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Tag: The High Republic

The High Republic: Cataclysm

Hey everybody,
Last week, I finished reading Cataclysm, the second novel in the second phase of The High Republic publishing programme. There were three phases, each of which had a mix of adult, YA and junior novels, and comic books that all told a story set over two hundred years before the events of the prequels. Phase Two was a prequel to Phase One, which has confused the issue a little bit! But anyway. We’ve mainly been concerned with the ongoing war between the neighbouring worlds of Eiram and E’ronoh, which was set to have concluded at the end of the first book, Convergence, with the marriage of the heirs to each world, however the audio drama The Battle of Jedha told the story of the machinations of the Path of the Open Hand to continue the war.

The Path is a religious group that feels the Jedi are using the Force as a tool, and have spread a message of hate against them as a result. After the events on Jedha, the Path members have retreated to their farming world of Dalna, where they begin to prepare for the next phase of the Mother’s plan. The Mother, their spiritual leader, has sent her operative Binnot Ullo to break Axel Greylark out of prison, although Jedi Knight Gella Nettai has already gone to visit him in prison to find out what he knew about the events on Jedha. Binnot is able to capture the wayward son of Chancellor Greylark and bring him back to Dalna, where the Mother tells him he needs to ask for the Chancellor to come to the world so she can enact the next phase of her plan. 

Kyong Greylark realises that she has always put her career before her family, and so agrees to come to Dalna, but resigns before doing so. The Mother realises Axel is of no use to her as a political pawn anymore, and so he is summarily dismissed from his position in her schemes. Several other groups of Jedi, including Yaddle, have also arrived on Dalna to see what’s going on there, and a massive pitched battle erupts during a rainstorm. The Mother unleashes several creatures that kill Force-sensitives by turning them into husks, and leaves the planet. 

Obviously the Jedi are able to turn the tide, thanks to the timely arrival of soldiers from Eiram and E’ronoh, who have at last put their war aside and united to defeat the Path once and for all.

This story was almost marginally better than Catalyst, though not by much. I found it somewhat confusing, and in at least 3-4 places in desperate need of an editor as the narrative was jumping around a bit too much. For instance, on one page some characters would be discussing something while waiting to arrive at a planet, but without any mention of movement, they were suddenly on-world. It was jarring, to say the least.

I’ve missed out quite a few odd little bits in the summary above, but there is a lot going on with the various Jedi groups going to Dalna, and it all got a bit confusing because they just blended into one. There were a number of Jedi who were, I think, fairly significant characters, but I just couldn’t work out who was who. It led to some strange moments where a character I had thought had died was then walking about like nothing had happened.

The subject of character deaths does make me realise that I didn’t care about any of these people I was reading about. I don’t know if it was because the cast was so large, with a lot of these characters being given a lot of focus, but where everyone is treated equally, nobody stands out. Also, so many characters make very stupid decisions. I swear, the Jedi characters are dumbed-down at times to allow these cardboard villains their moment of moustache-twirling, it’s just dire. It made me feel like a bit of a reading snob, because I felt very strongly like this book was a YA novel, in fact both of them in this phase felt like that. I personally have nothing against YA novels, but if I’m going into a book that is ostensibly an adult novel, I expect a different feel. I’m not saying it needs to be violent or something, but the plot, the characters, the pacing, everything felt really off in here.

Going back to the subject of Jedi, one was called Enya, and one was called Aida. I was either thinking about Orinoco Flow, or the opera by Giuseppe Verdi. It wasn’t exactly a great Star Wars experience.

But then, that’s been the difficulty with a lot of these High Republic stories that I’ve read now, and it’s becoming a serious problem. They just don’t feel like Star Wars, somehow. Tales of the Jedi was set 4000 years before the original trilogy, and managed to feel like Star Wars while also feeling removed from the main storyline. I’m not sure if there’s actually an effort made to distance these stories sometimes, as I’ve previously mentioned some of the aspects in Convergence feeling like they could have taken place in the days before Episode I. However, after reading through this book, aside from the fact that certain characters are described as Jedi and who are using lightsabers, there’s very little else to make this book feel like it is set in the galaxy far, far away. It really feels like a let down, in that sense. Now, I haven’t read anything from Phase Three of the High Republic yet, and it’s entirely probable that these stories will have some bearing on those to come, but I’m left feeling a bit deflated, like I’ve spent my time reading a book that is only very, very tangentially related to Star Wars, but otherwise has no impact.

The High Republic: The Battle of Jedha

Hey everybody,
I’ve done a bit of travelling with work recently, so was able to listen to the High Republic audio drama, The Battle of Jedha. This came out in 2023 as part of Phase Two of the High Republic publishing series, sandwiched between the two main-line novels released as part of Phase Two – Convergence and Cataclysm. Now, I wasn’t a big fan of Convergence, which I’d read over the summer, so have some trepidation for Cataclysm, which I plan to start soon!

