One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 12)

Movie to See: Extract





This is a genuinely funny movie.  Yeah, it's another one of those independent films with the weak willed everyman who tries to toughen up and it blows up in his face (e.g. Office Space - another Mike Judge film, go figure), but this one is done really well.  Jason Bateman is fantastic in this film, in a role that is very reminiscent of his role in Arrested Development; Mila Kunis is a knockout; J.K. Simmons, as the factory manager, is hilarious; Ben Affleck is creatively mischievous; and the list of accolades just goes on and on.  This is a 'thinking man's' comedy, in the sense that you kind of have to watch it in order to follow everything that is going on, but it really is worth the rental.  This one is good enough that I really don't want to ruin it by talking about it too much, so I'll just say that it really is highly recommended.

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Movie to Skip: Girly





I think you can best sum up this movie as a 'classic.'  It's from 1970's England (well more like the late 60's since it actually came out in 1970), and it had not quite adopted the typical slasher film qualities.  That is, if something naughty is going on, it will be strongly implied, but you'll never actually see it.  And when something gruesome happens, again, it will be strongly implied, but you'll never see it.  You will see some lame cartoon violence now and then, but that's about it.  So, if you're looking for naughtiness and gore, you're not going to enjoy this one.  Given some of the much more graphic films that were produced in the 70's (I'm looking at you, Clockwork Orange) I'm kind of surprised that this one was so... self censored.

The story in this film is certainly original, but I'm not entirely sure it's compelling.  I can definitely see similar films growing from this one as 'the family that slays together' is kind of a popular horror film theme (e.g. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for one).  But I think other film makers nailed it a little better.  There is a sickening... sweetness to this film that is kind of horrific and creepy on its own.  That is, there is a kind of Mary Poppins quality that is really disturbing.  And hey, let's face it, I'm not sure anyone in this film is sane; some are just less bonkers than the others.  It creates an odd Alice in Wonderland character to the film that gives it at least a little redeeming quality.  But all in all, it really feels like a rough draft of a slasher that was ultimately filmed for prime time television.  While it wasn't the worst film I've ever seen, it wasn't the best.  It's an interesting distraction if you're looking for a 'horror' film that has no chance of giving you nightmares, but ultimately you won't be bad off if you miss it entirely.

Running a little late...

I'm running a little late with last Friday's post.  I blame it on Turkey day, but I'll make up for it with a post later today.  After that I'll return to my regular posting schedule.

One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 11)

Movie to See: The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day






When I first sat down to watch the first movie in this series, The Boondock Saints, I really wasn't expecting much. I was greatly surprised by the fantasy scene insertions and the way that some characters could step outside of reality in order to reenact history for both the audience and the other characters in the scene. It was a unique way of telling a story that I've seen done before (kind of), but never quite as smoothly.

Boondock II takes this little cinematic trick to another level by not only stepping outside of reality, but also inserting a fantasy element into the scenes (dressing up the head FBI investigator as a cowgirl was both hilarious and... titilating -- yeah, Julie Benz is attractive, but good night!) and lying to both the audience and the characters about what really happened. While this made for good eye candy, it did force the director to use flashbacks in order to show the audience what really went down, which is what I thought these scenes were actually created to avoid in the first movie. That was kind of clumsy and created a confusing bit of exposition within the exposition that felt kind of lazy. But overall it was still entertaining to watch. 

The real strength of this movie, like the first, is the characters. Yeah, the main characters are bloody vigilantes, but they're also good Catholic boys at heart. That's got to count for something, right? Like the first movie, the lead FBI investigator is also an oddball (although mercifully not a cross dressing homosexual Willem Dafoe like the first one), and the bad guys are gritty and deserving of their fates. The good/bad sons still look up to their invincible father, everybody still feels bad for cracking down on the only people crazy/brave enough to go after the bad guys, and the whole movie still has a good sense of humor with a palpable sense of style that doesn't have to borrow from Pulp Fiction to feel authentic. All around, this is a film for good fun with just enough intelligence and creativity to satisfy your inner film snob. 

The good stuff aside, it wasn't perfect (see the part about the flashbacks above). I thought the Mexican character was unnecessary and a little too 'JarJar Binks' for my taste. I also felt Benz had too many quirks in common with Dafoe's character -- I know why it was done this way, but it was unnecessary. The historical centerpiece of this story was a bit of a stretch, and the evil hit man's motivation was suspect, but frankly I let all of this stuff roll off my back given the solid quality of the good elements of the movie. With a little work, I think this movie could have been a five star work, but I have to cut it a little short... unfortunately. 

Boondocks II is a violent film, so it's not for the kiddies or the squeamish, but otherwise I recommended this movie to anyone that likes their action films to be more than mindless violence, and to anyone that gets a kick of of Tarantino. I liked it, and if you're bothering to read all of this, you just might too. 

