The Good, the Neutral, and The Bad

 Or so is how I am designating the below figures primed and ready to paint - and many just rebased today on to round bases, though many were already.  Part of the 'great reduction'.

Above is the "Jones Clan" with the Indiana #1 at front left, his mate Montana Mike to the right, and then "Fedora" or maybe Marcus Brody, and then, of course, Senior.  The three leftmost are all three Indiana Jones versions I am aware of in 15 mm (edit: there is a fourth and I may have it, somewhere, from Rebel Minis - maybe two?).  In the back row from right is Mutt, Marion Ravenwood, Sophie (who may be his daughter or maybe Mutt's squeeze), and Elsa.  In back is Mutt with his motor bike, then some other member of the party, maybe Marcus or maybe Fedora, and last - but not least - Sallah.

These are the bad and/or evil folks, opponents for the good guys.

The good guys and gals with the Jones folk at back upper right.

The neutral folk who can stay neutral or slide towards good or bad depending on the day and the game.

And an overall shot.

So, the above are the "character" figures.  Below are 'the rest' of the figures and, perhaps, more focused in some ways.

Above are the Nazis and the U-boat landing crew, the native warriors and villagers, and 'the monsters' and some other miscellaneous items.  The brown discs are the round bases waiting to remove figures from the square bases to be glued on to the round.

And this box contains the Americans, the British, and the Germans - figures that can be used in a variety of environments.  And it is important to note that my pulp figures will 'travel' beyond Central America and the Banana Wars, in fact there is really no limit as to where on the planet they might show up.

Here are the unarmed ship and boat crews, the armed boat crews, the Nemonauts, and the local civilian population.  

A photo showing the very specific Banana Wars figures - the forces of El Presidente and his two competing wannabe dictators.

A bunch of 'extra bits' for decorating pulp games - like fuel dumps and pallets and statues.

Somewhere in the mix is a group or two of European civilians looking to be evacuated.

Still some figures to prep and prime - though bases are now ready, some paraphernalia to prep and prime and base.  And then LOTS of painting.  The good thing is the painting can be done in small batches to build to a small game and, eventually, get it all painted.  

Banana Wars

 I don't have a page tab above for Banana Wars so it will reside here on the main post stream.  Think in terms of US Marines and others intervening in fictional semi-civil war in a fictional country in Central America - with considerable diversions.  Very pulp style.

Some photos of certain items for the 'period':

Most of what is in this post will relate to the airplanes, my Indiana Jones Air Force as I call it, but this first photo above shows my choice of figure for Marion Ravenwood of Indiana Jones fame.

The MBX airliner.

The Ford Tri-Motor

The River Flyer

All three seen together shows they don't scale together well at all.  And I could care less.  They are toys in a game and the fun is more important.  I will leave scale snobbery to the purists.  Sure, I'd like them to be in scale but I will live with them as is.

A few pilots to show scale.

Indy and friends - Elsa, or Ilsa, on the right.

And some mechanics.

And, again, all three but with figures.

And below, all three again to show the sides of the planes better with the adjacent figures.

And that's it.  For now.

Update

So, besides the 250th anniversary game of Lexington and Concord, see American Revolution page, I've been working on Robin Hood collection and started painting some figures.  I've also continued to downsize my Banana Wars collection to more manageable numbers and need to, perhaps, revisit the Old West to reduce even further.  I expect the next to the last set of terrain items, including my Robin Hood castle to arrive today and I just ordered some more items yesterday to round out my terrain needs.  One last order may be made to get a version of the Jungle Cruise building from Disneyland to use as a centerpiece for certain pulp games.  

I need to sort out a few more battalions for AWI for Bunker Hill and get those painted and then get going on my Three Musketeers.  And - big maybe - get a start on my Stone Age or maybe my Vikings this year.  But, pretty much done with collecting figures - I just don't need more, quite the opposite.  Though I admit to adding some Old Glory 15s riflemen recently for my AWI.  

So far, 2025 is proving a fairly productive hobby year.  We'll see out it goes moving forward.

Completed Painting Challenge

 Back on October 1, 2024, I started a one hundred day + 10 reserve days painting challenge.  The plus ten was to build in cushion for some gaming conventions and the holidays and I ended up using all ten 'reserve' days.   I count the challenge as a success because on the last day, January 18, 2025, I had completed 1,023 figures with most of them table ready and the rest just needing based textured and seal coating.   That makes four years running I've painted over 1,000 figures per year.  Maybe not prize winning paint jobs but a figure painted on the table is a pretty good prize in and of itself.  And I contend that once a game is under way, the paint job barely matters most of the time. 

Charlie's Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles game

Charlie G. ran a game of Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles at Great Escape Games this past Friday with six players - each of us having three units plus a leader.  It was a "break through" scenario and his firsts time running the rules.  I was on the side of the Zanzibaris who needed to exit down the road or near it.

I started the game with the Ace of Spades and moved one of my units down the road towards our objective.  Got shot up and ended up having to pull back - there on the left above - and took some shock.

Mike's forces followed up in support and he to got a bit beat up.

Merrick, also on our side, lined the bridge (very cool from Miniatures Building Authority - as was the hut and the black thing (a tent but not up the usual MBA standards).

Mark, one of our opponents kept our left rear busy, his unit bottom left above.

And, again, Merrick on the bridge.  My third - and last surviving - unit middle left with a white stone denoting 'out of ammo' so only firing with half of dice did some good execution.  But by the end of the game our units up near the road had been wiped out.  My leader, by the tent, pulled back to the last unit and called out that he and his men had urgent business back at the tribal council fires.  And then he turned and cast a terrible spell on our enemy, no doubt dampening their victorious celebrations!  😜

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.