Some painted figures added and a small group of unpainted figures to prep

First up below are some painted Napoleonic era (I think) Marines that were painted to use with my pirates years ago. They got 'fired' by the pirates as being too out-of-period for their liking and, when hunting for a missing pair of figures - still hunting, I found these and realized they'd be a nice reinforcement for El Presidente.  The back story is that each of the recent predecessor presidents, in far too condensed a time, wanted a unit in a uniform of their own design so now there are four different uniforms for this better armed and better trained part of the presidential guard troops - which means they have a better shot at resisting those wannabe dictators who are not so loyal and have troops at their own disposal. 

Just another shot of the more formal presidential guard - and that Trevor toy that will be a steam traction engine and a presidential sedan from Peter Pig.

Photo below shows on top are a bunch of spare figures and below is a Bluemoon Frankenstein's Lab set that will get shoe horned into this collection somehow.  Hmm, I wonder if there is a suitable 15 mm Terri Garr and Madeline Kahn figure to match their characters in the Young Frankenstein film?  Now that would be fun.

I also found a set of figures I was unsure how I would use and I guess they fit best here - though they might work with my Robin Hood setup, maybe both.  Here is a photo link to the set at Khurasan:

hero15-cbr-witchqueen.jpg

She is the Witchqueen of Azerbai from the 15 mm Heroic Fantasy range, Cultist Brutes of Raum subgroup.

Also added in a bunch of spiders for the 'critters' side of things as well as 'huminals' which will represent humans infected with a disease that has them behaving like wild animals (both from Battle Valor Games, the spiders meant as shields, I will use them as largish tarantulas).

Last of the Banana War figures ready for painting - I hope!

While it is possible that there might still be a figure or three somewhere about still in need of preparation for painting for my pulp Banana Wars, I believe they are all primed and ready now.  Lots of buildings and terrain to work on - and lots of painting to do, of course - but a major milestone nonetheless.  Note in the first image the two vehicles at the top, one on the left in operating condition, one on the right a crashed version.  Plans include a number of additional vehicles to be added, owned and generally in need of assembling but since the are not 'figures' but 'terrain' to me, they are not counted here, nor are the bits for trains.  There are now six boxes of figures ready for painting.

In the image above the leftists are on the left, the rightists are on the right - and each in the far corners are the wannabe dictators if they can only take over Conyuras from El Presidente.  But what is that in the center?  Certainly not a centrist.

But perhaps in some scenario a center of interest?  It is a Khurasan Sea Creature, the wavy water effect is from Weldbond.  And the dark green paint just seems more in order given my plans for the final coloration of the beast.

And for those happily awaiting seeing these figures painted - be patient.  I want to prep and prime my jousting figures and my Stone Age figures before I get going on painting.  But, when all is ready, I will have plenty of figures for several periods ready to go that should keep me 'in painting' for a good while to come.  And, ack, there is the possibility something might come to light that I'll want to add to my Banana Wars collection in need of purchasing.  Oh, the hazards we miniatures hobbyists endure.

 

Meet the Kongorillians - with figure comparison to show size

Above is an overall shot showing all six of the large gorillas - five of which have been seen before.  This time I've added 15 mm figures to show relative size of the beasts.

This is one of the smaller animals with a native leader (not sure of provenance - had for a lot of years).  Note the damsel - you will be seeing her again directly.  The Weldbond is still drying - that's why still white.

One of a few shots of Rage Kong with a damsel held upside down.

A closer shot.

And one with the damsel at his foot; she is from the Khurasan 15 mm Pulp range.  Note his repositioned right arm.

This one will need a little filler work on the left arm before painting.  The geisha comes from one of the 15 mm pulp sets that Brigade put out - and, sadly, the only sets they put out in 15 mm as far as I know.

A good sized brute.  The man is a figure to be used as an American diplomat.

