Friday, 23 February 2024

Recent arrivals

 Amongst arrivals in February were several packs of Woodland Indians from Crusader miniatures. Since buying the "Last of the Mohicans" character figures a while back, I have had an idea bubbling away of some kind of skirmish level game around the story of the Munro sisters et al - so when I saw Crusader had a decent discount on this range - £4 per pack instead of £7 or something like that - I ordered one of each pack. I was actually there, looking at German paras.....butterfly, butterfly!



Six packs of four figures, which will all be based individually - seems like more than enough for my purposes - I may just have to get a few British and French regulars too at some point.


The Fallschirmjaeger command is done but I am not sure when I will get around to painting the rest of these, as there is quite a backlog of unpainted stuff in my pile - which is an uncommon situation for me, but I did go a bit mad back in January! In fact, I still have two purchases to arrive yet - some more of the JJG 3D prints from France, which are on the way now (finally!) plus a small force of figures from another manufacturer based in Bonnie Scotland - Templar Miniatures.

And from the Boring Old fart files, here are a few images from the garden of fruit in production and being consumed!


The passion fruit vine, which has been producing fruit to eat for about a fortnight now.



The apple tree (don't know the variety, sorry!) - I have had a couple of the windfalls to eat already, although they probably need a few more weeks - Autumn does not start here till March



Mandarin tree - most of the fruit are still green but the ones that are ripe are very sweet to eat already.


Passion Fruit as they look when ready for consumption.


And one of the windfall apples!


I just Googled passionfruit and currently, you can buy a box of 30 fruit for $45 - which makes our vine quite a money saver - there are probably close to 30 in that bowl in the image above!

Off to out inaugural 28mm Blitzkrieg game at Barrys on Sunday, with yours truly providing a significant portion of the German force PLUS the scenario - so fingers crossed it's a good one- an AAR will follow in due course, needless to say! 

24 comments:

  1. Look forward to seeing those figures, as the film is a family favourite. There is a good documentary on Amazon about the siege and what happened to the British troops when they marched out, which was pretty informative. Post wise we've only had one delivery in our area in the past three days!!! No wonder people are using other delivery companys instead.

    Nice to see a good fruit crop there Keith, all of which SWMBO would love. This year I want to try some fruit in pots to see how they get on, as previous attempts have been KO'd by very wet or very cold Winters...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Steve - i think I prefer Ye Olde BBC version of the tale, to be honest, but the (slightly) more modern film version is good too!
      I know you are much more of a gardener than I am, so I hope you have some success with your fruit in pots - our lemon tree started off in a pot, many years ago - it's a bit too big now!

      Delete
  2. Gardening is fun when you get to the harvest. Good luck on the game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Joe - that is my opinion on gardening, too!

      Delete
  3. You definitely got a bargain with the figures and with the Passionfruit too, by the look of it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Ray - yes, on both counts! Grow your own isn't always really worth it, but with Passionfruit, it definitely is - they are always a horrendous price to get commercially, even though a lot of people do grow their own - weird!

      Delete
  4. A nice bargain and looking forward to seeing them painted up

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Scotty...yes, if the Paras had the same deal going, I would have a platoon of Crusader, rather the 1st Corps!

      Delete
  5. Not only are you a fruit grower but your Lead Pile grows as well. Figure purchases are always in season.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, very good Jon....buying should be on hold for a while now...which allows me to gradually replenish my war chest!

      Delete
  6. New miniatures! Always a great time!

    ReplyDelete
  7. A good price on the figures and hopefully went a good way towards covering the postage. Crusader do have a nice heft to them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Norm, yes, Crusader are always very nice figures, and these (including the FSJ HQ) are no exception.

      Delete
  8. A close-to 50% discount is enough reason to invest. We used to have a passionfruit vine when I was much younger, but didn't like them as much then as I do now. I'll bet the home-grown mandarins are tasty as well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Funny you say that about the passion fruit Lawrence. I was not a big fan of them years ago, but the flavour has grown on me....same with feijoa's, too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Look forward to seeing these painted up Keith. It's cheering to see some green shoots pop up here in blighty... no fruit for a while yet though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Richard - snow drops and crocuses there at the mo, I imagine?!

      Delete
  11. All that money saved on fruit can go towards the lead pile Keith.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like a perfect idea Ben - I like the way you think!

      Delete
  12. Nice crop of new arrivals Keith, and nice crop of passion fruit...even though I can't stand the things! Our crops of the moment are blueberries (two bowls a day at present) and beans - two or three handfuls a day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's like an episode of The Good Life on here at the moment!

      Delete
  13. Saving money on all fronts. Surely the money saved on passion fruit should be spent on extra gaming supplies. 😀

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aha, another vote to increase the defence budget! Thank Stew, I will put it forward to the appropriations committee!

      Delete