adieu, 2021...

It's a gray, dreary December 31st here in Washington, D.C. Seems appropriate somehow for 2021 to end this way. Four years ago when I wrote the last 'year in review' post I was upbeat in restarting my gaming hobby. Well... let's just say it didn't go as planned! I may have played two games this year, though, I'm not certain it wasn't 2020 when I played them. The first was a remote game of Habet! Hoc Habet! and the second was a solo Palaeo Diet game to suss out the rules--which I like. Honestly though, remote gaming is not for me. With my diminished sight and hearing, remote games just become exercises in frustration! Solo gaming is OK but I must admit I don't much care for my opponent. He always interprets the rules in his favor!

bears with me a little longer...

Reaper Miniatures is not a company I've been familiar with. To be honest, I couldn't tell you how I ended up perusing their catalog of figures. Probably in my search for figures of generic 'critters' to be used in 'Palaeo Diet'. Sure enough, I found the aforementioned rats and pugs but also a terrific 'Dire Bear' and a Mammoth. I also purchased a cyclops to go with my Trojan War figures and a sphynx more in line with the Greek myth of Oedipus rather than the architectural Egyptian version. Those will get painted later. Meanwhile I didn't want the paleolithic figures to languish in the painting queue.

While painting the bear I realized... I have more big bears than I ever thought I'd need!

Interestingly enough, the two darker bears in the picture above are 54mm figures from the old Italeri gladiator set. The other three, while considerably larger, are ostensibly 28mm though they do depict ancient species.

And to give a better sense of scale... I think this poor guy is in for a spot of trouble! Oh, bother!

a little progress comes to the stone age...

Proof that I've been productive this week. These are plastic figures manufactured by Reaper. I thought they'd work well as 'critters' in Palaeo Diet, Eat or Be Eaten. A pack of angry pugs seems appropriate the spirit of the rules! (The Neanderthals are from Acheson Creations.)