The SEALs at the Abbottabad compound didn't ignore any combatants on their way to Osama's bedroom. They took great pains to clear rooms of any fighters that might flank them. It costs a lot of money to train a Special Forces operator, and they are not fond of needlessly losing any of them because someone ignored a combatant that might shoot them from behind. While I don't have a big issue with it. OP is right. You don't just run past someone who can kill you to achieve an objective, because unlike in board games, where heroes can absorb a ton of damage, it doesn't work that way in the real world, bullets are much more lethal, and your family will soon be getting a folded flag.

...it was good? Is that your assertion? There is something called verisimilitude and the The Last Jedi lacks it. People rightfully complained about Anakin's little trip into the droid control ship and back out again, because it was contrived and aesthetically offensive. I'll admit that the hyperdrive scene looked good, but movies should have internal consistency. Having bombers that crawl along and drop gravity fed bombs is silly enough in a space epic, but then to show you could have just used light speed torpedoes makes your opening even that much more stupid, but it is also a bad attempt to unscrew the heroes you've painted into a corner. Hyperspace in Star Wars has been about removing one's self from known space and into "hyper" space. Otherwise there are billions of piece of debris that would destroy your ship en route. To suddenly subvert that because you didn't think through your movie very well, is bad writing. I'll admit I always hated the A-wing scene in Jedi, even when I was a 15 year old watching it in the theater. It was a bad creative decision. It can be forgotten about because of the good things that happen. To me, there were no really good scenes in TLJ. It was a mess, and as I said earlier, it is lazy. It never took time to build up its own moments, it just figured people would love it if we just copied stuff from another Star Wars film. That's insulting. It's cynical, and I'm shocked how many people buy into it. You want to do something that's different with Star Wars, that's great. I loved Knights of the Old Republic. It wasn't perfect, but it used the Star Wars tropes in new ways and created a fairly fresh story. Even Rebels, which I hate about 50% of the time, is far more original, and far more emotionally resonating, than this garbage Disney keeps vomiting up onto the big screen.

I certainly struggle with telling someone they are wrong to like something, but I can't understand it. Even if I put aside the nitpicks about the First Order and how they came to be; and we have to at least be able to say that the beginning of Star Wars is a little bit different in that there was zero world building at that time. It is one thing to say An Empire ruled the galaxy. That's easy to understand. When Tarkin explains that there is no longer a Senate, but regional governors, like Roman Pro Consuls, would rule their individual systems, that is an easy concept to visualize. The language of the Star Wars establishes the necessary information in a creative way, through an Imperial board meeting. Nothing like that in either 7 or 8. Just Snidley Whiplash and his evil machinations. So, back from digression, if we accept that the first order just came to be, and you are new to the Star Wars universe, it still doesn't excuse the awful execution of any concept that movie takes on. If it weren't Star Wars, it would be laughed at. It would be Transformers. It is Transformers honestly, but it would be viewed as such, entertaining, but still worthy of haughty derision. The Force Awakens was a badly executed movie. I'm not sure what Jedi mind trick that these movies play on people that i can hear them admit to the many faults but then say, but was awesome none the less. Rey is an awful character, not because she is a girl, but because she is an awful character. I was a fan of Mara Jade and I'm fan of Hera, as much as I hate Rebels. I hate Sabine. Not because she's a girl, but because she's an awful character. Rey's journey off Jakku and to Luke's island is more forced than Qui Gon's journey through Gunga City, the planet core, and to the only Jewish stereotype junk dealer in all the planet who not only has the only part they need, but coincidentally won't take republic currency. That is a contrived, ham-fisted method of moving the plot along, which is exactly what the Force Awakens was. But TFA was a gem compared to the Last Jedi. Not only did TLJ not deal with setups in the previous trilogy, it discarded with extreme prejudice, setups in its own trilogy. Empire Strikes back carried forward what had been done in Star Wars and added to it in a meaningful way. We heard about the Emperor in Star Wars, we saw a brief glimpse of him in Empire Strikes Back. Then in the final installment we get to see him completely, and after a lengthy setup, Darth Vader turns on him, because of his own son, and does it a compelling way. TLJ is a reboot of a reboot. It flushes almost everything that is setup in TFA down the toilet because... Rian Johnson didn't like it? The Last Jedi couldn't even be arsed to develop its own big moments, it just cribs them right off of the previous trilogy, unearned. It is like that gawdawful Into Darkness, that, with equal disregard for the fans, switches the places of Kirk and Spock without earning it. It just copies a better movie for the sake of it, I guess, because they want a big payoff moment too. Why would Kylo betray Snoke for Rey? Because she's a girl? That's what is ultimately the most cynical thing. In order to virtue signal how the Force is Female --Kathleen Kenedy, great moments in cinema are stolen, like by a some cheap , B-movie rippoff, so you can have them in your new gurl power movie. Just because you own the IP doesn't make it right, it makes it disrespectful. Additionally you cheapen your own characters. Snoke was cheapened as a villain. Kylo has never come off as a villain, because he is like Edward Cullen of space operas. But on top of all that, the Last Jedi was a bad movie. It was overly long. It was convoluted. It is filled with forced pathos and unbelievably contrived plot arcs that, as someone said earlier in the thread, ultimately go nowhere. The humor was the equivalent to film about Hitler where in it Hitler does a vaudeville routine in the middle of a serious discussion about military strategy. In Empire Strikes Back the rebels lose at Hoth, but they broke the blockade, and in the end, they are at the fleet preparing to take the fight to the Empire. Empire actually isn't a downer ending, it just isn't a celebratory ending. Luke was a stronger character in the end. He had grown a great deal, faced extreme adversity, and demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice his own life rather than succumb to evil. At the end of The Last Jedi everything they tried to do failed. They barely made it out with their lives, no thanks to the awful Rose who tried to prevent Finn from heroic sacrifice. That was actually the moment I became really angry. I'd seen a lot of stupid in the previous two-hours, but I'd never seen a film in which someone prevents someone from saving a bunch of lives and is overly proud of themselves for it. Rian Johnson is bereft of nobility if he thinks that his message ultimately rings true. Had it not been for Luke, and Rose had no a prior knowledge of his intervention, they would have all been killed.

