Gorillas go Banana Wars (new items on page 6)

[FifteensAway]

Los Abajos, Conyuras.
 
I've decided I want both a fictional town and a fictional country for my game so I've reset it to be in the little known Central American country of Conyuras.  I think their national flag will show a conure parrot riding on a burro.  . And, of course, their economy will be highly dependent on bananas!   . Los Abajos can be an even more primitive port - though it may also host a primitive airfield.  It will certainly host tramp steamers and the occasional wayward submarine.

With this reset, I can let my fertile imagination run even more riot than it already does.

[FifteensAway]

Okay, forces set:

The big dudes: Gorilla gorilla gigantus, male, a.k.a. King Kong, gorilla gorilla gigantus, female, a.k.a. Queen Kong, and gorilla gorilla humungous, very jealous male, a.k.a. Rage Kong (pity the puny humans if he shows up!). 

The leftists: 7 foot units and 1 mounted unit plus two machine guns and their wannabe Dictator

The rightists: 7 foot units and 1 mounted unit plus two machine guns and their wannabe Dictator

The Anglo-American Alliance: 7 foot units and 1 mounted unit plus 3 or 4 machine guns/artillery pieces and both the American and British envoys/ambassadors (not certain yet) - aligned with the rightists

The Germans: 1 unit of Proto-Nazis on foot plus 6 additional foot unit and 1 mounted units plus 3 machine guns and the German envoy/Ambassador - aligned with the leftists

The ship crews: 2 armed foot crews with 1 machine gun, 7 unarmed ship crews (one of the Anglo-American envoys probably involved here)

The innocent bystanders, pardon, I mean civilians: 9 unarmed groups of men and women (with an Indiana Jones and dad sort of 'leadership' (?)), includes a doctor operating on a patient vignette

Ostensibly, the foreigners are in the country to avert a civil war.  Ostensibly.

The Building Plans:

Model submarine to build/modify (purchased), probably another submarine to either purchase or scratch build, maybe even a third
Need to build at least two tramp steamers and a couple of other merchant ships (may be able to modify two or three boats I already have) for the docks and maybe a U.S. warship (probably? but a small one - though a 'tiny' carrier might be fun and add an aerial element besides a primitive airfield)

Need to build the docks, probably a combination of wooden docks and stone and/or concrete docks.  Need to build some lifting machinery, probably modify a model railroad one I have and use some other model railroad stuff to build an even bigger one. 
Need to build a number of warehouses to line the docks.
Maybe a little bit of a railroad running along the docks and stabbing into the jungle.
Need to build at least a representation of the town itself but mostly as a backdrop, though a Catholic Church is probably needed - there are a bunch of nuns mixed in with those unarmed civilians - and a lot of those folk are going to be praying for salvation if things go wrong for them.  Can't imagine anything going wrong for the civilians in this scenario; can you? 
Need to build a bunch of jungle (multi-use for this scenario and Africa and other settings as they come up).  Have most of what I need except some large buttressed trunk trees as the 'masters' of the jungle.
Need to build banana plantation - already have the stuff, just to build (and modify some bought built to match better to my own)
Maybe - if they can be found in 15 mm - find some animals to add some color to the jungle, jaguars (might have one), tapirs, and such.  Have some birds and bats I can paint up and add in - sort of like the brilliant touches done by Digits.  Domestic live stock I have in numbers more than adequate and already painted.

There needs to be the main port and an out-of-the-way 'secret' dock tucked into a jungle river's mouth.

All the figures are washed to prep for painting, all the figure bases prepared.  I figure this can be as many as a 12 player convention game, though could go full bore with only 6.

Progress made, plan in place.  Now to just get busy.  Realistic target date is November, overly optimistic target date is July - to meet planned conventions I attend here in California.  Getting it all done is going to take a bit of luck - even for November. 

[Digits]

I say start with the trees…but then I would.   Do the buttress trees exactly the same size as I do them….they would look fantastic with 15mm minis!

And good to see you thinking of animal touches to your scenics…..you know it makes sense!

As for warehouses….laser cut wooden ones are your friend here….just jazz them up with a bit of corrugated tin roof and painted on thinned filler/pva.  They would look great.

[Tarnegol]

...though a 'tiny' carrier might be fun and add an aerial element besides a primitive airfield...

Have you considered some kind of flying boat?

[FifteensAway]

Tarnegol,

Absolutely would love a flying boat, especially a Pan Am Clipper, if I could find one suitable for 15 mm!  If you know of one, let me know.

