Merry Mithrasmas

Our Mithrasmas tree, can you spot the sniper ?

   It's that time of year again when we slaughter a bull and drink its blood, exchange gifts and generally have a good time.

But just in case you celebrate the holiday season in some other fashion I hope you have a good one nevertheless, wishing each other  "Merry Xmas", exchanging presents, eating sweet-mince pies and celebrating  with strong drink in the very time honoured tradition.

As always I'm eternally grateful for anyone who has taken the time to visit and I always do hope that you find something of interest.
To those that leave comments I, you are the folk that keep me enthused and energised in this all-consuming hobby - thank you so much.

Have a good holiday season everyone and I look forward to reading about your own 'loot' and of course  I'll be relating about any I receive in a future post!

Have a good Holiday everyone !

Even More Explorers

Four new Explorer and gun bearer

Not much this week, despite being very busy on hobby-related stuff when time allowed. It seems that we have to stockpile food and drink, in case of a siege during the Xmas season when the shops shut for 24 hours!
I'm sure many will recognise the provenance of the above figures, they're either Copplestone, North Star or Col. Bill's - I forget which!
(They're not my five new 'Pulp ones', which are currently in the queue on the paint tray) 

The rear view (for those that like this sort of thing)

I did try and get a tweed look on the left-most explorer and a dirty-shirt look on the right-most one, which is about as adventurous as I get with my minimal painting skills.
In other 'Jimland' news, I have a tentative request from a friend wishing to take an expedition onto Jimland this week, which I'm delighted about, should it occur (fingers crossed). I will of course post about any game that transpires.

Current situation on the three smaller paint trays (Spot the 5 Oryx)

 As briefly mentioned above, in between Xmas shopping, I've been averaging about 4 hours a day undercoating/painting this last week, including Saturday and Sunday, which I rarely do!
Though it may not look it, all the figures on the trays above are abut 75% done though the very large tray shown last week has had nothing done to it as I needed undercoat spray (that situation has been remedied during one of the seemingly endless shopping excursions of the last week); I'll be undercoating etc. as soon as possible.

That's it for another week and it'll be a very brief post next week (Xmas day), so if you can't find time to take a peek next week, have a Happy Xmas, Holiday or Winter break, whichever you prefer.

As usual, many thanks for taking the time to visit and you comments are always both welcomed and appreciated.

More Explorers

 Four more intrepid souls to face the dangers of ;Jimland'

An enthusiastic and very productive week, for a change.
As well as the four new explorers for Jimland I've finally finished (and another Askari) I've had a very busy week of reading!
I also decided to make a dent in my lead mountain, spurred on by both the books (mentioned above) and my discovery of rules I thoroughly enjoyed, 'back in the day' as they say!

Explorers rear view (this is almost becoming obligatory)

In one of the sets of rules there is an 'African Safari" section, hence the connection. The other set of rules are for a campaign; a a bit of self indulgence really as I'll never get to play it. The latter needs 10-12 players and I have trouble just finding  one!

Boring 'new' Askari

Even more boring rear view

Adventurers and beasts for Jimland

The few figures I bought at 'Battleground' have all been based up ready for undercoating (when I get a clear day and a spurt of enthusiasm).
Note the figure in the top left corner, he is a waif and stray from digging in the lead pile, that I thought may be usable in 'Jimland'.
A quick bit of searching revealed him to be the  Abyssinian King Menelik II and is an  'Irregular Miniatures' sculpt. He is the only Abyssinian figure I have and I have no idea how I came to have him.

"Git orf moi land"

 Another random figure I've had for a long time is the figure on the left.
Just in case you don't recognise the sculpt, he's from the 1/32nd scale old "Britain's" farm range and quite possibly one of the most pirated figures ever - I think mine had 'Made in China' on the base
When I get him painted up he'll be another figure that will be joining the exploration of 'Jimland, but he's an interesting figure for other reasons, which I'll go into another time.

Below is a picture of my 'main' paint tray as it currently is and plus three 'overflow' trays. I've ran out of glue so had to stop basing and still have another 80 or so figures to go.

Paint trays (very boring)

The trays above may have to be stored until after Xmas , so I'll be returning to painting figures for Jimland over the holiday period.

That's it then for this week, usual apologies for photography are in order and of course a 'Thank you" for taking the tine to visit. Your comments, as always, are both welcomed and truly appreciated.

More Fauna

"Nile Crocodile"

Another view

I've been pretty busy over the last week, but not all for Jimland!
Having come across yet another old project, my time this last week has been mostly taken up by  rejuvenating this old project, sorting, basing and making plans for more figures.
To date, I've based up approximately 200 figures (my large paint-tray is pretty full!) and have another 100 or so still to do.
More on this project in the the New Year, but now on to the new fauna for my "Adventures in Jimland".
Whilst not the best paint-jobs in the world, they're adequate enough to represent what they're meant to be! (My "that'll do" philosophy of painting).  First up is the croc from my cheap pirate ships (see HERE), which at the time I thought was too big for gaming with 28mm, but I've since changed my mind (see photograph below).

Seems these Nile crocodiles can get pretty big!

Croc with 28mm figure (2cm square base)

Nile crocs have an average length of 14-16 feet (approx 4-5 metres) but there have been exceptionally big ones too! As they get older (and bigger) they lose a lot of their striking stripey pattern and turn much darker - mine is obviously old!

View from above (obligatory blurry shot)

Hippopotamus (these are big too!)

Next up was a Hippo, that came from a cheap tub of "safari animals from my local "HB" store that I'd bought a couple of years ago, foolishly thinking they'd be big enough to fight my 54mm gladiators!
The tub cost about £4 for a four each of a dozen or so animals.

