January Update: Anne's Miniature Assembly Challenge Results

I joined Anne's 2026 Miniature Assembly Challenge near the beginning of January with the aim of building enough Frostgrave gnolls for the second mission, converting some MESBG Rangers of Gondor into Dunedain, and possibly building a couple more minis. 

How did I do?

Assemble miniatures, gnolls, a ranger, and two different rangers

Well I managed ten more gnolls, more than enough, but it finished off the sprues. 

I also built an extra Ranger, nominally for T'Other One to use when we tackle the second mission.

Dunedain

The Dunedain were less successful; I finished two, but they were more work than I anticipated. 

Two converted Dunedain

both with backpacks

I wanted them to look sufficiently different to the Rangers of Gondor, so I decided to do away with any masks, shift the quiver to the hip, remove the sort of tabard thing and add extra equipment.  This was inspired by the official miniatures from GW. 

Alas I didn't take any pictures of them prior to converting them, but you can find plenty of pictures online if you're interested. 

The masked head on the firing ranger was removed with a razor saw and replaced with a bare head from (I think) the Frostgrave Soldiers sprue. I used quivers from the Oathmark Human Infantry sprue and concealed the mess made by removing the back quivers with Frostgrave backpacks etc.

I filled in the gaps with a 50-50 greenstuff and milliput mix, and made some attempt at showing the straps, but it's not perfect. 

I didn't complete the required nine Dunedain, and never started on the Dark Emissary I'll need for Boðvoc's Dark Shadows campaign, but even so I'm pleased.  I've got plenty to paint in February for Dave Stone's Paint What You Got Challenge. 

I missed the target for several reasons.  The Rangers were far trickier than anticipated (and I realised that I was short of four minis anyway). I've also been busy playing a lot of music, which has been glorious (Renaissance town bands and verse anthems among others), but hasn't helped assemble anything. 

If Anne runs the challenge again next year,  I certainly want to take part. 

And a Show

I did manage to get to York Wargames Society's Vapnatak on 1st February.  

My haul was modest, but useful. 

Vapnatak haul

I picked up five more Rangers of Gondor, so that's one excuse gone (see above). Seven monotone Skaven,  in case I ever get around to Vengeance of the Lichemaster (the seller threw in a skeleton missing it's slotta base,  but that's not a problem. 

I also got a selection of the old WotC prepainted Star Wars minis. 

Apart from the second hand stuff I got some more d10 dice for games of Warlords of Erehwon. 

Warlords of Erehwon, the Map of Albion (Dark Shadows Preliminary Game)

Boðvoc and I played the first game in our Dark Shadows campaign.  To get us a bit more used to the rules and how to use our armies we played a preliminary game where both sides raced to get a map to the mysterious isle of Albion. 

Boðvoc used his tin cans dwarves and I used my new undead. 

The Scenario 

As host, and campaign organiser, Boðvoc came with a suitable scenario: both sides were trying to find a thief who had stolen a chart showing a safe route to the mysterious (and misty) Isle of Albion. 

Six tokens represent possible hiding places for the thief, a unit contacting a token reveals it, with a 1 in 6 cumulative chance it will be the thief with chart. 

We each had 500 points, which doesn't buy a lot of dwarves.  My secret weapon was a Carrion Beast, which you can see painted in the previous post. I thought something fast would prove useful grabbing objectives. 

Apologies if the following focuses more on the undead than the dwarves, you can read Boðvoc's account over on his blog.

The Field of Conflict 

The battlefield was suitably busy; ideal for this sort of skirmish. Cliffs blocked the far end if the table, as seen on the photos  -  these were actually the old modular plastic hills from Citadel stood on their side! A track leads along the length of the battlefield to a couple of fields and a farm house, with a hedge extending the line of the track.  A couple of low hills flank the hedge near the centre of the table,  and a couple of woods and a large hill dominate the near end of the table. 

There are a couple of boggy areas, near the cliffs and at the end of the hedge, and minor ruins scattered around. 

Objective tokens were placed in both bogs, both fields, one of the woods and on the rocky hill. 

The undead moved on from the left and the dwarves from the right. 

Opening Moves 

Once both sides had deployed it was clear that most of the action would be over near the cliffs. 

The two sides face off

Initially, both sides moved forward towards the objectives. Makhar boosted the skeleton spears, increasing their number to nine, otherwise it was simply a case of making progress towards the objectives.