[Digits]

You got $260 ? 

https://www.pilotshop.com/catalog/stpages/KB314T.php

[Digits]

There you go…..$200

https://www.boeingstore.com/products/boeing-b-314-clipper-wood-1-100-model

[FifteensAway]

$200 US might be a bit steep for the budget!  I 'could' buy it - but the wife would tell me, "You've got some 'splaining' to do."   

Nice models, though, and would be great for certain Indiana Jones adventures.  Who knows, if nothing better comes to light, I might cave in and buy one.  So, thanks for the links. 

[Tarnegol]

Found these - I appreciate that I'm the wrong side of the Atlantic...

https://www.scalemodelshop.co.uk/1-104-pby-5a-catalina-us-navy-seaplane-cm5301-atlantis-models/?gclid=CjwKCAjw__ihBhADEiwAXEazJte5ahbqV8jVY422T3zPo89iblUEhhwN5HLJabgQc8PM6Q630_GSQhoCq4UQAvD_BwE

https://ecardmodels.com/product-tag/flying-boat

https://www.shapeways.com/product/EYUWUQNDU/1-144-or-1-100-felixstowe-f-2a-early-model?optionId=60682115

[FifteensAway]

Tarnegol, thanks for those links, will investigate further later.

For now, some photos of stuff for building my port, all items I've had for a while for building an old west town - which they will still be used for so shingled roofs rather than corrugated.  I will add the roofs and some siding and use my recently acquired dice trays to be used as window and door frames (a Tarnegol find, by the way).  Chimneys are a maybe or maybe a probably.  I should have enough materials for most if not all of these buildings already on hand.  If not, then trips to my supply sources will be in order, all thankfully local and hopefully with items in stock.

Here are the photos:



Enough buildings for either two sides of a street with one along the bay/river or maybe two stretches to get to 10' worth to accommodate the planned water craft, a lot even for 15 mm.



One of the two boats in the mixture, a bit dusty from storage.  That is a stand of 15 mm ACW figures to show scale on the bow.  Will need to do some work to make the superstructure fit more in scale.  And, maybe, cut the hull on my table saw so it doesn't ride so high in the water.  Or, again, maybe, do the above and cut it width wise to make it longer.

\

Just a closer shot of the figures.  By the way, that same stand of figures is in the first shot above but maybe hard to see.



I have a full bag of each of these, they are doll house 1/48 scale shingles but I figure to use them for doors with a little additional work.



And here is my 'stash' of die trays from Pendraken (Red Vector I think) that I will use as window and door frames.

I will check tomorrow for other buildings I may have in similar status.

No photos yet but maybe in a day or so of a lot of stuff I found useable for building my jungle, going to need a lot of that.  And rummaging around, I also found 15 trees I can use to build my African iconic umbrella acacia; I'd forgotten I had them so that was cool.

A question for Digits in his jungle wanderings, or others with similar experience, just how colorful is the jungle?  I know it is going to be mostly green and probably brown or red brown but what about more colorful bits?  I have a bunch of stuff I can use for lower growth within my jungles to help create that triple canopy feel - knowing, of course, that there will be areas less dense due to lack of sun penetration.

I'll try and get more photos up soon of the raw materials for jungles, including some 3D prints I've acquired.

[Digits]

The thing that struck me the most in the Cameroon jungle I lived in was very monotone colour…..green with a covering of dirt.   Not a lot of light penetrates down through canopy either.   Stank of decay, very humid and unpleasant.  Don’t recall many splashes of colour.   

You’d think all the rain would wash off the dirt…but we had quite a reddish soil.  The big rain drops would splash it about a lot and certainly all the low level shrubbery was dirty and streaked. 

I really should go back to all my own jungle and use weathering powders on all my low level stuff…..

[Aethelwulf]

When are we gonna see the apes?

[FifteensAway]

"When are we gonna see the apes?"

Depends on whether you want to see them unassembled without paint or after they get painted.  Two of them are 'some assembly required' and the the other needs some work on his store bought paint job, too black for my tastes so some dry brushing to do.  Sure, gorillas are basically black but there are touches of color.  Might get some work on them this month but more likely in May since a different project needs to get cleared off the painting table first.

And, Digits, thanks for the comment on jungle colorings.  I was thinking that might be true.  May still add a little color here and there, like fruits on some of the trees, flowers blooming in clearings, but keep it more subdued.  Maybe keep most of the color for other spaces.

[Aethelwulf]

I can wait for them to be painted.

[CapnJim]

Wow.  You're certainly making progress.  Great job so far...