The Battle of Jedha follows on directly from Convergence, as preparations are underway on Jedha for the signing of the Eiram-E’ronoh peace treaty. The recently-married Xiri and Phan-Tu have remained on their worlds to help with the rebuilding following the attack during their wedding ceremony, so have both sent ambassadors in their place. The treaty signing is to be presided over by Morton San Tekka as a neutral party, but there are still agitators in place who do not wish for the peace to go ahead.

The morning of the treaty signing dawns, and a bomb goes off, killing Morton San Tekka. The Jedi on-world, determined to keep the peace, begin an investigation while the hyperspace prospector Tilson Graf volunteers to take over as mediator. However, a riot breaks out, seemingly instigated by someone from the Path of the Open Hand, one of many religious groups here on Jedha, and it doesn’t take long for the Eiram and E’ronoh troops that have accompanied their ambassadors to the moon to once more take up arms against each other. 

In the chaos, it soon becomes evident that another group, the Brothers of the Ninth Door, have been behind the bombings, and Jedi Master Silandra Sho learns that Tilson Graf had hired them for the job. When Tilson attempts to extort the Mother, leader of the Path of the Open Hand, to help him leave Jedha, she kills him instead.

Back on Coruscant, the Jedi confer on what has happened on Jedha, and are worried that the war between Eiram and E’ronoh will continue. Also of concern is a strange creature that Silandra felt while on Jedha, which she believes was able to turn people into husks…

While it was pretty trite at times, it was fine. I think my biggest problem with this one was trying to make out who was who in the audio drama. It feels like the story existed, at least in part, to explain why there’s a massive statue of a Jedi that has fallen into the desert in Rogue One, as that happens near the climax of the battle scenes.

We do get to learn some more about the Path of the Open Hand here, and their philosophy of the Force as requiring balance at all times. Their hatred of the Jedi stems from the fact they think the Jedi abuse their power and twist the Force to their own ends, rather than just letting it be. This is the religious cult that will eventually turn into the Nihil, I think, so it’s interesting to see this as a precursor to the group under Marchion Ro.

While I had this impression during Phase One, I think the way Phase Two has been going so far is definitely requiring us to read more than just the main novels. Jedi like Silandra Sho and others like Tilson Graf all appear in the YA novels, and I feel that Silandra in particular has a story that I’m missing out on with having not read these others. I’m sure the initial plan was that you could follow the story being told just by reading the mainline novels, so that’s a bit of a let-down, but at the same time, I do kinda like when stories cross-pollinate like this, as it usually feels like a richer experience…

Anyway, I’m about to start on Cataclysm, so we’ll see how this particular phase of the High Republic ends!

Star Wars: The High Republic: Convergence

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Last night I finished reading Convergence, the first book in the second phase of the High Republic book series. This book came out in 2022, and the whole phase acts as a prequel to the first phase of the High Republic, which generally I was quite favourable towards. It takes place during a tenuous cease fire in the Forever War between Eiram and E’ronoh, where the Jedi have been dispatched as a relief mission to Eiram, but there’s a lot of mistrust and emotional baggage for everyone to work through as a peace treaty is negotiated. There are two Chancellors of the Republic at this time, and while Chancellor Mollo is in the thick of things, Chancellor Greylark dispatches her wayward son Axel to the proceedings in order to keep an eye on things. The Monarch of E’ronoh is egged on by his viceroy to keep the war going, but everyone is blindsided when his daughter Xiri proposes an alliance by marrying the prince of Eiram, Phan-tu Zenn.

The two of them then lead a joint relief effort across both planets, but it soon transpires there are outside influences meddling, seemingly in order to keep the war going. The Path of the Open Hand perform various acts of sabotage, and it is soon revealed that Axel Greylark is actually one of the saboteurs. All hell breaks loose during the wedding ceremony, but the saboteurs are eventually defeated and everything seems to end happily enough.

This book took the best part of the entire month for me to wade through. I don’t normally like to rate books as one star, but this one really earned that in my view. There are a couple of things that really bothered me about the book, and some stuff that was merely cause for eyerolls that all mounted up to generally result in a book that I was ultimately just not interested in, and pretty much had to force myself to read. To start with, this book is set 350 years before the prequels, but as with a lot of these sorts of books, it doesn’t actually feel that far removed from them. Indeed, a lot of the Coruscant stuff felt very much like it could be happening a year or two before The Phantom Menace. Having two Chancellors felt a lot like a gimmick to make it feel like “another time”; it was never explained as to why this was a thing, so I’m left wondering what is going on there.

A lot of effort seemed to be made during phase one to give a sense of distance, especially with anything outside of the Core being a bit of a wild west situation. But here, it doesn’t really seem like that, and folks are hopping about the galaxy like it’s nothing. The whole point of Starlight Beacon in phase one was supposed to bring the “light of the Republic” to these wider-flung sectors, yet they don’t really feel that out of it in this book.

I think that the Path of the Open Hand is some kind of precursor to the Nihil threat, but I don’t honestly know if that’s the case. Certainly, they use the Gaze Electric as a sort of mobile base, which is later used by the Nihil, so it’ll be vaguely interesting to see how this religious cult turns into a pirate gang that eventually rises up to challenge the Republic and the Jedi.

