Warmaker

(Edited... I put a firearms related reply in this thread. Big oops! I moved it to the proper thread.)

I have gotten a few 12" stuff but I keep those numbers down. I blow my money on all kinds of other stuff. Anyways, the 12" figs I do have: 1x Marmit Sandtrooper (with the white pauldron, big rifle, plus backpack... looks great) 2x RAH Stormtroopers (looks d**n good. Got it when it first came out) 1x RAH Ep.III Clonetrooper The Clonetrooper just arrived last week. It looks great and all. But straight out of the box, IMO the Ep.III Clonetrooper is plain, even compared to the regular Stormtrooper. Simply put, standard Ep.III Clonetrooper armor is much, much plainer than the highly decorative "special" Clones we see in the movie with the extra gear, color patterns, etc. Even the design of the Ep.III armor is plainer compared to standard Stormtroopers. The RAH Clonetrooper is in dire need of customization, IMO. I'd like to paint a design on it, such as the blue & white 501st Legion, but the semi-flexible nature of the figure's armor makes me very hesitant to do so. I fear the paint will crack up due to the flexible material. The carbine that comes with the Clonetrooper looks great. It's too bad that the stock doesn't extend or fold back. I also would have loved to have the bigger rifle with the figure, the type that we see from Ep.II and III. Either way, I need to get an RAH Darth Vader still. My pair of Stormies flanking him would be great for geek points.

Yes and no. "Phalanx" has been used a few times to describe a dense, tightly formed group of troops. Even Julius Caesar in his writings mentioned a group of German barbarians fighting in a "Phalanx." People take this as a tight grouping of Germanic troops. Medieval Warfare is one of my weakpoints but I have seen some diagrams of them. Pike and Shot isn't a single formed block of troops that characterizes the classical Greek or Macedonian Phalanx. From what I see, Pike and Shot, for a single formation, is actually a series of differently equipped troops working in close concert together.

The "inflexibility" remark regarding the Macedonian Phalanx is directed (I think) to how badly the Phalanx performed in specific and drastically changing situations. My previous reply adds ammo to this but I'll throw in more: Another reason "inflexibility" rears its head for the Macedonian Phalanx is that it is compared to the Roman Legions since Rome did eventually fight the Hellenic armies (which were largely based on the Macedonian style). The Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC is one famous example: - Where the terrain became rough, the formation of the Phalanx broke up and the Sarissa became immensely hard to use. In comparison, the Romans also did fight in tight formation, but the training and equipment of the Legionary allowed loose fighting if so required. Close quarters fighting was what the Legionary was trained and equipped primarily for: Large Shield (Scutum) & Short Sword (eventually Gladius). The Phalangite, once forced into close quarters fighting, was NOT a swordsman... he was a pikeman with the Sarissa as his primary weapon and a short sword as a backup. His training was with the Sarissa, not a sword. With disrupted Phalanx formations, the Romans poured in through the openings and were now quite deadly to the Phalangites. - At the Macedonian right, an opening occured. Without command from the Roman general (Flaminius), a Tribune took detachments of the Legion to burst through, turn, and attack the Macedonian right wing from the rear... all done with his own initiative and authority as an officer. The Phalangites could not react quickly enough to the new threat and were crushed. The "inflexibility" of the Macedonian Phalanx was not due to fighting in one straight line. Alexander for instance sometimes deployed his troops in an echelon / angled. The "inflexibility" is geared towards making too many things required to have the Phalanx succeed, especially in the face of the Roman Legions. It is attributed mainly due to the nature of the Sarissa, compared to the more flexible Roman army and the Roman style of command to allow more freedom to junior officers. ---------- For those curious about the big battles between the Roman Legion and Phalanx styles of warfare, here's the major engagements, all of which were lopsided Roman victories. Second Macedonian War - Cynoscephalae 197 BC Roman-Syrian War (against Seleucid Empire) - Thermopylae 191 BC - Magnesia 190 BC Third Macedonian War - Pydna 168 BC Fourth Macedonian War - Pydna 148 BC Note: Of significant note is that the Romans in comparison to the listed wars / battles and their dates, had recently finished the Second Punic War (218 BC - 202 BC), fighting the hard war against the famous Hannibal of Carthage. The Romans suffered tremendous casualties against Carthage, namely due to Hannibal. The Romans forces that survived the war had been on continous campaigns through many theaters in the Mediterranean. They were seasoned campaigners and had seen alot of combat against the likes of Hannibal. The Hellenic armies afterwards were facing an army at its peak before the reforms much later in the Roman Republic / Early Empire.

