In the spirit of Worlds Prep 2019, I figured that the best way to prepare BESIDES having your very own montage (truly the most important part of preparations) would be to go back to the original sources of inspiration, see what we can learn from them all.

I'd love to disagree with Luke's assessment here, but well.... I run a Star Wars blog, guys

Because I'm stealing title ideas from my girlfriend, who still as of this writing has never seen one of these movies, join me below and see what you can learn from the Knight's Rewatch. Today: Rogue One. Read on below, and see how you can make ten men feel like a hundred!

It's honest work.

The key to your list, whatever you bring, is knowing what you're good at and what you've practiced. People may look down on you for what you bring or the choices you've made, but if you've been working with these objectives and ships for a bit, you'll know what works with your ships and squads and what doesn't So long as you can answer WHY a ship or squadron or objective is in your fleet, you'll be alright. People may not like the choices you've made, but if they both make sense to you and ARE the right call for the situation, then their opinion may not matter. Listen to constructive criticism from your friends and what they're doing, of course, but at the end of the day it's your list and your life. Run what you want.

Cassian said I had to.

We're heading into WORLDS, man! The best of the best, the cream of the crop, the Hera Syndullas in a sea of the rest of Phoenix Squadron. What's your list's answer to fighting Bob Barker (AKA Imperial 2-ship, because the "Pryce is right...") How do you handle the coward Raddus Ford and his attempts to assassinate your Jesse James? Heavy squadrons with Yavaris? Ackbar BIG CHUNGUS? Monty Sloane's Flying Circus? You need an answer beyond "I'll figure it out when I get there" because as friend of the blog Yoda would say:

You're getting your movies mixed up, you is!

Handle your opponents, know what you're doing, and test against many opponents and lists.

Don't be a gloaty SOB if you win. You're playing a game, amongst friends. And be careful not to choke on your aspirations.

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

I've played a couple games against people with Solar Corona or Superior Positions where I've picked it, deployed in a corner, annnnnnnd then they deployed on the opposite corner. Great. I can TRY to get over to them, but best case is like a 6-5 or a 5-6. If you're going to Worlds, I can understand wanting to place well and win your games. But I didn't get a ticket to play keep-a-way for 6 rounds. You want to place highly, you got to GO for it. You want to taste that final table? Then remember that guts lead to glory, and you gotta ask if you have guts.

Well? Do-do-do-do you have it?

There's a line from Mystery Men, which is a great underrated movie in and of itself, where the team has to learn to both believe in themselves and their powers. They end up repeating the lines "I believe in my powers, I believe in the powers of my teammates. I trust in my powers, I trust in the powers of my teammates." All of it said with.... various degrees of conviction, hahaha. You have to understand both A) what your list is trying to do and B) what you're willing to sacrifice to do that. If you need that ISD dead this turn, you may have to risk flying those B-wings out of commandable range next turn. YOU are going to have to trust in your list, trust in your ships, squads, and build, and trust in the Force. But at the end of the day, you may still have to risk someone's life (or even sacrifice it!) for the greater good of your win. Trust in the Force, trust in your ability, and trust the dice.


But it all comes down to one risky mission, one last shot, one attempt to save the Rebellion, the dream, the 10-1. And I'll be there, running what I know, believing and hoping and praying that Leia can do it all for me. You can't have fear or doubt in your abilities. The one thing you can have is hope. Hope for the future, hope for the next round, hope for the dice roll, the crit, the card, the opponent's choice, roll, everything. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and trust yourself and your friends. And always have hope.

Three more movies. Three more weeks. It's go time.

We continue our travels through the OG. Well, the new O.G. I'm watching the Special Edition of A New Hope from 1997. Why the Special Editions? We'll get there in the last of these, but I have my reasons.

I really love space giraffes, that's why

Hit the jump and let's see how we can take our first step into a larger world!

"That's funny, the damage doesn't look as bad from out here...."