Ultimately, though, I found that I just didn’t care about anyone that I was reading about, and each time I picked the book up I had to force myself to try to just get through it, with the eventual goal of finally finishing it. Fortunately, that came sooner rather than later, as there’s a sizeable chunk of preview for another book in the back, which I had thought was part of this one, so the ending came about 50 pages before I was expecting it.

It’s possible that reading the other stuff in phase two (there’s an audiobook and a second novel, if we ignore all of the comics and YA books etc) will make this one make a little more sense, but to be honest, if a book needs other books to let you make sense of what you’ve just read, that’s a failure in my eyes. I honestly don’t think it really stands by itself, but thank goodness it’s over now.

Star Wars: The Acolyte trailer

I really don’t know what to make of this. I mean, it does look lovely, and hopefully it’ll be a great watch, but it feels a bit like one of these things nobody asked for? For me, it almost falls into the same category as Kenobi, and I suppose I’m a bit worried that it’s going to build up a lot of promise, but it will have to return the galaxy to the status quo so that The Phantom Menace, and all the talk of a thousand generations of peace, remains intact.

It’s set something like 100 years before episode one, and is supposed to deal with a series of Jedi murders. It’s the era of the High Republic, though I don’t know how far it will be tying into the books. We can expect the dark side to be on the rise, with that red saber business, but obviously it can’t rise too far, because everyone dismisses Qui-Gon after he was attacked on Tatooine.

It looks good, though, and I’ll take it for some escapism into the galaxy far, far away. Hopefully I’ll have some nice things to say about it when it lands, too!

The High Republic, phase two

Oh, this is interesting, folks!!

Celebration Anaheim 2022 has given us a look at the next phase of The High Republic publishing, which is taking a bit of a left curve and going back 150 years prior to phase one. Wasn’t really expecting that one, so I’m wondering what’s going to happen following the events following the Starlight Beacon crash.

Phase 2 is ‘The Quest of the Jedi’, and it seems like things are going to be really low-tech. Makes me quite intrigued about how the history of the universe is evolving under Disney, as this is about 400 years before The Phantom Menace, but if we’re in this low-tech environment now, how does stuff like The Old Republic factor in? Or Tales of the Jedi? I don’t understand it…

However, we’ve got this coming, and it looks amazing.

I love Rogue One, and the upcoming Andor has got me very excited. The potential for learning more about Jedha is really intriguing!

I do also wonder if Yoda will be making an appearance in the series. Hopefully it’ll be awesome if/when he does!!

Exciting times, at any rate. But what’s going on with the people we already know from phase one? Maybe phase three will tell us…

Star Wars: The Fallen Star (a review)

The final book in the first phase of The High Republic, The Fallen Star picks up with Marchion Ro’s plan to completely wipe out the Jedi, and undermine the Republic throughout the Outer Rim. Synchronous raids across seemingly insignificant planets drive a host of injured refugees to Starlight Beacon, which is currently in orbit at Eiram assisting with a relief project there. A further Nihil attack against a remote Jedi temple is seen as proof of the uncoordinated death throes of the Nihil organisation, which was believed destroyed following the Republic Fair.

However, Marchion Ro has secretly dispatched a team of saboteurs to Starlight Beacon, and soon the full extent of the Nihil is shown as the space station is blasted in two, with catastrophic results. While Avar Kriss had pursued the Nihil and believed herself to have found The Eye, Lourna Dee, Stellan Gios took over the mantle of Marshal of Starlight Beacon. However, he is almost entirely unprepared for the catastrophe that befalls them all, even when Elzar Mann returns from his exile to help with the relief effort.

As if the physical damage to the station wasn’t enough, the Nihil have also released at least one of the leveler creatures aboard, which causes significant problems for the Jedi as they find themselves unable to concentrate and growing in fear. The creature kills three Jedi Knights, and the disaster continues to take its toll on our heroes, with Stellan paying the ultimate price when the Beacon crashes on the surface.

I have been enjoying the High Republic series so far, but I did feel as though this book fell a bit flat. It is almost exclusively set on Starlight Beacon, which feels less like the plush advert for Republic splendour that it seemed to be in Light of the Jedi, and instead more like the Death Star, only somehow less exciting. The disaster-movie atmosphere, though, was great –just when we think our heroes are going to pull through, something else goes horribly wrong and stuff. I’m not a sadist, but I did like the fact that it really came across like a huge disaster, much more so than the Hyperspace Disaster that kicked off the series, actually.

Of course, this hyper-focus on the Beacon really felt like it worked to the novel’s detriment, as it felt quite claustrophobic, and I did feel the same as those trapped aboard in the cargo bay, trying to get off. Stellan, the man of action from the second book, is now struck down with the weight of responsibility and, when he does encounter the leveler briefly, it sends him catatonic for a portion of the book. I was surprised by that decision, although it did give Elzar the nudge he needed to take on some responsibility. That all being said, however, I did find myself wishing that Avar was back – she headlined the first book, and then seemed to just disappear in the subsequent instalments. Maybe she has been featured in other books, as I haven’t yet taken the time to discover those, but I thought it a bit strange that she wasn’t more heavily featured, as I really liked her character.