Two turns in

The dwarven archers occupied the nearby woods.  They searched in vain, no sign of either thief or chart.

Makhar climbed the hill with his bodyguard.  No sign of the chart here either.  He took advantage of his position to inflict a Chill Wind on the dwarven axe troops, killing four.

The zombies shambled forwards, keen to feast on dwarf. To their left, the skeletons advanced into the field. Hiding in the crops was the thief, and, more importantly,  the sea chart.

Over near the cliffs the Carrion Beast circled round and dropped a rock on Amlodi.  The dwarf hid behind his beer barrel, one of his drinking chums was less fortunate. 

The action hots up, the chart is in bony hands

Main Battle

Shaken by the loss of one of his guard ("he owed me a pint"), Amlodi Forkbeard did little more than check his beer barrel for leaks.

The skeletons withdrew from the field, accompanied by a nervous rogue clutching the map. 

The dwarven infantry moved up, hoping to catch the skeletons with the prize, while the zombies shuffled ever closer.

Makhar scrambled down the hill and caught the dwarven guard in another chill wind, but they were made of sterner stuff and largely shrugged it off. They were less fortunate when the Carrion Beast dropped rocks on them, losing one of their number. 

The dwarven archers shot at Makhar and his bodyguard,  but caused no casualties. 

The undead take shots at the dwarves who desperately chase the the map

The Carrion Beast continued it's bombardment of the dwarf guard, taking out another, as did Makhar's Chill Wind. Seeing the skeletons withdraw with the chart, the necromancer decided to make the dwarves pay for their presumption. Hopefully it would delay any attempt at dwarven expansion into Albion. He ordered the zombies to charge the dwarven guard.  Despite acquitting themselves well, the dwarves were spent from their previous casualties and broke, the survivors fleeing the battlefield. 

The dwarven axes then charged the remaining zombies to avenge their kin and wiped them out. 

Desultory shooting from both lots of archers caused no casualties, but both sides suffered somewhat (a pin each).

The Dwarven Guard have gone to the Halls of the Stone Ancestors, the zombies are destroyed, and neither side's archers are up to much

End Phase 

The dwarven archers crouched down in confusion (failed Order test). Both Makhar and the Carrion Beast slew a dwarven axe, but the dwarves had the effrontary to charge the necromancer.

Dwarven axes vs Makhar and his guard

One of Makhar's bodyguard was smashed to bits by the axes of the dwarves,  but their earlier casualties caused them to break. They kept their discipline,  and withdrew in good order.

The skeleton spears continued their withdrawal,  keeping the chart safe.

Gradual whittling down of both sides

The undead gradually retreat.  Makhar tries a final blast of Chill Wind on the remaining dwarven axes, but they shrug off the effects. 

With no way of catching the skeletons with the chart, and unwilling to risk more dwarven lives (according to some, because his beer barrel had sprung a leak), Amlodi Forkbeard sounded the retreat. 

The Chart is safe in Makhar's hands

Well that was a hugely enjoyable game. I did wonder what Boðvoc has done to upset the dice gods: his luck, especially to begin with, was shocking.  Amlodi failing a Command test when he needed a 9 or less, for example.

Conversely, my rolling was good, especially early on, and I managed to cast every spell, though not always terribly effectively. 

It was my first game using my undead, though I did face them when T'Other One squashed my orcs with them back in November. I was pleasantly pleased with their performance, though a lot of the success was down to avoiding the dwarves.  The scenario helped a lot here, I'm sure I'd have struggled in a straight up fight. 

The Carrion Beast seemed very powerful, essentially being untouchable, as it stayed away from any dwarven missiles.  I predict a lot more archers and rangers, and probably some magical support in the dwarven lines in the future.  

What's Next?

The next scenario is The Mists Recoil, actually the first one in the original campaign.  It's an odd one, designed for individual skirmishing minis using a  system akin to Mordheim. It pits boats full of attackers trying to land opposed by three war machines and a tiny garrison. 

We'll not be trying to do individual minis; so far we are looking at the three war machines and 200 points of undead against 600 points of dwarves in boats.  This may change of course. 

I need an undead champion to lead my skeleton crew, fortunately I've already got one part painted.  I've also got some Grenadier war machine crew, and a complete Skull Chucker catapult.  I'm looking out for potential war machines for the crew, or perhaps some scratch building?

