Warmaker

I have quite a number of FM's 1/72 Star Wars lineup. X-Wing, both TIEs, Jedi Starfighter, and I'm waiting on the Y-Wing to arrive. I'm quite happy with the lineup so far but I was expecting more movie craft to make it in 1/72 first then going to another scale. But then again, we're talking 1/48 scale, which is my preferred aircraft scale. I will most definitely snag it up. Some movie ships I wish FM would do: A-Wing, B-Wing, TIE Advanced, TIE Bomber, Imperial Shuttle, Mon Cal.Cruiser, and of course, a Star Destroyer to round out the Original Trilogy ships.

A 1/6 scale 'pit would be a project in itself! Keep up the good work as always. BTW, in your reference photo in your initial post, the kit in the upper right, what show is that character from? It looks familiar.

That sucker's going to be huge. I hope it works for the guy, because I'd hate to hear all that work crashing into the dirt.

Are you sure about that? I have this awful feeling (bad bowel movement type of level) that it won't change, or may even get worse. As for the games, I don't mind the voices staying in original Japanese, but I need subtitling and english for the various UIs.

In no particular order and of course exempting Macross. * Record of Lodoss War OVA - I watched this over and over. Even non-anime fans liked it, but the budget shortcuts at the end was bad (recycled animation from combat) * Patlabor - I will be honest. I wasn't a fan of the movies after the first one. But the OVA and series were top notch. Pure character goodness with some mecha thrown in! * Ninja Scroll (original) - This was a hot item in the 90s, and it too got alot of people watching that weren't into anime. * Vision of Escaflowne (series%) - I caught onto this show in 1999 from my friend's VHS tapes. Loved it ever since. Hated the movie version. * Big Wars * Just kidding on Big Wars I meant to say Cowboy Bebop. ** I actually bought the VHS of Big Wars in the mid-90's. I thought, "WWII in space? Cool!" What I got was... something different from what I imagined. % Thanks for the correction

I can't tell you how much fun I had with the Samurai Shodown series. SS1, 2, and 5 was where I spent the most time on with the series, but 2 was the one I loved the most. I played 5 alot in Okinawa and in Japan. The best part was that other than currency, there was no big difference in playing the US arcade release to the Japanese ones. The engrish was so bad with the ones I found on US bases that I had no issues whatsoever when trying it out in town in Okinawa and Japan I always felt comfortable that all the announcements from the matches were in Japanese anyways, so maybe that helped. I can still recall my friend who fancied himself good in Street Fighter getting schooled in Japan by a kid coming off school. Repeatedly... like x3, IIRC

Being on a military transport like a C-130 doing a "combat approach" and landing was an interesting thing for us non-aviators. Especially those for weak stomachs during flight!

Yeah, Kursk was a melee with land and air arms of both Germany and the Soviets, but the tanks get the most mention. The air war in the battle was secured first by the Luftwaffe but the Soviets, given time, were gnawing away at it. Just as nasty in the skies as it was on the ground, and woe be the aircrew that bailed out / crash landed in the mess down below.

I'm quite happy with my VF-1 collection (both 1/60 and 1/48), so I'll bypass on the -1S. But that dark 25th anniv. '19 looks quite nice and I'm getting one. The '19's shape with that dark color goes together quite sweetly.

Thanks, you made me remember those awful commercials, complete with Rick, Max, and... somebody... jumping out from a hole and blasting to the side of the screens with cheesey laser sound effects. They were the Matchbox figures and vehicles. I recall only seeing the white / red "Rick" VF-1J out of the vehicles and was aghast of the overall shape and fatness of the whole thing. Especially since I had a 1/55 Hikaru VF-1S Strike at home from my birthday.