There’s a navigator called Geode, who is basically a rock. Weird, but it’s a huge and weird galaxy, so fair enough. I was surprised at how far this was taken, though, given that it seems everybody except Elzar accepts him as being a sentient being, who gives “a stony expression” or whose “silence said it all” and stuff. It was bordering on silly, though I guess on the whole it was kinda funny. Among those pilots trapped in the cargo bay, there’s a petty and venal guy who tries to rile his fellows up against the Jedi, intending to blast their way through the cargo bay doors etc. I hated him, and it took me a while to realise that actually, I hated him because the situation was written so well – of course, there’s always that one guy who thinks they know what’s best and ends up getting the group in trouble. It’s classic disaster movie stuff.

However, we get very little else besides the goings on on board the space station, and it does get a bit boring after a while. I read half of this book in one day when I was on the train to London and back, but then took a week to finish it as it just felt like a bit of a chore. I think we could have done with getting a bit more variety, even if it was from following some of the people in the top half of the station with Avar. It all just seems to get a bit boring after a while, for all that it’s a disaster book and should be exciting as we root for the heroes to pull through.

I also wasn’t a fan of the ending. We only followed three saboteurs aboard the Beacon, yet Marchion Ro sent seven? And the final pages that feature his address to the galaxy… I’m struggling to keep up, but I just don’t understand why he wants to eliminate the Jedi. I don’t get it, as the Nihil are a raiding force – is he trying to keep the Republic out of the Rim to ensure free raiding forever? He seems to want to rule the galaxy, but that seemed to come out of nowhere. I don’t understand him, he seems to be doing all this for the sake of being the antagonist – we haven’t yet got the twirl of the moustache with an evil sneer, but it’s not far off.

Now, I seem to be falling into something of a hater on Claudia Gray, which I’m not actively trying to do, but I’ve not really been a big fan of a lot of her books now. I mean, Bloodline is still one of my all-time favourite Star Wars books, and so whenever I read a book by her, I’m always that little bit disappointed that it doesn’t match up. I think it might be in part due to the hype she gets in the Facebook group that I’m in, though I think I have seen more general disinterest in this book, to be fair.

I think a lot of my complaints aren’t necessarily to be aimed at Claudia though, as it strikes me this is how LFL wants to tell stories right now – minimal exposition, maximum action. Who cares why anybody does anything, so long as what they are doing is exciting to watch/read?! Marchion Ro might be a cardboard villain because he isn’t allowed to be developed this early, given that we’ve been told of two more phases of the High Republic still to come.

I went into this one expecting it to be the conclusion to the trilogy, but it ended up more like the start of something. If we’d had maybe a hundred more pages of exposition at the start, then kicked off the series with this, it might have landed better. It’s not terrible, it’s just a bit unsatisfying.

Okay, so maybe I’m getting a bit too harsh here… I know that I’ve only read the three main novels in this series so far, and there are still the three YA novels, and three middle-grade novels, before we even start on the comic books. Maybe I’m missing out on something that would actually link things together… we shall see, I guess!!

Star Wars: The Rising Storm (a review)

The second novel* in The High Republic series, The Rising Storm picks up pretty much straight after the first book, as we follow the preparations for The Republic Fair on Valo, in the Outer Rim. Another of Chancellor Lina Soh’s “Great Works”, the Fair is intended to showcase the very best of the Republic, acting as something of an expo I guess, with the added benefit of bringing the Togruta species into the Republic fold.

The early part of the novel has a lot of shuffling-of-pieces, as we see the Nihil leadership move forward and posture among themselves, Marchion Ro in particular taking further steps for a grand plan to attack the Republic. We also see the Cyclor Shipyards, and the research vessel Innovator is going through various tests prior to the Fair when a rogue tempest of the Nihil attack, to be fought off by the Jedi.

For the most part of the book, we then get an extended view of preparations for the Fair, including the arrival of the Togruta monarch and so on. Everything is rather wonderful, and we get to really delve into some of the returning characters from the first book, such as Elzar Mann and Stellan Gios, before suddenly the Nihil attack! It is quite dramatic as well, and the manner of the attack, with an orbital element and reaver-like ground assault (including smoke clouds and sonic disruptions) feels like an utterly ferocious strike at the Republic and the Jedi.

While the Nihil are eventually repelled, they still claim a victory and rogue elements decide to press the advantage by planning another attack, but fall prey to a disinformation campaign and are routed. The Jedi learn that the Nihil are basing themselves on Grizal, and mount their own attack, at which point the Nihil organisation seems to be tearing itself apart. In order to escape, Marchion Ro releases a beast known as “the Leveler” which can turn people into husks, and flees on his ship.