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Movie to Skip: Borderland





Although labeled a horror film, I don't feel that's really the most appropriate genre.  Gory thriller?  Occult drama?  I don't know, but it didn't quite feel like a horror movie.  Violent?  Absolutely, but that doesn't make it a horror film -- the latest Rambo flick was MUCH more violent than this one -- by far!  The movie is interesting and it has fairly decent acting overall.  The production quality is pretty good, and the storyline isn't bad, if not compelling.  I rated this one about a half star higher right after I watched it, but now that I've had time to think about it, I've taken it away.  I can't explain why, exactly, except that this film just isn't very memorable.  It's not a terrible way to spend and hour and a half, but I doubt you're going to want to buy it when you're done.  In fact, it's not one of those films that you'll likely ever watch again.  So, perhaps this film's worst crime is that it's just really forgettable.  Beyond that, not a bad film.  You won't hate it if you watch it, but you won't be missing too much if you never see it... unless you're a fan of Sean Astin.  This is, without a doubt, the darkest role he may ever play (and such a far cry from his hobbit days that Golum might want to watch his back when picking on him...).

Growing Pains: 40k Radio

Anyone that listened to the "Spencer, Scott & Chipley" days of the 40k Radio probably remembers those days quite fondly.  The chemistry between the hosts was good and there was always some interesting content.  While at the end of the show's days the casts tended to consist of three or four guys getting drunk and making fun of each other, the stuff they produced towards the middle of their run truly was good stuff.  In fact, the quality and production value of 40k Radio's content set that show apart as what a 40k podcast should strive to become -- love it or hate it, it was the gold standard that inspired many of the podcasts to come.

Unfortunately, the show came to an end following a ridiculous melodramatic display of immaturity.  I mean, we're talking about three guys sitting in a basement, drinking beer, and talking about playing with toy soldiers.  It ended with a toilet flushing anthem that would have been more appropriate for an all-geek episode of 'Jerry Springer.'  It was embarrassing for the listeners, and it was a palpable loss to both the pod-casting community, and to the 40k community in general.

And then came Romeo and Battle Foam to "save" the 40k brand.  Or, at least, that is probably the ultimate goal, but they've got a LONG, long way to go...

A Rocky Start

Resurrecting the gold standard in 40k pod-casting is certainly not a feat for the feint of heart.  But it's also turning out to be much more challenging than Romeo probably expected.  I mean, let's face it, given the embarrassing collapse of the original (full of finger pointing, not-so-secret secrets, message board flame wars, racism, and high school emotional hi-jinks) he probably thought it would be easy: find some mildly amusing hosts, maybe a voice from the old show, and try not to sling the 'N' word while streaming live.  Sounds pretty simple, but the new show is still limping along very slowly...  In fact, the "voice from the old show", George Miller, has already left... and they were only four shows into the new run!  And now, some 9 shows in, they are still showing some growing pains.

After sitting through 8 of the new shows, I kind of wonder when this crew is going to get their act together.  I can think of several shows that were able to get their feet under them in just a handful of shows, and are moving along quite well: The Independent Characters, Tabletop Hooligans, and Life After the Cove Save just to name a few.  In fact, all of these shows are at right about 10 shows in, and they have found their own unique voice.  You may not enjoy their voice, but they are certainly consistent and they are all definitely doing their own thing.  40k Radio, on the other hand, really hasn't settled on a voice.  They appear to be moving in the direction of being an 'Interview' show with just a handful of "what have you been doing in the past week" segments thrown in there for good measure.  But random elements come and go, which makes me think they really aren't sure what they want to keep and what they should purge.

The Real Problems

Besides not having a constant voice, there are a few consistent problems that the show doesn't seem able to overcome.  Unfortunately these really aren't small problems and go towards the core of the program.  And unless the show finds a 'fix', they probably won't last...

Poor Technology: 40k Radio has always been known for leading the way when it came to technology.  They had a legendary forum, and they were one of the first to adopt a quick and easy web format to show viewers what shows were coming up next.  Even more important, the quality of their shows was second to none -- great sound equipment, and cut very, very well.  And then we have the new version...

The current iteration of 40k Radio is simply not up to snuff when it comes to the technology of the show.  For instance, episode 9 just posted, but when you look at the 'show host' section of the website, George Miller is still listed as the first chair host!  He's now been gone for more shows than he was ever in, and no one has bothered to update the website.  Not that we should be too terribly surprised.  I'm sure the same web team that cobbled together the clunky Baggy's Brigade site, which has a very thinly veiled paintball community skeleton, is also taking care of the 40k Radio site.  Like Baggy's site, there are non-functioning elements, the pages are not updated, and it just looks very dated.  Contrast that with The Eternal Warriors (formerly Dice Like Thunder) and their own swanky collection of pages, and 40k Radio is really, really falling behind.  On the up side, their broadcasting is certainly getting better, but even episode 8 was posted with Romeo's countdowns to 'action' between segments.

Rampant Inaccuracies: 40k Radio, especially at the end of the show's run, was never the perfect keeper of 40k lore.  Short of reading the codex over the air waves, they screwed things up all the time.  But by the end of a segment, someone would pick up the book, read the correct interpretation of the rule, call the speaker a moron, and they would move on.  Unfortunately that tradition has carried forward into the next iteration of the show -- at least, the part where they get things wrong...