Are you going to spruce up your setup with Ep.III-ish gear? Pauldrons, kama, sidearms, etc.? A movie paint scheme or a scheme you make up? I always did like the customization the Ep.III Clones did. I liked the Sandtroopers also from Ep.IV.

It really wouldn't surprise me if the F-22 is also produced for Japan. - Japan has a history of using alot of US aircraft after WWII. - Japan is considered an ally of the US. - Japan's proximity to North Korea and China. - More numbers to F-22 production. Maybe it will drive the cost / unit down? I know the USAF had been slashing numbers on the total Raptors it will end up with as time progressed. - Japan's got the money also.

*WARNING: Boring History Lesson!* There's two forms of the Phalanx, really. 1) The classical Greek Phalanx: Tight formation of Hoplites, preferrably deep in its ranks. The main characteristics of the Hoplite is the large Hoplon shield and a spear of 6-8 ft in length. Used by the Greek city-states and what they were known for. 2) The Macedonian style of Phalanx: Tight formation of Phalangites, preferrably deep also. The Phalangites had much smaller shields which were slung forward since both hands were used for the Sarissa (Pike going 18 or so feet long). Introduced by Philip of Macedon (Alexander's father) and subsequently used by the Diadochi, successor states, after Alexander the Great's death. Both types use the name "Phalanx" but both operate quite differently. The major reason is the Sarissa used by the Macedonian Phalanx. The Macedonian Phalanx had their men present their extremely long weapons as literally a forest of spear points to the front. These points are staggered since Phalangites from the ranks further back can present their Sarissas together with the front ranks. This made the Macedonian Phalanx extremely tough to close with from the front. The movie "Alexander" actually does a fair job of showing this. But the Macedonian Phalanx had several major flaws which became increasingly apparent as time passed. * Firstly, Phalangites were not great fighters in close combat. Their primary form of fighting was with the very long Sarissa while in formation. Short swords were available but proficiency in that type of fighting was not appreciably good compared to other units / people. ---- There's an old story from the days of Alexander the Great while he was still in Greece, before he crossed the Hellespont to invade Persia. A "duel" / match taking place between a decorated Macedonian Phalangite and a Greek Athlete / Wrestler. The Macedonian was fully equipped for war... armor, helmet, greaves, and the Sarissa. The Greek was simply naked except for being oiled and holding a simple club. The match garnered much attention, even gaining Alexander as an onlooker. It was essentially a contest between Greece and Macedonia. The Macedonian tried to make use of the very long Sarissa to defeat his opponent. The Greek was patient, and finally lunged, swinging his club to shatter the wooden shaft of the Sarissa. Once it was shattered, he quickly closed in before the Macedonian could prepare for close fighting. The Greek took down the Macedonian but spared his life... Alexander was disappointed. * Secondly, a Macedonian style Phalanx can't react quickly enough or well enough to attacks / threats from the flank or rear. The Sarissa's long nature prevented a sudden change of facing against a new, sudden danger. Having several hundred guys in one big formation, packed together, with 18-21 ft long spears pointing to one direction, does not allow a sudden change of facing. * Thirdly, a Macedonian style Phalanx battle line is best when stationary or when advancement / movement is at a minimal. The reason being is that the Phalanx tends to lose cohesion and alignment the further it advanced. The array of Sarissas lose its "density" and openings can occur for exploiting. The Roman Republic and its Legions fought against the Macedonian style Phalanx in several wars / major battles. In each significant engagement and war, the Roman Army defeated the Phalanx in very lopsided victories. - Roman Pila (Javelins) were deadly against the Phalanx and used to help break up the formation before contact. - The Roman Legions were very flexible and not rigid to a fault like the Phalanx. Phalanxes lost cohesion the further it advanced, allowing openings for attack. Broken / Rough terrain had the same effect for the Macedonian style Phalanx. Any instance of an opening was ruthlessly exploited by Roman Legionaries who would close in with their very large shields and short swords to make short work of the Phalangites. The classical Greek Phalanx with the Hoplites were not as rigid. It didn't have the same strengths and weaknesses as the Macedonian Phalanx. But the Greek city-states were no longer as strong as they once were since capitulation to Philip of Macedon. As for Alexander the Great facing Elephants, the only one I recall was one of his last major battles... the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BC against King Porus. The victory was attained by Alexander but Hydaspes was by far his costliest victory. His Phalangites held firm and beat back the 200+ war elephants, but had many casualties (4k+ men). ---------- A nice little side note: When Philip of Macedon had control of Greece... except Sparta... he stated: "If I enter Laconia I will level Sparta to the ground." (Laconia is the region Sparta is in). The Spartan reply? "If." (Even though Sparta was now a much weaker city-state than in the past) ---------- The Battle of Chaeronea, 338 BC The battle between the classical Greek Phalanx and the Macedonian Phalanx.