I didn't even like the Force Awakens, but in doing what Rian does, he just makes a reboot of a reboot and it makes Rey even more contrived. We are supposed to forget that this girl with no connect whatsoever to the bigger story is called by the lightsaber and then shown a vision of Luke with his metal hand, and of Kylo killing Jedi students? It isn't as if the image was imprinted by Luke because that's the lightsaber that was lost at Bespin. Then Maz says it was Luke's lightsaber, and his father's before that "and now it calls to you." That was a stupid scene, but it exists, so disregarding it is equally stupid. It would be like ignoring that Peter's Quill's father was a celestial. "Nah, Peter, the Nova Core was wrong, you are just a normal dude who happened to be able to be able to hold an infinity stone and live, unlike any other mortal."

I think the movie made that pretty clear. Disney is cleansing the palette of all us clingers-on with our expectations. We fans who bought the toys, comic books, board games, video games, and the novels from 1979 through 2012. They want us gone. Kill it if you have too. We are weighing down the franchise with our preconceived notions. They need a long enduring model of cycling through merchandise buyers from one trilogy to the next. Once this trilogy is over, they'll recycle it all again. Star Wars 2021.

Very well articulated summation. I allowed my anger to cloud my review. I walked out furious, but this review cements why I was, because you are 100% right.

No, he allowed them to know the location to lure them into a trap. He also allowed them to believe they had an authentic security phrase because he knew they would have to go for the shield generator. At least get the lore right if you are going to attempt to nitpick it.

The Republic didn't have a standing army. It was up to the Jedi to resolve conflicts and keep order, they were supposedly entrusted with adjudication of differences. Palpatine played the Republic by setting up a threat, and then responding to that threat with the actual army he had built in secret to usurp power. So, what this novel is saying; and I'm sure it is saying it as a post hoc explanation for the events of TFA, is that the Galactic Republic learned nothing, and continued to believe that not having a means to respond to threats meant that threats will not materialize. Sort of a Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal method of diplomacy.

A friend pointed out to me that Star Wars has officially become what George Lucas wanted in the first place. A crappy Saturday morning serial for children, with no rhyme, reason, or continuity. The bad guys just have death weapons because they are the bad guys; cartoonishly evil as anything you'd see in a 40s Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, or The Adventures of Rocket Man.

It would have been great if Luke gave her the Pai Mei treatment from Kill Bill 2. Once can more readily accept that the Bride's ability to kick-butt based on her time under Pai Mei's tutelage.

Not sure if this link brings you to the half way point or if it was because I watched it earlier, but this whole video should be watched to get the full context of A) How idiotic the film is, and B) the reasons these idiotic decisions were made. Best line: "There is no reverence for any of the foundations of the story. Instead the focus is on sweeping the old stories away as quickly as possible to make way for the new narrative order. " Absolutely spot on.

In an ode to Tommy Boy, allow me to paraphrase; I could take a crap in a box and label it Star Wars and hordes of people would buy it. Rian, with an 'i', Johnson, Kathleen Kennedy's arm elbow deep in his keister, raises his fist, extends his middle finger to the OT and utters, Star Wars is mine now, b***ches. Rian Johnson and Kay-Kay treated Luke Skywalker in a similar fashion to the way Omi-san treated Captain Blackthorn in the first episode of the TV miniseries Shogun. That's actually generous, because it was more like a certain scene from Pulp Fiction. This was a incoherent, disjointed,non-cohesive mess of plot holes and virtue signalling BS. If it didn't have Star Wars in the title, and it wasn't garnering phony critical praise from people invested in carrying water for Kay-Kay's agenda, it would be panned and forgotten as deck like Jupiter Ascending. Maybe I was too hard on TFA, because to this garbage, it seems almost decent. Even Rebels, which I largely hate, had a fantastic scene in which Obi Wan is confronted by Darth Maul on Tatooine and it is revealed that his self imposed exile was to protect young Luke so he could grow into a powerful Jedi. That short scene has more emotional resonance than anything in this film even approximates. TLJ also craps all over it by making Luke into a joke. Rian thumbs his nose at the very foundation of the property, the Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice. Instead they are cowards who flee from their duty while nihilism rules the galaxy. The EU may not be perfect, but at least Luke lives his life serving the new Republic and trying to train future Jedi, guiding them away from the dark side, not plotting to murder them. How anyone can defend this crap is beyond me, but whatever. For me it went beyond flawed like TFA and right into F-U territory.

