ScottM - Challenge XI Wrap Up

And so ends another paint challenge. For me the paint challenge is motivation to get a crap load of figures painted in a realtively short time. Its a perfect chance to carve a nice hole in my unpainted figure pile. Its also a chance to get figures painted that I either wouldn't paint at all or would take an extraordinary amount of time as I slowly ground through them. So here's a brief tour of what I got painted.

The whole lot and the goofball behind the brush.

The first group is this large contingent of British Rangers/backwoods militia for the French and Indian War. Probably don't need any more.

I've probably got enough to build a sizable force for either Sharp Practice or Muskets and Tomahawks.

The next lot are World War 2 figs.

The bulk of these are Soviets with a smattering of Germans thrown in. I'm in the process of painting an early war Soviet army for a friend and this will render the to-be-painted pile into only a handful of figures.

Next up is my Samurai

This is a project I've been working on for 9 years now. Bloody hell, that's a ridiculous amount of time to spend on one project. I usually paint a handful of bases every year. This years contribution will go a long way to forming the core of my second army. I imagine you'll be seeing more of them in future paint challenges.

Next is a motley collection of sci-fi and fantasy figs.

Most of the fantasy figs will find use in either Frostgrave of Warlords of Erehwon. The two Star Wars Legion vehicles actually completed my Legion paint pile.

Next is this large group of 15mm Ancients.

A few years ago I did up armies for New Kingdom Egyptians and Hittites. Not sure why I picked this period. Both armies are pretty much complete but I had all these leftover bits. And to be honest, I really didn't enjoy painting them. I had originally set myself a New Years goal of painting 6 bases this year. Well, here's 15 bases. Mission accomplished!

Next up is a pair of standalone units.

The horse and cart are good for all sorts of settings. THe ECW gun and crew are for JonathanO to pad out one of his ECW armies.

And finally are the terrain pieces.

This is two separate sets of pieces. The watchtower has been sitting in my basement for a few years and the challenge was the perfect opportunity to get it painted. The 15mm buildings went along perfectly with the 15mm Ancients and will also see action in my future 15mm Arab army that I'll be working on.

So that wraps it up for another year. Thank you to Curt and the minions for running the paint challenge. For me its always the highlight of the winter months getting to see everyone's awesome work and the support the contributors show for one another. Cheers and see you all next challenge!

Scott

MichaelD - The Fruits of my Labors

 Once again I feel very grateful to Curt and everybody for maintaining this wonderful Challenge. So many fantastic painters and supportive friends. Thank you. This year I think I completed a personal best in terms of points, although I'm disappointed I wasn't able to get my act together to participate in the theme challenges. I bought a few miniautres for it, but then got so caught up in my main plan that I never really worked them in. Next time. Anyhow here are the group shots:

I had two big game-changing experiences over the past 3 months. The first is thanks to PaulSS, who suggested (on Facebook) using Trello for painting projects:

The other was painting 10mm. I always had middling success with 15mm, but really enjoyed speeding through my Union ACW figures. Not only am I looking forward to getting division-sized battles on a reasonable sized surface (soon!), but look at this:

I can probably fit a whole side in one cigar box!

Thanks again to everyone for all the support and inspiration!

From Dallas: Ready for the After-Party (Challenge wrap-up)

Assembled production

Well, here we are at the end of the Challenge. I'd set myself a modest goal of 500 points which I ended up more than doubling. Still, it wasn't *quite* enough to get me into the top 25 - my good friend Greg pipped me by a mere 6 points! In any event, here's the breakdown of my Challenge production:

• 28mm foot: 75
• 28mm mounted: 3
• 28mm large figures/monsters: 5
• 28mm artillery pieces: 1
• 28mm tanks: 1
• 28mm landing craft: 1
• 28mm furniture/terrain: 12
• 20mm foot: 2
• 20mm cars: 1
• 20mm tanks: 1
• 15mm tanks: 3
• 10mm Titans: 1

self-portrait

I just want to end this post by again thanking Mr. Curt and all of his Minions for running the Challenge for all of us, and also to Lady Sarah and the Minions' other halves for their forbearance and tolerance of the time Curt and the Minions spend on it. Thanks also to my fellow Challengers for the kind words you posted about my work.

See you at the bar...!

BruceR, The End of the Beginning (I hope)

Here I am kneeling for the first time before the Snowlord with the painted offering.

