Sega Mania Issue 2 Review

The second issue of Sega Mania dropped through the letterbox recently and I thought it worth posting about as this is the first issue I have paid for, the copy of issue one I received as a free review sample. Between the two, the team behind the magazine have been very communicative and quick in providing updates via their Twitter and YouTube channels. This level of communication is reassuring and whilst they are effectively learning on the job with all of the highs and lows that entails, they've not been shy in telling people about this. That is to their credit and long may it continue. 

Back to the issue at hand and, following on from the first issue's 1990 focus, issue two takes us to 1991 and the year of the Game Gear. With 68 pages (including the cover), there have been some changes since the first issue which I think are for the better, and demonstrate that the editorial team are keen to make the magazine the best it can possibly be. They've also expanded the team (there are four writers! - thank you Captain Picard).

Starting off with an open and honest editorial about how the first issue went and how things are progressing, we're quickly into a review of the year 1991. Back to my school days at Tanfield Comp, Computer and Video Games magazine, Mean Machines... ah, the memories. Anyway, this is followed by two pages of opinion pieces by the rest of the crew, and then the News Zone, that lovely mix of "in the era but not quite of the era" reporting. It works, what else can I say? Future news has a piece about a new Dreamcast game, Intrepid Izzy, which is a cool looking platformer for Sega's final home console. Not bad considering the machine was discontinued twenty years ago. A single page is given over to 1991 news from other, less worthy, areas of the videogames market, four pages focus on Sonic the Comic (which I vaguely remember) and then we have a profile piece on OGDuffy, a retrogaming YouTuber. 

The review section is packed again this month, with the likes of G-LOC: Air Battle, Sonic The Hedgehog, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and loads more. In fact, twenty five titles get the review treatment, some of which cover multiple formats. A single page covers reader responses to the first issue, there's a two page interview with Audio Sprite, two pages go to a report on RetroSix and an interview with founder, Luke Malpass, and then we have a lovely two page cover spread of a Game Gear. What? It's not porn!

Collector's Corner features a lovely interview with RetroFaith, who is another YouTuber who, like OGDuffy, you should really check out. The collection she has, just from the pictures in this piece, is impressive. 

The Capitalism Zone features three reviews, including one that turned out to be a tad controversial. I'm not going into it as the Editor has responded to this in fine style (and I agree with him on this) and that is all that needs to be said here. There are single pages on TV shows of the year and notable films. Of the two films highlighted, the under-rated The Last Boy Scout gets a good write up and The Rocketeer, one of my favourite films of all time, also gets the love it deserves. Seriously, if you've not seen that film yet, watch it now!

The final section in the mag is the cheats page, which nicely covers the games in the review section. It's a cute touch and one I hope they continue with in future issues.

All told, the second issue of Sega Mania is a doozy. The humour is still there and there is a sense of style that differentiates the mag from others on the market. Is it different from the first issue? Yes. Is it improved? Definitely. So much so that as soon as they announced their plan for subscriptions, I paid for a three issue sub. I'm more than happy to see more of what the team can do and support it that way. No doubt this magazine will change as it grows and as the team become more adept at this publication malarkey. If you can, check out the Sega Mania website and buy a copy. If you like it, give them a sub. In my humble opinion, this is another niche videogaming magazine that most definitely deserves support.   

"Their Infantry And Guns Will Astonish You" - By Andy Copestake - Book Review

INT, COMMERCIAL PUB - DAY

Andy and Andrew sitting supping pints of Consett Ale Works Pale Ale whilst admiring the Christmas 1972 aesthetic (but not paying Christmas 1972 beer prices...)

ANDY

How much do you know about India, late 18th early 19th Century?

ANDREW

Not that much. Welly was there, long before he became Welly.

ANDY

And before then? What about the events that led up to Welly having a bit of a do at Assaye?

ANDREW

Nope, not a clue.

ANDY

Ah! Right then. Read Dalrymple's "The Anarchy" to get a handle on India from the perspective of the East India Company. Finished it? Good. Now, remember me telling you I was writing a book...?

FADE TO BLACK

This is a (loose) dramatisation of a conversation, based on real events, that leads us neatly onto my review of Andy Copestake's first book, "Their Infantry And Guns Will Astonish You" - The Army of Hindustan and European Mercenaries in Maratha Service 1780-1803. Having known Andy well over twenty years (the poor sod), I was looking forward to his first publication and gratefully received a copy when we met up for our first assembly of the Tantobie Wargaming and Tactical Society since February 2020. Full disclosure, I received my copy free of charge but have not discussed my thoughts on the book with him, nor has he evaluated or had any influence on the review you are about to read. All opinions are my own and he didn't even try to bribe me with a nice bottle of single malt... the rotter! 