Finally got Windows 10 installed. I wanted to try this out. For Fun. Awesome program, by the way.

I've noticed pierce is on just about everything that comes out anymore. What's the point of defense dice? I shouldn't be surprised, this is what happens to games. People just want overwhelming damage.

I didn't see Rogue One, so I don't know what Death Troopers do, but I imagine, as the joke goes, not much. I read someplace that they are entry level troops if Star Wars was taken more seriously, compared to the regular Stormtroopers who die by the bushel. To me DT's are a typical toy selling gimmick. We'll make them black, then they are much more cooler-er, and we'll put "death" in front of their name. And also, we'll ramp up the keystone cop factor on Stormtroopers, i.e. allowing them to be krotty chopped to death (that's only slight hyperbole), so it makes our new toys look that much better. Star Wars rendered Stormtroopers as a scary threat for about 60 minutes, but then turned them into B-movie mooks after that. Snowtroopers had a glimmer of the precision troops that once where, but that's quickly forgotten on Cloud City, and it all culminates one movie later with the most gawdawful premise of all, that an entire Legion (4800 men in Roman terms) of the Empire's "best troops"; space aged armored warriors (not a Death Trooper among them) can be slaughtered by stone-aged Teddy Bears. Rogue One should have restored the Stormtroopers as a dangerous threat, but Disney needs more toy ideas. Like modern warriors, most have two channel encrypted radios that work on very low audible emissions, in order to communicate among themselves, but they are still capable of screaming orders if they need too.

How does one justify pierce and cleave with a riot baton?

No.

Jedi Knight 2, push the grenades back to them. The force push someone off the ledge. Good times.

Having watched this in Star Wars Miniatures, if you constantly get new content it necessarily eliminates older content, as people expect the rules to keep changing for the sake of the almighty meta. The best thing for IA would be to stop at some point and balance all the figures so that there is more options, but that's not the best thing for FFGs bottom line. This is not a particular granular game, so after a while new characters are going to be the same as old characters, unless you start bringing in new special abilities just to quantify some movie moment, and then it starts messing with the meta, because it turns out one ability is really good, or has some great synergy with something else, and bam, that's all that's played. It's my own personal baggage, but I hate skirmish. I hope Legion scratches that itch and IA can continue being a campaign based game.

Lobot is a prime target to make a heavy support character. Reduction in reinforcement cost, maybe.

I wasn't surprised the the poll results show Zuckuss and 4 LOM having a lot of fans. 4 LOM should have preceded 0-0-0. Zuckuss has all kinds of potential for using hide, leaping squares, and deadly shots. I would like to see Mara Jade, just because I wanted her canonized. I would want her to be in as an Imperial. I would rather see Black Krrsantan than Cade Bane, but please, no Dr Aphra. Just no. I have no desire to see any of the Rebels crew, but I do like Herra, so she'll be fun to paint. The heroes in Imperial Assault ARE like the rebels crew. I really don't think Yoda should be included, but then I didn't think Palps should be included. It's a tactical, squad based game. Those characters are more suited for command games like Armada. Rex was great in Clone Wars, and if there is ever a prequel game, he deserves top billing, but I don't want to see him in Imperial Assault. I think Dash would have been a good addition, but Herra kind of fills that role, so I don't think we'll see him. The only troopers we need to see, and really don't need them, but just for completion, would be scout troopers. Death Troopers and "shore" Troopers (what a silly name) are just Stormtroopers designed to sell more toys. Paint your elite stormtrooper black. I know people who have. We are straining credulity with the Riot Troopers. I would have liked to see Imperial Army troops, but I don't know what their function would be, especially with Riot Troopers making an appearance. And Sentry Droids may as well be Dark Troopers. I know I'm in the minority but I don't want to see Ewoks. I didn't want to see Jawa and I would have never expected Ugnaughts to make an appearance, but they did. I think, just for the sake of meeting expectations, a Bothan Spy unit of two figures is probably a must. It would be fun to paint.

I hate mirror games and I think they should be gotten rid of, but it shows, when there is a bunch of them, that the meta isn't as vibrant as it could be. People who go to tournaments are going with 'a' list or lists they think are going to win. They aren't there for the experience of battling Star Wars factions against each other. If I were to say that one person would have change their faction if two players wanted the same faction, I would be pilloried, but it just shows that there is an advantage to the dominant faction and players would be rightly upset if they thought they drew the short straw and weren't able to play the more dominate one.