One of the smaller gorillas with a certain famous archaeologist - and my favorite sculpt of the three I know of in 15 mm metal (and have with 2 of 1 of them but not 2 of this one) in my collection.  He, too, came from that Brigade release which I think may be back being available.

And this is one very big hulk of a critter and that man figure will be a British diplomat.

A different angle of all 12 figures, the six apes and the six people.  The jungle is a very new acquisition, got from a friend who was moving.  Very nice stuff.  The background is part of a cool pulp print I also recently acquired.  Those green hills came along with the jungle and will get some 'improvements' to reduce the golf course effect.

Some additional figures to go bananas with

 

The top three women and the middle three men come from Rebel Minis and are meant for SteamPunk but the closest I will get to that is my Banana Wars so here they land.  The bottom three men shall represent a variation of the three sergeants from Gunga Din - or maybe their sons or grandsons given my time setting.  It's Pulp focused so why the heck not?!

Naming a river...

Towards the end of my 2.8 walk this morning I came up with a name for a river for my Banana Wars games: Onokongno River.  Seems fun.  Perhaps a little later in the day I may get a group shot of all of my Kongorillas.  We'll see.    

And yet more of that potassium laden fruit...

 Down to the last two boxes of figures to prep, the two opposing forces under the influence of the wannabe dictators

Below is the Presidential Guard, the six mounted in back (all losing their swords so they are just going to be lived without, then the two multi-based guard units, the individually based guard unit, and the multi-based guard band, mounted command and foot escort, the president's ride - Peter Pig Franklin, then those six to the left that are Anglo-American "advisers" of a sort, and the four figures to the left of the car being the president, is mistress, his bag man, and his right-hand man.

On the right is the German contingent, adding the six picklehaub foot units up front.

With a little luck, maybe this week all of the figures will be primed and ready for painting.  Getting close.

More for the Banana Wars pulp gaming universe

Further progress - and hopefully not too much duplication below, it was 102 outside (39 C) when I exited the garage so my brain might be slightly baked!

On the lower right of the above image are the 12 'units' of unarmed civilians, in front is a half dozen scientists, some mounted civilians and leaders - the British diplomats.  At the top of the image are the four armed ship's crews to the left and behind them the eight unarmed ship's crews.  And then some mounted crew and their support weapon, an automatic weapon and an old artillery piece.

On the left above is the Anglo-American contingent: one tattered army unit, three units of sailors, and a couple units of Marine for the US - and the American ambassador and staff.  And then two anachronistic units of British (Zulu War) units.  And some mounted cavalry and a couple of heavy weapons - and mounted command for both nationalities.  Next up in the box on the right is the Germans, the old fashioned picklehaub wearing soldiers, far from home in this remote posting - where they are violating the Monroe doctrine even!  Good thing the British were invited with an American 'blessing' of El Presidente's wishes.

On the left above are the natives to the front with the native villagers to the rear, at the very front are the four 'stars' of the show - and to their left some additional 'critters' for a scenario, and to the right a couple of rather large skulls.   The right groups are five 'sets'.  In the back center are two groups of US citizens in the process of getting out of town, just in case.  In front are the air folk, a group of unarmed plane mechanics and then a group of armed pilots.  In front of them are a Kelly Gang (yeah, those Australian dudes) and the "Society of the Robe" (middle eastern sorts),  To the right rear is a German U-boat crew and in front of them are some proto-Nazis and some henchmen (Indiana Jones inspired sorts).  And in front of them are two units of Americans sent down to Conyuras (the imagination) on a "secret mission" including a few command figures.  Both the Germans and American force get a heavy weapon each.

This is the archaeologists in the upper right.  The lower right are the nemo-nauts.  And then all those individually based 'characters' and sidekicks, etc.  Lots of variety.  And duplicative of below.

After the Germans are done, these three boxes are the 'rest of the figures'.  The top box are the forces of El Presidente, sort of like the 'royal guard' in The Wind and the Lion film, definitely under-gunned and over-dressed.  The two boxes below are the 'chief lieutentants' who are each vying to take control, one group leans left and the other right.  Yeah, its not a good time to be a president in Central America, especially not where bananas have been the chief crop!