Joking aside, what we have here is another fine addition to the Reason to Revolution Series from Helion & Co. A touch over 200 pages in length, there are many fine illustrations and maps, whilst the colour plates detailing the flags, standards and uniforms are detailed and accompanied with some great descriptive text. 

As for the text itself, you really do get a handle on the author's voice very quickly. The tome begins with a chapter on the state of India in the 18th Century, followed by a thorough walkthrough of the military forces deployed by the various factions. An introduction to Benoit de Boigne follows and then we are into the core of the topic - the Army of Hindustan. From the tale of its founding and first campaigns, to the retirement of de Boigne and his replacement by Perron, there is a real love of the subject on display here. The descriptions of forces and battles are well written, there are enough maps and diagrams to clearly detail the action that occurs and there is a hint of humour every now and again adding colour to the text. Similarly, the author has written a well-balanced narrative that gives every participant a fair hearing with no "national" bias.

There is a detour through the Widow's War, and George Thomas's extraordinary run that reads like a Victorian novel. The Civil War in the Maratha Confederacy is extremely interesting, especially for someone like myself with little background in the subject. The different houses, the alliances, the drama, murder... Best way I can describe it (in a very deliberately glib manner) is EastEnders meets Dune... 

That is a very accusatory expression...

The back third of the book concerns itself with the last years of the Army of Hindustan, the campaigns in the Deccan and Hindustan, with a closing chapter on what happened next to all concerned. There are appendices detailing the officers of the Army of Hindustan and a list of other Trained Brigades in India from 1752 to 1805. Then there is the biography...

Where there are discrepancies in the historical record or where there are conflicting reports, the author has used his knowledge of the period and contemporary practices to give an educated guess as to the size of forces and the actions that may have been taken. These are backed up with the reasons for his assertations and there are many a footnote referencing both modern and contemporary sources. Indeed, that bibliography takes up two and a third pages with very small text. The research for this book certainly threw out a wide net.

Before reading Dalrymple's "The Anarchy", I knew little of Indian history beyond the general British-centric stuff that always seems to be trotted out. I'm currently reading his "The Last Mughal" which, like "The Anarchy," is an even-handed telling of history. In that respect, Andy has written something very similar: a well-balanced and informative tome on a niche subject that has received little focused attention. There is plenty of colour to the tale and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Not only is this a worthy historical text on the subject matter, it is of great resource to those who wish to bring the period to a wargaming table. 

Their Infantry And Guns Will Astonish You is available directly from Helion & Co here or via the usual bookshops/online retailers if you order it in.

Was That Film Really That Bad??? - Resident Evil: Extinction

After the dire (but profitable) Resident Evil: Apocalypse, it was a forgone conclusion that there would be another sequel. Given the actual not half bad ending to that dumpster fire of a movie (from a potential storyline point of view anyway), there was definitely room for manoeuvre in a third instalment. As sure as day follows night, three years later, Resident Evil: Extinction duly hit the big screens. Scoring 24% on rottentomatoes.com, this was a slight improvement on Apocalypse (20%), but was this film really that bad?

As the third film in the series, this entry took us right back to the beginning. Literally. We see Alice (the returning Ms Jovovich) awaken in that tastefully arranged collapsed-in-shower position as she did in the first movie but we're quickly moved from the mansion to a hospital type corridor where Alice duly dies. Hold on! What??? 

Oh! Clones. To quote a different movie from a long, long time ago, I've got a bad feeling about this.

Yep, nefarious scientist-type bods, led by Dr Isaacs (a returning Iain Glen) are trying to recreate the actual Alice as she is the only successful example of a person bonding with the T-virus. Why do this? Well, as per a handy info dump and narration, the world has turned to shit. The T-virus got out of Racoon City and the whole planet is dead. Bang go any potential stories from that second film then.

Isaacs is holed up in an Umbrella Corp bunker in the Nevada desert, whilst the rest of Umbrella has also retreated to similar facilities in cities around the world, all organised by Umbrella CEO Wesker (Jason O'Mara) who is based in Tokyo. They're hanging on but it's looking grim, hence the pressure on Isaacs to get the Alice program sorted. 

