From SteH - One Final Hurrah, 8 GW Cobra Gunships for BFG (32 Points)

That's right, I've managed to squeeze out a few final models, this time a few GW Battlefleet Gothic ships. I honestly didn't think I'd enter anything else however I got the urge to hit the paints last night and just after midnight I rolled into bed happy with the thought that I'd completed something else.


These boys are to support my existing Imperial Navy squadron and will provide essential flank protection against those pesky Chaos raiders, which some of you may remember we're one if my submissions from last year's challenge. 



I've included a picture of one of my previously completed battlecruisers for reference. Weirdly I don't even play BFG anymore but I do enjoy the minis and fluff that goes with it. Hopefully GW doesn't destroy it in their never-ending quest for profit over content!



And yes, being the tardy soul that I am, I always intended these to form part of my Nautical bonus round submission.

Unfortunately I have no idea what scale these models are nor how many points they're worth, I'll happily accept whatever our most noble host deems suitable!

Now can I squeeze out one final model before the end?

Hate to break it to you Ste, but GW, in it's infinite wisdom, killed BFG back in 2013, along with the rest of the Specialist Game line. Sooo, I say smoke 'em while you got 'em. :)

I've always liked the design of the BFG Imperial ships. Really, who can deny spacecraft that have fuselages which feature buttressed cathedrals and prows built for ramming? Yup, it's completely bonkers, but I love it. Your colour scheme for this group is great Ste, especially with the silver and gold highlights. Very nice work.

SteH First Post - "Don't you know there's a challenge on?"

This is my first and possibly last entry in the challenge this year as it turns out I was completely unprepared for how busy I've been this summer (that's right all you northern hemisphere types, its summer here in NZ!). Here was I with lots of great aspirations to paint the heck out of my lead/plastic pile and join in the general insanity that is the challenge when lo and behold life decided to get stupidly busy. Work got mental, the in-laws came over from the UK for 3 months and an unrelated hobby took up a load of my time.

However I have still kept my painting eye in (so to speak) and have just not been able to find the time to blog about my acrylic/plastic/lead adventures (I know, shocking!)

So this model was planned to be my first entry (and also my Nostalgia theme round entry!).

A circa early 90's GW troll model that has lingered in my bist box for many years. This is nostalgic for me as I started out like many of you playing 3rd edition Warhammer and my Dwarves faced these comedic beauties many times.

So keeping in theme I also painted up a couple of GW Plaguebearers that I found in the same bits pile.

These are the old metal ones and until recently had no purpose other than to gather dust. Enter Frostgrave and suddenly the desire to play with silly fantasy models has been revived and I find a reason to paint some old models (thanks Joe McCullough!!!)

And finally another GW cast off, one of the early 2000's chaos warhounds, who sadly lost a hind leg in the aforementioned bits box however a little sculpting of fur and clawand hey presto my evil Frostgrave Summoner has a couple of demons and an ugly warhound to back him up!

Ok so I said finally however I mean't for the nostalgia theme round! My next entry was going to be for the L'amour round – three Orcs from Mantic's Dreadball.

“How the heck is that L'amour Ste” I hear you mumble in between trawling youtube for crazy cat videos. Well I'm slowly inducting my eldest biy (Noah age 6.5 years) into the wonderful world of wargaming and thought that Dreadball would be a good intro game. However Noah won't play the game unless the models are painted orange so I set to painting the weirdness that is Mantic's resin plastic hybrid thingy!

The things you do for LOVE (see what I did there?)

So on to my next planned entry (which seemed to take ages to pull together), Four of MoFo Mini's US Rangers Platoon HQ.

I loved painting these guys and they'll be deployed soon in support of these Radio Dishdash US Delta Team, possibly using Skirmish Sangin or Osprey Black Ops rules.

Whats better than than a good piece of hard terrain to take cover behind when the bullets start flying? How about a piece of armoured terrain that moves (my terrain bonus round entry).

