Boy! Those seven days just passed by in a blur! It’s already blog time again! Let me see what blogginess I have to blog today as I talk about the week that was and the week that will be.

It feels weird not having flashbacks to draw. I did draw the third strip for the new Bandits feature. That’s my usual buffer so I’m good to go. The last flashback goes up this Friday. The Pickle Patch Bandits take over Fridays starting next week! They’ve been around for a while, but I’m still trying to get a handle on how to draw Wilson and Clive (the pig and the rooster). Nolan looks just like Tomaw, so I’ve got him mostly figured out. There might be some unevenness as the strips move along. I suspect that the feature will run through a good portion of 2015 at least so there will be room for experimentation. No doubt the later strips will look better than the earlier ones (or at least I hope they will).

I bought Imperial Assault over the weekend. It’s the latest Star Wars board game release from Fantasy Flight Games. Greatly influenced by their Descent line of games, it’s a scenario-based campaign style game where one player controls the Imperial faction against a group of up to four players running Rebel characters. There are mission objectives for both sides which will be used to determine the winning side. This in turn will determine what the next story mission will be. With side missions thrown in the mix, you can theoretically play through the campaign several times and not play the same missions. Expansion packs will only add to the replay value. It looks like a lot of fun and I can’t wait to bring it to the gaming table. If all goes well, that will be this Saturday.

Originally I went out looking for the new Skylanders adventure packs but stops at Toys R Us, EB Games and Target were all fruitless. Then on Saturday I got a message from a friend who said he found them at Microplay. That was a kick to the gut since I had no way to get out there that day. I might have a lead on getting them. If not, I hope they’ll still be available when I get the chance to go. Trap Team has been more difficult to keep up with compared to previous games. That said, I’m already curious about what’s next for the franchise. The tech introduced in each game has been fascinating and it’s hard to conceive how they can top themselves.

Okay, that’s all the blog I’ve got in me for this week. Have a good seven and we’ll do it all again next Monday! Carja V.