My erstwhile companion Grabark has gone to The Wilds with his clan, and at last word he is still alive and apparently he is severely mistreating crabs.

In preparation for this ElfQuest of his we put together a couple strips, but he has had something bounding around in his head for a while that he wanted to put down in firmer form. He calls this creature a "Dobber," or maybe its name is Dobber, and he drew the shit out of it. Come back on Monday, when we will sunder social conventions by leaving the napkin on the table as opposed to putting it on our lap. Or, talk about Transformers. Probably the second one.

- Warmachine Tactics just hit Early Access, and the UI needs love, but interface chrome is something the game its based on excels at and the art is already fucking sick. This isn't tabletop Warmachine: there's no grid on the table, which makes it fuzzy until you develop "a very particular set of skills." When I did my "Upkeep" in Tactics - a pre-turn, resource allocation phase that is way more exciting than it sounds - I saw how powerful some of these concepts could be in a more explicit system, and forgave them their heresies. My hope is that this gets people on the table, optimally with a brush in their hand, but there's so much meat on these bones that I mostly just want people to know about it. I want them to see what I see.

I wondered about the price, until I remembered that was the minimum Kickstarter pledge to get Beta Access, back when the campaign was running. I think they felt, rightly, that it was best to honor their stalwarts. But the "Early Access" version also magically transforms into the "Deluxe Edition" upon release, with a whole extra faction and fancy-pants extra units for the four already in there. In a game where force composition is a huge part of the strategy, trust me. You want this stuff.

- I am being harangued, HARANGUED I tell you, to draw attention to the Catlateral Damage Kickstarter. Which I have been meaning to do anyway, so I don't mind too much. Apparently all you have to do is remind me five times in two weeks, and you can have your heart's desire. I play the demo with my daughter on my knee, and our only real problem is that it's a demo and not the greater, unfolding thing it deserves to be.

(CW)TB out.