This Humvee is a diecast repaint, sort of. I actually picked this up in one of NZ's chain discount stores and I'm surprised I haven't seen more of these online painted up for modern gaming. It came in the camo scheme however judicious application of various washes, highlights and drybrushes have brought it up to an acceptable standard.

And now my current project, a two section recce platoon of 15mm universal carriers by Battlefront.

I think I may be a sadist when it comes to Battlefront mini's as I loved painting these things in the same way I enjoy painting there jeeps. In Flames of War they have a low points value and very little impact but I love painting them so use them whenever I can.

These boys are painted up in a basic desert scheme and will accompany my 4th Indian division at this years Panzerschreck where I expect to have my ass handed to me! However it is a team event so I can always blame buddy Ash!

So thats my challenge to date, I said this may be my last post simply because I've totally run out of time to complete any more figs. So if I get chance I'll post pics of my Curtgeld once its done, however only once Curt has received it so he gets first sight (as per the rules!)

Anyway this post should net me around 36 for the Universal Carriers, 55 for the 28mm minis, 28 for the troll and orcs which are all around 40mm, I'd say 10 for the humvee as it was already coloured when I bought it. So that comes to 129 in total. Considering I did originally target 1000 pts I'm a little behind my target. But its better than 0pts so I'm happy to at least got on the board.

Crikey! You wait weeks and weeks for Ste to submit something to kick off his Challenge and just when you think he's not going to make it he submits a month's worth in one go!

Where to start with this? It's all wonderful and each item has plenty to recommend it. I don't have time to exhaustively address each item so I'll pick the recce platoon as I have a soft spot for them and I really like your choice of colours and weathering. The troll is absolutely marvellous too!

Thank goodness you did the math and all I had to do was check it mate! You're spot on and can bask in the glow of 129 glorious points to start you off. Cheers, Millsy

So, What Was Done - 5th Painting Challenge Group Shots

Hello Everyone!

I thought it would be fun if we had a gallery of all our work. If you have the time, please set-up your accumulated work for the Challenge, take a few photos and send them to me. I know some have already done this in previous posts, but if you can resend them to me I'll place them in this gallery so we can all be together.

Okay, I'll kick-off with my 3-months of work. 

Curt's Collection:

Alright, c'mon people, send me your Challenge group shots! We all want to see what you've achieved! 


AlanD's Collection:

BrendonW's Collection:

Attached is the grand total from the Paint challenge.
However I realised it is actually one 28mm figure short...the Curtgeld butcher.
I have him on my paint desk still as I plan to add a bit of gold/brass on his sword hilt.

It was very strange the last few evenings not picking up a brush.
My hand feels like it needs something to do.


DaveD's Collection:

All the pulp,

90% of the Imperial army,

...and a third of the Mahdist forces,

Serious stock up been had! Steamers and Camel Corps under way!


DavidB's Collection 

I accomplished a great deal for my inaugural outing. I now have nearly 75% of my Cadian 7th completed including stuff that may be repainted to match which would actually be 50% done. ;)

I also have my very first 15mm including my favorite Alien Legion ready for the battlefield. 

I know have a good feel for the challenge and am ready for another go. I still have heaps of guard, Napoleonic, ACW, Zombies, Supers, and LotR stockpiled and prepped (I was SUPPOSED to complete this outing).

I'm sure quite a bit will be there still as I have begun Eastern Natives circa black powder/Queen Anne and my comic pulp WW2 for Bolt Action and weird WW2.

Evan & GrantH's Collection

The final collection from the challenge!

Totals:

18 early World War One 28mm Highlanders

30 Canadian 28mm Paratroopers

45 15mm Commandos

9 Vintage Imperial Guards from Grenadier

4 late World War One command team characters

2 Capt. E. Blackadder

Thanks for the support and warm welcome to the challenge!

PaulS' Collection:

Another year, another Painting Challenge complete. A big thank you to Curt and all of the other participants for making it another great year, full of inspiration and encouragement!

