AdamC: Challenge VII Recap

Since last year I provided an image of me portraying an American militia man I figured an image of me in the uniform of Regiment Saintonge(complete with a terrible mustache I won't do again) part of the French Expedition to North America during the American War of Independence. Here is my challenge review I'm it a project at a time so you can see the miniatures.

 My Pikeman's Lament project.  The Gray regiment on the left, and the Blue Regiment on the right.  In the center we have skirmishers, and the combined pikemen of the Gray and Blue Regiments between the two musketeer wings

 To the back we have the Armored Pikemen, and the two units of horsemen and the officer.

 Here we have Bess, her husband Bill the butcher and their motley crew of "clubmen."

 Milady and her servants a better sort of Civilians.

  Three Ruffians ready for some trouble.

 Firebrand monks ready to battle things that go bump in the night.

 The Sleepy hollow militia who are probably facing those same things that go pump in the night.

 Four swashbucklers ready for trouble.

 Vikings with loot in hand and ready to get more!

 The Frostgrave collection mostly bad guys Gnolls, Skeletons, Zombies, Ghouls an ice toad and Drizit and Guenhwyvar.

 The Imgi-Nation troops in 15mm force of Drconia on the left and D'Argent on the right.

 Close up on the Draconian troops.

 My entry for West the French 75s.

And my other world War I project for the challenge (I had plans for more but not everything goes according to plan)

Tribesmen of the northwest territory

One of my favorite pieces my ruined tower repurposed as home for a band of hearty adventures exploring Frosgrave.

My entry for East and intrepid mariner.

I will finish off with my Curtgeld done in partnership with JohnM. My thanks to all who took part especially John for partnering with me.  Milles for his fine handling of the Monday Minion duties.  I would especially like to thank Curt and Sara for hosting.  Taking part in this event is one of the highlights of my hobby year and I hope that with the new baby I can still take part next year but probably in a reduce fashion.  Thank again for all the good wishes and compliments.

MichaelD: Challenge '16-'17 Post-game

I discovered the AHPC last year and couldn't wait until December rolled around so I could sign up and give it a try. It's been great to participate and have my minis out there with so many other great hobbyists.

This being my first challenge I had only pledged 500 pts and still I came up short with only 425 points. I think entering the challenge I simply estimated by thinking "Well what's the most I've painted over a three month period", shaving about a half of that off and figuring it would be no problem. Now that I've gone through this one time, I have a better idea of what it takes to get your points. First I need to keep a better eye on the themes, planning them and making sure I get them done. Second I need to figure out everything I'm going to paint, priming it before the challenge, planning my "assembly line" technique and then just letting rip. Instead I kind of winged it, sometimes painting figures I knew well and was able turn around quickly and sometimes painting figures I had never painted before.

I offer all this not in order to make excuses but in the spirit of having learned a bit over the last three months and looking forward to giving it another try in December 17. I had a blast. Thanks to Curt and the minions for all their work, and especially to all the other Challengers for sharing the pictures of such great minis. One of the joys of this hobby is that when you look at figures as you're gaming with them, you can see the whole history of how you got them and got them painted. So for these assorted Sisters of Battle, Foreign Legionnaires, and Burgundian mercenaries, I always remember them as products of my first of (I hope) many painting challenges.

RayR: Ray's Challenge

I for one am gutted the Challenge is over for another year.  In fact, I'm already looking forward to AHPC 8!! I'm so glad Curt came up with the idea, the Challenge forces me out of my painting doldrums and gets my butt into painting gear! What helps the most is all you other Challengers posting and commenting and pushing me to paint more.

Of late my painting and even gaming have been hit hard, with several job changes, the main one a few years ago when me and Fran both left GSK, a painters dream job, 4 twelve hour shifts days and nights with nothing to do except watch films and paint. It seems a lifetime ago (well it was?) when I finished 1st in the Challenge with nearly 5000 points, but that was only because of the job I was in.

Nowadays I'm just happy to finish in the top half!!!

So I'm very happy I beat my target and finished in 24th place with 1093 points and I even managed to beat fellow Posties Reject BigLee, now that makes 24th place taste even sweeter!!!

I managed to finally finish my French/Jacobite/Rebels army, which I undercoated to paint up in Challenge 6, but only actually finished 12 figures for. And I started my Woodland Indians army for Donnybrook, finishing three 12 figure units.

All in all I painted 150 25mm figures and some scenic defensive terrain pices, some of which can be seen in the photo above.

A big thank you has got to go to Curt, Sarah, Miles and all the other Minions, great work Guys!

Long live the Challenge!

MartinN: After the challenge is... well, after the challenge

This year wasn't nearly as productive -again- as I had hoped for. Like in all the previous challenges the ugly beast that is real life has intervened and shattered all the carefully laid out plans...

from reading through the closing posts of my fellow co-challengers this seems to be a common issue though.