I may be missing my shields and down to 1 token, but-oh I got looked at funny and exploded. Yupppp, dead. Take stock of your life and health, and understand what you're flying into and what you're going to be flying out of. If your ISD has 2 health left and running with it would leave it alive while another 2 ships die, you need to determine if that's more important to you or not. Know how far your ships are from death at any point and they may stick around long enough for you!

Not Bill and Ted's Station? BOGUS!

Plans change. Especially in battle, especially when your opponent reacts to YOU. You're not going to get the sad baby seal who's playing his first game every round, which means you'll actually need to adapt on the fly. Friend of the blog slash World Champion NATHAN CODA said it best in his recent article , "But you have to come into a game with some sort of plan." And let me tell YOU, make sure you can ADAPT your plans. If you can't adapt, someone will throw a kitchen sink you weren't expecting at you and bam, dead. Be able to adjust and change and you've got a better chance of coming out ahead.

Yeah, I'm gonna NOT include this. Doy.

Get whatever friends you can, cobble that list together and find a way to take on all comers. If you have to go dig out the squads you haven't used in a year, if you have to buy a whole extra ship you weren't sure you'd ever need elsewhere, if you have to go follow Obi-Wan off on some damned fool crusade... you do what you need to get the "W." This is WORLDS, man. If your list and plan depends on having Green Squadron in there, you track it down and you get it in there.

Insert EA or Facebook joke here.

Watch out for the Adepticon bathrooms. Seriously, especially at the end of the day. This is half joke and half actual advice. And wear deoderant for everyone's sake!

You probably still listen to American Top 40, too!

Familiarize yourself. Not JUST with the popular lists, but the weird things. What Han can do. What Ketsu can do. Quick, tell me what G8s do on Interdictors? And what does Phylon Q7 do? Armada is a game about leveraging your upgrades and getting the most out of what you brought and how you apply damage. Everyone and their moms is running Raddus, but it's the man with the plan and Han who can find a way around it that REALLY is the dangerous one. If you don't know WHAT the squadron or upgrade does, you can get wrecked very quickly, and then you're in trouble for sure.

Han. Shoots. First.

Look, I'm watching the special editions. I'm not INSANE (other arguments for this point notwithstanding....). Han shoots Greedo, there isn't a second shot. It's brutal, it's hard, it's... Han. But the important thing about the Special Edition is that Greedo was apparently using Commander Rieekan, as he still got to fire a shot off. Plus, he got Han to realize that he NEEDED to pay Jabba back or there would be consequences. Return of the Jedi occurring consequences! So, Greedo won the objective. Going first is important in games. Watching out for Rieekan and the objective is ALSO important. Make sure you don't overextend yourself or make a decision you're going to be kicking yourself for years about (or all of your fans who see and completely disagree with you do. Again, Han Shoots First, cut it, print it, harder, better, faster, stronger.)

They REALLY hate that ship

Never doubt a list. Never doubt your opponent. Assume competence until proven otherwise. If you think you're better than someone else's list, and you ignore their skills/abilities, you can EASILY lose BADLY and then screw over your own further chances. If you walk in assuming your opponent knows EXACTLY what he's doing, you shouldn't overextend yourself or end up in a bad situation that they'll exploit. This isn't me saying "Don't take risks," this is me saying "Don't assume your opponent is an idiot." The minute you take your eye off the ball is when the laser zaps you in the side.

Sounds like someone got the GOOD dice pack

Don't blame the dice. That's an excuse. If you know your list and know what you're doing, you shouldn't be (Sato excepted) depending on the crit to win the game for you. This isn't me saying "Remove APTs from your list" so much as "You should pilot your ships and squads well enough such that even if you never roll a Hit/Crit on your black dice or an Accuracy on your Blues that you can still win." Don't take H9s automatically on your Admonition... unless you're dependant on getting that accuracy. OE is a staple not to JUST go crit-fishing, but to ensure that any blank black dice get rerolled into something workable. If your list's plan is dependant on a certain dice roll, crit effect, or ship NOT dying, then you take every effort to ensure that PLAN happens. Everything else is extra.

