Mega Miniatures have enhanced their extensive range of animal miniatures with some prehistoric mammals - a Doedicurus, a Diprotodon and best of all a Chalicotherium.

I've been fascinated by Chalicotheres ever since I saw them on Walking with Beasts but up to now the only miniature representation has been the 1/72 scale David Krentz version, which whilst a better sculpt is small and pricey. So big kudos to Mega for bringing one of my favourite animals to life.

Adam and the Ants - Stand and Deliver

Drill Queen - Born Depressed

Traveling Wilburys - Tweeter and the Monkey Man

Moxy Früvous - My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors

Cerys Matthews - Oxygen

Pulp - Mis-shapes

Aziza Mustafa Zadeh - Ay Dilber
Stiff Little Fingers - Tin Soldiers

Tanita Tikaram - And I Think Of You

Book

Luxury Item

Hey kids, the latest craze is to stack your (toy) animals. Well it keeps us off the streets...

Starting in 15mm, Splintered Light Miniatures have a range of animals including terror birds, wolves, boars, komodo dragons and others. Oh, and Giant Weasels.

In 28mm, the beastie featured here is one of two packs available from Gary Hunt Miniatures in New Zealand (but priced in US Dollars). Very drool worthy.

Moving onto cavemen. No web site yet for Forge of Ice, but see TMP for details of their Primitive Tents.

And finally, if dino fans put their money where their mouth is then Wargames Fcatory may create some plastic figures for us, on the suggestions list so far are Tyrannosaurus Rex and Small Carnivorous Dinosaurs. I think I may do a little research and suggest a small herbivores pack to give those meat eaters something to chase other than foolhardy time travellers.

Bravo Hype, Darwin Duff, Dino Boss, Finton Jump, Flint Flip, Flux Drift, Force Class, Gala Dream, Mardi Gras, Morse Action , Musket Strike, Pelican Fly, Point Taken, Power Line, Python Crush, Radar Wave, Ration Time, Sabre Squad, Spy Man GTX, Twisted Low, Un Kenneth

The above are not unsigned bands from MySpace, nor are they Gears of War clans, nor are they the literal translations of Pokemon names.

They are in fact names of men's lace up shoes from Clarks.

I quite like the sound of Dino Boss though.

I promised you some dinosaurs, so here we go. For quite a long time my Dinosaurs in Miniature page has contained the line Rules (coming soon) so I figure why not do something about that? As this blogging every day thing is very taxing, I'm presenting a skeleton list here and asking you good people to help me flesh it out. What am I missing? What have I got wrong? I'm only after more or less professionally published rules here.

Via lonemagpie

1 minute, 3 seconds

The illustration on the quiz is inaccurate as the real Velociraptor was the size of a dog and not larger than a man. The question of climbing onto the top bunk is interesting as a few paleontologists have suggested that the infamous raptor claws were for climbing rather than for hunting. Do you want me to shut up yet?

HLBS have released some new additions to their dinosaur range - mostly smaller critters this time, some, like this bone headed chap, never before done in this scale.

Continue reading this Very True Thing

Richard Deasey of HLBS/DZ/DeeZee fame has sculpted a new range for RLBPS in the States: Dazed Miniatures.

On the other side of the world, Gary Hunt has some very nice looking feathered raptor greens.

Back in Blighty, Magister Militum have posted some new pics showing painted examples of their DinoMight range.

And finally, Jeff Valent Studios are offering their T. Rex at 33% off.

Dinosaurs in Miniature has been updated with all the latest releases: Some cavegirls from Reaper, some running dinos from Hasslefree and a Megatherium and Smilodon from Rattrap.

And at long last someone, Amazon Miniatures as it happens, has made the killer pig itself, an Entelodont:

Venice was simply amazing. Lovely weather, great food (especially the seafood), amazing sights.

We stayed at the Hotel Rivamare on the Lido, which meant we took a boat across the lagoon into Venice proper everyday. In the city itself we saw all the big names: the Palazzo Ducale or Doge's Palace, the Basilica di San Marco, the Piazza, the Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal.

Things that appealed more directly to me included the Museum of Natural History was only partially open but we did get to see the excellent Ouranosaurus and Sarchosuchus; The Museo Storico Navale or Naval History Museum which only costs €1.55 and is packed full of relics from Venice's and Italy's seafaring history; The Rome and the Barbarians exhibition in the Palazzo Grassi was a ten times more expensive (and I really wanted the exhibition book but at €48 it was too much) but much more extensive than I'd expect for a temporary exhibit.

We also visited some of the other lagoon islands: Murano for the glassmaking; Burano for the lace making and painted houses; and Torcello for the eleventh century cathedral.

For one day we got the train to Verona, passing castles and vineyards on the way. There we visited the Arena and the Castle and had another fantastic lunch. One day wasn't enough and we plan to go back sometime.

Venice photos and Verona photos.

I've just updated the Dinosaurs in Miniature pages with the latest releases and re-releases.

Wargames Illustrated have finished re-releasing the DZ Miniatures prehistoric mammals. They're also selling a set of rules called Tooth and Claw to tie in with this range. Written by Chris "every other set of rules out there" Peers who has pedigree on this area with Saurian Safari. My copy is in the post, so with luck I'll be able to post a review soon.

There are also new rules out from Magister Militum called DinoMight and MM continue to expand their range of 10mm figures, now including some non-dinosaurs.

Finally on the pre-historic front Reaper have released a "Jungle Girl with Sabre Tooth Tiger" which is okay-ish except for the huge mold line in the photo and the fact that it's an idea that's been done several times before. Very nice cat though.

Meanwhile... It was only a matter of time... Pre-painted, collectible (i.e. random sealed boxes) miniatures for Doctor Who (via Forbidden Planet). They're by Character Options which is a good sign (they make the very nice DW action figures) and the price is the same as for the Star Wars minis. On the downside (apart from the collectible nature) is the scale, 35mm, and the lack of anything from the classic series. Will I be buying them? They're Doctor Who miniatures!

why will we never know how dinosaurs died because we never knew what they were like i think that we will never know what and how they went extinct and you scintist stop tring so hard

...Dinosaurs

As tagged by miss_s_b. Post a comment with "top ten" or "top five" and I'll give you a subject to base your list around.

1. Stegosaurus

   Maybe because we start our names with the same three letters but I've always liked Steggy. One of the classic dinos that all the kids know, and one of the most fantastically strange looking creatures to ever walk on land.

   

2. Allosaurus

   A big mean predator, not as unbalanced to look at as T.rex but still big enough and toothy enough to give you nightmares.

3. Brachiosaurus

   Of Lofty as we call him round our way. Not only is it one of the biggest dinos but it's also unusual in having longer legs at the front than at the back (hence the name).

4. Anklyosaurus

   Walking tank. My default user icon.

5. Deinonychus

   Velociraptor : Deinonychus = Hobbit : Human