About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Friday, February 16, 2024

D is for Dragonology!

We had Pirateology back on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, last September, and heaven forfend that I now influence people who used to influence me, but I've put another 'ology on the back-burner and pulled this out of the queue sharpish!

Dragonology, like the preveous Piratology, a pretty-standard board-game under the trope of the dragon theme - gotta' have a hook to hang it on! Nice graphics, although I forgot to shoot the board, but there are two views of it in the post and you can see it's a journey-round the board doing/collecting stuff, with card forfeits/jeopardies.
 
Still carried here by Paul Lamond for Sababa, but also crediting Templar Publishing who hold the 'ology series, there are other games, based on other titles in the book series, with two for Wizardology (heehee!), but not yet an Egyptology one, which is the one I'm waiting/hoping for, although if they do make one, it may not have figures! While the newer books haven't had the momentum yet, to generate the desire/need for games?
 
Obviously the figures are the all-important bit, and this set actually carries more than the Pirate set, with six figures, rather than five, several of whom bear more than a passing resemblance to the characters from Cludo!
 
They all have names, as do the dragons (have identities), but I was a little disappointed to see, or not see . . . a Welsh one, but I think Switzerland is doing the heavy-lifting for both Cymru and the Vikings! The right-hand human images seem to be taken from much-larger, highly detailed master-sculpts, rather than than the eventual 35/40mm'ish production figures, which have lost a lot of that detail.

 
You can see how Beatrice Cook could double for Miss Peacock, Dragon Man Dan for Colonel Mustard, Phineas Feek for Professor Plum, one of the others could be repainted for Mr. Green, and while one of the missing women could be covered by the Oriental girl, Miss Ta, either Emery or Drake (best for Mr. Green) would have to re-identify, which would excite the Trumpy Broflakes, wouldn't it!

The nine dragons are all equally well-done, and as per the B&W sheet, display some of the different physiognomies or traits of various dragons from myths and legends around the world, although scale is a little-off, I feel, the Chinese dragon should be one of the bigger ones

The other/another angle for eight of them, not much I can add, they'd go better up against 1:76/72 figures, than anything larger, perhaps with all the fantasy stuff coming from Caesar and Dark Alliance - EY, I'm thinking of you - and you can pick them up for cheapness on feeBay!
 
While the little Knucker (closest to a Viking Wyrm, or the great Earth Worm), has a nice metallic belly which is totally lost when it's on the board!

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