An idiot says what?

So, netlisting. Let's take a quick sidestep here and mention some of the more famous. Fish Farm. Bob Barker. Rieekan Aces. Coward Raddus Ford. All sorts of strong builds, all sorts of builds I expect to see at Worlds. Coming from my last piece of "run what you know," this may seem like an easy, cheat way to already GET something known that it works, without having to take the time in to finetune it. You can take something someone else ran, read up about it, and bam, short work done. Time to work on the victory speech, right? WRONG. You can take a build that's popular, but if you don't practice it and then make it your own based on YOUR needs and what YOU need the list to do for your playstyle, that's a waste of your time right there. I can give you the current list I'm practicing with, but if you're not ME, how do you win with it? How do I run it? You'd have to play it and see, wouldn't you? Or more helpfully, play against me and preferably lose, if you don't mind. Crazy ideas may or may not work. But if you just assume you know how the idea works, THAT'S where you hit trouble.

See, the Legion card comes from somewhere

Try not to go on tilt. I could say more, but I'm already wordy, and hey, look Eric said it all better !

The most majestic facial hair until Lando Calrissian

This is dual meaning here. If you're winning, press the attack and get dem points. 8-3 is better than a 7-4, and it's not as good as a 9-2. That being said, let's also remember who said this and when. Don't overextend yourself in an effort to wipe out "the Rebel Scum" lest you get your ISD shot up and killed. Or, you know, the Rebel reverse. Discretion and 8 points is the better part of valor, over 7 points and accidentally losing your flagship as you try to get one more. Tarkin really should have used that last attack from the Death Star on flakking, IMO. Or picked a different Pryce turn, yuk yuk yuk.

We're going in, we're going in full throttle, that oughta keep those fighters off our back!

Hang with your friends. Check in with them inbetween rounds. Make new ones, keep up with the old, reminisce. And jump right in on this all. If you're a first time attendee, we're all a friendly bunch. Friends are why we do this all, and friends are the glue that keeps the nerds together. In the last year, I have made more Armada friends than I could ever have believed. And I cannot WAIT to see them all again.

Yeah, yeah, Snape and such, but here's the TRUE Always to ME

Most importantly, remember why we're all here. This is Worlds and competition and crushing your enemies, lamentation of their women, etc etc. But you're playing with friends. Live it up, hang out with them, tell the stories, take the pictures, remember the good times. In about 20-30 years, I won't remember a damned thing of the games I played, but I'll remember the people I played them with. And as INCREDIBLY DUMB AND YOU CAN HATE ME BUT YOU KNOW IT'S DARNED TRUE, the true Armada was the friends we met along the way.

It's like you can guess the next article as I write it! We continue with the Empire Strikes Back, the one I never actually saw in theaters. Is this just a bunch of Yoda quotes? Are you too afraid to look? Because I'm not!

Look, it's me. Not expecting the stupid puns is on you.

My spirit animal!

There's a stubbornness to Han that I think we all like and admire. The fact that he's right more often than not and is in actuality a decent guy is something I know I aspire to. When everyone thinks the odds are against him and Luke is dead, he still goes out there and saves him. So when you think the chips are down and everything looks against you, sometimes you just gotta tell that voice in the back of your head to go screw and that you're going out there. You're gonna fight and you're going to give it your best, even IF things look bad (especially if things look bad). Go out there and DO.

So many PG13 jokes to make....

It's getting to the 11th hour, but right NOW don't be afraid to cut something that isn't working for you. If you can't get Yavaris and squadrons on target in any of your tests, figure out if that's a result of your opponents having your number or if it's from you not knowing what Yavaris can do well enough. I tried slipping in Yavaris a few times into my current fleet (more on that in a week, of course...) and just kept hitting a wall where it wasn't what I needed to be flying. I know, a Rebel fleet without Yavaris seems like craziness. But if it's not working for you, or Screed isn't what you need, or you lose squadrons faster than Rieekan can keep them alive.... you've got a week and a half (there was time when I started writing this!), better to switch NOW than to stay with what ISN'T working.

