In The Grim Darkness of the 1940s, There Is Only War...

I had an idea the other day for a parody of Warhammer 40,000 that made fun of the people (mostly on the political left, like Bill Blum) who complain endlessly about American foreign policy post-1945 but overlook or even defend the exact same thing the United States did during WWII.

(Frex, complaining about US support for dictators in Latin America, never mind that they defend similar allegedly "defensive" imperialism by the USSR in its own border zones or U.S. aid to Stalin during the war, complaining about civilian deaths in bombing during Vietnam or Afghanistan and not caring about Hamburg or Dresden, complaining about McCarthyism and ignoring how Trotskyists and isolationists were tried as seditionists alongside legitimate fascists during the war, etc. Blum went so far as to claim in the edition of Killing Hope I read in high school that the United States was beloved after its victory in World War II but squandered this goodwill by "intervening" everywhere.)

Here goes:

It's a dieselpunk 1940s. The Western Allies are dominated by a United States united in worship of the comatose Franklin Delano Roosevelt kept alive in a gigantic golden wheelchair and sustained by the daily sacrifice of Japanese-Americans from the internment camps. The United States Marine Corps serves as the vanguard of the armies of the United States and the other Allies as they fight to destroy the armies of the Axis all over the world, all of them sustained by the US, Commonwealth, and what remains of the USSR's vast military industrial complex. Hoover's FBI and Beria's NKVD hunt for enemy agents and seditionists within the Allies, since only through unity of purpose can victory be achieved.

Ranged against them are the dread forces of the Third Reich, forced back into their own homelands in the west but compensating by occupying vast swathes of what was once the USSR, sustaining their war effort by offering Jews and Slavs in human sacrifice to supernatural evil forces. In the East the ever-victorious Japanese have placed Hirohito on what was once the Imperial Throne in Beijing and harnessed Asia's vast manpower in service to the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.

In the grim darkness of the 1940s, there is only war...

This started out as a bit of political snark, but this could actually be a really interesting war-game. For example, the Australians could be played very similar to the Cadians, since they'd be on the front lines against uber-Japan like the Cadians are against Chaos, or possibly the Catachan Jungle Fighters since they'd be fighting in the East Indies and New Guinea a lot. Soviet or Scandinavian Allied troops could be like the Valhallan Ice Warriors and the "Desert Rats" of the North African war like the Tallarn Desert Raiders. On the other side, the Ahnenerbe could be played something like the Thousand Sons Marines and Ahriman, while Admiral Yamamoto could be a saner and less ridiculous version of Ghazghkull.

I'd be leery of trying to market a game like this, since I would imagine I'd catch a lot of hell from pretty much everybody--making the WWII U.S. into some kind of super North Korea complete with a personality cult, depicting an East Asian polity as a vast army of warlike barbarians crushing their enemies beneath their numbers, etc. Given how it took me quite some time to find a source on the 1944 sedition trial in the US that didn't come from some entity like the Institute for Historical Review (cough *Nazis* cough), I could easily imagine my customer base would consist of people who try to drag the US and (Western) Allies down into the mud so they can claim moral equivalence with the Nazis, whom they secretly sympathize with.

However, there's a dieselpunk anthology accepting submissions until August and I could write something more subtle in this vein...

Games Workshop City Walk Celebrates First Anniversary

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga.--Games Workshop City Walk celebrated its first anniversary Sept. 29 with cake and a gaming tournament.

Kenneth Meade, who operates the store, said the shop was part of Games Workshop's expansion in the United States. Games Workshop is a British gaming company known for its Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000, and Lord of the Rings tabletop games. The Warhammer 40,000 property have been adapted into books, video games, and even an animated movie.

"It's one of the better-performing one-man stores," Meade said when asked how business had been during the prior year. Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy are the two most popular properties, but Meade anticipated the Lord of the Rings games selling better as the release of The Hobbit drew near. The best-selling items were the "core sets" that introduce players to the setting and come with enough miniatures to allow two people to play. The store also stocks the many tie-in novels set in both the 40k and Fantasy universes, many of which will be released there weeks before they appear in more general bookstores like Barnes and Noble.