The Kraftwerk reveal killed 'em dead...

Meanwhile, the real Alice is motorbiking across the American south west and discovers a notebook that details a refuge in Alaska, as well as finding out she's telepathic - as you do. We also have our intrepid survivors from the second film: Claire Redfield (Ali Larter), Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and L.J. Wade (Mike Epps). They're part of a convoy of survivors that also happens to be in the area. Everyone eventually meets up, deciding to head to Vegas to pick up fuel. Isaacs finds this out, sends a container full of "trained" zombies to stop them and collect Alice, everything goes pear-shaped and the climax of the film is of Alice battling an infected Isaacs (who has become a Tyrant) whilst Redfield and some minor characters head off in a helicopter to safety somewhere else. At the very end, Alice kills the Tyrant with the help of a clone, discovers that there are hundreds, if not thousands of "her" waiting to be released, and pledges to come after Wesker in his Tokyo stronghold. Cue set up for next sequel.

That's a hell of a lot of boys for that milkshake they making.

I will say this: it's genuinely not as bad as Apocalypse. Really! It's still a crap film, no doubt, but the actual story and tone of the film are at least semi-grounded this time. That doesn't mean to say I don't have issues with it. Get yourself a glass of warm milk and some cookies, gentle reader, and I shall begin.

Their friends or their careers... who can tell what was buried here?

They really did waste the set up left by the end of Apocalypse. With Alice rescued by our intrepid gang, they could have taken any direction they wanted to with the characters. Instead, with a minute or two of voice over, they wipe that possibility out by killing off pretty much the entire planet. It does, however, mean that the $45m budget (same as Apocalypse) can go a bit further as they're filming in the desert most of the time. 

Let's do Vegas on a budget, they said...

Story wise, the introduction of Wesker and the Umbrella corporate boardroom does give a bit more depth to the proceedings. However, there is a "fuck off" moment when, during a boardroom meeting, you realise that almost everyone there is represented by a hologram and when the call ends, each place still has a full glass of water in front of it! Maybe it's a commentary on the inflexibility of corporate behaviour. Maybe it's just a filming snafu. Who knows. The film also tries to riff The Island of Dr. Moreau but that falls flat too.

Water, water everywhere, not a single drop they can drink.

 

There is definitely a Mad Max look to the movie and I suppose if you're going to emulate, you might as well copy from the best. And, considering the budget, they do some decent work here. Las Vegas gone to seed looks impressive to begin with, until you realise that the scale is all wrong, especially the faux Eiffel Tower. Also, it's not right next door the Venetian. When you've walked between the two in 40 degree heat, you know! Though this does being up another "fuck off" moment where a survivor climbs the Tower to provide covering fire with his L85A1, otherwise known as the SA80. It doesn't jam once. It is, indeed the perfect desert-suitable zombie killing device until they climb up to get him. Except, gentle reader, the A1 was unreliable crap. The A2 is pretty good by all reports, but the A1 was terrible. Yes, movie guns only jam when the story suits them but it does take away any sense of realism when you see this guy rock and roll with it - and I am aware that I have used the R-word whilst watching a guy shoot zombies from a tiny replica of the Eiffel Tower in a tiny mock up of Las Vegas! 

Uh-huh... Yeah... No!

The CGI, of the dogs (yep, we still have zombie dogs), crows and the Tyrant itself, is pretty dire. Same goes for the truck bomb near the end of the movie. That's a budgetary thing but at least this time, when they aim for a dramatic shot, it kind of comes off ok, rather than the bullshit of the previous film. That's the responsibility of the director, Russell Mulcahy, the director of the brilliant Highlander and absolute shit show that was Highlander 2. Here, he proves that a decent director can turn Wor Paul's scripts into something that isn't a steaming turd. As per the last film, Wor Paul handles writing and producing tasks, so we still get a CGI map of an underground facility. It's almost like a calling card now.

Here we go again...

The cast do what they need to, and the additions of the zombie fodder/Umbrella staff are there for show only. Shout out to Matthew Marsden who, once again, proves that he can do the business but keeps appearing in crap movies (DOA: Dead or Alive - reviewed here, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - nope, not touching that mess of robotic bollocks ever...) whilst Jason O'Mara makes Wesker a weird Eminem/Ray Charles/Agent Smith hybrid. 

Come on, let me see you shake your tail feather...