The first transport is away!

See that rejoicing by the Rebellion when one of them gets away? And it's a flotilla! Conserve your points, guys. Yeah, it's JUST 27 points for Bright Hope Toryn Farr. But that's 27 points your opponent won't have if you can get it out of danger before it dies. You can rejoice in your triumphs after its over, so long as you have triumphs and you have ships leftover. Just make sure you HAVE some. Don't throw your ships away if you can help it. And take your wins when you can.

Rogue group, use your harpoons and tow cables!

Back in the late 1990s, I got a Nintendo 64. And it was AWESOME. Got to play Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, Goldeneye, and most importantly Rogue Squadron, seen in all its beautiful graphics above. I was flying Y-wings and X-wings and sure, A-wings/B-wings, and that V-wing one time (ugh not as cool as anything else, ugh ugh ugh)... but every like third mission, you HAD the choice of Snowspeeder or.... Snowspeeder. It was a walker mission, every time. EVERY TIME. And the controls, as advanced as they were for 1997, were.... mediocre. Listen, I loved the game, but it was mainly because SHTAR WARSH!

Anyways, you had to play the mission to proceed, and you inevitably had to fight like 3 walkers and pull them all down. Just you. I have no idea where my wingmen were, but apparently I was carrying Rogue Squadron in its entirety. Watch out Imperial pilots, John is here! And the aggravating thing is to get the best times and medals and fancy upgrades and all, you had to replay ALL the missions (of course) to get the secrets and best stuff for later use. So inevitably there was one Saturday where I just sat down and started playing walker missions over and over again, to get those best times, in order to never need to play some of them again (rescuing Madine was fun, though...)

Why am I telling you this? Well, there's been tournaments where I've seen people make the wrong call on objectives "because they just played Solar Corona 3 times already." You have to go into each game as fresh as you can, with a fresh perspective. I've won or lost games on objective choice when people look past the Most Wanted and instead choose my Hyperspace Assault instead. They just had a "bad" Most Wanted game, and they don't want to repeat the mistakes, so that's out. Which I personally appreciate. Each game is a new walker/player. How do you take em down?

Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral.

Hahahahaha, ohhhh, the games I've lost and seen lost by people quoting this right before they fly onto one. The minute you say this quote, your deck turns into nothing but Comms Noise and Projector Misaligned. Don't screw yourself over, and watch out for Dodonna, King of Rocks.

Sounds like a great title for a blog!

Yeah, like I'll pass THIS one up. Make sure your ship has an exit strategy or a plan for what you do if it DOES die when you're flying it towards something. If I throw a Raider at an ISD, I better be either aiming for its side arc or jumping it with my first activation next turn. If you slow to speed 1 or 0 and intend to stay there, make sure you CAN get your ship out with a maneuver order next turn, or at the very least a dial. Else you gonna DIE.

I've played against Nathan, I've flown against Eric, I've.... been at the same conventions as JJ (Listen, I haven't fought EVERYONE), and the important thing to remember is that everyone is mortal. People DO make mistakes, and you can't go into games just expecting to lose because of your opponent. End of the day, it's still a fun game of Armada with your space bros, right? Don't treat it as anything different than the dozens or hundreds of games you've already played and it'll work out fine for you. I'd love to claim that some of these guys aren't any different than any other opponent, but if you go in terrified and expecting to lose, you'll end up losing for sure. Don't give them the game from the start. Fly casual.

I'd say it's surprising the amount of wisdom I glean from Muppets, but my life choices indicate otherwise

End of the day, what matters is the win or the loss, the score, and the kill. Did his ISD die? "Well I TRIED-" BOP. Stop. Nope. Did you win? "I came close and-" NO. Do, or do not. Win or die fighting. Play smart or go home. Do what you need to win, or don't and fail. There's nothing else I can say about it. Wars don't make one great, but wins sure do.

