Red Four To Command
Playing board games on a starfighter
If you read my post last week, you saw that I’m working on my own, totally canon Star Wars comic. (it’s a bootleg. Don’t tell Marvel.)
Space combat stuff in Star Wars is the best. When I was younger, I would always go back and forth between the Jedi and the spaceships trying to choose which one I liked most. Do I want to be a laser-sword wielding wizard or a hot-shot pilot roaming the galaxy? That was the extent of my worries as an eight-year-old. Now that I am an entirely mature adult (kidding), the space combat and ship design aspects of Star Wars have risen to the top. It was very fun implementing starfighters into this scene. This page is mostly done with the exception of doing the last bits of lettering.
The concept of a reader’s time spent on a page has always been funny to me. This space battle page may have taken me three days to complete, but the reader will usually breeze by the images in a blink of an eye. I wish there could be some kind of hologram that pops off the page with artist stats like “time taken to complete” just to let the average reader know that this stuff doesn’t appear out of thin air. Idea generation, planning, writing, layout, penciling, inking, coloring, lettering - it’s a whole lotta stuff!
Onitama: A Game of Kicks and Punches
Here’s a different sort of recommendation for you this week. My fiancé and I have been playing boards regularly for the past couple of years and we have some favorites. We tend to gravitate to simple games that have a tremendous amount of strategy once the basic rules are set. Onitama does this greatly, and it has quickly risen to the top five of our go-to game list.
First off, the theme is awesome. The players assume the role of a warring martial arts clan designated by red and blue game pieces. The object of the game is to move along the game board strategically taking out enemy fighters. You win by either taking out the enemy’s master piece or by moving your own master piece to the enemy’s base. It’s similar to chess in objectives, but the real strategy is in using the various cards of the game to either move on the board stealthily or strike down your opponent. The result is a highly intense and fun game. You quickly realize how important each decision is once you get a couple turns in.
We have two expansions for the game but have not dug into them yet. They look fun, but the base game is great as is. The added bonus is that the game features lovely artwork. A-plus for me. You should definitely check it out!
I’ll leave you with a pic of my pup, Alfred, stalking his prey. And by prey I mean a second bowl of kibble.
Have a good one!
Thanks for your time,
Nico