I love the 40k fluff, but I certainly don't know it all.  But I realize that I don't know it all and wouldn't pretend otherwise.  It annoys me to hear Ravenguard referred to as Night Ravens...repeatedly.  It annoys me when they offer up tactics that are essentially illegal because they're forgetting special rules (or universal special rules) that have been around since the initial publishing of 5th edition).  Why does it annoy me so badly?  Because the segments are supposed to be informative and not just speaking off the cuff.  How can you review the latest Forgeworld book and then keep forgetting (or at least woefully mispronouncing) the name of the only Space Marine chapter featured in it?  If a segment is supposed to be a "prepared" review then the hosts should do their homework.  Period.  Anything else just smacks of unpreparedness.  No, they're not professional journalists.  But if they're going to give a review, then they need to know what the hell they're talking about. If, on the other hand, they want to be three guys shooting the shit about the latest Forgeworld book, then that's something else entirely.  But that's not the image they're trying to portray.  They need to pick a path and go there... and someone should probably read the codex ahead of time rather than everyone pretending to be an expert with their own version of half remembered rules.

Poor Chemistry: The old 40k Radio consisted of three or four friends sitting around the microphone and talking about toy soldiers.  They gelled well, and they played off of each other like good friends do.  Inside jokes became common knowledge for the listeners, and it was easy to get sucked in.  The current 40k Radio just doesn't have that.

It is painfully apparent when you listen to these three chat that Rik and Kyle work for Romeo and Battle Foam.  I'm sure Romeo gave them the freedom to take the gloves off when they're on the air so that they don't 'pay' for any on air jibes at the boss man when the radio is turned off, but the result is just really, really bad.  Rik and Kyle come across as wanting to get their digs in at the boss while they can and often go way over the top to harass Romeo.  In fact, it's so bad that Romeo, on air, has to tell the guys to knock it off and get back on track so that every episode doesn't become a Romeo slam-fest.  Who wants to listen to that?

But really, I think the chemistry problems are not just boss/employee related.  Rik and Kyle often come across as mind numbingly immature.  Fart jokes - check; over-the-top homophobic butt-sex jokes - check; fat jokes - check; inappropriate and gratuitous cursing - double check; and most importantly, screwing around with your co-host while someone else is trying to tell a story or share information with the listener making it hard to hear what anyone is saying - got it!  Is this a podcast or a high school locker room?  Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I think that Rik and Kyle don't have anything to add.  In fact, generally, just when I get to the point in a podcast where I think I need to personally email Romeo and recommend that he fire one of the two morons to improve the podcast's quality, one of them will actually contribute an actual insightful comment that saves the discussion.

This tells me that all the screwing around is just not necessary.  The Tabletop Hooligans and Life After the Cover Save have got the screwing around 40k podcast genre covered -- and they're much funnier and work together MUCH better.  Why 40k Radio is trying to horn in on this genre is confusing to me.  What the podcast community really lacks is a wealth of podcasts that are genuinely contributing to the hobby in an insightful manner.  DLT/TEW does it.  11th Company does it.  But it would be really nice to see more of them get to that level.  The Hooligans and the Cover Save crew are not going to be that voice, and frankly, I prefer their own unique brand of hi-jinks (although Hooligans have devolved a little bit of late...).  40k Radio presents itself as trying to be serious, and then the hosts talk over each other trying to see who can spout the lamest put down.  It doesn't work, and it comes across as a mess.  The hi-jinks are NOT 40k Radio's strong point.  Besides, who wants to be a morning radio style hack show?  Nobody wants to listen to that.

Unfortunately, I think that 40k Radio is getting the wrong message from their feedback.  I think they're mistaking the positive comments they receive as supportive of ALL of the content they provide rather than just the shining moments that sometimes emerge from the childish crap.  When they're on, they are really on and it is good to listen to.  But the ridiculousness that they cram into every episode can be a bit much to take.  If you put aside the parts of their show where they're trying to be funny, then the content looks promising.  Unfortunately, that's only about half of the 3 hours of podcast they put out.  It's a lot to dig through to get to the gems.

I don't think 40k Radio is beyond hope, but they've got to get their act together.  The hosts need to prepare their segments.  They need to clean up the technology (someone should probably take a look at the website and dump the crap that shouldn't be there any more -- sometimes less is more).  But most importantly, Rik and Kyle need to drop the kindergarten act and start contributing intelligently.  I'm not saying they need a stick up their backsides (like Romeo sometimes appears to suffer from), but it would be nice if they would dump the crap.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 6) - Pincer Movement

The Pincer Movement, also known as Double Envelopment, is another basic tactic that everyone has in their arsenal... whether they realize it or not.  The concept of the pincer is actually fairly straightforward.  Jut like the picture below, the point is to take two attacking elements, split them in two, and then attack two of your enemy's flanks at the same time.



The benefits of the pincer are two fold in the game of 40k.  By attacking from two sides at once, you limit the availability of cover from your forces.  Unless your enemy is going to hunker down in cover (which is not a bad thing), he simply can't protect himself from the firing of both attacking elements at the same time.

The second benefit is that you can assault from two directions as well.  This means your enemy is not going to be able to hide weaker units from assault, and you can generally overwhelm the unit you're attacking.

The Right Unit for the Job

A popular approach for this kind of attack is to take the MSU approach.  Multiple Small Unit means you have lots of smaller units, generally in transports, that can be in several places at one time.  Good examples of this are Razorbacks with combat squads of space marines and Ork Truk Boyz squads.






The reason these types of squads are popular is because:

1. They are cheap, allowing you to take several of the same type of unit and allowing you to create multiple flanking units with ease.
2. With both guns on the transport and a good assault unit inside, one unit allows you to perform both the shooting and assaulting role in a single package.  And even if the enemy manages to take out your tanks after they bring their firepower to bear, you still have multiple small assault units to swarm and envelop the bad guy.