I really enjoyed this book – perhaps not as much as I enjoyed the first one, for sure, but nevertheless it felt like a really great second act. So many trilogies seem to go a bit dead in the middle, but I think here we’ve broadened out just enough to allow more character to appear from the established cast, while maintaining the momentum in the Republic vs Nihil war. Actually, the whole war is an interesting one, because it often seems like nothing more than marauders and pirates testing the fringes, and not a really large-scale military threat. That’s why the attack on the Fair worked, because it wasn’t a case of the Nihil going up against a Republic fleet or somesuch. The scale is different to, say, the Clone Wars, and I really like it.

The Jedi are developed a lot in this book, and I like how different they feel to their counterparts in the Prequels. They don’t quite seem to be the cloistered monks, but rather the type of official mediators and security services of the Republic, and have a much more public face. You definitely get the impression that the Jedi are off-limits when the time of the Prequels comes about. It’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, that change comes about. There are perhaps glimpses here, as Elzar Mann uses Dark Side power to stop the Nihil attack at one point – maybe they decide to retreat to avoid any kind of fall?

Some of the criticisms of this book that I’ve seen online (mainly on the SW book club Facebook group) come leveled at the fact that nothing seems to happen in the book, that it is boring, etc. I think, on the contrary, so much happens that it’s difficult to provide a satisfying synopsis of it without going on for days! We get a lot of minutiae when it comes to the Fair, which I think works quite well because after a number of chapters where the action moves around a bit, we’re almost lulled into a sense of security before BOOM – the Nihil attack and all hell breaks loose! The subsequent attack takes place over several chapters, though purportedly only takes place over the course of maybe an afternoon. So much is going on, that it’s difficult to cover it all quickly, but the pacing is really quite good and no single aspect of the attack feels like it has been short-changed. I was then surprised that the end was still a long way off, because a lot more action then follows!

Bell Zettifar has his reunion with Loden Greatstorm, who has been testing his bonds in the Nihil prison, and manages to escape, only for their reunion to be short-lived as he falls victim to the Leveler. That was a genuinely emotional moment for me, and I felt almost like I’d been punched. That’s some good storytelling, right there – it really got me!

We’re getting what now appears to be the Disney trope of adding in more gay characters to the books, with a fairly significant plot thread involving the Chancellor’s son, and a more throwaway element involving the former Jedi padawan Ty Yorrick and the daughter of her client, who ends up as a bit of a catalyst for the final confrontation on Grizal. As far as Kitrep Soh’s awkward relationship with Jom Lariin goes, I thought it seemed a bit rushed at first, but turned out to be very satisfying and worked really well within the wider story without feeling shoehorned in. It’s great to have these kinds of plot threads, where two guys can be attracted to each other and have an arc which forms a strong part of the actual story, rather than it being a case of LOOK EVERYBODY, THIS GUY’S GAY! as it often felt in the Aftermath books. Ty Yorrick is a much more complicated character, who didn’t really get much airtime to properly see develop. Maybe she’ll form a large part of the third novel, coming out in January? There’s a suggestion of something there, which feels much more how we’re used to seeing this kind of stuff in years gone by. We’re definitely getting there, which is the main thing!

Of all the new canon books that I’ve read so far, I think this is up there with the small clutch of novels that I think would benefit from a second reading. Indeed, I think I would enjoy a second reading, though I think I’d probably do so as part of a general High Republic re-read. Very good development, but I definitely want to go wider with this time frame, and see more of the galaxy.

The third book, The Fallen Star, is written by Claudia Gray, who I’ve definitely had some ups and downs with! Let’s hope we get something along the lines of Bloodline, and less Lost Stars! It’s coming out in January, and I hope to pick it up pretty much as soon as possible and get reading.

* I know there are a bunch of other YA novels etc, but this is the second in what I’m thinking of as the main storyline, based on purely the adult novels. Not “adult” in that sense, though…

August Retrospective

Hey everybody,

August has been and gone, and it’s time to look forward to an autumn with the hobby, usually! Hopefully there won’t be anymore lockdowns happening of course, though with a 10-week old baby to look after, I’m not exactly sure how much I’ll get to do! She’s been quite poorly of late, as well, which hasn’t been much fun for anyone. Fingers crossed for a much more exciting September, anyway!

I’ve found myself in a curious place, lately, where I’ve not really been in the mood to read. Part of this is, I’m sure, because I find it awkward to hold the smaller person and also a book, so have spent a lot of the summer just not reading anything. However, this month I picked up The Rising Storm, the second book in the High Republic series. Well, it’s the second book in the ‘adult’ series; there are YA and junior books in the mix, as well as comics and now audio dramas, but I don’t have the energy to keep up with it all, if I’m honest. The Rising Storm has, so far, been pretty good – there’s definitely the feeling that I’m in the middle of a series (I believe this is only a trilogy, though I could be mistaken), but even so, I’m about 150pp in, and I’m enjoying it!

