arts // no. 8

Image by Ed Appleby

Chairman of the Board:
The game awakens

» ‘Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game’ review

Ed Appleby
Illustrator

Oz thing you learn early

on in your experience
playing board games—usually
when youre being thoroughly
destroyed at Monopoly by an older
cousin—is that you don't have to
be good at a game to enjoy it.

Game is a battle strategy game
for 2-4 players designed and
published by Fantasy Flight
Games in 2012. Players pilot
space ships for either the Rebel
Alliance or the Galactic Empire,
going through a sequence of
move-then-attack referred to as
the Flightpath system. You can

: only attack enemy ships when

: they’re within your firing arc,

: so you need to manoeuvre your
: ships strategically. There are

: many scenarios, but the game

: almost always boils down to

: a “last team standing” goal.

I cannot emphasize enough

: how bad I amat this game.

: Anyone who has experience with
: tactical miniature games—be

: they traditional war games

Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures : or more fantasy-based games
: such as Warhammer—uwill

: see the pedigree in X-Wing.

Once you move past the

: first scenario and start building

: ships to fight each other in space,

: the game starts to drag in the

: planning phase. Even though

: there are a very limited number of
: ships to choose from, the number

: of pilots and modifications can
: draw out the setup phase to the
: point where it takes significantly
: longer than the gameplay itself.

If Star Wars isn’t your thing,

: there are also Star Trek and

: Dungeons and Dragons versions of
: the game, which also use the same
: Flightpath system. I don’t know

: if the games could be combined,

: but since the rules are basically

; the same I wouldn‘ be surprised.

The game itself is a nice

: alternative to traditional

: miniature war gaming, which can
: get very expensive once you start
: to expand the number of figures

: you have. Even so, if you want

: to get into X-Wing, you might

: want to invest in an organizer

: or tool box to keep all of the

: figures you accrue over time.

 

Sunny, swordplay, and secrets

» ‘Into the Badlands’ pilot review

Lauren Paulsen
Senior Columnist

Wee I first looked at

Into the Badlands, the
story intrigued me, but I wasn’t
expecting much. Badlands is

set in the future, after a war-
decimated humanity. Guns were
outlawed, so fighting now occurs
with swords. Sunny (Daniel Wu)
is known as a Clipper, someone
who kills people for his Baron

in this feudal-like future. Sunny
saves a boy named M. K. (Aramis
Knight), who harbors a secret
and may also be able to lead
Sunny out of the Badlands.

I was pleasantly surprised
with the first episode. The plot
ended up having more depth
than I expected, and I thought
the fighting scenes were really
well done. Sunny, of course,
hasn't had a scratch laid on him

: as of yet, which might seem a tad
: unbelievable. The choreography
: of the swordplay is absolutely

: beautiful, and it was even what

: led me to check the show out

: after seeing it in a trailer.

Something else that I really

: liked was the setting of the poppy :
: plantation where Sunny’s Baron

: (Marton Csokas) resides. Despite
: the dark reasons behind the

: poppy plantation, the fields are a

: beautiful sea of red. Interestingly
: enough, I recognized the fields,

   

Phto by James Dimmock/AMC

: giant wall, and mansion of

: the plantation from another

: movie I had seen. I couldn't

: remember which one it was,

: but some digging revealed that
: it is the same poppy plantation
: used in Django Unchained.

I’m glad that I gave Into

: the Badlands a try, as it has

: proven to be better than I was
expecting. I look forward to

: watching the story develop

: over the following episodes.

MIKE CAREY
PETER GROSS
the
UNWé
Book Csr: *
A

TOMMY TAYLOR AND
THE BOGUS IDENTITY

af

  

 

theotherpress.ca

      

 

“Heatly recommended.”

—fran K. Waugtan, ¥ THE LAST MAM

Cover art by Peter Gross via Panels

Comic Corner: Magic
isnt always chocolate
frogs and butter beer

» ‘The Unwritten Vol.

1: Tommy Taylor

and the Bogus Identity’ review

 

Brittney MacDonald :
' Life & Style Editor
Mlifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca

66000

Ww you are preparing
any publication for
release, there has to bea certain :
level of shelf appeal—that
element that makes the cover
interesting enough to have

a reader actually pick it up

and buy it. The problem with
picking books based off of shelf
appeal is that, more often than
not, youll end up disappointed.
The Unwritten is an exception. I
picked it up based purely on the
fact that it has an interesting
cover, and I must say it’s
probably one of the best graphic
novels I have read all year.

What would you do if you
were the real-life Harry Potter?
Apparently be hounded by fans,
and remain bitter that your
novelist father ever based his
amazingly popular character,
Tommy Taylor the boy-wizard,
after you. For regular guy Tom:
Taylor that has been his life—at
least until it’s suddenly revealed :

that his father’s tales might have
been a little less than fictional.
Story-wise, the narrative

by Mike Carey is amazing.

leven hesitated a bit in
writing the synopsis because
| was worried | might give

: something away. Carey’s world
: blends fiction with reality,

: creating an interesting and

: complex comment on the

: burgeoning genre of meta-

: fiction while remaining

: entertaining and easy to read.

Artistically, the bookisa

little all over the place, but that’s
: nota bad thing. Illustrated by
: Peter Gross, The Unwritten is

: traditional in that it features

: heavy inks and simple colours.
> But aesthetically, it also shifts

: between being highly detailed
: in more serious or focused

: moments (as directed by the

: narrative) and being very

: simple in more humorous

: situations. This causes the plot
: and the illustrations to seem

: to develop a co-dependence

: that all graphic novels

: should strive to achieve.

As for my recommendation:

: this one is a definite must-read.