Hippo-butt view

Hippo with adventurer

Baloo anyone ?

Again from the same pot, here's one of those famous jungle bears (though not grey), Strangely enough  whilst there may be no bears in Africa (the long extinct Atlas bear is, well, extinct), there is a jungle bear card for a random animal in "Jimland" ( as well as that famous critter, the jungle Yeti and many, many other strange and wonderful creatures). 

Rear view (obviously)

Size comparison photo (only slightly boringly blurry)

My Pride (little joy)

 Once more, the tub provided four lions and four lionesses (identical).
I've used the four lionesses and two of the lions (the other two will probably have their heads mounted as trophies)
The king of the pride is a lion figure that I've had for any years and have no idea of its providence, but with its luxury mane and equivalent size, he makes a good king! 

Different view

Size comparison photo

The whole group (bored yet?)

Top-down view (bored now?)

Rear view (how about now?)

I still have a few more animals to do, a Rhino (having trouble getting its colour right), a giraffe and the Oryx I bought at Battleground and more that I want to buy, sometime in the future, but that's it for now, I have a good selection for my next (imminent) venture into Jimland.

It's huge! (Other versions may not be blurry)

STOP PRESS: As an added extra, here's a dinosaur from my local Poundlandworld that I just bought two days ago:
There were a great many different ones and some nice cheap packs of smaller ones too (5 for £1).
I liked this one because of the feather-like things running down its back!







So, that's it for another week, next week will probably be a post of the explorers I'll have finished explorers; thanks for taking the time to visit and I hope you've found something of interest.
As always, your comments are both welcomed, appreciated and necessary for me to keep my sanity(ish).

Battleground 2017

Photo 'borrowed' from Battleground's FB page - taken very early

Being too ill to travel far or wide in the last five or so years has prevented me from attending any of the Battleground shows, but with the help of a friend offering transport, I was finally able to attend this excellent show.
The venue itself I thought was a bit out of the way, but didn't see to affect the numbers attending from what I could tell. We arrived sometime between 10.30am and 11am and left around 1.00pm, with the flow of people seemingly constant. The traders were all busy, but not so much that there were huge queues and there were also adequate spaces between the many games so that it never felt too crowded,

Stafford and District 19mm "Oudenard"

Super detail on such small figures

Huge 'poster' - those 28mm's are about 6" tall!

Fictional action somewhere in the Low countries

Beautifully painted 28mms throughout

Imperial v Hungarians 1848

 Sadly I only these two photographs of the Durham  Battle of Schwechat 1848 game - toy soldiers at their best !

 A Durham Wargames Group 40mms game

These huge 'placeholders' were an excellent addition and a great help

Overall view of the table

Intriguing game, but did seem a bit like re-inventing the wheel

General & Kings AWI Battle of Brandywine 1777

Great looking game superbly painted minis and...

...the game seemed to flow very fast too

Tyneside Wargames Group "Fall of Troy" (15mm I think)

Bells of St. Maria - Italian Wars Participation Game

 Those brave enough to have participation games on-going never seemed to get a break long enough for me to chat to, with a few noticeable exceptions from those games that had extra manpower.
The games overall were of a very high standard (unlike my photography) and I seemed to take hundreds of photos of which about half were 'OK' enough to use - I did have problems with my camera all day that didn't help with my usual camera-related incompetence.

Stunning 28mm figures and terrain

Lancaster Cellermen 17th C, siege using Spencer Smith figures

Gaming as I remember it - a very nostalgic game for me

View of the siege lines

I couldn't have said it any better...

Andre Wiley's new take on an old theme

New flat-pack houses he transported in a large envelope!

Redcar Ironsides WW2 -part 2 Yanks v Ruskies

I missed what this was all about - unfortunately didn't do anything for me

Independent Wargames Group ACW, using "Picket's Charge Rules

Great looking terrain, figures and vignettes all in 28mm

Durham Wargames Group ACW Battle of Port Republic in 28mm

Great terrain...

...at both ends of the table

Matt Crump's Assualt on Coastal Battery338 Folkestone

A busy participation game, using Bolt Action rules in 28mm

Brompton Bankers "Ronin" playtest, using 28mm figures, terrain etc.

Great looking game, in all respects

Iacta Alea Est "Battle of the Denmark Straits 1941 - the ships

The table - all very confusing to us landlubbers

Kriegspiel WW1

2mm "Irregular" figures

Scarbourgh WW2 participation game

Westerhope Wargames group's "Wellington in India"

Greta terrain and figures, all in 28mm

Great fortress too - I want one!

Nate Zettle's Blood and Plunder participation game

Great Schooner

Old Guard Wargmaes' 10mm ACW

So that was the 'eye candy' (- or at least what passes for it with my skills). I have photo-shopped the occasional bit in photos to eliminate the usual table clutter (dice, coffee cups, tapes,rules etc,) and in a few instances I've also added more 'table' to fill in otherwise unsightly bits of sports hall!
I'm also sorry that I'm sure that I've  missed a few games (the cup-cake game for one!) and there are  are no photographs of any traders either, but we all know what the latter look like right ?
I did have a rather modest haul of 10 figures, for Jimland,  three buildings for modern games (read Zombie) and a pot of flesh paint, for painting flesh.
To bore you even further here's their photographs:

Five explorer types and five Oryx - pretty boring huh ?

Two 'Shotgun' houses and a Diner (& spot the paint pot)

 Sorry for the long photograph heavy post, but you've probably looked through it all in less than five minutes and if you get anything from it, then it's been well worth the four hours or so that it's taken me to put it all together - my longest post ever!

That's it for this week, I've been pretty busy doing a lot of other stuff, so plenty to fill future posts with;  thanks once more for taking the time to look and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.