I’m in a Facebook group for Star Wars novels, and I kinda feel like I should just come out of it, as the opinions in there seem to be wild and I don’t know that I really get all that much out of it. I mean, a lot of the time, if I’ve spoken of my distaste for anything (the Darth Bane trilogy, in particular, sticks out here), it’s almost like a red flag to be lynched, or something. I dunno, anyway, but the latest High Republic book seems to be getting panned in the group, and I’m just a bit down on them all!

I haven’t mentioned the Arkham Horror LCG for a while, as I haven’t been able to play it since I ran through the Return to Night of the Zealot a few months ago, but after trundling on down to my local game store last week, I’ve been able to order a copy of In Too Deep, and have also discovered that the first part of the Edge of the Earth expansion is due imminently, giving us the investigator cards. So that’s all exciting stuff, especially as I’ll finally have the Innsmouth campaign in its entirety!

I think I’m going to save the box for later in the year, anyway. I’m in no rush to play with the new cards, as I have a ton of cards I’ve still never used, after all, so it would make a nice birthday/Christmas present!

This month seems to have been about Warcry in a big way, though. I wrote up a long and rambling post earlier in the month, talking about what I like about it, and where it could be going etc, as well as another post commenting on the downloadable content GW have put out, with a dash of speculation on the future of the game, after the hints of there being exciting news on the horizon. In the middle of these, I also took a look at the Tome of Champions 2020, which had an awesome narrative campaign included. The more that I’ve dived in to Warcry, the more impressed I am with the breadth of content available. I mean, all that free stuff on the Warhammer Community site looks fantastic, and the work that must go into those Tomes is phenomenal. If Necromunda wasn’t a thing, this could be the best!

I’m very pleased to say that I’m almost finished painting the Unmade now – I was hoping to have finished the whole warband, but there are maybe 2 models still to paint the metals. I think I’ve managed to do quite well with the tasteful blood spatter and so on, and I’m very pleased with how the bases are a good match for the main board in Warcry – the old Lustrian Undergrowth texture paint, which I bought a load of back in the day, drybrushed with Administratum Grey. Very effective, in my opinion!

Oh, and I’ve also been building up the Catacombs stuff! I’ve built up the dungeon terrain, and the Scions of the Flame warband, and have had an abortive game with it. I wasn’t entirely excited by it all, if I’m honest, but I want to have a full game with it before I form a proper opinion of it all. Stay tuned for that, of course!

In addition to Warcry though, it’s also been all about the new Kill Team!

This is especially true of the bank holiday weekend, when I finally picked the box up and had the opportunity to get some of it built. Who knows when I’ll be able to actually do anything more with it, of course! I’m going to try and take the opportunity to keep building it up though, and see how far I can get with actually painting it all up, as well. So far, 10 Death Korps of Krieg models have been built, and they look beautiful!

For a long time during the month, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get it – the price, more than anything, had me wondering if I wouldn’t be better-off using my money on stuff I already play and enjoy etc, rather than buying into yet another game from GW. In the event, my initial thoughts of it being pretty much a board game have won out and I took the plunge, as I have no plans to start an Imperial Guard or Ork army! I am going to keep this as a boxed game, I think, though of course I’ll probably end up buying some add-ons as and when!

The subject of add-ons is an interesting one, of course, because I do find myself idly wondering where they’re going to go from here, specifically. We know we’re getting new Kill Zones per quarter, but does each quarter simply have a new big box and then some articles in White Dwarf? Or can we expect an expansion-type deal in a month or so, where we get Elites or Commanders? Death Korps Commissar, be still my heart! I firmly believe that we’ll see an expansion with more regular 40k models from here on out, and while initially I’d thought we could be seeing new units for existing armies, as the initial rumours seemed to suggest we’d be getting a new Sisters unit for the rumoured Sisters vs Tau box, I’m now thinking that we will most likely be getting re-packs with, perhaps, an upgrade frame. This is basically how the Krieg models work – the two main A sprues are the 10 infantrymen, with the B upgrade sprue having specific fancy parts. There are still fancy parts on A, but stuff like the medic on B is a lot more involved than the medic on A, if you see what I mean. So I could see a box of 10 Sisters being packed along with an upgrade frame to give access to more weapons (though the Sisters, being dual-purpose with Dominions and Celestians, already have a good breadth of bits available to them). There are quite a few kits that exist in the 40k range that would very easily port over, and if they were to just throw in some Sector Imperialis sprues as well, you’d quite easily have the bulk of a new box, right there.

It’s not all been about skirmish games though! I’ve started to think about my Tyranids again, and have been planning up my next steps to getting that army up to scratch. I’ve mainly been trying to recapture my paint scheme, because I didn’t make a note of it anywhere (like a fool!) I think I’ve been able to deduce that I used Death World Forest for the green, and I think Straken Green might be involved as a highlight; the carapace is definitely Rakarth Flesh, shaded with Agrax Earthshade, and highlighted with Ushabti Bone (and possibly Screaming Skull). I’m working on some genestealers while I recover the scheme, anyway, though I’ve seen online a potentially easier way of doing this with Contrasts, which might work for the gaunts, so I want to try that at some point.