But MSU is not the only way to go.  You can also take a two tier approach.  Lead in each flanking element with a tank, like a predator, and then follow up with an assaulting element, like an assault squad, to jump in at the last minute to mop up whatever is left of the target squads.  Alternatively, you can also just use a more expensive version of the MSU: for space marines, put terminator assault squads in a landraider; for the orks, nobz in a battlewagon.  Whichever way you decide to go, any army can create a two prong shoot/assault screen.  The eldar version might be vipers with jet bikes.  The tyranids may have a termagaunt screen followed up by hormagaunts or genestealers.  The Tau, battle suits followed by... more suits or kroot.  Necron warriors followed by wraiths.  Imperial guard chimeras full of ogryn or hardened veterans with demo charges.  Battle sisters dominion squads followed by seraphim.  And the list goes on and on.  The idea is just a one/two punch where you soften up the target from two different directions and then swarm him with something nasty.

Defense Against the Pincer

Like every military maneuver, there IS a counter strategy... and sometimes several.  The pincer movement is no different.  It is important to know the defenses against a pincer so that you can counter your enemy's pincer movement, and also recognize when the battlefield is not set up well for you to launch your own.

The key to breaking the pincer is to remember two key factors.  First, by splitting up his forces to attack on two flanks, your enemy's forces are weaker on each side than you are in your center.  Second, by attacking your flanks, he is also presenting the back side of his forces to your own reinforcements -- essentially putting himself in the position of being enveloped while he is trying to envelop you.

Multiple Hard Points

If you often find yourself the victim of a pincer, or you're facing an army that is set up well to deliver one, your chief defense against it is to create hard pockets of resistance that are hard to envelop.  For instance, look at the picture below.  Each element, which may or may not be in cover, has a counter element to your enemy's attack: it has a firepower element as well as a counter assault element.  Because you've paired these units up, and spread them out just a little, it is difficult for your enemy to get in between your deployed units without finding himself in a crossfire situation and open to a counter assault on the back side of his forces.




And you can repeat this deployment across your entire deployment zone creating several hard pockets that are difficult to outflank without offering up a soft underbelly that you can pounce on in your own turn.  Remember that this does not have to be a stagnant deployment.  Yes, this could be a tactical squad backed up by an assault squad - both hunkered down in cover.  But it could also be a terminator squad backed up by a vanguard unit.  Or it could be termagaunts backed up by warriors.  This set up can be as mobile as you like, the idea is just to create hard pockets of resistance that can act as both fire support and counter assault to relieve any of their neighboring units.

Break Out

If you don't have an army that spreads out in pairings well, then you can also take advantage of the fact that your enemy is weaker at any one of your flanks.  As is illustrated in the picture below, if you find your larger position flanked from either side, you can pick the side you think you an overwhelm, and then create an all out assault to eliminate one of your enemy's flanking forces and then turn on the small element that is left over.





The key here is target priority.  Throw something at the rear flank to tie up the assaulting element, and then use everything else you have to wipe out the enemy's other flanking units.  This means concentrating firepower one one dangerous unit at a time so that you can eliminate the opposing force as quickly as possible so that you can then turn around and do the same thing to the other flanking force.  Or you can run if you have a mobile force that won't stand up to the other flanking attack.  The point is simply that you should take advantage of the fact that you have superior numbers against any single flanking force, and that you shouldn't try to go toe-to-toe.  You should give him a stumbling block and then overwhelm one full part of his force.  If you do it correctly, you may lose the sacrifice squad, but you'll still have the bulk of your force left over to eliminate the remaining flank.  With any luck, your opponent will see that half his force has been wiped out with relative ease, and will second guess himself into allowing you to eliminate the second flanking element as he tries to regroup rather than pressing the assault.

Wait for the Cavalry

Finally, there is always the option of castling up and then bringing in reinforcements behind one of your enemy's flanks.  The problem with this approach is that there is never any real guarantee when your reinforcements are going to arrive.  On the other hand, in a Dawn of War deployment, when most of your army is going to be in reserve anyway, then it's much more likely that an option to bring in forces behind an enemy assault is a real possibility.  The trick, however, is to keep the same rules in play that you would for a Break Out.  Slow down one element of the pincer, and then overwhelm one of the enemy's flanking forces.  If you spread out your attacks, then more than likely your enemy's troops, which he has specifically chosen for their ability to make a long range unsupported assault, will be able to outclass the reinforcements available to you.  But when you use an overwhelming attack, then the combined firepower and heavy assault by multiple units can break even the toughest of deathstar units your enemy may choose to throw at you.





Good luck!

One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 10)

Movie to See: Kick-Ass

The name of this movie kind of says it all... it kicks ass. I was hesitant to put this one into my Netflix cue when I read the description (and contemplating the difficulties actually saying the name of the movie in front of the kiddies, but now I'm glad I did. There was more actual violence than I envisioned, but it certainly isn't more shocking than anything else you'll see in the theaters these days. Further, this story centers around the life of a teenage boy and his relationships, so there will be plenty of crude humor and language for that set too. Frankly, that stuff never bothers me, so I can plow right ahead. 

