Ned's Big Adventure

Edward Burlington Bt.,/ foreground right.

Sorry, but, here  is yet another adventure in Jimland that I played back in the middle of May and have just got around to writing up. After a rather successful previous adventure I decided to employ a new Expedition leader as they get 28 point to allocate to their initial skills rather than the normal 25 (doesn't sound like much, but it's very worthwhile in the context of the game. The previous 'leader' (Frederick Cartington) was only a temporary one, standing in for the deceased Charles Biddlesstone.

 So, once more, from the Journal of Frederick Cartington:

Three Soldiers join the expedition

"Ned, has changed a lot since our University days, very "Gung Ho" as the saying goes. After a very rousing speech made to our expedition (just wait until he learns what "Viboko" means!) we set off from Jim's Landing with a full compliment of bearers, five soldiers and Ebor the Scout, Horatio the Interpreter, Doc Cleghorn, myself and Ned. With enough food for 12 days or so, trade goods for the unwelcoming types and cash in hand for extra food, should we need it, spirits were high."

The enlarged Column

 "After making our Way North to the river we encountered three soldiers who asked to join our expedition for no more than food. Ned took it as a good sign and welcomed them, I immediately thought of the food situation"
"Our now enlarged column crossed the river and headed north to follow the river once more, encountering some friendly Natives and discovering some form of Antelope no-one could recollect seeing previously,"
We spent a day trying to find a way out of the jungle before finding the river again and proceeding North into swamps; the drums in the night were of course laughed at by our soldiery. As we once more travelled North we were set upon by some not-so-friendly Natives."

The opposition, nine bowmen

The column adjusts to face the enemy (successful scouting)

Those who can move forward (slowly) ...

...and are met by the local wildlife...

...that obligingly die quickly.

The column forms a firing line

The natives continue to filter through...

...and suffer greatly...

...at the hands of the pretty formidable firing line.

A soldier is shot !

All this shooting attracts a lioness (it left the table next turn!)

The shooting takes its toll and the natives flee

 "The natives were quickly dispatched, sadly for the loss of a single soldier. We headed North into yet more swamp and hostile Tribal Natives. Ned once more used his tactic of "Guns to the Front", a tactic I don't agree with, though it has its merits."
"The Natives were once more no match for our numbers and after a brief fight they too fled"

Three natives to the south and four to the north

They've go a long way to go...

Long enough to get the column ready

The natives break cover to the south and...

... to the North. The outcome is predicactable.

"On making camp we discovered three loads of Trade goods had been stolen and I mentioned to Ned that the food situation wasn't looking good"
"We spent the day in this accursed swamp, losing a bearer to the conditions and being unable to find a way out of it. The next day we once more had trade stolen and were still stuck in this swamp, the food situation was looking bleak I thought, with barely 4 days' of rations left."
"With our eyes upon a distant peak we found a way out of the swamp in a south-westerly direction, a refreshing change being in the mountains and away from the dreaded swamp. The discovery of a river source, though intriguing, had to be left for another  day as we headed South east only to discover all our remaining food had gone bad. I hunted sufficently that all had something to eat"
"The discovery of a new plant species (inedible) did nought for our morale as game was scarce and everyone suffered a day without food."
"Ebor, scouting out ahead of the expedition  warned us all of a brushfire sustaining only minor burns that didn't seem to bother him.
"Returning to Jim's Landing was largely uneventful, with alternate days of successful hunting, the loss of 2 bearers and a soldier (the victim of yet another fiendish Native trap) not offset by the discovery of a few fossils. "
"I declared the expedition a success, though Ned was not convinced and had been sullen and unapproachable throughout these last few days."

I think this whole expedition had taken about 2 hours and though the skirmishes were tricky for the natives, it was the journey back that held the most tension. I did wonder at one stage if the party was ever going to get out of that bloody swamp before starving to death!

In other news, I'm continuing to grudgingly paint more figures (the last of those destined for Jimland) and some card for a Pirate game that is looking more and more likely to be played solo.
Next week I'll either writeup the second of  Ned Burlington's expeditions or (more likely) show my newly painted figures  (Painted of course in the TWD style I use).

That's all then for this week, thanks for taking the time to visit and of course all comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

"Say Cheese"

Cameraman with 'portable' camera

So this week once more saw me picking up my brushes to finish off a few figures originally for 'Jimland' but got side-lined whilst I was painting my Sudanese.
The figures are all from Col. Bill's and probably have name that I instantly forget.

I've used the Shotgun House I showed last week, as a backdrop.

There are no rules in 'Jimland' for "Photographers" or "Reporters" but I've taken ideas from "The Black Amazons In King Solomon's Lost City Of The Diamond Mines In The Elephant's Graveyard At The Source Of The Nile" a source I've used for many of my 'Jimland' rule ideas.

Front view

Left side view

Obligatory boring rear  view

The sorceress' apprentice Cameraman's assistant

He's painted identically to the cameraman..

...so he can be shown without the camera set-up.

View showing 'glass' plates underh is arm

 The assistant could also be used as a reporter 9the plates doubling as a notebook

Lady (a liability in 'Jimland'

Rear view (for those that like this sort of thing)

Her assistant (yet another liability!)

Obligatory blurry picture

 The women and the photographer are useful for 'missions', giving players extra problems, but also reasons to go into the wilds of 'Jimland' on various tasks and quests.

Group shot (bit obvious really)

So after a couple of painting sessions, this leaves very few figures left to paint for 'Jimland' (some pack animals, four 'settlers' and four slaves iirc).