Lines I thought of repeatedly while being 4'11" in high school

If you built and know your list right, you can fight Motti Dual ISD. You can fight MSU. You can fight Pryce LMSU, you can fight 2-ship. It doesn't matter what your opponent brings, you just need to know your list can beat it. Don't you mean, "Believe?" What part of "Do or do not" did you miss? The smallest Hammerhead can take out the largest ISD with the right roll and the right set of preconditions. Your job is to get it to those preconditions before the Hammerhead rolls up and slugs it.

Seems legit

And a POWERFUL ally it is

Belief in yourself and your list is the strongest force you have. Knowing what you CAN do and where you CAN go is the best play you have, as your opponent doesn't know it as well as you (barring a mirror match). You've been practicing for some time with your list, commander, and maneuvers. It's time to bring it all together, and faith in yourself is the best thing you can bring with it. The only ally you're getting is what you bring with, and right now? That's the Force, baby. Trust in the fact that you know what you're doing and what you're planning, and you've got a good shot at it all. When you doubt your opponent's list, when you doubt your opponent, when you doubt yourself ... that's when you run into trouble. You can't expect to roll up and win everything and for your opponent to roll over and be dead. You have to have the confidence to go in with the list you know what you're doing with, and you have to believe it's right. If you start to doubt yourself or your list, you're gonna start playing scared and it's gonna affect everything you do and then BAM! You got a ship killed. And then another. You're doubting everything you've ever done and you're DONE. Stop. Breathe. Believe, man. Gotta believe you can win it all, gotta believe you can be at that final table. And believe in yourself. Not in the you who believes in me, not the me who believes in you. Believe in the you who believes in yourself.
This is the important one here. March 28 (Wednesday night) at 7 pm, huge Armada nerd meetup at Bulldogs Bar on Golf Road. 1480 Golf Road, Rolling Meadows, IL. There's also breakfast on Friday at Egg Harbor on American Lane at 8:15. Join us, hang out, chill. We're going to have fun at Worlds, so don't stress out about it, ya know? Plus, you know, breakfast food and alcohol. Ron Swanson would be proud of you. Thank your significant other for letting you spend 2-3 days with your nerd bros playing a game for 8-10 hours every day. And make sure you take them out next weekend, too. After all the prep I've been doing, the girlfriend definitely deserves it....
So, you're losing. You're in a bad spot. Remember that the ending score matters, and if you can salvage SOMETHING from this, that's the right call. Don't run your ships into danger if preserving your loss helps you more. A 3-8 is worth more than a 2-9, even IF his ISD dies or whatever. Running and discretion are sometimes DEFINITELY the smart play there. I know locally I'll play games and then just decide turn 3-4 to turn back into the fray when the smarter plan is to ACTUALLY leave. Make sure you do the right thing at the right time; be it swing back in for the last attack to press your advantage or running to preserve your points. How will you know what the right call is? Figure out the situation and go from there, haha.

Never heard this line before....

Let's talk about the importance of getting things right. The usual quote by the yokels is "Luke, I am your father." And the yokels are WRONG. He says it as above, and it's important to get things right. Similarly, it's important to get it right if you're playing Solar Corona or using Engine Techs. I'll refer you to Eric's multiple REALLY HELPFUL posts on the subjects of the correct ways of using steps . What's the ONE time you're allowed to use Intel Officer? When does Hondo trigger? If it's PART of your fleet, know it's timing and windows backwards and forwards, otherwise the judge is allowed to call you wrong AND refuse to let you use it the way you want to. "That's how we do it back home!" But we aren't there. Add-effects, triggers, timing, know what you're using. If you have questions about anything's timing window, ASK YOUR OPPONENT. Or, if they don't know, CALL FOR THE JUDGE. Don't get yourself screwed because of how you know the rule versus how it ACTUALLY is.

One more pass movie....

One last movie, one last source of inspiration.