Yes, I've not had a hair cut since November.  Up to that point I was doing my own.  Being used to a number 1 or 2 for the last 30+ years I told myself no cut until vaccinated.  I'm 2 days out from 2 weeks from my last jab and might keep the hair.  

This was my first challenge and I had a great time seeing and commenting on all the glorious hobby efforts.  I also found it very motivating to keep churning out paint and attempting to wind my way through the Chamber of Challenge.

Cheers to Curt and the Minions as without them all this would not happen.

Be safe and enjoy this great hobby.

I managed 111 28mm infantry

23 28mm cavalry

4 vehicles

1 boat

1 dragon and some assorted vignettes

17 of the Chambers of Challenge 

I painted fantasy, ancients, black powder, WWI, between, and WWII,

I still have the bug and even though nice weather has returned to the Dakotas I'm still on it.

More Pulp Figures for a 10 pack of Royal Navy Landing Party.

It's been Grand and I hope to join you all next year when the winds begin to howl and night turns bitterly cold.

BruceR

 

From KyleC - End of Comp Tally

So end of the competition and I survived it.. almost.. 

I say almost as March's workload (both day and night job) kicked it up a few notches.. although no travel the workload began to get a bit high and painting time got kicked back a bit.. 

And I think my post comp fazed look says it all.. 

Am beat.. but when I pulled all the models out I was pleasantly surprised at what had come of it all.. 

A crap ton of models are now painted.. and not just that but many of them make up full armies ready for when the lockdown in the UK here ends in a few weeks.. or at least is reduced enough for some home styled gaming in small groups perhaps..

With Viking army done for Saga, a second for got my War of the Roses time period, a heavy induction for the undead to use in Oathmark, some Necromunda models to play against as they were a commission, goblins, DnD heroes, some 10mm halflings to play warmaster with and other odds and ends here and there. 

I had gotten one more unit finished but not posted.. it just got that crazy last week, but here is a quick snap of it.. some undead linebreakers.. 

Which will definitely be helping very soon as some much needed hitting power.. 

So all in I got about 2400+ pts worth in this season and am more than chuffed on that! Thanks once more to Curt for hosting it, and those helping to run it.. and also to my life not making me having to move house once more in the middle of it! Huzzah!! 

Now onwards to the quarantine challenge where my first piece is already started on.. and final photos I hope to find time to post up there!

Until the next one! 

From PaulSS: Definitely, the wrap...

My goal for Challenge XI was to add to my collection of 28mm Napoleonics and I certainly started off with that, my first post being some French officers and ADC's

Continued throught the challenge with that, here are some Hanoverian landwehr

And even finished with a Parisienne mob.

My final 28mm Napoleonics Duel Totalizer being 28 mounted, 152 foot, 3 guns, 1 boat.

It was not all Napoleonics though, I also had plenty of other diversions while I meandered the Challenge Chambers, including plenty of livestock and many a Sarah the Sorceress entry. 

A rare foray into the Arthurian collection that has laid dormant many years.

And even a little bit of WWII 

Many thanks to Curt the Overlord and all the tireless minions who make this possible.

Everything is now boxed up for the trip back to the UK, and there is the wrap!

Hope to see you all again next year.

From Barks: AHPC XI Wrap-up

Did I really paint all that?

I can usually be found, post-Challenge, in a bit of a dazed state; lost and without focus after the frenetic work of the past few months. I felt I had a slow start, but got into my groove after a few weeks and started to use the Chambers of Challenge to focus my efforts. My Snowlord Challenge was two 28mm vehicles, which was every bit as tough as I expected. Other highlights included:

• Aliens
• Skull-infused graveyard
• Nazgûl on fell beast
• Ned Kelly
• Marble skull angel statue

One of the most useful parts of the Challenge is finding excuses to paint those little projects that have been gathering dust, and this year was no exception.

This year I got a bunch of Citadel Contrast to try out- and I have to say I'm a reluctant convert. It will find its way into many of my projects. And resin 3D printing will be a bigger thing for me in the future.

It has been great fun, thank you all very much.

Barks

From MilesR: What I Did Done Paint (and Build)

 

Curt commands us to show a picture of ourselves and our work at the end of every Challenge.  If you find yourself upset after gazing at my less-than-pleasing countenance, please direct any complaints, diatribes and/or lawsuits to the Snow Lord himself.

Because this year's challenge was so terrain oriented, my output was significant in terms of volume so it was difficult to get everything into one shot.  Also, my basement is a disaster after the flood so please excuse the untidiness of the space.