The great thing about this movie is that the premise is kind of nuts, and the characters know what they're doing is nuts -- even those that are actually nuts! That kind of self-awareness, despite the ridiculousness of what is going on, really helps the viewer suspend disbelief enough to really get into the movie. You can really start to care about the naive boy and his silly action hero dream; and you even root for the psychopathic vigilante and his screwed up off-spring as they go down a similar path to our hero, albeit with different methods and motives. Hell, you can even care for the bad guy a bit as all he really wants to do is go out there and commit his crimes and corrupt his fellow man a little bit so he can make a comfy living. Why is that superheroes are always screwing that up, right? 

Point is, this is a story with well developed characters, a plot that is silly and yet somehow almost believable, and all the special effects and eye candy you would expect in a superhero-ish film. It's got plenty of laughs to balance out the action, and plenty of potential to do another film... which I'm actually not sure is a good thing.

One thing I DO know for sure is that it was a lot of fun to watch, and I have a new favorite pre-teen super/action hero: Hit Girl! Good stuff.

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Movie to Skip: Enemies Among Us

Yep, you're not seeing things, this one doesn't even rate a full star.  This movie is about as big of a stinker as there is.  I did derive a little enjoyment out of this one, but it was certainly for all of the wrong reasons.  The one bright spot in this film is the performance of Eric Roberts as the policeman on the Louisiana Governor's security detail.  His character was really over the top mischievous and he was clearly enjoying his role in what was clearly a dumb, dumb movie.  And besides the innate humor in watching a movie suck so bad that you almost feel sorry for the people in it, that was about all this movie had to offer.

Here is a collection of some of the problems: the acting, the "plot", the acting, the supporting "actors", the writing, and the severe lack of preparation that went into this dog.  There were several times during this movie that the actors were CLEARLY reading from cue cards off to the side of the screen.  And those that weren't reading from cards, like Billy Zane, kept stumbling over the lines that he had clearly just tried to memorize.  Since none of the dialogue made any sense, however, it was just hard for everyone to spit out.  And let's not forget that despite FIRST BILLING, Billy Zane was probably on the screen for less time than Steven Segal was in the movie Executive Decision where he had second billing.

One of the other chief detractors from this movie was the parade of idiots that made up the supporting cast.  Apparently every hooker and trophy wife (and every guy had one on his arm) has a minimum cup size of D -- but they should have been looking for a modicum of acting talent.  How hard can it be to play a vapid moron?  Apparently it just hit too close to home, because these ladies couldn't act their way out of a paper bag.  The best of them was the prostitute/assassin from early on in the movie, but her role fell apart pretty quickly when she stopped acting like a prostitute and had to trade dialogue with the Governor character... who was not much better.  It should be pretty telling that none of these ladies got any cast credit for their performances...

I've seen worse movies, but this one certainly ranks right up there.  It's actually better than a lot of the non soft-core crap you'll see late at night on cable, but only because of just how terrible it is.  I don't recommend this one unless you just like really bad movies.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 5) - Refused Flank

The basic concept of the Refused Flank is to convince your opponent to spread out over a wide front (the traditional gun line formation) while deploying your own forces concentrated to a side of the table - one flank of his forces. You are thus "refusing" the other side of your opponent's force. The point of this approach is that you will be able to bring overwhelming force to one side of your opponent's army while he is forced to redeploy his forces from the refused flank to support the outnumbered side of his army.

In a perfect setting, a refused flank set up should look something like the force distribution below:

The enemy's forces are spread out in a traditional pitched battle deployment, and your own forces are overloaded on the other side. In the next picture below, you can see just how your forces will then execute this textbook attack:





As your mid-ranged units move up the side, they can take pot shots at the flank that is being attacked and then later be used to slow down your enemy's forces as he tries to reinforce his flank. Your slow units, which will be near the spearhead of the attack, should be able to lock horns with your enemy's flank while he is still playing catch up. when coupled with your medium and fast units, a well timed hit can overwhelm the offered flank and allow you to clean up the other guy's units as they either sprint in to the slaughter, or hunker down as he watches half of his army disintegrate.

The Set-up

Ok, so you've got an idea, but how do you pull it off? In a traditional 5th edition set-up, one side deploys all of his forces first, and then the second guy deploys his own. In a perfect world, your opponent wins the first turn, sets up his forces in a traditional gunline, and then you sieze the initiative after setting up your own forces in the refused flank formation. The perfect set up almost never happens because: (a) you win the first turn and will have to show your hand before he sets his own forces up, or (b) you don't seize the initiative and the enemy gets the chance to use his first turn to start countering your flank attack before you get a chance to make your move.

But all is not lost. There are certainly ways you can disguise what you're doing, or can draw your opponent into staying put and can then whittle away his forces at leisure.

1. Delay the Obvious: If it's obvious that you're trying to flank your opponent (i.e. you've already set up, and you didn't have enough forces to make it look like you were doing anything other than a refused flank attack), then delay the push. Place a small part of your force towards the middle of the table, preferably a part that can still pick off units on the targeted flank and still slow down units that move to support his weak spot. Next, only advance your slower flank units at first. When they are close to closing with the targeted flank, race your fast units behind them so that they hit about the same time. If you leave enough at home, it may not be as obvious that you're trying to overwhelm one side of the board, and he may leave the bulk of his forces 'at home' until it is too late to lend support to the attacked flank.
   