No, Keith, no! Say NO to a midget / SD Robotech. Why? Can you imagine a midget / SD rendition of "To Be In Love?" *shudder* I have to admit I love this thread. It seems I now know more people that have more panic over this news than I do

This one's difficult for me to sort out which is best. I can only pick one I prefer since I've seen it alot... the M2 Bradley. The thing is, AFV's come have more varied duties and expectations than MBTs. As time progressed after WWII, everyone has been moving towards a single MBT (or as few as possible) for their militaries, unlike in WWII. AFVs? I see them in 2 categories. a) Battlefield Taxi - Armor for protection of its cargo; minimal to light armament. Great example are the old M113's made by the US. b) "Swiss Army Knives" - AFVs that are more heavily armored than Battlefield Taxis, much heavier armament that sometimes includes ATGMs. They're designed to shuttle in infantry as well as provide support, even AT duties. They're also more expensive. Examples are the M2 Bradleys. Then there are some that are amphibious. Which form is best? That's up in the air, but they're all vulnerable to far more things than tanks are.

Nice picture with the F-117's and F-22's, but it's spoiled by the site marking right in the middle of the pic. Lots of money in one picture

Not me. I get no positive vibe off this, no more than the first one did. It's too bad, but at least I still have Alien & Aliens to make up for Fox's lacking.

I wonder how many slow motion fighting scenes there will be. It seems to be all the rage AvP had it. 300 had it by the dozens

Thanks for a tanker's insight, Uxi.

Heheh... remember in SDF:M there was a short segment where Minmay was doing photoshoots for the UN Spacy, wearing a uniform? Most likely for something like recruiting posters or even ship-broadcasted ads. The part was where she was dressed in a uniform, sanding next to a VF-1A, saluting.

Really, should it surprise anyone that knows at least a tiny bit about tanks that Germans know how to build good, nice looking panzers? Between the "Big 3," I'll admit that the Leopard 2A6 looks really nice. The 2A5 brought in that "wedge" look to the turret and the longer 120mm gun is imposing. As for info on tanks, Missing-lynx was a pretty good overall primer on tanks. I can't access it from where I'm at, but google it and you'll see the link. Good general info, even on some WWII era stuff.

I can't recall exactly the reasons, just some guesses. "Fluffwise," it was at some point after the Horus Heresey when the Chapter was secretly making up for it's near treason to the Emperor. As for official pictures and officially painted figures, you started seeing a few green Dark Angels in the mid-early 90's, but official chapter color plates still listed black. It was an interesting change and green DAs did really stand out from the mass of black. But they're so "ho hum" to me these days, so old school black DAs are something special to see. Black Armor, red helmet stripes w/ black lines for veterans, yellow trim for NCOs. Red or white Chapter emblems on shoulder pads. Yellow eye lens And I still remember the Sergeant, Vet Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, and Lt Commander shoulder pad designs from the Rogue Trader days. These days, it's either Captain or Chapter Commander, which is very limiting IMO. I chose the Dark Angels back in the Rogue Trader era for several reasons. Black Loved the emblem They were the very first Space Marine Legion ever made in the First Founding, the first to serve the Emperor. They were the first of the Emperor's finest Besides, Space Marines leading into the Heresey got the job done real well as far as conquest goes Of all the armies I've seen on a gaming tabletop, my friend's Ultramarine army was ridiculously nice. He had far better modelling experience than I did, and it really showed. I loved blue and he made it striking, using a darker shade of it and avoiding the overly bright blue that some use.

The "Big 3" of MBTs, M1's, Chally 2's, and Leo 2's are all pretty tough tanks. The M1 has showcased how it can take some punishment ever since Desert Shield / Storm. It doesn't surprise me the Chally 2 has shown resilience considering it's newer gen Chobham Armor. We'll see how the Leo 2 will take it with service in Afghanistan (but those crewmen won't like the "real world test"... nobody does).

