Lets face it, of all the miniatures included in Gloomhaven, the ‘Bear’ is the biggest let down. When I first saw it my reaction was to laugh. That isn’t good when a character’s main ability is called ‘Concentrated Rage’…

So I set about looking for an alternative and once more ended up using a model from Mierce Miniatures, the Beowa. The model originally came with an axe and when this snapped off during the painting process I decided to leave it off (mainly because I didn’t want to paint it). The bear was a refreshing change to paint and I finally developed a method of painting fur that I am happy with after many years of trying. The model is a little larger than the map Hexagons but it is manageable during games.

The Beastmaster model was also another model that was tiny, cramped, and lacking any discernible details, so I set about converting it to look more like it was actually commanding the bear. I cut off the left arm and replaced it with a Dark Elf arm, the hand was one from the 19,456 spare hands I have left from Kingdom Death. The cloak was extended using feathers from KD, and the staff was also lengthened using various parts from my bits box. Overall I think this vastly improves the model even if it remains challenging to paint. I used the exact same colour palette for both models to help tie them together on the table and overall I am pleased with how this character combo has turned out after lots of additional work I think it was worth it now that I am using the bear in games to smash Night Demons into ruins!