At some point I must paint a banner for the Fantasy Lords standard bearer I painted in December.  Boðvoc has a Spoils chart, and my undead got a magic banner granting Command 10 to all units within 10".

Citadel Carrion Painted

I finished this lovely Oldhammer mini in December, but I've kept it secret until I could surprise Bodvoc with it in our first Dark Shadows game (more on this in an upcoming post).

Initially I thought the mini fairly dull.  To be honest, pretty much just all vulture feathers and flesh, and a black robed mini skelly didn't inspire me.  Looking for inspiration online showed lots of images of nearly black minis with very little else to grab the eye.  I dragged it out of the unpainted undead pile because I wanted something fast and flappy for my army.

As I looked closer I appreciated the details, its a nasty, rotting smelly corpse that still flies.  It has patches of wing missing any feathers, the leathery skin still allows flight.  There are areas where flesh and skin are missing completely, the neck is exposed down to the spine, and the head is mostly bare skull and beak.  Even the underneath has the organs exposed, along with a couple of ribs.

I don't think I've done it justice, but I've had fun trying.

Undead bird after your chips!

Flap flap flap

I'm sure those should be on the inside

I really enjoyed painting this beast, hopefully it was a pleasant surprise for Bodvoc as it strafed his dwarves, or tried to.

What Next?

I do have a few more secret projects for the campaign, expect them when they've had their first appearance on the table top.

Otherwise,  I'm in the middle of Dave Stone's Paint What You Got Challenge,  so I'll be plugging away at that until February 26th. 

PWYG 25/26 and AMAC 26 Further Progress

I'm around three weeks into Dave Stone's Paint What You Got Challenge and a couple of weeks into Anne's Miniature Assembly Challenge.  

So how's it going?

PWYG

Well it's been a busy week outside of the hobby (lots of music), and I've done very little painting, so PWYG has been a bit in the background apart form a bit more paint on those zombies.  I haven't even managed to finish of the 

AMAC

I have managed to assemble another five gnolls, finishing the plastic gnolls I wanted for the second Rangers of Shadow Deep mission.  There's still the Herbalist/Shaman, but he's the metal model I got at RECON last year, so doesn't count for the assembly challenge.

The next batch of gnolls

Four of the gnolls are pretty standard, I used the crossbows this time, rather than bows. For a bit of variety,  I used the greataxe from the first Frostgrave Barbarians set. It fits pretty well on the gnoll bodies,  and the bits of armour help sell the idea of the sergeant being a bit tougher. The arms are a bit more muscled than the gnolls, but I guess the sergeants get first dibs on any protein?

Whats Next?

I want to get soem Dunedain built for the early scenarios in the Fellowship of the Ring book.  These will be kitbashed, based on the GW plastic Rangers of Gondor.  I plan on adding a few bits from various sprues to make them look less like the Rangers of Ithilien, so hopefully they count in the challenge.

I've a couple more minis I'd like to build too, more on those later.

PWYG 25/26 Progress Update, and More Challenges

Well, two weeks into Dave Stone's Paint What You Got Challenge, so how's it going?

Here's where I've got to so far. Nothing is actually finished, but I've got a fair bit of painting done. I'm waiting for suitable weather/a varnish restock/better light to complete the current batch.

I've also joined two more challenges, one of which shouldn't interfere with progress, the other has caused me to change the order in which I do things, more on this later.

The Tower, First Batch 

The first five gnolls

I started with a sprues' worth of Frostgrave gnolls; five minis. In this case I built two fighters, two archers and one sergeant.  They should all be quite easily identified by their equipment. 

I used a combination of Speedpaints and Xpress paints on these.  I'm sure I could achieve a better result with base coat, wash, highlights etc, but nowhere near as quickly. 

The gnoll's flesh was a 1:1 mix of Army Painter Speedpaint Sand Golem and Pallid Bone.  Once thoroughly dry I added Vallejo Xpress Paint Copper Brown for the shaggier hair, principally the 'mane' and head. I added a few spots of this on the less hairy skin areas too, after all, they are supposed to be hyena type humanoids. 

The various bits of cloth bandage and wraps were a 1:1 mix of APS Pallid Bone and White. I wanted this to stand out from the skin colour,  which just Pallid Bone wouldn't have done. I'm considering going over this with a grey colour,  for even better contrast. 