This year I clocked in at 1521 points. This photo is missing 8 figures that I painted up for friend's Christmas presents... so imagine it a bit larger.

This is not only the largest number of figures I've ever painted in that timeframe, but it also saw parts of some projects not only started, but completed too. This year I managed to:

- Start and complete a full War of the Roses Lion Rampant force (lets not mention that I was supposed to paint two forces!)
- Start and complete 2 Familia for Jugula 
- Finish my ww2 Russian infantry
- Finish all of my Zombies for Zombicide!
- Finish the skeletons I built two years ago

I didn't manage to get around to some of the other projects I had lined up, sadly, but it is still mightily impressive. I was supposed to be painting up a load of vikings, including some really nice ones sent by my secret santa!

Now to start clearing house a bit so I can make room for next year's Challenge.

MarkO's Collection

A few pics of my Austrian Army all together that I had time to take. All but four of the infantry regiments were painted during the challenge! 

MartinC's Collection 

This is the final group shot of my figures painted during the challenge

The bulk are ACW, 2 brigades that will soon fight each other. I also painted 30 odd medieval infantry and 8 Carolingian cavalry, couple of dozen Dwarf Legionaries, 40 republican roman legionaries (with hand painted shields which I’m quite chuffed with), 12 flying carpets (think I found some core rules to build upon for these), entries for all the bonus rounds, a weird war grizzly walker and a Rolls Royce armoured car. 

I tried to start some more today and got nowhere. I definitely need a proper break from painting, although I have already purchased some figs for next year.

MilesR's Collection

This is what one gets for three months of intensive painting and 3,204 points.

 

MartinN's Collection

So here's my final group shot for you. Over the past three month I managed to reduce the mountain of shame by incredible 91 miniatures.

Compared to our top scorers it may look like almost nothing but to me it was quite an achievement.  Surprisingly I also managed to stay relatively focused with mostly WWII and First Indochina.

MichaelA's Collection

Having read your post regarding amassing a gallery of Challengers' efforts, I was initially reluctant as I felt that this year I had not done justice to my place, bemoaning 'real life' at every turn; I must have started to sound like a broken record, for which you have my heartfelt apologies.  Still, being a naturally inquisitive soul, I decided to collect up my toys and have a look for myself and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  

True, it is not an entire Austrian army or enough to form a British square in the deserts of the Sudan, but there was colour, variety and fun and I allowed myself a moment of self congratulatory pride.  It is for this that I need to thank you and all my fellow challengers Curt.  Being part of the challenge has given my hobby a sense of direction an purpose at a time when I desperately needed a distraction.  Along the way I have tackled new challenges, constructed larger scale models and tried to get to grips with the basics of airbrushing.  I have been fortunate enough to meet with a little success in the bonus theme rounds and wondered with admiration at the diverse nature and often sheer quantity of what everyone else was doing.  Simply put, I have enjoyed every minute, so thank you again and here's to next year! 

RichardC's Collection

Here's a shot of my entries for the Challenge. You may spot the name plate for the Lancer Officer - it arrived two days after the Victorian Round deadline! 

The one thing I will do for next year is to prep everything beforehand - I had some issues undercoating, which cost me time and in a couple of cases, figures as well. 

All in all, a great winter diversion.

SanderS

Well I finally managed to get some pictures of the miniatures I've painted during the Challenge . Some are missing in these pictures since they are not at my home, but still most of them are there.

For me the Challenge was a great way of getting on with some of my long going projects. I finished my Barsoom project. Nearly finished all my Bavarian Napoleonics and have made a big leap with my Victorian project. So all in all I am very happy with the results.

Yet again I'd like to thank Curt for creating this great event!

Cheers Sander

SeanS' Collection

Although I didn't quite reach my target again this year, I got closer and painted more figures. So onward and upwards I guess. My points went from 574 to 806 and figures painted from 64 to 82.