The fruits of my labour...

At least I was able to get a good start on the Spanish Civil War project Chris and I were talking about for quite some time now and by doing so, more or less accidentally, I also won the SCW side duel with Chris, Curt and Phil. Here I want to take the chance to thank my fellow duelists for a great experience and some lovely eye candy.

This year not all painting was directed towards the challenge as I'm, for the first time, taking part in the Lead Painters League over on the prestigious Lead Adventure Forum. So the figures that will form part of my first entries there are safely tugged away in that ominous red tin box you see on both the pictures. Should you feel curious as to the contents of the boxes you're heartily invited to have a look for yourself once the LPL has started.

...and finally the requested mug shot.

Spring finally holds sway in this part of Germany so I took the chance to spend a few hours away from the brushes, reading and generally enjoying the sun.

Have a great time all of you!

From PeterD - My Semester's Painting Output

Here's the final shot of everything I got painted except for my Curtgeld, now in transit via Sylvain to Curt.

With the exceptions of the two 15mm A/Cs upfront everything was in 28mm, and except for the A/Cs and my Curtgeld everything was for my SYW Sharp Practice project using figures from the Perry Miniatures AWI range.   The output was as follows:

• 15th Light Dragoons - 21 mounted figures
• 87th Foot (Kieth's Highlanders) 31 foot figures
• Hessian Militia - 13 foot figures
• Hanoverian engineer and pontooniers - 6 foot figures, 1 mounted figure
• Hanoverian Jaegers - 6 foot figures
• Camp scene - 6 foot figures
• Allied officers - 1 Brunswick General mounted, 1 Hessian artillery foot figure
• Powder cart with drover on foot and horse
• Tragardland Croats - 6 foot figures
• French work crew - 6 foot figures

Enough for a good SP force based on the Highlanders and Light Dragoons, plus support options, ready to fight the Kleine Krieg in the Rhineland.  And a few additions to my French force to oppose them.

If my math is correct that's 80 foot figures (83 including the Breda crew in the Curtgeld), 23 mounted figures plus a horse and wagon.  Plus a 28mm weapon and two 15mm vehicles.

I fell 40 points short of my 800 point target, but that's OK.  My big goal was to get the Highlanders and Dragoons done plus SYW chrome add-ons, and that's what I got done.  Next year, I need to fluff up my French armies on the Rhine .  Maybe I can convince Curt to sell me his Minden figures....

Doofus in Chief (DinC)

NickJ - First Challenge Achievement Unlocked

Once Upon a Painting Challenge.

Well that was certainly an interesting 3 months. I had a plan all laid out. I knew which models I wanted to paint and which week for each unit.

Then reality arrived and I remembered 4 very important facts:
1) I under-estimate how long it takes to paint. Every. Single. Time.
2) Work like to throw my schedule off. Travel abroad for nearly a month? Sure...
3) I'm easy to distract. Painting what I planned? Don't be silly. Pretty sure I just saw a squirrel.
4) Paint Schemes evolve during the painting experience. Sometimes within seconds, sometimes within days.

That said after a 2 year painting drought I was persuaded to join up by JamieM and encouraged by MarkW and the other members of my fabulous group of friends. Thanks to all of them as I've had a ball.

And here is my output:

All 28mm Games Workshop Age of Sigmar figures for a nice little Chaos Army - The Cult of the Pentagram.

And since Curt asked nicely here's a picture taken by the wife...

So time to sign off until next time. Thank you to everyone for their inspiring comments and I've enjoyed seeing so many different periods being painted by so many talented people. Congrats to all.

More units will be added to the army during the year I'm sure so if you ever fancy following the journey you can find me and the rest of the GoGs over on www.agogonline.blogspot.co.uk

Enjoy 2017 and see you in December!

The Gallery is Up for Challengers' Choice!

Hi All!

The 'Challengers' Choice' gallery is now up. 

Please head over to the Theme page, enjoy the gallery, follow the links for a walk down memory lane, and then vote for your favourites.

I will be reporting on the results of Challengers' Choice, along with all the other prizes, next Sunday (April 2nd).

Have a great week!

Curt

Iannick's challenge postmortem

Well, it was a fantastic Challenge for me, finally! My last few challenges have been plagued by a house flood, health issues and a house move, but this year I was ready and all in, and I managed by far my very best total, with 704 pts. My previous best was 510 pts, so I can safely say this was my most successful challenge (I participated in the last 5 challenges).

Here I am, proud owner of 150 new painted figures!

I really worked on my productivity this year, my main goal to make good progress on various gaming projects, and I achieved that. I was completely burned out at the end, so that was a pretty good sign I worked my butt off during three months! I also managed to participate in all bonus theme round, terrain excepted, so that was also a good accomplishment for me.