The various cloth colours came from my APS collection, often mixed with Pallid Bone for a more realistic look.

As of this post, I've still to finish these gnolls, but it's mostly the little details. You know, the ones that take the longest.

Three Reaper Bones

As I was painting the gnolls, I added three Reaper Bones to the batch; another Shadow Knight (in case we use the Challenge setting), a Vulture for the first scenario, and an elf, simply because I seem to be short of male Rangers; in that cloak, his fey features aren't obvious. 

The vulture is just about finished; Speed/Xpress paints again, with a few Vallejo Game Color paints for a few little details.  The wing tips are red as, apparently, the forces of the Shadow Deep do this as part of a ritual to control the birds.

Happy campers

I've also done a bit of scenery.  The first scenario calls for a gnoll camp; I had planned on making up some crude tents and perhaps a campfire.  Then I found a couple of resin tents and a log with adventuring gear. These are from Scotia Grendel Productions, and were given to me by Grim many years ago.  I'm missing the campfire, but hopefully that will turn up eventually.

They were given a quick wash in hot soapy water, then I tried a slightly different prep for the Slapchop. 

I gave them a prime with Vallejo German Green Primer,  then a wash of Army Painter Strongtone,  and finally a heavy drybrush of Vallejo Model Color Sand. 

Then it was a case of various Speedpaints and Xpress paints as required. 

The change to the priming and washing was to try and improve the colour in deep shade areas and to give a warmer look; appropriate, I think, for the canvas and the tree. 

I like the results, and I'll experiment further. 

The little details, such as shields, bottles etc were painted in using my normal minis paints.

These are nice models, though perhaps not quite how I imagine gnolls to go camping.  The shields are either Crusader shields (I have tried to make this less obvious with my colour choice) or a Celtic design,  an odd combination. 

Ten assorted zombies

Finally,  I'm continuing with these ten zombies for my Warlords of Erehwon undead.  I started them before Christmas and they are a mixed bunch of manufacturers. 

Like the zombies themselves,  progress continues slowly. 

More Challenges?

I found out about Anne's 2026 Miniature Assembly Challenge from Dave Stone's blog. Essentially, it's to assemble minis, something that I planned to do anyway.  The challenge runs until the end of January,  so I'm weighting my mini building this month with the hope that I can do the bulk of the painting in February. 

To this end I'm building all the gnolls for The Bridge Guards scenario, and I might do the Dunedain for the first couple of The Fellowship of the Ring scenarios as well.  I'll convert some of the plastic Rangers of Gondor, so hopefully they'll count as assembled too. 

I've also got an individual mini or two that I'd like to get done, but these are very much extras.

So my pledge is to assemble ten more gnolls (might as well get three sprues worth done).

Plus 4 to 9 Dunedain, depending on how many I can find. 

And as a bonus I'd like to kitbash a Dark Emissary for Bodvoc's Dark Shadows campaign. 

Assembled Gnolls

Here's five more gnolls,  assembled and ready for painting.  There's nothing special about them, though I've swapped bodies for the archers and warriors for a bit of variety.  I'm keeping the body with bits of armour for the sergeants, and this time I've given him one of the hooded heads as a badge of rank.

Five assembled gnolls

Bonus Ranger

Whilst looking through my sprues I found a cloaked Frostgrave Barbarian. I like my rangers to wear cloaks, so with a bit of shaving off of various teeth and other trophies, plus a head and arms from the Oathmark Human infantry sprue, here's another Ranger of Alladore.

A new ranger

What's next?

More assembling, obviously, but I still plan to get some painting done this month; I might as well get the stuff I've started finished, and I've a game pencilled in with Bodvoc for the end of the month for which I need to finish off a unit (and paint from scratch a new mini, but I haven't 'got' it yet, so it doesn't count for PWYG).

Oh, and one more challenge

Rantings From under the Wargames Table has challenged hobby bloggers, follow the link for details.

Here's his suggested list of blogs to at least glance at.  There's a lot, but I've found them to be interesting and entertaining, I'm even following some of them long term now.