I've had a very interesting week hobby-wise exchanging a few emails and 'assisiting' daGobbo with his excellent Chariot Racing game (he may view it differently).

I've also been preparing some cards for a pirate game (solo if my potential opponent doesn't show) and my wargames room, with a bit of luck,  will be back in action within a week or so.

But that's it for this week, the football beckons...

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hopefully finding something of interest; as always your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.

Shotgun House Take 2

   Front and side (obviously )

So this is the second of my two shotgun houses from 4Ground, bought earlier this year.
In preparation for this build and building on my experiences with the first kit, I files all the tabs, slots and fitting a small amount so that the fitting together was made much easier. In addition, not having slightly warped wall certainly helped the assembly process.

Rear of building

Despite all this I did have a couple of problems, some slight breakages (but nothing too serious) and on the whole it all went together very smoothly. Once more I added some perspex window-glass to the building, inserted between the inner and outer walls and although not completely satisfactory (the window frame is only on one side), I've found that without 'glass' a lot of buildings look ghost-like and it's such a simple fix that it hardly worth NOT doing it.
The 'glass' can just about be made out in the photograph to the left)

Boring other side

As always, the roof looks unfinished and despite my careful assembly doesn't seem to fit as well as I'd want. The photographs of the front porch below show the gap between the roof and the porch lintel.
If I thought it worth the effort I'd have a go at making the roof fit better, but as these are really only for my own use (they won't be at any show), I think it not worth the time fixing it.

After touch up on the left), before on the right.

As per the last build, I also went over the unpainted bits from this 'painted' model, a quick fix but getting a matching colour is a bit of a pain.
The photograph on the left shows the before and after touch 'ups'.
There's really not much difference but it was a quick fix.

View from above with roof removed

The major internal difference with this model and the previous one is that this is more of a 'Shotgun House', with three rooms, rather than a 'Shotgun Shack', but other than the extra room they're both very similar.

Obligatory boring picture of a door

In a fit of short lived enthusiasm, I even touched up the bits of the doors that would be seen when open.

So the verdict on these kits ?
I think the jury is still out, they fitted together well (probably too well); the painted surfaces are adequate (but need touching up); the roofs are awful (those tabs and the roof ridge -aargghh!); they are a good size and well in scale for "28mm" figures and as a basis for modelling a decent house they do the job.
I didn't bother to put any furniture in this one to take advantage of another photo-opportunity  to pad this post out - saving you, the reader from falling asleep from boredom.


From my point of view, the sad thing is that once more, these will be stored away, probably never
to see the light of day on my games table (currently unusable) as my enthusiasm for this hobby is rapidly waining.

As always many thanks for taking the time to visit and your comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Shotgun House

The finished model, with Fred for scale, as Sid has gone AWOL!

In the last week my hobby output has once again been zero (if you don't count thinking about the hobby). The previous week however, I managed to drum up enough enthusiasm to have a go at another MDF build, this time, as can seen in the photograph to the right, one of 4-Grounds "Shotgun" Houses - more correctly a "Shotgun Shack", as it has only the two rooms, whereas it was expected that the "Shotgun Houses" were normally bigger.
Once more MDF models have left me on the fence as to whether I like them or not.
The ready painted ones are certainly an up-grade to the more frequently sold unpainted versions for about double the cash!

Redundant paint tray, put to use as my games table undergoes a change.

 Preparations for this build were as normal for  me, large space, plenty of clips and vast quantities of tea on hand.
I use un-watered PVA applied with a cocktail stick. MDF is like a sponge when it comes to applying anything liquid. As the walls and thin fiddly bits are all 2mm MDF the sponge-like qualities of MDF makes them very easy to break - not a good thing if, like me, you have chipolatas for fingers and the joins are as precise as something NASA would build.

You can't have too many clips

 It may come as no surprise that it didn't take me long to realise that following the instructions were a must, but also that dry-fitting can lead to problems due to the tight fit of the components.

The first two walls go up

The front wall and patio caused many, many problems for me

I did add clear plastic to the windows to act as glass, ass all the walls are double thickness - the slight warping did not help in the construction either! These ready painted models, may well be a boon to many , but only on assembly do you realise that they're not really completely painted and they will need a touch up when completed. I personally went off these models when they first came on the scene, seeing the roof tabs blatantly left unpainted/disguised.

The broken front right porch upright, is hardly noticeable

Front door - nearly thrown in the bin!

The front door, front wall and porch gave me no end of problems, breakages were frequent and I had to disguise my errors with scrap.
All of my problems were generally the tight fit of many of the components, so with my next build (another shotgun shack), I'll be filing all the tags down a bit and their location holes a little larger.

Front door, from the front (duh!)

Finished at last, though roof needs work done on it!

Front door, but notice the painted railing tops

Right side and rear porch

The left side and rear

Left side and front(ish)

Internal view from above, showing all the doors open

Obligatory boring picture of rook (needs a lot of work imo)

Front door, looking decidedly dodgy

And the back door/room (not quite so dodgy)

I thought it would be fun to put a bit of furniture in the building to give it a little life.

Two pieces of furniture and the room is full!

Front room with stove, cabinet, a table and two chairs

I put the smallest amount of furniture into each room, as I tend to do, just to get an impression of what the room's purpose is. With a figure or two in the rooms, they will look very crowded indeed and I use 20mm bases. Those of you who use the gross (imo) 25mm bases will find that  even a minimalist approach with furniture may leave very little room for figures.

That's it then for this week, thanks for taking the tine to visit; I hope you've found something of interest.

As always your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.