The event lasted from noon until 9 p.m. Meade described the turnout as "great." Part of the event was a gaming tournament using the newly-released sixth editionof Warhammer 40,000. By 3:40 p.m., 12 people had played a game using the Dark Vengeancestarter set. Meade expected more to play as the day went on.

In addition to the gaming tournament, the celebration featured miniature-painting, special items on sale,  giveaways of promotional items like backpacks, and even a cake from Henri's Bakery.

Hutch Jackson came up from his home near Emory University for the event. A 40k player, he has a Chaos Space Marine army he purchased with the sixth edition as well as Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Necron forces. During the three games he had played before 4 p.m., he played as the Chaos Space Marines. Jackson enjoys the game's extensive back-story and collecting and painting the models.

Jackson gets most of his Games Workshop materials from Games Workshop City Walk. If he needs something, there's a good chance Meade has it.

Paul Jarvis of Milton has shopped at Games Workshop City Walk since February 2012.

"I was online and I found there was a store in Georgia," he said. "I decided I would go check it out."

He said the people who frequent the shop are very friendly and helped him out. Because of that, he's come back for more.

Jarvis plays both 40k and Fantasy. In 40k, he plays as the Ultramarines and has an attached Imperial Guard unit. In Fantasy, he plays as the Dwarfs.

"It's fun to put [them] together, to make your own models," he said. "It's just fun playing around, meeting nice people."

Movie Review: "Ultramarines" (SPOILERS)

For Christmas, I received the collector's edition of the Ultramarines animated film.  After my younger siblings were done with Inception, I settled down to watch the film.  Here's my review...

The Good

Although there were some quibbles on the forums and the like about the animation quality, I thought it was very good, with one exception (see later). 

Understanding the storyline also didn't require a whole lot of advanced knowledge of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  There's a nice bit of voice-over during the opening credits explaining the whole "in the grim darkness of the far future" thing.  There are little references here and there to the wider universe, like the really cool stained-glass image of the Ultramarines fighting the Tyranids aboard the Ultramarine ship, but they don't play a role in the plot.

Although the return of Captain Severus from his apparent lethal fall while battling a demon was predictable, his body being possessed by the demon he was fighting, returning to rescue the squad from what appear to be Khorne berzerkers (Chaos Marines who charge enemies wielding chain-swords and handguns rather than fighting like ordinary soldiers), and then rampaging around the Ultramarine ship wasn't.

The film also included the more unusual aspects of the 40K universe, like how Pythol removes the gene seed from the bodies of the dead to be used in later Marines.

There's also a good "Chekhov's gun" moment (in which something introduced early on becomes important later), or shall I say, a Chekhov's hammer.  :)

The Bad

The characterization needed work.  Due to the similar haircuts and facial structure, it was often difficult to tell the individual Marine characters apart, with the exception of the Apothecary Pythol (white armor), Sgt. Crastor (the robotic replacement eye), and Captain Severus (his voice and mannerisms). 

(That's the animation issue I referred to earlier.  When it's hard to tell characters apart, that's a problem.)

There also wasn't enough characterization in terms of personality, beyond the new Marines being eager for combat and the Apothecary, who has to put them back together again when they're wounded and retrieve their gene-seed when they're killed, being more cautious.

The early parts of the film were also rather slow.  There is an action snippet in the very beginning depicting the Chaos Space Marine assault on the shrine-world from the point of view of one of the defending Marines and then we're introduced to the characters, they land on the planet, and then spend a long time marching to the shrine before they find the desecrated bodies of the defeated Imperial Fists.  And after that, it's awhile before they first encounter the actual Chaos Space Marines.

It would have been better for the squad had been attacked repeatedly on the way to the shrine, but we didn't know who exactly was doing it.  That would have been less boring and built up the suspense more.