Azazels Bitz Box

Bogenworld

Carrion Crow Buffet

Dead Dicks Tavern

Fantorical

Gisby’s Gaming Blog

Guru Pig

Imperial Rebel Ork

Just Needs Varnish

Leadballoony

Mark A Morin

PM Painting

Pat’s 1/72 Military Diorama’s

Skinflint Games

SP’s Projects Blog

The Imperfect Modeller

War Through The Ages & Other Dark horrors

Wargames sculptors blog

Anne’s Immaterium

Dragons Of Lancasm

Fawcett Avenue Conscripts

 The wargaming erratic

The bovine overlord

not quite mechanised

And, of course, the aforementioned Rantings From Under the Wargames Table

To these I'll add: 

Realm of Chaos 80s, ideal for  Oldhammer stuff

The War Crow, run by my long time friend/opponent Bodvoc

And good friend T'Other One's Vault of the Undead, (not just undead)

Please give them a look, and follow them if there's anything of interest to you. 

Speaking personally, the best thing you can do is to leave a comment.  It gives me a boost to know that fellow hobbyists like what I'm doing, and really helps inspire me to do more.

And if you like the idea of the challenge, the details are on the original post.

 

The Periodic Painting Table's Janus Post 25/26

Well, it's that time of the year again. 

Last time I set very vague goals, which I hit, since they were pretty much unmissable. 

But how did the hobby year go?

Janus, god of hobbyists and mini painters everywhere*

2025 - A Challenging year

But in a good way.

I managed to complete five challenges this year, three external and two that I set for myself. 

At the start of the year I joined Dave Stone's 'Paint What You Got' Challenge.  Boxing Day to the end of February to paint, well, stuff.

I used it as an opportunity to build and paint stuff for the first Rangers of Shadow Deep mission. 

 

Next up was Jez of Carrion Crow's Buffet's Forgotten Heroes, the idea being to paint, and if necessary convert, a mini to represent a hero, but you can't use an official mini. I chose a minor conversion for Mina Murray from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. 

Around the middle of the year I challenged myself to produce minis and terrain for a live face to face Dungeons and Dragons session for my normally online group.  As I built a bit of terrain I entered Dave Stone's Season of Scenery Challenge as well. 

Then I challenged myself (so just a time limited project really) to paint undead during October.  This was nominally to provide minis for the classic second edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle campaign Terror of the Lichemaster. I managed to collect and paint enough classic minis for the first two scenarios, and it's been a seed for an old school Undead army. 

Challenges apart,  I finished the minis for the second Orc's Drift scenario, and I got a few extra bits done, mostly for my orcs.

Playing games is also a big part of the blog. The main thing this year was the Dungeons and Dragons game. It may only have been one day, but I put a lot of preparation into it, and I think it paid off.

I got a few games of Warlords of Erehwon played and some 7TV.

The MEGAforce is largely a board and card game group now, and we've tried several fun new games, mostly thanks to Grim. We have managed some Rangers of Shadow Deep, and I'm sure we're all looking forward to Beneath the Mountains of Madness, which T'Other One is organising.

I got to BOYL again and also RECON, but that was it for shows and similar.

Blog wise I passed 100 000 views early in the year, which was great. It's now hovering just under 180 000, so quite an increase in viewing.

Summing Up

The biggest highlight of my gaming year has to be the D&D Day. Hobby wise, I'm a role-player first and foremost, so this was extra special.

Other high points include going to BOYL again and just generally feeling that I'm making real progress sorting through my collection; thinning it, certainly, but also making it better fit for actually playing games with.

So what does 2026 promise?

The success of the Dungeons and Dragons day means that there's sure to be something similar in '26. I've no idea yet what that might be, but the heroes are currently exploring further afield in the Vale, so there's plenty of possibilities. It's also an excuse to tackle more of the RPG minis mountain, get stuff painted, get rid of surplus and identify any gaps.

We'll hopefully I'll get to play through Terror of the Lichemaster, or at least the first couple of scenarios, soonish. 

I'll continue plugging away at the Orc's Drift project. Probably with Linden Way next, always my favourite of the scenarios. There's a bit of crossover with the Lichemaster stuff, so that lessens the painting requirements somewhat.

Bodvoc has suggested we look at the old Warhammer Fantasy Battles campaign Dark Shadows. I'll need an army for this, but what? Realistically my choices are orcs or undead, as they are the most finished.

There's a new edition of Kings of War out now, and I've been looking through my various armies, deciding what to keep, what to expand and what to get rid of. I think I need to cut down to two main armies, although I have a few smaller forces that allow for allied contingents.  

In any case, my orcs could do with consistent basing, and there's definitely some repairing needed. I've got far too many unpainted stuff for this army, so I'll certainly be thinning out the greenskins.