I’ve been painting some of the walls from the Dark Uprising set for Necromunda, as well, and I’m really pleased with the results! This is a fairly quick scheme that I’ve seen on a facebook group a couple of months ago. Spray the model with Mechanicus Standard Grey, then paint the inner arch bits with Tallarn Sand. Shade the whole thing with Agrax Earthshade, then drybrush Dawnstone and Deepkin Flesh, and that’s basically it! The details will obviously vary, but for the metalwork I’ve been painting the silver Leadbelcher, and the copper Castellax Bronze, all shaded with both Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade. It’s intentionally patchy and crappy, because I’m trying to make it look gross! I’ve then gone in and dabbed some Dryad Bark along the bottom as kicked-up dirt, and in places (though it isn’t always apparent) I’ve put some Athonian Camoshade to simulate moss/mould. It does work better on a lighter stone, but never mind. As a base, I’m quite pleased, but there’s always room for improvement and adding in some details, but for now it’s definitely good to see the walls coming together! I’m looking forward to getting more of the zone mortalis structures painted, the stairs and things, and seeing the whole hive come together!

As I said up at the top, September is very much a hobby-focused month for me, as I harken back to the good old days when I was first discovering 40k in a big way, so I’m excited to see what I could possibly accomplish on that front – here’s hoping next month’s retrospective blog will be choc full of good stuff!

What a weekend!

Kill Team: Octarius has gone up for preorder, and it looks pretty sexy, I have to say. I’ve put my order in at my local store, so I’m hoping I won’t be in for any disappointment in a couple of weeks. I do like the look of the box – even though I’m not an Ork fan, I think it looks like a cracking game and I’m very excited to get my hands on it!

It’s also been really interesting to see the news that Kill Team will be supported, going forward, with new ‘seasons’, for want of a better word, every three months. That feels almost too much, if they’re all going to be launched with a big box like this, but maybe the big box route is how GW is modelling their business now. Seems like they’re getting to grips more with the idea of actual pre-orders rather than adding a week on to your delivery time, with how they’re doing this made-to-order thing if they sell out. In my opinion, that’s how they should be producing every “event box” from now on.

However, there’s nothing to say that some of these ‘new season’ boxes won’t be strict repackages of existing stuff. Will they be able to produce so much new stuff to such a schedule? Why not just stick some Sector Imperialis terrain in with some Battle Sisters and some Tau Pathfinders, and job done! No massive design outlay, there!

Word on the street, of course, is that the release model will mimic Warcry and give us fairly unique, new teams that will have normal 40k rules, but will be primarily for Kill Team. Furthermore, the next box is already rumoured to be Sisters vs Tau. Given that Sisters have had a lot of releases recently, something just tells me that the release model just isn’t going to be purely new teams, but there will be those elements ported over from 40k where it makes sense. I guess we’ll see, of course, but yeah, it feels a bit off to say that we’re getting yet more plastic Sisters good stuff.

I would love to get the odd special box every once in a while, though – perhaps along the lines of Pariah Nexus, where the KT box is used to launch a new plastic unit from an existing army? Eldar, maybe your time is coming?

Speaking of what’s coming, the new codex road map for the rest of the year has been revealed, showing Black Templars as coming up, with a new Primaris Emperor’s Champion being shown off as well. Tyranids seem to be a strong option for their book coming, with a lot of people expecting Imperial Guard as well, though a persistent rumour of an Imperial Agents book has got me quite intrigued!

I guess time will tell! I’m looking forward to getting some of this good stuff – September seems to have become my traditional time of the year for really reconnecting with 40k, so after a lot of time spent with Warcry and Necromunda, I’m sort of hoping to have the hobby time to devote to maybe getting some Necrons painted!

Oh, and apparently this is a thing! I’ve been tentatively getting interested in Magic for a while now, and this weekend was watching a few of the Professor’s videos when I came across this – Commander decks themed for 40k, apparently coming out with a full set themed around Lord of the Rings. Weird! In his video, the Professor talks about diluting the world of MtG, and I have to say that I agree. I love 40k, of course, and while I don’t really play much these days, I still love Magic. But I love them as separate entities, and have no wish to see them mixed together. I’m sure it might be fun to get Primarchs as Legendary Creatures, or whatever, but ultimately I feel like this is going to be detrimental to the game. Sure, collectors will probably buy them, I may even be tempted myself, but I wouldn’t want to mix them into my collection of Magic cards. Worlds don’t need to collide!

Finally, this arrived today! Very much looking forward to getting my teeth into it!

Star Wars: Light of the Jedi (a review)

Hey everybody,
Happy Star Wars day! Yes, we’re just about still on May 4th here in the UK, so what better way to celebrate than with a look at the first novel in the High Republic series, Light of the Jedi? What better way, indeed.