I'll echo some of the earlier replies in agreement. If you're very close to finishing and problems arise, finish the project. I hate leaving things unfinished. But then again, if it is that much of a problem, canx the project altogether. But then again, if you're still learning about model making or you're resharpening your skills after being away from the hobby a long time, it may be a good idea to keep plowing through. Better to imrpove yourself on mistakes and lessons learned on this FUBAR'ed project than on a later one where you have a more expensive, rarer kit. Ideally, you don't want to chuck it away. You want to salvage as many parts as possible for the spares box. Alot of great modellers eventually make something out of that trash for future work. "Kitbashing" also is kind of related, where you combine several different models (scales and genre sometimes) to make a single special one. One extreme example: The guys at Industrial Light and Magic kitbashed all kinds of different model kits to make up their Star Destroyers

I totally forgot about Vision of Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop! I guess the reason being was that I didn't see them until 1999 or later. I saw VoE during a US Marine Corps excercise called "WTI" in wonderful Yuma, Arizona. I had a roommate who overpacked like a mother f****r. He had a VCR, TV, and a foot locker full of s**t. We were a KC-130 unit, so we were our own transport and some guys overpack because of it. Anyways, he had a whole slew of movies and anime. * The Escaflowne tapes I couldn't get enough of. Cowboy Bebop? I didn't get the show until its DVD format at the turn of the century. Naturally, it was a great ride of a show. My Sister and I still love the "Mushroom Samba" episode * I still remember him coming back drunk from out in town and back in the barracks. He was crawling on the floor like a lizard / gecko, even licking around the air with his tongue I watched him for a minute or two doing this when he came back into the room. He stopped halfway through the door and just stopped, passed out We left him there, but he woke up in an hour or two to throw up in the head (bathroom for you landlubbers) down the hall.

80's and 90's anime I really liked. There's a ton of good shows that I spent alot of money on, especially trying to find a tape of it in the good 'ol "Pre-Internet" days of searching. Some of my favorites from back then. Record of Lodoss War OAV - I absolutely loved the series. I bought the 1st tape just as a curiousity. When I got to my barracks room and watched it, both of my roommates stopped and did the same. I was so impressed with it that I went back to the store (Tower Records) and bought whatever other volumes of Lodoss I could get my hands on. I still love this show, especially with the DVD collection that came out maybe 2-3 years ago. Bought that too! There are only 2 things I disliked about the show: Reused Battle Animation (very embarassing when my friends saw it) and the rushed, abrupt ending. Other than that, the OAV's were still d**n great. Macross - This is a no brainer. Robotech introduced me and I didn't get the full picture of it until I went with my friend to Japantown in San Francisco. Of course, Japantown had the cool imported Japanese toys. I recall on one of my birthdays, my Dad got me a 1/55 Takatoku VF-1S Hikaru Strike Valkyrie. That was bad*** back in the day, and put the Jetfires and pathetic Robotech toys to shame. In those days, nothing says "Back the f*** up" like a fully equipped Strike Valkyrie in jet mode. My friend told me a little about DYRL in the late 80's when he visited Japantown again. The only part I remember him describing to me was the DYRL Max & Millia fight. I was always a huge fan of Max's character, and my imagination ran wild. I didn't get to see DYRL until past 2000 when I came across Macross World and stuff about the DYRL DVDs (bootleggies). Silent Mobius (movie) - I was a huge fan of Kia Asamiya's manga of Silent Mobius when my friend introduced me to Viz's translations in the very early 90's. I then snatched up the compiled volumes whenever I could. I absolutely loved the manga. I had tremendous trouble getting the North American release (dubbed, Streamline Pictures) of the movie. Anyways, I know the movie wasn't the best but I still liked it as a fan of the manga... but the English VA for Katsumi did annoy me to no end. AFAIK, there was a second movie but I can't find that thing to save my life, either dubbed or subbed. Wicked City - Bought this too, Streamline Pictures release here in the USA, IIRC. This is one of those titles that alot of anime fans were 50/50 about. Personally, I loved the atmosphere and feel of this show. I remember me popping in the tape of it with my roommates watching also. The opening scene was *entertaining* with the spider chick. Then there's Makie's "problems" later on that I couldn't explain away to my friends... "Dude, what kind of flick is this again?" "Umm... umm..." Still, I enjoyed the feel of the movie and the characters. Patlabor (TV series & OAVs) - Back in the 90's, my friend told me about this show when he showed me the Bandai AV-98 Ingram and Helldiver model kits. It really piqued my interest. Unfortunately, getting a hold of Patlabor in the USA back in the early 90's was next to impossible. Only in the mid-late 90's when the OAV tapes were being released in the USA did I finally get to enjoy the show. Even then, the TV series I didn't know about until later. The OAV and TV series were so great, that when I saw the movies (1, 2, and WXIII) I was deeply disappointed in them. Oh well. Robot Carnival - I saw it on Sci-Fi channel in the early 90's. Some parts I didn't care for but there were some great moments. I didn't buy the release, but I watched it on TV whenever I could. Some great atmosphere in there. Goldenboy - I was in a comic / anime / manga store in Southern California when the clerk was running the English Dub on the TV. The show was hilarious and I simply had to get it. The main character, Keitaro, was an idiot, but a likeable idiot. He'd have a better time if he wasn't so oblivious towards the end of each episode. Vampire Princess Miyu - Fortress Maximus reminded me of this great show when he listed it in his reply. Definitely a great show that had a great feel and atmosphere to it. I bought the VHS North American releases also. A few that I got from back in the day and was not too fond of after viewing my purchase. Akira - The animation and details was simply top notch. The background, tank fire, and especially the motorcycles were quite memorable. Hard to beat back in those days. But that was it. I was left with a "WTF-mate?" moment when it ended. "That's it?!?" Big Wars - Yeah, I bought the tape in the mid 90's. I thought it would be some sort of "World War II in Space" type of flick. But it didn't quite fit the bill, to put it nicely.