I'm also looking at rationalising my Fantastic Battles armies in both 6mm and 10mm. A proper terrain set and at least two reasonable armies in each scale is my goal. It might be some while though, so don't be surprised if I make the same vague promises next time.

I'll take advantage of the challenges again. Paint What You Got has already started, and I've got a couple of possibilities.

Mission two for Rangers of Shadow Deep is a good plan, but so is finishing off the Terror of the Lichemaster, which would incidentally expand my Undead army. It's about time I got back to Middle Earth again as well. 

I've already decided on my entry for Forgotten Heroes. Nothing too exotic, and it follows the same theme as my previous entry.

The Season of Scenery would allow me to do the aforementioned terrain sorting out too.

It would be great to  get more games in. There's the aforementioned 7TV campaign, hopefully Mission Two for Rangers of Shadow Deep, and various games for Warlords of Erehwon, with, hopefully,  Bodvoc's campaign starting up. All plenty to look forward to. 

So once again I'm sticking with vague and fuzzy goals, which served me well in 2025. I've certainly enjoyed my hobby time this last year, more than in many previous years. The same holds true for my music, maybe a result of the aging process?

* Not Really!

PWYG 25/26 Planning

A little while ago I ran through a few options for Dave Stone's latest Paint What You Got Challenge. 

If you've been pondering what I've been pondering, (I think so Brain), you'll see that some of them build nicely on games I'm enjoying at the moment, or have recently; some are more for systems that I rarely play. 

It makes sense to go for the former, but then, I'm not always sensible.

So here's a look at what I'd actually need for a couple of the projects. 

The Tower, Rangers of Shadow Deep

Miniatures 

This mission mostly involves gnolls.  Looking at all three scenarios, and allowing for the event cards, I'd need 1 Shadow Knight, 1 Flesh Golem, 1 Gnoll Shaman, 2 Gnoll Sergeants, 4 Gnoll Archers, 6 Gnoll Fighters, 1 Giant Vulture and a Soldier (Man-at-Arms). If I factor in the Challenge Level additions I'll need another Shadow Knight, another Sergeant and an Ogre.

Now I already have a painted Shadow Knight, a FleshGolem and an Ogre, and a few Men-at Arms too. after picking up the gnoll herbalist at RECON I've got the rest of the required minis, they just need assembling and painting. 

Terrain 

The first scenario is outside, so it might be time to finally make a proper gaming mat with reasonable colours and textures. I'm looking at it as practice for something larger. 

I'd also need a river, a bridge and various rocks and shrubs. All useful terrain items for future gaming. 

The remaining scenarios are set indoors, for which I'll simply print off some dungeon style flooring.  I've got plenty of PDFs to choose from. 

Furnishings will probably come from the Mantic Terrain Crate, which I might finally get around to painting,  well some of it anyway. 

Fellowship of the Ring Journey Book

This is a project that I've long wanted to do, and now seems a good opportunity,  especially as 2026 is the 25th anniversary of the Fellowship of the Ring film release.  Don't you feel old now knowing that*.

To keep things manageable I think I'll stick to the first book of The Fellowship of the Ring, up to Rivendell.

For this I'd need 9 Nazgul (foot and mounted), 9 Dunedain, the 4 Hobbits, Gildor, 4 Barrow Wights,  Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, Aragorn, Gandalf and Glorfindal. I could add Farmer Cotton and his dogs if I include one of the additional scenarios from an old White Dwarf.

And there's terrain of course.  I'm not sure if I should stick to the builds in the book,  which do a great job of making thing as multipurpose as possible,  or do some more specific pieces.  I'll probably end up doing a bit of both.

A Cunning Plan

So that's the plan.  I do have some Undead that I'm part way through painting, so I'll try and finish those as well, but it'll be nice to do some living creatures for a change. 

I've started on building five of the gnolls using the Frostgrave gnolls kit.

And finally, the Christmas Haul

I was gifted four hobby related presents; a GM's mug, a deck of 7TV profile cards, a light pad (great for copying maps etc) and a lovely 3D printed Beholder.  So many thanks to my amazing family,  and T'Other One as well.

I'll be squeezing the Beholder into the challenge,  after all, I got it before the 26th.

* Don't worry,  I still remember the excitement over the imminent release of The Silmarillion.