"Straw Bears May Be Derived From The Medieval Carnival Figure Of The Wild Man."

"They were also interpreted by early folklorists as personifications of Winter."

This 28mm scale metal model of a Strawbear is manufactured by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” and can be bought individually as MINI 466 from their Folk Horror range. However, the single-cast piece can also be purchased as part of the Lincolnshire-based company's four-figure DEAL 148 Mummer Procession, along with a Hobby Horse, Accordionist and Drummer.

Spookily, having previously purchased a number of these Andrew May sculpts separately, I stumbled upon this particular miniature whilst rummaging through my rewards from the May 2018 "Children of the Fields - Folk Horror 28mm Miniatures" Kickstarter, as it was unlocked as the campaign's £22,000 stretch goal. I therefore decided to quickly add it to my growing Strohbären as I use them as 'generic' Revenants for my games of "The Silver Bayonet" by "Osprey Games", and at the time had hoped to use it as an entry into Angry Piper's "Monster May(hem)" monthly challenge over on the "Dead Dick's Tavern and Temporary Lodging" blog.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - Sauron, Baron Zemo and Squirrel Girl

The model was primed using a couple of coats of “Vallejo” Dark Yellow and liberally drenched in “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. It was then heavily dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Dark Yellow and a little (lighter-coloured) Buff, before being sporadically splotched using some “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade and Biel-Tan Green. Finally, all of these colours were blended together with a second dry-brush of (more) “Vallejo” Buff.

With such a straightforward paint-job finished, I have also been able to get cracking on a number of the "CoolMiniOrNot" 40mm plastic super-heroes and villains I plan to pigment this month from their Marvel United boardgame. I was originally planning on using these rather cartoony-looking sculpts for some four-figure-a-side punch-ups based upon "The Silver Bayonet" rule-set by "Osprey Games" (with some homebrew tweaks). However, having spotted the recent release of the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game (MMRPG) Escape From Planet Hulk Starter Set I've had a bit of a rethink.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - Red Hulk, Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and Venom

Indeed, having been a major fan of the 1984 Marvel Super Heroes (MSH) role playing game published by "TSR", I've actually ordered the box. Yet rather than fork out for the Deluxe Edition, which I understand contains some 2D acrylic standees of the six main characters, I thought I'd use my Marvel United miniatures instead - so have dug out Captain America, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Wolverine, (Laura Kinney), Storm, and Black Panther.

Furthermore, I figured I might as well try to do something similar for my MSH starter scenario too - "Day of the Octopus". Those followers with a long memory will recall I actually somewhat successfully attempted to do this using some "Heroclix" sculpts by "Wizkids" a good while back - and might actually carry that project forwards in the future. However for now, I have plonked Marvel United models of The Thing, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) and Spider-Man (Peter Parker) on my painting table to see just where this plan takes me...