There is further nonsense, like Redfield taking the remaining survivors (Olivera and Wade don't make it) in a helicopter to, presumably Alaska, when in fact with that thing, she'd barely have the range to get out of Nevada. The whole clone project and the resources that it uses/wastes is another weird one. Where do they get the stuff from? The trip to Vegas - surely a city would have a large number of infected anyway - turns out it didn't, as Isaacs helicopters in a container load for the lols. 

Is this Vegas? Nope, surely a wrong turn at Albuquerque...

Resident Evil: Extinction is better than Apocalypse. It does waste the set up created at the end of the latter film but it does finish with its own opportunities. Nonsensical ones, but opportunities nonetheless. As with the previous two movies, the actors don't really get a chance to do much and, hell, most of them die anyway, but there is a bit more logic to the central story (well, only a smidge) and this film didn't raise as many hackles as Apocalypse. However, it's still a cheap looking daft videogame adaptation and that means yes, it really is that bad.

US Battleship Conversion Projects 1942-1965 - Book Review

Alongside being a sci-fi buff and videogamer, I also have an interest in military history. Predominantly post WW2 but hey, I'll read up on any period just to learn stuff. This also extends to the "what if?" category. One of the reasons I enjoyed D.K. Brown's quintet was reading about the design process for vessels that never touched the water, especially in the Cold War period. Today, I'd like to introduce you to a book that, whilst the original ships did serve (and kept coming back into service), looks at the plans cooked up to keep them relevant in that same period. Written by Wayne Scarpaci, this volume tells the tale of the many simple, crazy and downright loony projects that were discussed to retain the value in specific ships launched during the Second World War. 

The front third of the book is taken up by introductions: a background to the conversion of US capital ships, an introduction to the third generation of US capital ships and then a guide to the various missile programs from the mid-1940's to the 1960's. These range from ballistic missiles (Jupiter, Poseidon, Polaris etc), cruise missiles (Triton, Regulus, Rigel etc), surface to air missiles (Little Joe, Lark, Zeus, the "Bumblebee" missiles - Terrier, Tartar, Talos, Typhon etc) and anti-submarine rockets (ASROC). Each weapon system gets a decent biography, tech specs and some good photographs. Where contemporary diagrams are used, these are of varying quality but that's due to the condition of the original, not the quality of this publication.

The majority of the rest of the book is taken up with projects relating to the following classes of vessels - Iowa-class BB's (battleship), Alaska-class CB's (large cruiser) and the South Dakota/North Carolina/Colorado and New Mexico-class BB's (battleship). The Iowa's get the largest section but that's because they were given the most attention, especially in the 1950's.

Each project entry gets a suitable bio and description plus commentary where needed. The commentary demonstrates that the author knows of which he speaks. They also get line drawings of the proposed layout and artwork. Yes. I really must mention the artwork. Painted by the author himself, each piece is very well done, showing the project if it had reached service and, in some, "what if" aircraft and ships that also never reached fruition. It's the art that really brings the book to life. The book ends with a couple of appendices containing timelines and the like.

But what about the projects themselves?

Sticking to the Iowa-class, these were varied and more than a little nuts sounding. Because the Iowa's were big ships and missile systems took up a ton a space, the majority of these projects focused on adding SAM's and various surface to surface systems. From multiple Jupiter silo's to a frankly bonkers suggestion for a missile monitor (1 x Jupiter launcher with 12 missiles, 4 x twin Talos launchers with 400 missiles and 12 x Tarter launchers with 2400 missiles - and then we have the electronics fit to support that layout - a total of 54 radar sets!). As the author notes, this was not practical...

Ideas for converting the battleships to aircraft carriers or assault ships foundered, mostly because of the hull design and the crew numbers needed to maintain the ship. It is also noted that the BB's were designed to be one thing and one thing only, battleships. That was what they were good at and hurling 16-inch shells was a speciality that kept seeing the type return to service, culminating in something like a diet-monitor concept with the 1980's fit of Tomahawks and Harpoons, but that is way outside of the scope of this book.

The author has written a great treatise on the lengths the US Navy went to justify the retention of the large calibre gun ships after the Second World War. They offered space and weight allowance to fit "modern" weapons and whilst the BB's never saw a conversion during the period covered by this tome, the US Navy did convert some heavy cruisers to missile ships with varying (if expensive) degrees of success.

You can buy this book on Amazon and it's reasonably priced too. It provides a great deal to ponder if early Cold War naval history is your thing and could be a handy reference if you ever wanted to bring "what if" ships to a wargaming table.