   
   
   
2. Sacrifice: Similar to delaying the obvious, try to counter his heavy hitting units on the untargeted flank with cheaper units that will keep his heavy hitters at home. For instance, if he's got a slow deathstar unit on the opposite flank, then put a small combat squad or equivalent throw away unit to confront him on that side of the board. Likewise, if he has set up with heavy weapon squads on one side of the board (like a pair of devastator squads), then put your own cheaper heavy unit on that side of the board (like a whirlwind). The idea is that you want him to commit much more expensive units to the refused side of the board while you have significantly less of your army to confront him. It will appear as though you want to trade blows, but in actuality you're trying to sucker him into leaving a flank exposed to the bulk of your army. Note that units with a scout move or infiltration can be ideal for this because they will look like a real threat and will commit your opponent's heavy hitters for longer. While he thinks you've handed him a simple juicy unit to squish, you're really suckering him out of position to where that tough unit could be doing much more harm to your forces.
   
   
   
   
3. Quick Switch: Basically, you want to set up like you would a Sacrifice, except you won't be leaving cheap units to confront him. Instead, you put your faster units on the refused side of the board. Then, when the game begins, you pull out and move them laterally to join the thrust of your forces. The faster your forces (landspeeders, bikes, ravagers, grav tanks, etc.), the better because they can turbo boost and quickly out pace the refused forces you're leaving behind. While that does mean you'll loose a turn or two of using these forces, but he'll be leaving much more expensive units behind and out of position for much longer.
   
   
   
   
4. Handing Over the Keys to the Castle: When your opponent is given the opportunity to have a piece of terrain that is perfect for an expensive unit of his own (e.g. a good berm for his mega tank, a bunker for his heavy weapons squads, a concealed approach to your own lines for his deathstar unit, etc.), let him have it and then refuse that flank. If he thinks he's got a solid defensible position, then he's not going to want to leave it, even after you start decimating the forces on the other side of the board.
   
   
5. Fun House Mirror: If you've got access to a LOT of cheap units, then you might want to mirror your opponent's across the board set-up with much cheaper units of your own. While he is evenly spread out, you'll look like you're evenly spread out, but in actuality you've got the majority of your points on a single flank. In a lot of ways, this is just a broader use of sacrifice units. But, when you've got lots of cheap sacrifice units that you can race forward, and still maintain a heavy thrust to a single flank, it may not be as obvious that you're trying to keep his forces at home.
   
   

Obviously, you should try and combine these techniques wherever possible. The idea is that you want your opponent to stay home for as long as possible before he realizes that you're trying to take him apart one flank at a time. None of these approaches are fool proof, and when the other guy figures you out, the plan could fall to pieces pretty quickly. But if you DO keep him home and are able to bring the hammer down (and the dice aren't working against you), the refused flank can be a deadly tactic.

Problems

Like I said, nothing is fool proof. Sometimes your opponent figures out what you're doing and will move his own forces to counter your effort. In fact, some armies, such as the Eldar (with Eldrad), have a built-in ability to redeploy their forces and you can easily find your big bad plan fall apart.  If your opponent can redeploy quickly and he has an assault heavy army, he may decide to overload your side of the table - forcing a bloody confrontation.  If he's fast and light, he may redeploy in the opposite quarter, making for a long drawn out battle on the longest possible battlefield.  Frankly, there are just some armies that are not easy to cage in with the refused flank tactic.  A lot of that is going to depend on what shows up on the field the day of the battle.  If you see a fair amount of slow/heavy units spread across the board, then he's prime for the refused flank.  But if he's quick and nimble, it may not be the best approach. 

Good luck!

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 4) - Vertical Envelopment

Once again, this really isn't so much of a dirty trick as it is a very basic tactic that everyone should have in her arsenal when playing the game of 40k.  The term "vertical envelopment" generally refers to the use of airborne assets to drop down directly into enemy lines and thus 'envelop' him from above.  40k makes great use of this tactic with the Deep Strike and Outlfank rules built right into the game.  And just like real life, vertical envelopment is a dangerous tactic that leaves your forces vulnerable until they can get the proper support.  My hope is that I can demonstrate the kinds of things you should keep in mind when attempting this maneuver in the game.

First off, let's set the scene.  Below you can see an enemy unit hunkered down in cover (the boxes in red) while taking up firing positions around an objective (the yellow circle).  This can be a tough unit to dislodge because of the benefits of cover.  Throw in additional special rules such as Feel No Pain (plague marines), Stealth (space marine scouts), or Counter Charge (grey hunters), and even a small unit stands a good chance of keeping your fast objective grabbing squads from pushing the enemy off the objective.

Now let's look at some options...

There are three main types of units (and one feint) you can use to try and dislodge the enemy unit.

(1) Assault Unit: This kind of unit is, not surprisingly, dedicated to getting into hand-to-hand and duking it out with the enemy.  The benefit to dropping in an assault unit in this situation is that the enemy guarding the objective most likely will not be a combat unit.  Generally the kinds of units left on objectives are geared towards surviving lots of enemy fire by hiding in cover and/or having lots of armor.  They also generally have at least medium ranged weapons (like bolters) if not heavy weapons (missile launchers, mortars, etc.) so that they can continue to contribute to the battle while babysitting the objective.  And, since it is also rare for units geared towards shooting to be good at close combat (although exceptions to exist), you're assault unit should have a decent chance of pushing the other guy off the table... provided you can survive splash down and the initial charge.