It wasn't all perfect, of course, as I manage to lose the 30K duel quite badly, lost my race to the finish with Curt and got into a tie with Sander for the 80s GI Joe duel! Of course, these duels were mainly there for fun, and they achieved their objectives! Although I do owe some figures to some people!

A better view at 3 months work

What I really liked this challenge is that I managed to finish or almost finish 4 sides for my gaming projects : an Emperor's Children force (2/3 done), a Sci-Fi Skirmish force (done), a Pulp Cobra side (almost done) and a Halfling force (more than I need!).

The Emperor's Children :

The Vordania II Insurrectio

The Halflings

And the Cobra 

As well as a few Oldhammer figures, Zombicide and more!

Special thanks to :

- Greg, for his help on the Epic project and the Curtgeld, the Hockey banter and the general camaraderie throughout the challenge. The challenge is great like that for making new friends.

- Jamie for the 30K duel. Next year we have to do a 6mm 30K challenge! I might have a chance. Probably not...

- Byron, for being a very helpful Minion. Loved your pep-talk emails!

- Sander : For convincing me to plunge into the GI Joe project, for the duel which was really great fun, it was a high point of my challenge. Can't wait to get that Breaker!

- Curt, obviously, for doing his thing for the last 7 years. The Challenge has become a must for me, and it highlights every one of my winters! And God knows we Canadians need it! 

- The guys from the Facebook group, it's lots of fun to keep touch.

And a BIG thank you to all those who left comments on my entries, it really is super motivating and I thank you for taking the time to read my post and look at the pictures! (special shout out to Michael Peterson, loved your comments man).

See you all next Winter, it's been a blast!

JamesM - Challenge Output!

Hi Folks,

Just responding to the request for a pic of the whole amount painted during the Challenge, and a piccy of me!

Lots of smaller scale stuff from me this year, so it looks like a good amount! No where near the laden tables full that others have completed though. My painted stuff ranges from 3mm and 6mm Moderns and 10mm ACW to 15mm WW2 - and a 28mm Lion! I did miss one truck from the picture... but it's all packed away now.

I had also done a quick video, which can be found here:

And as for a pic of me, here I am sporting yet another tin hat...

Thanks everyone for the comments and support throughout the challenge!

AaronH - Challenge retrospective

Another one is down in the books. For the first time I didn't make my goal. I just had too many other things vying for my attention this year. Still, it was a very productive Challenge and I'm happy with my progress.

The whole bunch, blurry but all there.

EIR Command and velites along with Blood Bowl team.

6mm Sci/Fi and 3mm X-Wings for Star Wars Armada.

Dwarfs (not the cannon).

Two Celt warbands and some Javeliners in front of Uruk-Hai and Trolls.

ECW Pike & Shotte regiment, two extra stands and command.

Role playing characters. There's a nice variety now.

My ugly mug. I'm even wearing my UK sweatshirt in the spirit of cross Atlantic cooperation.

While I didn't manage to make my goal I did enjoy this year a great deal. As always my fellow Challengers blew me away with the quality of their work. I am also not feeling burned out from all of the painting, so hopefully I can keep the momentum going now that the Challenge is over.

Thank you as well to Curt and the Minions for doing all of the hard work that makes this possible. It really is the high point of my blogging year, being able to participate in this amazing thing.

EvanH: My Challenge Roundup, or "Déjà Who?"

You know, it was almost a year ago to the day that I posted a roundup of my first ever Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. 241 points, and I was well pleased.

Well, things are a little more competitive this year, with unprecedented levels of participation. 96 painters! Tens of thousands of points!

And here's me, with a princely 325 points, thanks mainly to getting a few Bonus Rounds in (at least 50 a pop for those bad boys, and that adds up even if you're not a painting machine). Participation in the Bonus Rounds would therefore seem to be a good move for lazy painters like myself.

So, let's review; last year, I turned out a massive total of 22 figures. This time out, a mere 19 figs (counting half a skeleton and a tank commander as 0.5 of a fig each), plus one vehicle, i,e., one (1) M3 Honey Tank, Eighth Army for the use of, and a single piece of terrain, namely a Frostgrave mausoleum.

They're all there, bar one; the Curtgeld figure.

I'm very pleased with how this chap turned out, especially given the beautiful basework and flag provided by my friend and blolleague Mr Mills. A true communal effort! I hope that he finds favour with his new commander, the Snowlord Himself.

And here I am with the assembled multitude my bijou collection.

It says something for my productivity that this is the second year I've been able to fit all my Challenge figs in one shot. Gotta pick up the pace!

That's all from me for this year then. Time to pull down the shutters, stow the paintbrushes, and put away the unpainted models for another nine or so months.

See you later!

Ev