Explorers and Oryx

     "Oryx"

I had intended to post a write-up of my second venture into 'Jimland' but the techy side of real-life once more thwarted my endeavours. To put it simply I've had issues with my, now six year old,  camera eventually sorted my my more techy daughter.

Oryx's bums (for those that like that sort if thing)

The consequences of which is that I've taken photographs today of the figures I've been slowly painting over the last week or so to post about today!
I finally got around to finishing the basing on the recent additions to my Jimland menagerie (the ORYX [for Roy]) and managed to also finish and base the five pulp explorers I recently bought at Battleground along with finishing off two others and those damn porters that have been awaiting completion for what seems like a life-time.

Two of my 'older' explorers that have featured previously,

Ans their rear view

Two of the Newbies, from Pulp Figures

(The Chap as already been named as Otto Sackville.)

Two more 'four eyes' from Pulp Figures

The Butterfly 'Hunter'' has butterflies on him!

Final Pulp Figure

I'm sure he's based on some fictional chap

The almost obligatory group shot

(Obligatory blurry picture)

Just when I though I'd seen the back of my explorers I found whilst sorting through my Sudan collection figures, suitable as explorers.
The chap on the left is rather large and is possible a Foundry figure or  a Redoubt figure.
The chap on the right is almost certainly a Boer and is definitely from Old Glory. The latter came with a group lot of colonials bought from Evil-bay (along with some Brits, Ansar, a Boer gun crew and two Egyptians!). To complete what I want for my Sudan collection I still have three bags of OG Egyptian Infantry, 1 bag Egyptian Cavalry, some more guns and gunners more Dervish Cavalry and Camelry, the list just goes on!

Based and undercoated (undercoat courtesy of Wilko's)

I have been busy with my Sudanese though, the aforementioned purchase bringing the numbers up to just over 300 all based up and undercoated on Tuesday through Wednesday of last week,
Top left is a unit of 'arab' rifles; top right five Fuzzy sword armed units; below them a unit of cavalry and mounted Emirs; Bottom left 5 Units of  'Arabs', 3 sword and two spear; Bottom centre "Fuzzy rifles"; bottom right 4 units of 'Fuzzy' spears. There are also a few 'randoms, civilians and foot Leaders without units.

By Sunday, all the flesh had been added to all 300+

The new three-piece terrain board

   In other news, during the final stage of my Jimland game I had one of those disasters everyone fears - I stumbled onto one of my very lightweight terrain boards snapping into three piece. ( I blame age, drink, drugs and incompetence...)

Cocktail splints in a very strangely coloured photo (I blame the cameraman)

Some cocktail sticks and liberal amounts of PVA, left to dry for three days (as PVA takes an age to dry 'internally' - so to speak)

Almost like new.. I may have to add two small hills to strength the board

That's it then for this week's post. I'll be writing up the latest Jimland adventure whilst holidaying  in the sunny North West (yes I know) as of Friday, but I am assured they have the Interweb even in the sticks. IN the meantime, the terrain board above needs fixing all the fuzzy wuzzies have to have their hair painted, everyone needs weapons painted and the list goes on...

Thanks for taking the time to visit and I hope you found something of interest and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

Sale Bargains

   The '3' tag refers to the age of users - I should be OK then

I've done very little in the way hobby related things other than some basing for my Sudanese figures. I finally gave them a spray undercoat having had to wait for a day that was wind, snow and rain free whilst it was light enough to see!
The rest of the time my Oryx, Explorers and various other bits haven't seen a  paintbrush in over two weeks, despite being 95% finished.  I have however been taking advantage of the January sales (when the going gets tough the tough go shopping) and came away with two great buys imo.

The first,  shown left and above, is an Elephant (bit obvious really) that I bought from Wilkos (nee Wilkinson's) for the princely sum of £1,25 which is an absolute bargain imo considering how much a wargame model of a similar size can cost anywhere upwards of £12! (though the cheapest I seen advertised was about £8 iirc from Irregular). It is of course perfect for Safari-ing in Jimland even though not one of the animal encounters listed ! 

I'm sure I'll find a use for this!

The second bargain I picked up was this 'toy' 3D printer my daughter spotted before Xmas for a whopping £49,99 now reduced to a mere £14.99.
It's a far cry from the current 3D machines that can cost hundreds of pounds for even a suitable entry-level machine.
This one has re-usable compound to make the mould and a 'ink' that solidifies as the material injects into the mould.
The size of what can be moulded is about the size of a 2 inch cube so perfect for small wargame related items!
When I eventually get around to using it I will of course write a post about it!

I may not have been very busy on the painting/modelling front but I did have my first game of 2018 - another adventure into Jimland, which I'll be posting about next time!
In the meantime enjoy the cartoon on the left that I filched from the Interweb.






























That's it then for this week, thanks for taking the time to visit, apologies for the briefness and of course, as always, your comments are both welcomed and appreciated!

HNY 2018

  A happy New Year from all those currently in Jimland!

Happy New Year to all my friends, followers and visitors to my blog. I hope all of you that may have over-indulged have recovered and to those that didn't I hope you had a good new year celebration too.
As my blogging day is a Monday it was difficult to find a good a suitable day to reflect on 2017, but suffice to say I think I upped my game, painting some 100 figures or so for the first time in over a year and even managing to get a game in too! 
With my enthusiasm at at an all time high in recent weeks, I was over-indulged with hobby related items at Xmas and here's some of the very thoughtful gifts I received:

Three great books

Having resurrected an old project (The Sudan), my wife bought me a selection of related reading materials. The two source books are superb  and should be a must buy for anyone considering this period to game. They gave me some very welcome extra sources to add to my collection of photos of real jibbahs (jibbas) on Pinterest, which I've been adding too for some time.
The third book which I'm currently reading gives a very revealing insight into the Victorian "Small Wars" and how the British and Colonial forces managed to achieve so much.

Tools of the "trade"

Two tubes of acrylics were a welcome addition to my stocks, both colours I use prolifically, the white an especial bonus as I have had trouble getting a good white covering.
The hole/circle cutter came as a complete surprise and I can see it getting a lot of use.

21st Century version of the humble glue-gun

My ailing hot-glue gun has been supplanted by the 21st century, all singing all dancing cordless one you see on the left.
Complete with its own carry case, extra nozzles and fancy stand, it's another very welcome addition to my 'arsenal' of hobby-related tools.

Add caption

I also got a very nice truck from my Grandson, which I forgot to photograph!












I also convince my better half that I needed a few more figure, which I purchase from e-bay at about half price; they're the front three blocks in the photo to the right - the figures in the background are figures I've had for many years and have finally seen the light of day! The basing on all these is not all I've managed to do hobby-wise in the last two  weeks!

Jimland and the Sudan - Spot the Oryx!

The three trays of figures I've shown in a previous post have also had some progress too.
Some few are for Jimland, but the remainder are primarily for the Sudan.
I also found that I hate painting camels more than I hate painting horses or foot figures. The third tray (gunners) are all but finished and not shown as I couldn't find where I'd tidied them away!

Effing camels!

So, whilst progress has been very restrained over the holiday period I did manage to make some, but I reckon 2018 will see me changing gear into mass-production and hopefully even get a game or two in!

Thanks for taking the time to visit and once more I hope you've had a great holiday break and will have a great 2018, I'm pretty sure I will.

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).