I didn’t mean to taunt Gabriel by not taking his advice on The Mandalorian, but Metal King Studios just put out an official mod for their incredible skirmish campaign wargame Relicblade in Tabletop Simulator and it’s the most important thing that’s ever happened.

I didn’t end up using his credentials, I used my own, because I subscribed to it. I wouldn’t have. I sorta wanted to know if it was even possible to not buy it, and I was good for several days, but it was only a dollar addition to my particular Hulu sub. I guess I hadn’t followed that particular neck all the way back to its body.

I can’t say what show The Mandalorian is, the thing it most clearly references, without it being a spoiler. And I’d rather not spoil it. If you don’t know, I envy you. “My” Star Wars was always heavily influenced by tie-in media, the Expanded Universe as it is called, most of which was foreclosed by the Disney Acquisitions until such time as they want to delight the stalwart. Thrawn is an example. But there’s a couple nods to Republic Commando here, the books as opposed to the games, though obviously they’re connected - and the work of Karen Traviss, who did the most to embroider Mandalorians as a coherent cultural entity. It did my heart good. In new Star Wars, weirdly, the sequels are the least effective portion of the offering - but movies like Rogue One and Solo show the kind of breadth the setting can have. The Mandalorian is a welcome addition; a injection of frontier pragmatism in a galaxy routinely set ablaze by space wizards.

Ryan Hartman and I started streaming on Mondays specifically to do Hearthstone, but it gets used for cards in general these days - Slay The Spire is probably the Overall Time Played champ. But I think that new Battlegrounds mode for Hearthstone - one that situates it in the Autio Chess genre - might get it back in rotation, at least for a stream or two. Of course, he also has his Pokemon campaign to attend to. Which will win out?! Come see us at 2pm PDT to find out.

Oh! I feel like we just put up our Twentieth Anniversary stuff in the store, but, uh… Penny Arcade is apparently now twenty-one today. Please adjust your records accordingly.

(CW)TB out.