Neither, since the Police will take him away for public indecency. Well, at least here in the USA! But they may get away with it in San Francisco As for Braveheart, after seeing the movie I knew something was wrong regarding the "history" of it all. I wasn't familiar with it until I saw documentaries. Even Scottish historians were saying the movie was total BS in accuracy. What's worse is how many people thought it was all true! :lol:

I agree. I'll give it a "wait and see."

* shudders * Nothing like a tarnished image

Maybe it'll be a Post SW 1 storyline? The new Anti-Zentradi Weapon? Minmay Attack Mk.II Consists of a massive MIRV Missile Attack. - The UN forces release a huge barrage of MIRV missiles, each being able to saturate an area with singing Minmay Dolls. --- The Minmay Dolls sing, "To Be In Love"

Just like George Lucas and all the Star Wars EU Books? The "honcho" of a franchise does not need to read into every creation not made by him or his core people. He / She has bigger things on mind to produce a show. Like George Lucas, he can literally throw everything away said by the "EU" if it gets in the way of his movie / his main production. Even though Macross II was made before other notable Macross shows, the feeling of contradiction it presents moves it out of continuity.

Kaifun must be conscious for "harvesting." "Sorry bud, all we have are these dull, rusty tools."

Exactly how would an accurate Thermopylae movie would fail? Also, "Gates of Fire" is d**n good but it did take a scant few liberties. If you have ever read that book, you could imagine how great it would be as a movie.

"Bring all your good toys when you come to play. Don't be the poor kid who's sorry he left something good behind at home..."

The usefulness of the gun has not been shown to be negligible. You have to wait until a war with contesting air forces to show that. There really hasn't been much conflicts ever since Vietnam with regular fighting like that. Desert Shield / Storm showed no contest of the air. OIF in 2003 was more lopsided. Same with Afghanistan. However, I'm not knowledgeable in the air campaign of the Falklands War of the early 80's. The last shooting war that I know of with regular air to air fighting was Vietnam, and that conflict showed that guns are a good thing to have. You want your missiles to do the work. But the gun is your extra option.

I find it "amusing" that there were people that considered aircraft cannons to be useless because of their crudeness.

There are 2 things I liked from Macross II. - Silvie Gina (they really didn't need to make her "bounce" that much) - The UN Spacy uniforms Keeps the kids entertained. If they don't become part of the fireworks.

I bought mine for $15.99 on the base exchange. Nice! I saw the movie in the theater with my folks. The movie was great back then. Bond movies always start out with a bang!

I snatched it up too. Great movie!

Only one way to find out. Rip him open!

HEARRTTT!!!