Monday 21 March 2016

The Last Post - The 6th Edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Has Concluded

Brushes down, people. We're done. Done like dishes.

Wow, I'm wrung out. I believe I managed a little over 50 posts over the weekend. Good work people!


I think I have us pegged at around 900 entries over the three months of the Challenge. Amazing. I'll let Miles do his statistical magic later this week and we can sit back, slack-jawed, and marvel at our awesomeness. 


I'm a little bit too stupefied to really string anything coherent together, other than to say the past three months were tremendous good fun, my team of 'minions' were absolutely brilliant and I couldn't have hoped for a better group of Challengers. I thank you all.

For me, this last week was a flurry of deadlines, both at work and at home. I knew I'd be knackered, but I also knew I wanted to get in one last 'charge of pike' in my Renaissance Men duel with Peter, so here it is.


This is an Italian Wars period Landsknecht pike block. It's composed of 33 figures and one casualty.  The models were sourced from Foundry, Pro Gloria and Artizan. 

I've painted a lot of models in my time; Napoleonics, ECW, SCW, Imperial Space Marines, Samurai, the works, but I tell you, Landsknechts are probably the hardest figures I've ever tackled. Historically they had  no real uniform, but their clothes were incredibly complex, with multiple layers, puff and slash sleeves, ornate codpieces, stripes, AND on top of this, were seen in a veritable rainbow of colours. In painting terms, every figure should be unique, without a design being repeated. So basically a huge gong show for a painter. Nevertheless, I pecked away, one-by-one, took my time and ground ahead as there's just no shortcuts with these guys.



The irregular shaped bases you see here are of my own design which I sourced from the good folks over at Warbases. The banners are from Pete's Flags, depicting an Imperial colour (in yellow) and another that is conjectured to be of 'The Black Band' or the 'Bande Nere' (basically a bunch of German hooligans who holidayed in Italy until they were pointedly told to leave i.e. virtually killed to a man).



What you see here is two thirds of what the final unit will look like. I have a central portion of bases that will add another 16 or so figures to the unit, so it can be fielded as larger pike block if the scenario requires it. The trick was to have a few flags on the flanking bases in order to allow me to scale the unit up or down as needed, while still having some banners for the smaller unit size. I think it worked out okay, but I think it will be even better with the central section done with another two or three banners crammed in there.


As to risk takers? Well, one troop type prevalent amongst the Landsknechte were the Doppelsöldner or 'double-pay men'. Often these loons would be tasked to fight in front of the forward rank, wielding two-handed swords, halberds or an arquebus. Their job was to get in tight and disrupt the opposing infantry pikemen. Either by sweeping aside their pikes and/or disrupting their lines by close combat. If the accounts are true then they must have been the badasses of a regiment of badasses and I imagine they probably earned every florin they received.  

I have placed two Doppelsöldners ahead of the pike block, one is armed with a halberd, going in hard, and the other is giving fire with his arquebus, hoping for the best. 




I also have a couple of Italian mercenary crossbowmen about to come out of the rear ranks (From what I read, 'military subcontracting' was fairly common during the period). As I understand it, missile troops would typically hide in among the pikeblock until an opportunity developed for them to come out and wreak a bit of havoc. 





I was hoping to get the whole unit completed but, hey, you know the story. I'm just happy to have gotten these lads done for the close of the Challenge.

Okay, for points this unit puts me at 167, for a grand total of 429 in the Renaissance Men duel. If my math is correct, Peter is currently sitting at 417 points, so I think I may have pipped him at the post.  Really it doesn't matter what the math is, it was a great combat of brushes, and I think we both came away as winners as we now have a bunch more units to enjoy. Peter, thanks for the fun - you were a great sport and I hope we can do something similar for the next Challenge.


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Okay, next Sunday I will be presenting the prizes for the various point tiers and Sarah will award her Sarah's Choice award. I will also continue to present my Tribute figures to my most wondrous Adjudicators, so please keep visiting to see what is happening. 

In regards to the Challengers' and People's Choice awards, I'm going to combine them and organize the selection much like our theme rounds. I'd like everyone to email me their top three choices of all the entries and I will run the whole lot as a theme round. That way everyone will get to see what others have chosen and we have an opportunity to see a wide assortment of great entries that were submitted over the three months of the Challenge. Please send me your choices by midnight this Saturday and I will organize the Theme round for Sunday.

There you have it folks. The Sixth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has concluded.

It was amazing. 

YOU were amazing. 

And as tired as I am, I can't wait for the next one. :)

Best To You All,

Curt


36 comments:

  1. Dear Curt it was an absolute blast to be a part of this year's Challenge! You and the Minions have done a stirling job in making it run ever so smoothly and deserve all the praise one can think of.
    The landsknechts are great and a fitting end to the Challenge, the bases are brilliant and the Doppelsöldner really give an idea of how this particular way of warfare was conducted.

    Thanks heaps!

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  2. Curt what a magnificent conclusion to the Challenge.
    I have enkoyed tremendously but with such a level of activity it's been impossible to follow everybody's progress closely. I tried to leave as many comments as possible but never was enough... thanks also to those fo you commenting and praising my work.
    I'll meet you again next year hopefully

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  3. thats a knock out way to finish Mr C... bravo!

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  4. Amazing finish to the challenge! Landsknechts truly form an amazing unit with all those colours. But the painting task definitely seems daunting to say the least!

    Thank you again for hosting an amazing event! With 4 challenges under my belt now these have really become one of the highlights of my hobby year everytime around. There's no better way to get yourself hyped about painting when there's tons of amazing entries being pumped out by everyone around you!