Since completing the Challenge I've been trying to reorganize my pile into some kind of prioritized painting queue, it's been marginally successful.

 

Once I packed away my Challenge output, into one Really Useful Box, it didn't look quite as impressive. The group shot is a little more satisfying.

One thing I've always wondered, what are the chances of a Curtgeld group shot? 

(Ed. A group shot of the Curtgeld? A very good probability, once most of them have made their way to my display case. :) )

SteH's Collection 

Well quite a lot it turns out, as the most interesting realisation for me was that I actually enjoy painting! 

That sounds a bit weird seeing as I've been doing it for about 17 years however I actually signed up to the challenge thinking that I'd use it as a sort of artificial project manager, constantly bugging me to deliver on my milestones and meet my deadlines, and at first thats exactly how it felt. However as the months passed I became more and more motivated to paint things that i enjoyed. Most of my painting over the years has been motivated with one singular goal - to get my armies on the table and roll dice. And yet my motivation has changed, maybe its my getting old (I hit the big 40 a couple of months before the challenge started) but i find that if I'm not enjoying painting then I don't want to do it, no matter how much I enjoy gaming with the figures.

So my plan going in to the challenge was to paint my Lord of the Rings figures, they were all based up and undercoated, and yet when I look back at what I've actually completed I find a whole of host of scales and genres - 15mm and 1/3000 WW2, Victorian Sci-fi, 15mm Sung Chinese, 28mm Dwarven Pirates and of course GW Lord of the Rings. My output was a total 82 models of which only 50% (41) were what I had planned to do.

Actually to be honest I never planned to paint the cave troll, it was more of a sanity check for myself as to whether I had the time and technique to paint 54mm (I was going to get involved in the Perry/Jackson ANZAC project but decide my sanity, employment or marriage wouldn't survive the pressure).

I think the most enjoyable models to paint were Smeagol (Gollum) who seemed to paint himself, the Victorian Sci-Fi (and especially the footie scarf!) and the Dwarven Pirates (Oooarrr).

Huge thanks to ScottB for talking me in to taking part, Mr C for hosting the crazy thing and most importantly my fellow challengers. It was great to see the range of genre's and scales on display, the varied interpretations of the bonus rounds and the quite terrifying volume that some of the challangers were able to put out!


StefanK's Collection


Finally here’s a group picture of my submissions as well. Actually it’s not much more than my seven bonus round entries and the Curtgeld. Together with all the bonus points this humble bunch of figures yielded 757 points and fulfilled my goal of 750 points narrowly.

It was great fun to concentrate on the bonus rounds and find entries for each of the rounds. Especially Thor for the ‘Mythic’ round and Richard III. for the ‘Antihero’ theme were wonderful figures to work with and I enjoyed the time to prepare them very much. Since life with two children of less than 1 and just over 4 is pretty challenging from time to time and because I’m a really lousily slow painter I didn't paint more than eleven simple figures besides these special things. Nothing comparable with the masses other participants submitted, but I’m rather satisfied with my outcome.

Anyway this painting Challenge provides three outstanding hobby months. Although I didn't manage to leave comments on all entries there was a lot of top-notch stuff. Well done chaps!

TeemuL's Collection

At the start of the challenge I had some kind of plan what to paint. Mansions of Madness monsters were one thing, and I did manage to paint them all. Second plan was to try participate in the bonus rounds, 6 out of 7 is not bad. 

I was supposed to paint some old WHFB Orcs and Dwarfs, but since I bought more and more Orcs, I didn't manage to paint them all and I didn't even start with the Dwarfs. I played couple of games of LotR during the challenge and because LotR range provided quite a lot of models to bonus rounds, I got carried away and painted much more than I planned for. WH40K Dark Eldar were a total bonus as well as the animals from the Warbases. Blood Bowl Ogre was in the pipeline, so I'm glad I got his painted - I'm not glad that despite the apothecary he died in his second game... So I painted quite a lot of stuff and from different areas as well.