Animals everywhere!!

Hi everyone, well I've been working on a set of rules for Victorian/Prehistoric Game hunting. A set that in realty will cover from the stone ages to Sci Fi ideas of time travel or parallel dimensions. We read about the fantastic waste of the Big Game Hunters of the late 1800's, but WHEN you look deeper into it you start to realize that it is that more people lost their lives Hunting dangerous game than became known for it. Look up stories of men hunting buffalo( both African Cape and American Bison) and you find stories of men dying at it. Wild Boar, Big cats and more can be as dangerous to man as man can be. Modern Hunters are hurt or killed every year by the animals they thought to take home. 

Well the rules started out to be about hunting for meat for the group, tribe or family. And evolved to take in the period after the Asteroid hit killed off the truly big game, to modern day. Hopefully we will be playtesting these at conventions by the end of the year. But, for now here are some of the animals that will populate the tables. Extent and extinct are included. First up Afirca

These are going to my African bears, Agriotherium on left and an Atlas bear on right. There were bears in Africa until almost present day. The Agriotherium was an ancient lineage that died out. 

With the lion pride I painted up the males to represent most of the known mane colors. They prey on about all the animals in Africa, smallest to Elephants are all prey, granted older elephants unless hurt or very old are safe but anything short of full grown has been seen getting stalked. With humans being well within the range of a quick meal.

And while lions are dangerous, the second most lethal animal to humans in Africa isn't the lion but Hippopotamus. These bad tempered herbivores kill a large number of people every year. The Lions are even in the top three, but Hippos are every year. Get between them and water or enter their territory and they use their 2 foot of tusk on you.

Gnu or Wildebeest are very common on the plains and savanna, they are prey for all the large carnivores. But don't be in front of them when they stampede.

This African Python is a hidden danger for hunters, in the past they came a little larger than todays ancestors.

I thought my Cheetah came out looking good, except for the King Cheetah on the left. He is ok but looks to tiger like, think I could do better, and I may try sometime to find a cheetah in a different pose to paint up.

My Cape Buffalo herd lead by an old male came out well. I was surprised that they can run from brownish black to grayish black to full on black, mostly by herd and area. Mine are the more brownish type. Aggressive, large, and herd mentality make them something to fear. They may run away or they may start hunting you.

A black Rhino, he was sort to bitter-sweet to paint up. First I have always admired them as animals that while having their faults were pretty must live let live when shown in the Wildlife shows of my youth. Plus this model when I opened his package was missing most of the body between the legs on the back side, a bubble had formed in casting. I thought it was unusable, but some Green stuff and lots of mistakes and fixes later I have a hard time figuring out which side it was. 

The girl used is a Reaper Chronoscope mini, the animals come from everyone from Acheson, Reaper, Ral Partha, North Star and more. Some figures came from flea markets and others from my RPG days. More and more are appearing on Etsy and other 3D sites in multiple poses. More next post, still in Africa, but much harder painting ahead.