In about the mid 90's I too bought a resin Baneblade & Basilisk in the same scale as the WH40k figures. They needed touchups, but turned out well (as I recall). Imperial Guard Armor + Space Marine Infantry = Fun back in the day. I also remember in the Rogue Trader days the game's great strength and great weakness. It's strength was in the freedom we had in gameplay. Things weren't so rigid before "codexes" and players being overly restrictive with what you bring to the table, and how you made your forces look. But Rogue Trader's freedom was also it's great weakness, since some guys would take that freedom and really run with it The Rogue Trader book did have some interesting pictures you don't see these days in WH40k. The one that stood out the most was artwork showing a section of Ultramarines patrolling through woods, hunting down some concealed enemy... wearing Blue-based tiger stripe camouflaged Power Armor. I loved it so much that I customized another Space Marine set and had another squad with big ass "heavy rifles" with a sort of Pea-Dot camo pattern (like the WWII Waffen SS camo). 1/35 scale models (figures, vehicles, etc) provided the bits to do it with. Naturally, this would never fly on table top games and the rules that were out at the time, in between the 2nd & 3rd edition timeframe. But it looked cool, especially if you put "terrain" on the figure bases. I'm not certain about the rules these days, but the GW figures have been going up in price since the mid 90's, and have stayed high. Vehicles aren't too expensive, especially the plastic ones. Even more considering some of the intricate designs like the Eldar grav vehicles. But the figures is where GW kills your money, and it annoys me everytime I see it, even when I no longer play. It's annoying to see a small box for a single squad of Marines cost about $20-30U.S. these days, compared to the Rogue Trader and early 2nd Edition days. I could buy a box of 50 plastic Space Marines with tons of sprues with extra (that's right, extra) gear... there were more weapons than you actually needed to equip all 50. All for maybe $24-30U.S. back in the day. 50 space marines > 10 space marines Especially when it came down to customizations for the same amount of money. P.S. - I still remember seeing Cyclone, Lightning Claw, and Thunderhammer Terminators the first time when they were new and thinking, "What the hell are they?!?" I also remember seeing pictures of the "Deathwing Terminators" for the first time in the early 2nd Ed days, when the official scheme for the Dk.Angels was still black.

2 would be pushing it, considering how insanely expensive those things are. But to have reengined B-52's? Worth the price instead of just 2 more F-22's. But those 2 F-22's would make magnificent cannibalization birds...

I place the M1 series first. From Desert Storm and all the way into the Global War on Terror, the M1 series has seen by far the most combat action of modern MBTs, and it has proven itself, while undergoing necessary changes from that experience. I place the British Challenger 2 second, over the German Leopard 2A6. Why? Challenger 2's have seen much more action and direction for refinement than the Leo 2A6. Now, don't get me wrong, the Leo 2's are mighty fine MBTs, but they haven't faced the rigors you only see from actual combat operations, and the unforeseen factors they bring. Until Leo 2's see more combat ops (if they are operating in Afghanistan), then I'll place the M1 and Challenger 2's above it.

I used to play long ago, stopped sometime in the 90's. My army were Dark Angel Space Marines which I formed up in the original "Rogue Trader" days. That means the real Dark Angels, where the color was black, not dark green. I had 3 platoons worth of them (50 S.Marines / Platoon). It was easy to get lots of troops those days, since there were sets of 50 plastic Marines for $24-30U.S. back in the Rogue Trader days (before GW got too greedy). I had a Lt.Cmdr, a Dreadnought, 1 Rhino, and 1 Land Raider with my Marines, plus 1 Terminator squad. Like I said, black was the theme since these were the original chapter colors. I stopped for a year or two then started again with the same army in the 2nd and 3rd edition rules, but not playing as much as in the Rogue Trader days. It was always nice to see the newer players asking why my DA's were black instead of dark green... and them asking how did I get an entire Space Marine army with what they call "Mark 6 Armor" these days Anyways, it was a bit of a challenge to really make black figures stand out with details and yet look decent.

Hahah! Final Fantasy Tactics! I loved that game. Lots of good stuff going on that, including Poaching critters