The Verdict

I will give the film itself (I haven't watched the extra stuff, like how the film was made) a 5.5 out of 10.

However...

Since this is the collector's edition, it came with a comic book elaborating on what happened on the world of Algol, something referred to in the film.  The Ultramarines were fighting an infestation of the Tyranids on the planet, a hive-world with a population of eighteen billion, and the squad sent to investigate the Chaos attack on the shrine world consisted of Ultramarines who were neophytes (trainees who had not undergone the final transformation into Space Marines) on Algol and were griping about not participating in real combat.

When a Marine squad is smashed by the Tyranids, its sole survivor, Crastor, is made a sergeant and placed in command of the neophytes, who then undergo the final surgeries to become Space Marines.  Captain Severus and Typhol had known about the neophytes' griping and, as you say, "be careful what you wish for."

If the events of the comic book had been included as the finished film there would have been a lot more action (especially in the beginning) and a lot more characterization--we see a lot more of the relationship between Severus and Pythol, more development of Crastor's character, and a rivalry between Proteus and another Ultramarine.  Plus we'd get more Tyranids than just a picture on a wall.  :)

Given this is the first movie based on the Warhammer 40,000 property, one can understand why it wouldn't be perfect.  Hopefully future 40K films will take the criticisms of the first movie into account and make improvements.

I will comment on the behind-the-scenes material later...

A Space Wolf Addendum

I realized I should have added this to my mini-review of Space Wolf Omnibus: Spacewolf / Ragnar's Claw / Grey Hunter, but I didn't.

One thing I liked about the book is the depiction of the Chaos Space Marine Madox, a member of the renegade Thousand Sons Legion.  Author William King does a good job of capturing the character's intellectualism, snarky atttiude, and desire for vengeance on the Space Wolves for the wrongs done to the Thousand Sons.

(For those less familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Thousand Sons, when the Warmaster Horus rebelled, actually tried to warn the Emperor.  Unfortunately, the method they used was sorcery, which the Emperor had forbidden them to mess with, and the sorcerous warning caused some problems when it arrived on Earth.  Although my older Chaos codex depicts the Emperor as assuming the worst and unleashing the Space Wolves on the Thousand Sons, the more recent canon material has him ordered Space Wolf primarch Leman Russ to bring Thousand Sons primarch Magnus the Red to Earth for questioning and Horus, whose revolt was not yet apparent, changing the orders to attack the Thousand Sons in order to force them to join the rebellion.  The Space Wolves laid waste to the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero and things got worse from there.)

I went to the library the other day to request The Second Omnibus (Space Wolf), since I had been unable to request it from home, but the librarian couldn't get it either.  It was at another library system and the copy might be lost or the home library simply might not want to send it out, as it's their only copy.

Darn.  In one of the books composing the omnibus, we see Madox again.  He was more interesting when he appeared in Space Wolf than his return appearance in Grey Hunter, but he might be back to cool form in the second omnibus.

I did find something cool yesterday.  At DragonCon 2010, Mike Lee said that characters from licensed fiction rarely make it into the actual games, but I googled "Ragnar Blackmane" (the protagonist of the Space Wolves novels) and I found a 40K figurine for him.  One can include him in one's army in the game.

I wonder if they'll make one for Madox?

Three Books I'm Reading

Here are three books I'm in the process of reading or have recently finished.

Finished: Day of Empire. 

This book makes the point that states that are the most racially and religiously tolerant are typically more successful.  One example of this is the Dutch Republic, one of the few places in Europe to practice religious toleration during the early modern religious wars.  The result being that they attracted huge numbers of Protestants, Jews, and others, people whose skills and connections helped make the Dutch a commercial superpower.  A counter-example is Nazi Germany, who drove out its Jewish scientists--who then came to America and helped create the Atomic Bomb.  The only way the irony could be more severe is if the European war went on a bit longer and Berlin (the Nazis' political capital) or Nuremberg (the Nazis' spiritual capital) ate a nuke.