(2) Big Nasty Unit:  This kind of unit is something that will make the enemy shake in his boots, regardless of what he has sitting on the objective.  Good examples of this are dreadnoughts in a drop pod, deep striking thunder hammer terminators, deep striking demon princes, and tunneling trygons.  The reason these types of units are great for vertical envelopment is that they can show up, take a lot of brutal firepower from the enemy the turn they show up, and then survive long enough to do a couple rounds of slobber-knocking close combat to move the enemy off the objective. 

(3) Fire Support Squad:  This is a firehose unit.  The point of this kind of squad is to drop in from above, and then hose the enemy with overwhelming firepower rather than launching an assault.  The good thing about this kind of unit is that unlike the other types, the firehose squad doesn't need a turn to start being effective at its role - they show up and start firing right away.  Sternguard and Outflanking firedragons are good examples of this kind of unit as both the ability to use massed 'special' firepower that can cut through heavily armored foes protecting objectives.

(4) Glass Hammer: Glass Hammer units are generally fast and ferocious units that can cause lots of damage quickly, but do not have much staying power.  Landspeeders and first edition Dark Eldar ravagers are good examples of these kind of swift and fragile units that can swoop in at a moments notice (both of these exemplars have the deep strike ability) and then unload nasty firepower to take down the enemy quickly.

Don't Leave Your Forces Exposed

The key to using any of these units, however, is that you have to use them in concert with one another.  If you drop a single assault unit, or even a single big nasty unit, into the backfield of your enemy, do not expect that unit to last very long.  Vertical envelopment is a scary prospect.  Nobody likes having their lines penetrated by enemy units -- people prefer to think in terms of controlled battle lines where you can try to keep the enemy in front of you while you try to out-maneuver him.  Essentially, even 40k players prefer to fight in a battle where the other guy moves in a near warhammer fantasy battle approach to the game; it's easier to fight that way because you can see where everyone is, and you can easily predict where and how the other guy's forces are going to move.  Vertical envelopment is dangerous because you have to keep your lines tighter in order to provide protection to your squads.  Vertical envelopment means that your backfield support units can get cut off, and your own battle lines can quickly get caught up in a cross-fire situation where they can only take cover from half of your army's shooting -- which is not a good position to be in. 

Accordingly, when you threaten the enemy by dropping troops into his backfield, he will generally respond with overwhelming firepower to eliminate (or severely cripple) your unit before it can become a serious thorn in his side.  If you don't want that unit to get creamed the minute he enters the battlefield, then you need to use your outflanking/deep striking squads in mutually supportive groups. 



Mutual Support

What I mean by mutual support is that you need to create situations on the battlefield where the other guy is left with Morton's fork -- that is, you have to create situations where he is left with equally unpleasant alternatives.  Look at the situation above.  If you drop in a single assault squad, the enemy's choice is pretty simple: mass firepower on the unit until it is effectively broken or destroyed.  And the same goes with any of those units.  If you drop any single unit into the enemy's crosshairs, you're leaving him a pretty simple choice: ignore your unit and die for his Emperor or make you die for yours. 

Conversely, if you drop two assault squads down, then the enemy has got twice as many problems to deal with -- but in the end, he really has the same choice: gun down one assault squad and then move on to the other. 

The real trick to creating Morton's fork is to give the enemy an actual choice -- make him choose which club you're going to clobber him with.  If you drop in an assault squad and a big nasty unit, then the enemy has to decide which of your units is the bigger threat.  And frankly, it doesn't matter to you, because his concentrating on either threat means that you're still going to hit him in the face with the other unit.  But because he is choosing which unit you are going to hit him in the face with, you will cause him actual concern and he's going to try to do all kinds of math in his head trying to make the "right" decision.  Any time you make your enemy do math in his head like that, he's back on his heels, and he's going to start making mistakes. 

Good Pairings

I like to use certain deep striking pairs in concert with one another:

Glass Hammer + Assault Unit/Big Nasty: I find a great combo to be a fairly fragile unit, which can be deep struck or just sent racing across the table, coupled with an assault unit or big nasty unit dropped in right next to the enemy.  This is a good pairing for a couple of reasons.  First, timing an effective reserve roll is near impossible until late in the game.  By using a speedy glass hammer, like a landspeeder, when the big nasty unit does drop in, then you use that same movement phase to just race that glass hammer right down the throat of the enemy.  The bad guy then has to decide if he is going to deal with the scary unit that just dropped in, and is certainly going to start messing him up on my next turn, or try to deal with the glass hammer that may not quite be in range yet, but will certainly cause problems for me if I don't deal with him now (such as a round of shooting before the scary unit pounces on me in an assault).  It's a tough choice, and it doesn't have a great answer, which is a good position for you to be in.

Assault Unit + Big Nasty:  While these two units have effectively the same purpose, this kind of coupling causes math headaches for the other guy.  Is it more likely that he can gun down your genestealers that just outflanked him and are closing in on him, or his he actually going to be able to put 6 wounds on that trygon that just popped up?  It's a tough choice, and again causes the enemy to second guess himself.  If you can manage to get these units to pop up on either side of the enemy, all the better, because then he can't just run away without running towards the battle lines, and thus towards the bulk of your army.

