"Tooth and Claw" or "Protect the Goat"

a handmade playtester's copy

If I'm playing this correctly, it's the blue guys' turn, but the game is/was over with red's last move...

Jordan Baugher designed this game and long ago I made this analog copy of it. It was a computer game originally, iirc, and came from one of the books he wrote. It's a super clever vicious little game. All these animals eat each other while trying to keep the goat from being eaten. (Well, the elephant probably just stomps the goat.)

One day we played this like ten times in a row and I lost every single game. Quickly. Was humiliating. Could not (cannot) wrap my head around the obligatory captures and resulting combos. So cool.

ALBUM's Redjestic EagleEye beer from Noble Creature Wild Ales & Lagers

 

My drawings on this ALBUM-themed microbrew label from Noble Creature. 

 

                                                                                  (photo by me)

This beer is delicious. Not just saying that because the label features my artwork. It really is. If you like ales, you'll probably like this brew. 

I don't think it's a standard on tap, though. They brew it occasionally. Sells very well, I'm told. 

Devonian Dusk, gouache sketch

 

"Devonian Dusk" 

  

"Devonian Dusk" gouache sketch.

A colored version of an ink drawing from long ago. 

Early terrestrial ecology fascinates me. 

Prototaxites, a giant fungus up to 30' tall, grew in huge fungus forests all throughout the Devonian. 

 

 

Morgoth Bauglir drawing, Christopher Tolkien, Rings of Power, Telchar & Angrist

"Morgoth Bauglir"

 "That crown he never took from his head, though its weight became a deadly weariness."

-          The Simarillion, Of the Flight of the Noldor

 An ink drawing illustration for the "Wars of Beleriand" game.

Telchar’s notorious knife Angrist broke when Beren tried to take a second gem from the Iron Crown. What can one say about a blade that wounds the King of the World? Is there another?

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The Silmarillion is one of my favorite books. Few works of fantasy literature can compare in terms of epic scope and completeness of vision. I think it's safe to say it's as much Christopher Tolkien's as it is his father's: a beautiful collaborative effort, a true labor of love.

Recently, there's been yet a new generation of Tolkien fans brought into the fold, for good or ill, by the Rings of Power series. I admit I haven't seen any of it and I can't say I've heard good things. No need to go into all that, but we know how Tolkien felt about a great many things and what he thought and I know he wouldn't have been particularly pleased with how his creations have been treated by media these latter years. Telling that these projects were only greenlit after Christopher's death...