Lando is all of us. Or me, one of the two.

Jabba Brasi sleeps with the fishes

When writing this whole series, I've had to craft some bits and make up some others. And while I'll admit to sliiiiightly phoning it in on that Empire one, the Rogue One one and the New Hope ones were pretty enjoyable and I felt impactful. I really don't have much left to say on this one, really, so this one isn't FOR everyone. Largely, it's for me. And I may pick some quotes I DO want to relate them to something Armada-based, I may pick some for their impact on me and my lists, and some I pick because I just enjoy them. But one thing I've enjoyed about Armada IS the fact that I'm willing to run in with some crazy list that may or may not work. I've crafted some.... insane things over the couple of years that I've been playing, but inventing the lists for me is a good chunk of the fun, just picturing the task force or whatever of Admiral Ackbar and 2 ships and squadrons or General Dodonna and 6 different small ships and a Liberty or just WHATEVER. Crafting those lists has been really enjoyable. Seeing how it all comes together is Armada to me.

I wish I had your confidence.

But coming into Worlds is always that same "Holy crap!" feeling as I play a list. I've been playing what I've been bringing for a while, and I've had some good games, some bad, and some mediocre. A lot of our locals have started adapting to my playstyle and they know what to do against me. Last year's list was crafted so late in the process and it all flowed so quickly together. Wave 7 was so new then! And now we've had it for a year! The meta has changed so much, with nothing new released! What the heck am I doing, how do I handle Coward Raddus or Bob Barker or any of the dominant archetypes? Good ol' anxiety/imposter syndrome, always ready to show up whenever I don't want it.

Going to give it you, X is.

The thing I've had to....let's say realize about myself is that in order to WIN Worlds, I'ma need about 45 million things to go my way. I honestly ain't sure if my list (or is it me?) is going to take it all the way. I've played against some of the GREAT Armada players and talked to several of the others. It's weird being able to name-drop Truthiness and Nathan on here, who won freaking US Nationals and Worlds last year, respectively. JJ and I recognized each other at GenCon last year, which was really more a confidence builder on my end than I assume his, haha. And I'm over here making Muppets jokes, which, uhhh, yeah, sure, seat at the table. I HONESTLY don't know if I'm making it to that top table, but I'm going to fight like **** to get there. And that's really all we can say about ourselves, right?

One thing remains... you must confront Vader. Only then a Jedi will you be.

I do believe at some point we're all going to hit that BAD matchup. And I've hit mine once or twice and had to try to crawl out of it from there. I don't want to face my problems, but if I don't, I'm going to be anxious about it the whole **** time. The minute I run into that one it's gonna be BAD, but I'll do all I can to try to pull myself out of it. I don't really have another option, do I? And we've all got that bad matchup. It's just going to be a matter of luck to not hit it multiple rounds in a row, of course. Gulp.

Luke's cousin, Braydienne

I have nothing to say here. But we all know why I'm posting this quote, right? Great, moving on.


I honestly don't know if I'm making it back to Worlds next year. It requires winning a Regionals, which, doable, but I may have to give up Leia (Gasp! Shock! Horror! Etc!) I'm not sure if I'm putting this quote here to describe me potentially leaving Worlds behind or leaving Leia behind. That's.... an interesting state to be in, that's for sure. I have some fun goofy lists to play and hang out with over the next month or so in recovery, of course, but then I've got GenCon coming up soon enough, too.... Hoo boy. Well, let's call those "Later Worries" and just rock what I can for now. If this be my final Worlds, gotta make the most of it. Which means hanging out with everyone I can, of course.

He'll turn this shuttle around!