Lets take a stroll across my Challenge XI production.  There was a lot of Stalingrad terrain - the lowest tub was stuff built before the challenge but the upper two have things that were made and submitted this challenge (but don't fit on my game table).  Stalingrad is my most ambitious gaming related project and, to be honest, suffered from a bit of mission creep.

Here are all of the capital ships and torpedo/destoyer squadrons that the Russians had during the Russo-Japanese War.  The RJW was a project that was started during Challenge X and now completed in XI.

On top of my "mobile troop cabinet" are the Japanese fleet from the Russo-Japanese War and a 6mm Seleucid Army.

The terrain for the southern section of the Stalingrad  board and some Russian troops - I have a few more to paint up but am confident I'll be ready to put the game on IF Historicon is held in July.  If that convention does need to be cancelled then this game will be held in the Fall and Fall-in.  Either way, I'm putting this damn game on and, as always, choice commands will be reserved for Challenge participants.

Moving down the board are a bunch of Soviet and German tanks and another Russian infantry company.

At the far end of my table are some of the generic countryside hexes I made at the end of the challenge and a rather large 6mm Republican Roman army.

A final look down the table from the other end - in the upper right you can see part of my painting bench.

Oh crap! - I forgot to put out the Parthians - they're put away in a troop drawer and I am too lazy to set them out.  I need to build about 30 or so more of these drawers which will be a project for April.

One thing that is not recommended to do during a Painting Challenge is to have a flood in your  basement from a leaky water heater.    It's surprisingly distracting and forces a capital reallocation away from sensible things like buying miniature towards the frivolous such as a new water heater, drywall and new flooring.  Despite my whining, progress has been made on the restoration:

This is how my basement looked on Feb 6th, 2021

and it looks like this now.  Probably 2-3 more days work to finish up the project.

Despite a minor distraction of the flood, I am extremely pleased at how this challenge worked out.  I was able to complete two big projects (Stalingrad and the Russo Japanese War) and add 3 6mm ancient armies.

One big variance this year - I did not paint a single 28mm figure - that's a first for me!

The distribution of my points was very concentrated this year:

3,643 points is nothing to sneeze at but it's not as high as some past Challenge efforts - I would say the level of effort put in this year was the highest I've ever mustered - making hex terrain and a bunch of custom and kit buildings can be a bit labor intensive.  I was aided in this effort by no business travel - one of the few positive aspects of a lock down.

 

Perhaps the best point of this year's challenge was ending up in a three-way tie with Martin and Noel for tops in the points category.   To be mentioned in any way in the same breath with those two gentlemen is an honor.  I am still amazed that all of us ended up with same points level - what are the odds of that happening?

I very much treasure the privilege of participating in the Painting Challenge and that is due to the wonderfully supportive community that makes it up and the hard work that Curt and my other fellow minions put in to managing this circus.  Thank you all very much.

I hope all of you enjoy a wonderful and healthy summer, get your vaccines and we all put the nightmare of covid-19 behind us.

Miles

Final Skull Duel update: Who sits upon the Throne of Skullz?

Spoiler: It's Stuart.

Surprising exactly noone, Stuart's (nearly) unassailable lead was propelled into the skullosphere by his final post containing such skullicious delights as the wall of skullz:

Stuart has destroyed PaulO'G's record of 543 with a whopping 1363 Skullz! Stuart is now entitled to use PaulO'G's skull as a drinking vessel or dice cup.

Stuart's fiendish strategy was to paint squillions* of GW models which had the synergistic effect of putting him at the top of the leader board in two Side Duels. You don't get to sit on the Throne of Skullz by saying, "You know what? I've probably got enough skullz."

46 of the 84 Challengers painted at least one Skull- well done! The total Skull tally is a pleasing 3814. 

Here are the Skulltastic Centurions who splashed pigment on over 100 skullz:

1. Stuart 1363
2. Barks 502
3. NickJ 265
4. MikeW 256
5. KyleC 200
6. Millsy 181
7. PaulO'G 159
8. SanderS 120
9. PaulS 104

The final week saw an uptick in skullz. Here are some for your viewing pleasure:

Millsy

JonathanO

PeteF

SidneyR

DrQ

Skull of the Week:

Dallas

Finally, here's a painting of C17th Barks getting his Donnybrook on:

I didn't choose the skull life.

Congratulations to all Skull Duellists; the AHPC is always fun and a side duel spices things up. The Skull-o-meter™, Skully McSkullface, is now going to give his circuits a chance to cool down.

Barks

*skullionz