Hoping that the Tavern had a Good Christmas 2021

I really hope everyone had a good Christmas. I'd wish that you got what you all wanted for the holiday, but I figure a lot of us want a bunch of OSR collectibles and there is only so much to go around.....

I kid, I kid.....I hope that most of you got what you wanted and if you're one of the unlucky few who was waiting on a Christmas present from me, so not my fault it didn't arrive. If you're one of the lucky folks who picked something up from the Tavern's 12 Days of OSR Christmas I'm jealous. Highly doubtful the bundle of New Big Dragon Games Unlimited stuff I sent off has arrived yet, but if not, it is definitely on it's way.

Now I'm going to go on a bit of a stretch here and make an assumption that my gaming holiday experience (now) is a bit on the typical side for the average Tavern patron: been gaming since back in the day, family & friends know you're a gamer, but they don't really understand what that means. Maybe they know you sling dice, but the default setting for a definition of "gamer" is that you play video games. Now I don't expect this to describe anyone (other than maybe me) to a tee, but I'm guessing there's maybe a good 50-75% similarity in there somewhere.

For the most part not really "getting it" means you're not going to be getting any cool gamer stuff for Christmas. Of course you may just luck out in that regard (and if so, please share your Christmas loot with the rest of us in the comments!), but I know I didn't. Not a complaint mom (as if she reads this), just an observation. Actually since I mentioned good old mom, I'm in a weird spot in that my mother really doesn't have a clue what RPGs are despite my feeble attempts to explain. She has no clue what D&D is even though I'm certain she's read every single TSR Novel (Dragonlance, Drizzt, Forgotten Realms, etc.) made as an avid fantasy reader.

Too bad for me since I live 12 hours away. If I could get my mother to understand my hobby a bit better she might be able to look around for the rare OSR score at second-hand bookstores that I'm unable to visit. Can you imaging how cool it'd be to have your parents gift you a good copy of an OSR book (like maybe a 1st printing of the Deities & Demigods) that she found at a garage sale for $5? Almost as good as finding that yourself.......but I kind of like the thrill of the hunt, as it was, for collectibles.

Anyway, I "just" get money for Christmas. Really no complaint there as it is a gift and I can use that $ to buy some other things I didn't know I needed. On my trip this holiday season I found a new game/hobby store in Kansas City that had a bunch of miniatures I did not know I needed. I got some Warriors of the Dark Ages and Warriors of Antiquity minis from Victrix Ltd. I've never done armies of minis before, much less the mix & match sprue kind that remind me of Warhammer, but I couldn't pass these things up. I'll definitely have to work on these and report about them later as I think they have a lot of RPG potential even though they are clearly made for wargaming.

I also managed to stop by an "old" comic/hobby shop in the the college where I 1st went to school and scored some minis as well. I was at the university when this shop originally opened 30 some years ago....anyway I got some Reaper Mini Black Henchmen & Hirelings, which was pretty cool.

Altogether between these two shops I picked up 100+ minis that I can add to my collection of figures that will never get painted.

Not really a super cool score, but at least I did get some RPG stuff for Christmas and I still have a couple shops I can visit as I drive back home today.

Now I did not even know that these Reaper Minis existed and while not "super cool", I am actually excited to potentially add them to my game. I'm guessing that some of the folks here at the Tavern did get some stuff that is pretty awesome and honestly, I'd rather enjoy seeing folks share what they got in the comments. If nothing else I might get a couple of things I really want to be on the lookout for as I still have some Christmas money to spend.....