Support Unit + Big Nasty/Assault Unit: If you've done it correctly, then the support unit will pop in and make its presence known the moment it appears.  While the support unit is not an immediate threat for taking the objective away from the enemy, it will soften up the defender -- every good 40k player knows that volume of fire is a very dangerous thing.  Further, if he decides to ignore the support unit in favor of the assault unit or big nasty, and he doesn't successfully take down the other threat, that support unit is going to get a second chance to soften up the defenders before the big assault takes place, which isn't great.  Further, that support unit will also continue to be a thorn in his side by harassing anyone and anything within firing range - which is generally much more substantial than the assault range on the other unit.  Support units not only threaten his backfield, but will also create pinch points in his battle lines by creating cross fire threats against his main force, and threatening to create scenarios where falling back units become trapped before they can rally, or just ushered off the board.

One pairing I don't like to use is a support unit with a glass hammer.  The reason I don't like it is that a support unit is generally best when dropped in the middle of the combat zone between the two forces rather than dropped on a flank -- if you put them on a flank then they can't create cross fire scenarios or trap falling back enemies as easily.  Since that is also the same direction your glass hammer is generally coming from, then the enemy really isn't facing a vertical envelopment situation -- it's just a fast paced frontal assault. 

Conclusion

Vertical envelopment is scary because it creates chaos in the enemy lines.  Troops that 'shouldn't be there' are suddenly crawling through the enemy fire lanes and threaten to swallow whole sections of his army whole.  But if you want to do it succesfully, you have to lend your units support.  Lone squads don't generally fare well because they can be easily overwhelmed.  Further, multiples of the same kind of squad are better, but they fail to take advantage of the real chaos you can cause by making the enemy second guess himself by offering him two or more horrible choices.  The best way to use vertical envelopment is by dropping in multiple threats and trapping him between the proverbial rock and hard place.  Pull him in multiple directions by creating threats on more than one front, and make the enemy decide what you're going to hurt him with by offering up different types of nasty units.

One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 9)

Movie to See: The Orphanage



This is another movie that Guillermo Del Toro (this time as a producer - Juan Antonio Bayona is the director) knocks out of the park. A truly creepy movie, this is one of those that will keep you thinking well after the movie ends. While Del Toro/Bayona certainly tie up all of the loose ends by the end of the movie, you still have to question what you saw and why it happened -- a great film for after-viewing discussion with your fellow movie patrons. While often bandied around as a 'horror' movie, I don't think The Orphanage quite gets to that level. It's certainly got some 'thriller' elements, and the subject matter is kind of a cross between Peter Pan and just a dash of The Others, but it certainly isn't a traditional 'horror' film. Ghosts? Yes. Horror? Not so much. Perhaps it is best described as a thinking-man's horror film or a psychological supernatural thriller. Either way, this film is certainly worth your time. Unfortunately, like Del Toro's masterpiece Pan's Labyrinth, this film is in Spanish, and the version I saw made the unfortunate choice of using yellow subtitles, which were sometimes difficult to read over the occasional white background. Other than that, I have nothing negative to say about this movie. This is definitely worth your time.

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Movie to Skip: Hurt



This is one of those odd little movies that you run into once in a while when there is nothing else on you want to watch. I threw it into the cue quite some time ago, but had not gotten around to watching it because it only sounded interesting in passing. Now that I've watched it, I can definitively say that it was an interesting film...but only in passing. Unfortunately, this film will not do any favors for the foster children program; overall the movie was fairly careless in that regard, but I suppose anytime mental illness is thrown into the mix in a "thriller," there are some serious liberties taken with reality that you have to overlook in order to get through the film, right? That aside, this wasn't an overly suspensful film; there are no genuine surprises, and ultimately the big plot twist was fairly predictable. I'm always a little disappointed when a movie that relies upon plot twists for the dramatic tension isn't very... twisty. Unfortunately, because there is no complex plotline to this movie, and the story is formulaic in an armchair psycho-thriller sense, you see how this one is going to end from about a mile away, and it's kind of hard to care to watch it to the conclusion. I don't believe every movie needs to have complex plot twists to be worth watching, but you still need to keep the movie well-paced enough to keep things interesting. Admittedly, I was watching this one while doing other things, so I didn't fall asleep. But had I been giving the movie my full attention, I think I would have been bored and probably would have turned it off.

All that having been said, I still found some of the characters interesting, albeit not always believable. The acting wasn't that bad (although the villain needed some work), but there were certainly no break-out performances. The cast is essentially made up of a bunch of broken people; everybody has lost something, and most are experiencing constant frustration as they try to fill the void. Frankly, this could have been the core of an interesting drama... but the writer and director wanted to make a thriller instead. Too bad they weren't quite sure how to make the movie thrilling. For the raw material of this movie, I gave it two and a half stars, but that may be a little high, to be honest. It could have been much better if the there had been actual palpable tension, or the dramatic themes had been explored with a little more care. Instead it became a bubble-gum late-night-movie faux-slasher/psycho-thriller. I was disappointed, but admittedly I have seen much worse. Truthfully, this should be a two star movie, but I'm feeling merciful today. I don't have any recommendations to see this movie one way or the other. It's forgettable, but there are worse ways to spend your time, I guess.