The book also has some really interesting stuff about the efforts the U.S. made to attract skilled immigrants from Europe early in its history and how downright nasty various European states got trying to stop skilled people from coming here.  The British required clergy to sign off that someone wasn't a skilled practitioner of certain trades if they wished to emigrate, while the Venetians transferred all of their glass-blowers to some island (!) and threatened would-be emigrants with death (!!).  It also discusses how China attracts professionals from elsewhere to work there, but it doesn't offer them Chinese citizenship or cultural acceptance, something the U.S. is far better at

It does have some minor errors in it, like suggesting Nestorian Christianity was a hybrid of elements of Eastern religions and orthodox Christianity, or referring to Justinian II Rhinotmetus as simply "Justinian," a name which generally refers to Justinian I, he of the Hagia Sophia and attempts to reconquer territories in the West.  However, the macro-point still stands.

In-Progress: Space Wolf Omnibus: Spacewolf / Ragnar's Claw / Grey Hunter (Warhammer 40,000).

If I played Warhammer 40,000, I'd play as the Chaos Space Marines or Tyranids, but if I absolutely had to play as Space Marines, I'd play as either the Space Wolves or the Ultramarines.  The Space Wolves have got the "Vikings in SPAAACE" thing going, plus according to some of the lore, they periodically put the hurt on elements of the Imperial government if they believe said elements are abusing the common folk.

(Given the Space Wolves' effectiveness and popularity, the Inquisition has decided to tone down its oppressiveness/evil rather than being on the receiving end of a "War of Compassion" or try to excommunicate and exterminate the Wolves.)

The novel tells the tale of Ragnar, a young man from the planet Fenris, and how he becomes a member of the Space Wolves.  It's fun to read.  I wonder if the PINES library system has Space Wolf: The Second Omnibus (Space Wolves)

In-Progress: Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form.

I borrowed this from a member of my Lawrenceville writing group, who said it would benefit me.  I'll try to read more from it before I decided whether to finish it or give it back, since I've had it awhile and another member of the group wants to borrow it.

My writing group meets at 1 PM today, so I'll read some more of it and see if I want to keep it for a bit longer.

Second "Ultramarines" Trailer

Now this looks interesting.  It seems earlier rumors about the villains being the Orks aren't true.  There's no Orky dialogue ("ya grotz!") and the only thing remotely resembling an Ork is something seen in the distance during one of the charge sequences.

Meanwhile, the opening speech describes going into battle against Chaos, the enemies are rival Space Marines, some of whom have got scary occult tattoos, and there are references to killing things (people?) tainted by the Warp.  Pretty sure the baddies this go-round are Chaos.  :)

I like Chaos better than the Orks anyway, so no big.

The scene where the single Ultramarine is killing running Chaos Marines with a sword reminds me a lot of the scene in 300 where the Spartans break ranks and lay into the oncoming Persians individually and we see Leonidas dancing around spearing Persian after Persian.

I wonder what's going on with the Chaos Marine helping the fallen Ultramarine up?  Given the mutual hatred that exists between the two factions after so long, it seems a bit odd, but there was a piece of Warhammer 40,000 short fiction I read online involving an Imperial agent undercover in a Chaos Marine outfit who encounters a Marine who has kept faith in the Emperor despite his unit going traitor and dragging him along with it.  If the enemies in the movie are a unit that has gone renegade relatively recently, it'd be more likely there'd be secret loyalists than if the Ultramarines are throwing down with one of the Traitor Legions from the Horus Heresy.

In the trailer, it says "for a limited time only." I do hope they're referring only to the collector's edition DVD. I would prefer to rent the movie before I buy it in order to see if it's any good rather than buy it immediately because it won't be available long.

(Will my local Blockbuster have it? It certainly has a lot of direct-to-video crap and Warhammer 40,000 is a much hotter property, but on the other hand, 40K is a niche market.)