Here I am measuring an Imperial Royal Guard from the core set of Imperial Assault. My micrometer is zeroed and I a go from the base to his visor slot, the reading is 33.89mm. I opted for the Imperial Guard as he his standing at attention and there is nothing to indicate in Star Wars Canon or EU that they are taller than normal humans.

Here we see the Imperial Assault Stormtrooper compared to a Ral Partha 25mm Stormtrooper which measures 24.78mm from the top of the base to his eyes. So obviously, Star Wars Legion is going to be considerably bigger than 28mm let alone 25mm. 

Broken Infinity by JaceRockland on DeviantArt.

Not that long ago somebody told me that game X is more about role playing than game Y because it is not mired in hack n slash. This is fundamentally incorrect for a very simple reason...the GM dictates how much combat or role playing there is going to be in any game session...with ample assistance from the players mind you. The preconceived notion that a game designer is going to dictate what sort of game is played is absolute balderdash (thank you Thesaurus.com). I can run a session of James Bond 007 and have it be based on an episode of X-Files, even though the system is not intentionally designed for that.

If you want Shakespeare in the park, there is absolutely nothing standing in your way...beyond the players at the table. I have had sessions of AD&D where a blade was never drawn and mad kings were deposed. It became snobbishly in vogue to proclaim that game X was more about role playing with the rise of independent game companies, a favorite past time of many of the denizens of RPG.net. This became very prominent after the peak of D20 OGL, as a sort of backlash to "the one game to rule them all" mentality of Ryan Dancey.  As with any sort of propaganda though the more people shouted it the more it has become accepted as fact...sadly. 

People all too often get caught up in the "Fords are better than Chevys" sort of chest thumping, that they fail to recognize that they are flying down the road at 55mph! Imagine 200 years ago, the average person lived their lives never having traveled farther than 20 miles from their birthplace. Which in the evolutionary scheme of things is quite remarkable for a species.

I do not advocate one style of gaming as superior to another...I do advocate gaming though!

Not that long ago Wil Wheaton was on the Nerdist (click here), Mansplain to us how and who ruined Star Wars. 

*short pause while you check out the video*

Speaking only for myself, it goes something like this...

I really liked Rey as a character. I think that Daisy Ridley did a fine job with the material that she was given.
Finn was another great character and John Boyega also did a fine job portraying him. After all, Finn was the first Stormtrooper to find the droid that he was looking for!

BB-8 stole a lot scenes...funny how a character that didn't have dialog could get their point across so well.

With that said...

There are some pretty glaring problems with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo...is NO Darth Vader...he isn't even qualified to be Vader's shadow.  A petulant, teeth gnashing angst ridden brat and oh so deserving to be bitch slapped.

General Bendrol Hux is at best a watered down version of Grand Mof Wilhufff Tarkin, even that seems really generous.

Starkiller Base...because the first two Death Stars were SO successful the First Order needed to duplicate their success? Really?

The energy blast from Starkiller Base that can be seen throughout the Galaxy...that relies on hyperspace tunneling? When was the last time we saw a star ship traveling through hyperspace...from a real space perspective???

The Alliance having their fleet all in orbit to be easily destroyed. Really, I thought ships did this thing called patrolling to project power, keep the peace, and engage enemies like the First Order???

General Leia forgetting Chewbacca and giving Rey a hug after Han's death...I really shouldn't have to Mansplain this to Wil Wheaton.

The Alliance isn't the Resistance...huh? WTF!?! If you have to tell me a crap load of stuff so that I can understand the movie you have FAILED movie making 101...SHOW don't tell!

These are problems with the villains who are meant to challenge and contrast the heroes. When they are little more than soggy cardboard cutouts the movie has a problem that even stunning FX cannot conceal. Visually, the movie is very impressive sadly it falls prey to an array of "Refrigerator Logic" (or "Icebox" scenes for you Hitchcock fans) issues. None of which have anything to do with Rey or Finn...sorry Wil...better luck next time.

I have heard it lamented that the death knell to tabletop role-playing games was the coming of WoW. Never again will tabletop rpgs be mainstream, that in essence we are a graying market doomed to be consigned to the grave.

While I doubt tabletop rpgs will ever be mainstream again, if you take a look at where the game industry is today it has never been as vibrant or diverse. There are obviously a number of contributing factors to that, all of them revolving around technological advancements. Which is why I have a tough time lamenting the rise of video games as it is dependent upon the same tech which has benefited the average gamer.

Read that last line again...which has benefited the average gamer. Please take care to note that I am not stating game companies, game stores or game distributors have benefited, especially those that cling to the traditional industry model. The three tiered game industry is dying a slow and painful death. Change can be scary and at the same point in time offer up huge opportunities for small companies to come along and challenge the status quo. That competition has led to huge innovations be it from POD (Print On Demand), PDFs, to laser cut terrain and 3D modeling for miniatures. The next big thing...3D Printing is already starting to be seen in the game industry.

All of which leads to the real question...are video games a threat to tabletop gaming?

It comes down to how a person is going to devote their free time...which is the real limiting factor. There are those occasions where I feel like playing some Skyrim and other times I want to play a session of Pathfinder. They satiate two completely different desires in terms of gaming experience though. Video games, even ones as open ended as Skyrim are tightly scripted with a limited number of outcomes and lack any real social interaction. Tabletop rpgs are heavily reliant on the presence of a motivated and skilled game master, without which a session will normally be in trouble. However, tabletop rpgs offer extemporaneous story development to a degree that even the GM will routinely be surprised by the end result.

Where tabletop rpgs and video games will intersect...is when we have virtual 3D environments that support a reliable and robust voip (Voice Over IP). It will be an extension of something along the lines of the Skyrim Creation Kit, with 3rd party content for buildings, terrain, monsters and audio components that can be plugged into a GM's virtual adventure. The open ended design of a Skyrim with mind numbing vistas and FX and the extemporaneous dialog between individuals in real time.

As such, I do NOT begrudge video games their success because I believe we need that success to get to where we need to be technologically for the next step in gaming!

The other day I contacted Jason Nelson at Legendary Games to ask if there were plans to make Legendary Swashbucklers available as a Hero Lab packet. I could go into great length to inform you how much I like Legendary Swashbucklers...however...the fact that I want to basically purchase their product a second time should be enough of a tell.

I digress, Jason got back to me (in a very timely fashion) and sadly informed me that while he would love to offer Legendary Games products as Hero Lab packets that Lone Wolf Development prefers to add only big chunks to their system. So, if Jason did a big compilation of material, Lone Wolf would be willing to consider making it into a Hero Lab packet. It was expressed to Jason that...

"apparently the amount of work needed to make things work with their system without lagging the system is more than it is worth to add small supplements to it one at a time."

If one were to take that on face value it would lead...this one...to believe that Hero Lab is not optimally coded. Or one...might...interpret this that Hero Lab is some sort of de facto gate keeper...ensuring that only a chosen few get into the kingdom.

Neither premise casts Lone Wolf Development in the best light and leaves me yet again asking a game company to take my money already.

To their credit...Lone Wolf does a great job at updating Hero Lab and the learning curve is actually very good for that program. Unfortunately the ability to add material by the end user has always been...problematic.

For those who would grab a handful of monkey poo and throw it at me...I would point out that DM Genie was a much more transparent and flexible program that did far more than Hero Lab (back in 2004). Even more impressive was that DM Genie, to my knowledge, was a one man show. In this day and age I find it frustrating that a useful program is limited to a handful of content producers for a game system that is so popular like Pathfinder.

There should be a solution that facilitates the taking of my money!