Last is three bags with one passenger car each to be assembled and painted special for this game - and then that Thomas the Tank Engine vehicle to be a steam traction engine and get a repaint.

Yup, progress being made.  But lots and lots of painting to do.

 

The Great and Terrible Schlong of Kong Disaster - or Gorillas Go Banana Wars!

 A few photos showing preparation of figures is underway for a pulp game set in the Banana Wars era.

The first photo shows three groupings: to the rear left is the archaeologist and their diggers, four units of twelve figures each and then six individually based figures that include Indiana, Senior, Marion, and Mutt.   To the right rear are the Nemonauts, two groups of hard suit, and three groups of 'soft' suit figures, plus three individually based figures - but not Captain Nemo, he'd be long dead by the 1930s when the game is set.  The rest of the individually based figures are various male and female figures with most of the men being unique except for one figure duplicated - by choice.  And one of those unique figures is an even better Indiana figure - with his rope.  The women are many unique figures and then two groups of six each that are all the same in each group but the  groups are different.

The next photo shows one of the Kong figures and his mate - or potential mate.  There was supposed to be another shot of the other two but I didn't catch it was a movie instead of a photo so see next photo.

This third photo shows the other Kong and mate pair on the left as well as all four of them together.  Missing from the photos is Rage Kong, a truly massive simian, he will not get primed, just some work on his paint job, a store bought item, used at a deep discount.

This is just one of my projects for the summer - getting this collection fully primed and ready for painting.  A lot more still to get ready.  And a lot of jungle to build.

 

 

Dumas' Musketeers getting much progress lately

Check the Page link above for what is going on with my musketeers.  Note that I've added a 'fifth' musketeer to the Heroes, one Albert (or Alber' in French pronunciation apparently).  Only one figure actually painted so far - and not by me - but fun ahead.

I suppose I could adjust the primer color just a bit and still play with the collection before it gets properly painted since everything is individually based.  But maybe that is best to be limited to solo play only.  Maybe!

Principle Goal for 2024

My main aim for this year is to REDUCE - the number of figures I own.  And, possibly, reduce the number of periods.  I just have more than it is realistic to ever get done and then on the table.  There will be resistance - and it will mostly come from me - but I have to start making the effort a higher priority.

First step is to try and get "just enough" figures for some periods finished to be able to run a game.  

And if that works out and there are lots of left over figures that I no longer need, well, bye-bye.  Not saying I will just give stuff away but I won't be looking for any fancy return on what I spent on the figures.  And it is possible I may give some stuff away, especially to someone too young and 'poor' to acquire enough of their own figures.  Just have to be wary of the e-bay 'profiteers'!

Of course, I also hope to paint A LOT of figures: continue work on American Revolution with the 250th anniversaries starting next year, finish off my French Foreign Legion collection - made a very good start last year.  Kind of sneaking in late to the party, but get my Three Musketeers collection on the table this year.  Finish a bunch of incomplete ACW units with a special goal in mind.  Maybe finish painting my French and Indian War figures.  For sure, get my American Old West on the game table this year.  And same for my Slightly Cracked Colonials (Steeplechase).

So much to do and I get older every day.  And none of that takes into account making progress on my model railroad.

Need to balance a bit of sanity with a lot of enjoyment.

Slightly Cracked Colonials "discoveries"

In process of "cleaning and straightening" a large portion of my miniatures collections, I came across a few boxes of stuff that was "out of sight and thus out of mind" so now I need to find a way to include these items into this collection.  The native warriors will likely go to the Remingpounds or maybe Odo - or just be held in reserve to use as I please.  The other biggest chunk is unarmed civilians so those are likely to go to the Germans and the British but, again, might be held in reserve for the 'use as I please' concept.  A few other bits and pieces to sort, too. 

edit: see Steelpechase page