    And thanks to the team of minions helping our Snowlord deal with the mass of entries! Amazing job by everyone!

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  5. That's a lovely pike block of Landsknechts there. Great idea with the flags on the flank bases.

    I've said it already, but I'll say it again because it can't be said enough:

    THANK YOU!

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  6. As Tamsin stated, it can't be said enough: but I'll say it anyway- thanks mate!

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  7. Thank you hugely for organising again! And beautiful pike block!

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  8. Another great job Curt and though I was personally very limited in my time this year in respect to my involvement and ability to post comments, it was again a great challenge with a lot of amazing entries.

    Many thanks!

    John

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  9. Thanks for organising and thanks to everyone else for joining in! It wouldn't be what it is if not for the variety of wonderful submissions.

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  10. Thanks again for organising the Challenge Curt. What a great hobby building exercise.

    Those landsknechts are simply beautiful. I dream of being able to do half as well one day.

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  11. Thanks again for organising the Challenge Curt. What a great hobby building exercise.

    Those landsknechts are simply beautiful. I dream of being able to do half as well one day.

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  12. Curt, and all the Minions – huge congratulations to you all. What an amazing Challenge this has been, and your landsknecht pike block is as fine a way to end as any there has been. Crikey, those chaps are devilish to paint – worse than samurai and highlanders by far. And as to a career as a Doppelsöldner – well, I imagine there were easier ways to make a living in Renaissance Italy, even as Lucretzia Borgia’s poison tester. Tremendously well done, Sir! And THANK YOU again to Curt, the Minions, Sarah, and indeed to everyone painting, reading, watching or commenting – good job, everyone!

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  13. What a stunning unit! Very well done.

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  14. What a wonderful finish to a wonderful event. This years Challenge has been amazing to follow and a privilege to be part of. Thank you for letting us get our geek out in such spectacular style!

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  15. Cracking work on everything Curt!

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  16. Great fun all around. Thanks Curt and Minons for all your hard work... this past couple of days has been a blur I have lots postings to look at, since I couldn't keep up even as a reader (how Curt and the minions did is beyond me).

    Thanks Sarah for letting Curt run this maddness.

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  17. Well done Curt - a fantastic unit and another wonderful challenge event - thanks very much
    Miles

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  18. Beautiful stuff Curt. And congrats to all to another fine round of furious painting! I can't even keep up with all of the final posts.

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  19. Great work all around Curt, the unit, the side duel win and the Challenge. This has been a great challenge. Thank you very very much for organizing and hosting this bunch of lunacy.

    Now go get some sleep.

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  20. What a fabulous final post to another amazing year - thank you all!

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  21. I've said it already, but I'll say it again because it can't be said enough:

    THANK YOU!

    A climatic ending

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  22. Great finish Snow Lord! Those irregular bases really do work well.

    I think everyone has had the best time ever on this Challenge. The FB page is just buzzing from the excitement of it.

    Again and again, many thanks to yourself and to Lady Sarah!!!

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  23. Stunning finish there Curt!An excellent exhibition of Italian Wars Glory! I've painted a few Landsknechtes so can really appreciate their complexity albeit Samurai take the cake for me in difficulty. Anyhow if one is looking to finish a unit quickly then Landsknechtes are best avoided!

    Christopher

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  24. Fantastic figures and a beautiful way to end the challenge. I've had a blast, done a lot of painting, seen some brilliant work posted, been pipped at the post and thoroughly enjoyed every 2nd of it. Thank you for all of it.

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  25. Lovely looking unit Curt. And a massive well done to you and all the minions for all your gard work. Its been a blast! Thanks!!!

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  26. Excellent does not even begin to cover it

    Thanks for a great time, just sorry I could not keep track towards the end.

    Ian

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  27. Superb way to end this challenge!! Thanks once again for a great 3 months Curt. You've managed to make this thing the can't miss event of my winters.

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  28. What a finish!

    One wonders how many of those Doppelsöldners lived to collect their wages...

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  29. That is a smashing unit of pike! The color, the posing, the basing,...wow! I appreciate the inclusion of the hardy souls that helped break up opposing pike blocks! It is a special someone who would charge in eyebleeding colors and patterns to wack away at spear points with a huge sword! ;)
    It has been a glorious winter with all the grand entries including the Italian Wars!

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  30. Wow. What an amazing unit. Really incredibly time consuming with all the colours on these premium figures.
    The challenge has indeed been a blast. Well done every one. I didn't get everything done that I wanted too but I also don't feel as brush burnt out as I did last year though. Cheers

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  31. What a superb final post! It is a lot of work to produce such a unit and also to manage this great painting challenge. You obviously enjoy doing both. Thank you Curt for encouraging this great community of wargamers and painters.

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  32. Wow! I'm almost lost for words Curt! This unit of pike (even if it's only about 2/3 of its planed final strength) does look awesome! That's how such a unit is supposed to look in my eyes.... and that's also the very reason I'll probably won't try my hand on that period as well. Thank you so much for an awesome three months my friend.

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  33. Thanks very much everyone for your kind words. The Challenge has provided me to make so many great friends that running the event is both a pleasure and a privilege. Again, thank you.

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  34. Hi Curt,

    the challenge was a real blast. Many, many thanks for running it again!
    I'm really glad to have joined the bunch again and it was a pleasure and an honour to contribute some humble pieces of work again.

    Best wishes
    Stefan

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  35. Absolutely stunning Curt! With the new job I've been sidelined from the Challenge this week so I'm only just now realising what I've missed. Quite a bit is seems! This is quite something and I'm particularly taken with both the variety of colours and also the nifty split section down the middle to allow for bigger units.

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