The High Republic era is a new departure for Star Wars storytelling, taking place in the centuries prior to The Phantom Menace. Crucially, this time period is now the oldest canon storytelling there is – forget about Knights of the Old Republic, forget about Tales of the Jedi, forget about the Darth Bane trilogy. None of that happened. The oldest we go now is here, 232 years before the Battle of Yavin. It’s a point that I need to reiterate, as it’s something that I constantly had to remind myself of while reading it.

The story is basically quite straightforward, following a group of marauders from the Outer Rim, the Nihil, who are able to travel through hyperspace using random “paths” as opposed to the established hyperlanes. It turns out that these paths are divined by an elderly member of the San Tekka clan, who is somehow able to see her way through hyperspace from one destination to another. She is kept alive for the express purpose of furthering the reaving of the Nihil, and her efforts are put to such devious uses by Marchion Ro, the so-called Eye of the Nihil.

During a raid, one of the Nihil ships gets in the way of the freighter Legacy Run, and the two collide; the Legacy Run, already an old vessel, breaks apart, and random parts of the ship come out of hyperspace, mostly over the agri-world of Hetzal Prime. A group of Jedi are nearby, seeing to the final preparations for the opening of the Starlight Beacon, an effort by Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh to reach out to the Outer Rim Territories and provide aid and cultural support. The Jedi begin a rescue operation to make sure the people of Hetzal Prime are safe, and launch an investigation into what happened.

The basic plot plays out much as you’d expect, with political infighting among the Nihil as Marchion Ro consolidates his power, and the Jedi managing to save the day with getting to the bottom of what happened, helping to defeat a portion of the Nihil fleet (though everyone involved thinks the Nihil were wiped out in their entirety). In some respects, it’s quite a “safe” plotline – there’s a disaster, but the Jedi help to save they day, although the big baddie hasn’t been completely vanquished so that we have fodder for more in the series. It’s a tried-and-tested formula for Star Wars (and others) to use.

I think what impressed me most about this book was the feel of it, though. It was a constant gripe for me about the Darth Bane novels taking place 1000 years before A New Hope, and yet they felt no different in time to the prequel trilogy. Light of the Jedi feels like it is a story that is set decades before The Phantom Menace, maybe even the centuries that it actually purports to be. The Outer Rim is an unknown, frontier section of the galaxy, and there are still people going out there as prospectors, to escape the drudgery of the Core and strike out on their own. The Starlight Beacon is an attempt to make the Territories feel a part of the Republic, something that – even though Shmi basically says as much in Episode I – I’d never thought would be needed.

The importance of hyperspace, and the idea of finding new routes to connect worlds, is a big part of the story, and I was a little bit overjoyed when it turned out that the San Tekkas are involved here. Lor San Tekka is, of course, quite an enigmatic figure in the lore, considering such a brief appearance at the start of Episode VII, and clearly his family has something of a celebrity standing in the galaxy, based on their history of hyperspace prospecting. The scions of the dynasty here are Marlowe and Vellis, a gay couple that doesn’t entirely feel forced into the narrative – I mean, why wouldn’t they be? They live on Naboo, in the Lake Country, so there are tantalizing glimpses here of a link to Padmé, and thus Leia – something so small, for sure, but I really hope that we can explore this link in greater depth as the canon is fleshed out further.

The Jedi are sort of informally led by Avar Kriss, the blonde front-and-centre on the cover. She’s an intriguing character, said to experience the Force as a song. Her friend Elzar Mann sees it as a bottomless ocean. The way that the Jedi are said to feel, and use, the Force throughout the book does put that sort of distance between this and the movies, as it feels like an age of experimentation and so on. The Jedi Council is a thing, and the Temple on Coruscant is there, but it just feels older, somehow. Elzar Mann is renowned among the Jedi for his unorthodox uses of the Force, as he attempts to discover new ways and techniques. It’s a bit vague, though he is credited with coming up with the Jedi Mind Trick (referred to as the Mind Touch in the book). It’s intriguing, as it seems like the Jedi are still learning the depths of their powers.

However, it’s not all new though. Yarael Poof has a fairly big role as a diplomat in the book, and both Oppo Rancisis and Yoda have speaking parts. Of course, Yoda would be a sprightly 600 year old here, and he’s currently on a sabbatical from the Temple, so I guess things are wide open on what we can expect to see here as the series continues!

As the first book in the multi-platform High Republic series, I thought this was a truly great introduction to the era. There is a lot going on, and it’s very interesting to see how things are different, and yet not that far away from the Star Wars that we know. We do have some establishment of what’s going on in the galaxy, but I think this has a lot of potential to be grown as time goes on. There are novels across the adult, young adult and younger readers branches, as well as an ongoing comics series that I’m aware of so far, and they apparently all intersect with one another to varying degrees. The YA novel Into the Dark features the padawan Raeth Silas, who is mentioned in passing by his master Jora Malli in this book. The Jedi “prodigy” Vernestra Rwoh shows up for the Starlight Beacon dedication ceremony, fresh from her adventures in A Test of Courage, the middle grade novel. All of these books came out in January, and it seems to be the case that July is the next major cavalcade of novels is due, including the sequel to this, The Rising Storm.

I cannot wait!