Just keep repeating the mantra over to yourself over and over again. It's a LOT easier than stressing about every turn and every click and dice roll and scaring yourself half to death just based on what COULD have happened and all. Panic leads to fear leads to anger leads to ragequitting. It's JUST a game of Armada between you and your bros, how bad could it be, haha? I already went through the gauntlet that was GenCon last year, I don't think anything could be worse (draws into 4 Canadians in a row). Crazy plan that might work if things go right? Potentially insane idea that somehow works out? I know what I AM as a player, and I know how to apply that to my listbuilding and gameplay. I would never run something untested/something that doesn't interest me, so why would YOU do it? Is winning Worlds the brutal way worth it to you? "Two ship wins, so I play it" isn't a sentiment I can get behind. If that's you, more power to you, but I'm going to be doing my best to knock you down and ensure I can get them points. Almost as important to me as knowing your list is knowing YOURSELF, as forgetting THAT isn't worth a win in my mind.

Your faith in your friends is yours!

I've got to have faith in my list and in myself. I don't know what the future holds, and apparently not even the Emperor did, for that matter (he fell down an elevator shaft. Onto some space bullets). But I have to TRY (as Luke said on the moon about bringing Vader back to the light). We all have to believe in ourselves and in what we're doing, even if it eventually was an incorrect choice. I believe in my list, in my friends, and in myself. I'm not overconfident, but I have faith in my ships, squads, and my own abilities. The only way to fight anxiety is to accept it and roll with it. And I'm prepared to roll.

Move as close as you can and engage those Star Destroyers at point blank range!

I don't plan on running. I didn't come to Worlds to run for 6 rounds, and I didn't come here to not engage. On the off-chance that I DO get into finals, I plan on engaging. It'll depend on what they choose and if I'm first or second, of course, but if I play 7 games, I'm not running. I just need to kill more of you than I lose of me, and it's worth every shot to do it. That's the OTHER part that makes Armada for me. I didn't come to Worlds to lose with grace, I came here to win with STYLE. You bring 2-ship, I'm going for the throat.

AKA: And the space horse you rode in on!

So quick detour before we get there. When I've been writing these articles, I've generally had the laptop open, writing the quotes down as the movie goes on and coming back later to write up a thought or two on them all. But for Jedi, right about midway through, I put the laptop down and just grabbed them if I loved the quote. Jedi was always my favorite movie. Why did I watch the Special Editions? Because it's MY Star Wars. I remember going to the movies 4 times as a kid. First, Hook, because that was the literal first movie I remember seeing as a kid. The theater had like candy dispensors... anyways, nostalgia. I remember watching Jurassic Park because my sister and I were screaming most of the movie (those things looked REAL, man). And I remember New Hope and Jedi. Jedi came out on my birthday in 1997, I remember, and we were there that weekend. I don't hate the edits and blah blah blah because they WERE the Star Wars I knew and all growing up. I got the Special Edition VHSes, and that's what I remember. I saw the Originals eventually, and I've made my mind up about liking some things, keeping others, etc. Star Wars was my life growing up. Why would I pick something different than what made me the nerd I am today?

And it was that love of the movie and Star Wars and everything about it all that brought me back. The enjoyment of Star Wars (all 10 movies, so cram it, haters), Armada, my friends, my stupid list and my stupid hipster streak that's going to get me screwed over at some point, but I'm still fighting against it. Leia's a bad Admiral? MSU is dead? I aim to disprove you of that notion. And I'll be aiming for your flagship as I do. I'm a Leia player. Obligatory there's dozens of us joke, but we'll mess you UP.
But what does it all MEAN? The other reason I went Special Edition is that I like the new ending song more than the Yub-Yub one. Blasphemy to you, but here we are. See again about growing up with the Special Edition. And the thing that always stuck with me was the Endor celebration. The new song is wistful but fun.

I need to use Wedge more.

And just watching Lando describe to Chewie the maneuver he pulled in the Falcon, Luke greeting Wedge after the time apart, and Han and Lando hugging as old friends who just LIVED THROUGH IT, MAN.
That's Star Wars, that's Armada, and that's Worlds to me. Old friends getting together and celebrating each other and their achievements and just.... FUN. That's everything, man. I can't wait to start this all up again, and in the spirit of Minnesota and Kirby Puckett.... we'll see you tomorrow night!