight with immediacy and to make an impact once there, with an Iron Halo Invulnerable Save to provide him staying power. His special rules confer Infiltration to himself and any unit in his squad (now doubly-useful in V5 with the outflank option), and his Chapter Tactics rule exchanges the standard Space Marine Combat Tactics for Fleet--a huge bonus for assault-oriented armies.

Shrike is expensive at 195 points--but the closest similarly equipped Captain built from the generic Codex entry is only going to be 40 points less without master-crafting, Rending or Shrike's Infiltrating and Fleet special bonuses. Using those latter two rules effectively can be tricky for some players, who might find merit in building the less-expensive version...but for most players looking for their HQ choice to be a swift and deadly combat machine, leading an elite, highly-mobile group of similarly motivated units, Kayvaan Shrike is the strongest Captain template candidate. He will not be an answer against opposing vehicles or monsters, as a choice like Lysander would be--but let Shrike get in amongst opposing infantry, with a Fleeting assault-oriented army at his heels, and he will undo many a foe.

Shrike's only real disadvantage is a codex limitation, rather than any flaw in his character entry: he cannot be backed up by the best close-combat Space Marines available. Neither the Command Squad entry nor the Honour Guard (should a player really wish to make a powerhouse unit and join Shrike to a jump-packing Chapter Master) allow for upgrading to jump packs at this time, and Vanguard Veterans give up their Heroic Intervention special rule if joined by an independent character. That leaves Shrike leading a standard Space Marine Assault squad, and said unit's lack of access to additional power weaponry has always made them an inferior choice to most opposing armies' assault specialists. They therefore will simply not provide Shrike the maximum backup effect possible (though a sergeant with a power weapon, power fist, thunder hammer or combat shield--or a pair of lightning claws of his own!--leading them will go a long way, as an equalizer...and having Shrike amongst them, granting them outflank to hit what they want and Fleet to get the charge, will still make them an effective choice).

VULKAN: There has been much renewed interest in the Salamanders, with the release of the new Space Marine Codex. Forgefather Vulkan He'stan is why.

If there is a reason the other outstanding Captain templates are not being universally embraced by players, it is probably because Vulkan is even better--and for several points less. Vulkan is as or even more survivable than the other Special Characters (possible save the ultimate tank Lysander), his relic weapon provides increased effectiveness against vehicles and monsters (the kind of things a Space Marine Captain *should* be destroying, in many players' minds)...and Vulkan's Chapter Tactic special rule is an absolute deal-closer: master-crafting *every* Thunder Hammer in his army, and twinlinking every flamer and melta weapon type, is just enormously combat effective.

It is difficult to find fault with Vulkan: a 2+ artificer armour Save, which he will rarely have to take because he also has a *3+* Invulnerable Save from his dragon-scaled Kesare's Mantle; a Strength 6 master-crafted power halberd as his melée weapon (with digital weapons to make *sure* when it hits, it hurts) and the equivalent of a squad heavy weapon in his Gauntlet for a sidearm; and a Chapter Tactic which is both obvious in the benefits it confers yet does not ram a specific play style down a choosing player's throat. The only real issue a player will have to address (if not playing Salamanders and using Vulkan *as* Vulkan) will be working out a background for his templated version which explains all the character's 'wonderful toys' without being boringly derivative...and frankly, that kind of challenge is part of the fun of a DIY chapter.

Vulkan being so iremediably Salamanderish *will* deter some players from choosing him, nonetheless; and the specific virtues of the various other HQ character template options will have their adherents; but barring either, Vulkan is going to find his way tocommand of many new fifth edition Space Marine armies--painted green and breathing fire or not.

He is that good.

KHAN: Kor'sarro Khan may prove to be one of the least-used Captain templates in the new Codex; that is understandable given the other options available, and given that what he specializes in is a difficult army construct for Space Marines to excel--but also unfortunate, because he does what he does with a maximum of 'cool' and a very reasonable minimum of points.

Khan can be fielded in two versions: with or without his special relic bike Moondrakkan. The bike option is the construct which seems to be what causes most players to consider Khan, and that makes sense: it is characterful (he is a White Scars special character) and at only 10 points more than the cost of an ordinary Space Marine Bike for a generically-built Captain, Moondrakkan confers to Khan extra movement (he can Run instead of Shooting) and the ability to Assault at the end of that extra movement (via Fleet). These are outstanding benefits for the cost, and anyone considering a bike-themed Space Marine army would be well-advised to lead it with Khan on Moondrakkan--but it does increase his total cost to 205 points (translating him from the most economical Special Character Space Marine Captain to the most expensive), and perhaps most importantly, it does not at present confer the ability to Run or Fleet to any squad Khan might be attached to/leading...which means, to benefit from Moondrakkan's special rule to maximum effect, Khan is going to have to ride alone. While his movement will likely be so flexible he should still be able to combine charges with other supporting units most of the time, this *is* still an extra complication for a fielding player; and more importantly, not belonging to a unit leaves Khan vulnerable to the character-assassinating machinations of one's opponent.

A more appealing option, though less obvious, is Khan on foot, without Moondrakkan. In this configuration, Khan is only 160 points, but retains all of his equipment and special rules except Fleet. That means he and any unit he joins may still Hit and Run and Furious Charge, and Khan still wields the mighty power sword Moonfang, which causes Instant Death on any To Wound roll of 6, regardless of an opponent's Toughness. All this, and under Khan's leadership all squads in his army which possessed Combat Tactics exchange them for the ability to outflank--including squads in dedicated transports! Those are exceptional, completely army-changing special rules, for 45 points more than an similarly-equipped generic-build Captain. They won't be for every player--in which case, 45 points saved is a not-inconsiderable sum--but for a mobility-based Space Marine army, Kor'sarro Khan is the Captain of choice...astride his bike, or not.

SPACE MARINE CAPTAIN: As with the other HQ options in the new Codex, there is still a place for a custom-built Captain. A player can build a Terminator-armoured or bike-riding Captain with different weapons fit-out and at a significantly-reduced cost from either Lysander or Khan, or one with a jump pack for less than Shrike; a Captain on foot with no more addition than an exchange of his chainsword for a power weapon is still frightfully effective, and only 115 points--130, if upgraded to artificer armour--and of course a player wishing to field a particularly-equipped model (twin lightning claws, as in Sicarius' previous incarnation, spring to mind) fortunately still has this route to go to. At the end of the day, a Captain built from the generic listing is going to be the choice for the player of predominantly shooty armies, both because the template characters all have a close-combat focus and because it is simply more cost-effective, as the points-saved translate to more firepower. Any player considering a 'lead from the front' kind of Space Marine Captain would do well to look at the five Special Characters, and see if any of the bonuses they bring to the table mesh with what the player intends; the bang-for-the-buck difference is considerable.

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