'Let Me Connect You...'

I've just sent out an information PDF along with blog author invitations to all of this year's Challenge participants. If you are on the roster and have not received an email/invite from me please drop me a comment below or email me so I can get it sorted out. Thanks!! 

'There will be Paint before Breakfast' - Painting Duels and Side Challenges for the Fifth AHPC

'La!'

A fun element that has grown from the Challenge is the 'painting duels' and side wagers taken up between participants. These 'duels' run the gambit from seeing who can reach a defined points goal first, to being able to paint the most figures within a particular period or genre. They are great fun to watch unfold over the three months and provide a great source of goading and cheering for all concerned. 

Here are the first set of duels to kick off this year's Challenge:

- First, I'm calling out Sidney to see which of us will reach our 750 point target first - winner will claim a painted figure from the other. I aced Sid last year so I ask: Will I be hard-pressed this time out or will I get another limited edition Roundwood for my display cabinet?  ;P

- The Dutch Contingent (Jacco, Michael and Rob) have challenged one another to see which one of them will meet their 500 point target first. 

- Anne and Sander have challenged each other to painting the best Femme Fatale. The parameters of the duel are still being hammered-out but I hear murmurs that this clash will come off sometime in January. 

- Anne keeps busy with another duel, this one with Simon. They have challenged one another to see who can paint the most points in Pulp adventure figures over the three months of the event. The winner will get a painted figure from the vanquished. 

- I also have something in the works with Alan and Phil, but more on that once we've hammered out the details on the matches.

To the other participants, I challenge you all to comment below and issue your own call-outs for duels and cage-matches. Let's make this year's Challeng a paint-lashed scrum to the first day of Spring!  

Extending a big THANK YOU to the Painting Challenge Prize Sponsors

I'm delighted to announce that we have a wide-ranging group of sponsors (nine and counting!) who've generously offered prizes for the Challenge. I know prizes aren't the be-all and end-all, but you have to admit they do add a certain lustre to an occasion.

This year I'm going to try something a bit different in that I will be holding prize draws for attaining specific points thresholds.  There will be six thresholds, starting from 500 points and going up to 2500.

Threshold I = 500 points

Threshold II = 750 points

Threshold III = 1000 points

Threshold IV = 1500 points

Threshold V = 2000 points

Threshold VI = 2500 points

I'm hoping that with this system I can provide a bit more fun than simply giving out prizes to the top-scoring painters, as I realize not everyone has the time, speed or stamina to compete at those upper levels.

So, without further ado, in alphabetical order, this year's sponsors are:

Barrage Miniatures

Romanesque Spanish Church

Grass Warmat in a Vietnam setting.

Barrage Miniatures specializes in very high quality, exquisitely detailed vehicles, buildings and warmats. I had the pleasure to visit Alf's workshop in Madrid this past spring and can attest to his near maniacal attention to detail and customer service. In addition to his generous prize offerings Alf is also giving a 10% discount to all Challengers who order from his store during the event (please contact me to get the discount code). Thanks very much Alf!

Deep-Cut Studios

Deep-Cut Studio is an artisan studio specializing in manufacturing miniature and RPG games accessories. They mainly focus on miniature games mats for various wargames. Deep-Cut also collaborates with companies looking to outsource their manufacturing and/or handling the distribution of their products. They provide a wide array of services: graphic design, drawings, manufacturing, packaging and shipping the goods to the customer's doorstep.

Diplomatist Books

The stock at Edwin King's wonderful online bookshop Diplomatist Books is always worth a thoughtful thumb through. You'll find titles on Military & Naval History, Archaeology, Early History and Exploration. Also, check out Edwin's Facebook page to keep up with his goings on.

Fife & Drum / Minden Miniatures

British AWI Commanders

Prussian Command Stand

Jim Purky's Fife & Drum Miniatures, whose wonderful 30mm figures focus on the American War of Independence, was awarded 'Best Historical Miniatures Range of 2011' by the Miniatures Page. Jim also has the excellent Minden Miniatures range, which focuses on the armies of the Seven Years War. Both ranges are sculpted by the very talented Richard Ansell.

J&M Miniatures

A long-time supporter of the Challenge, James Manto's J&M Miniatures is a great Canadian-based online hobby store specializing in all manner of products for miniature gaming.

Murawski Miniatures

Murawski Miniatures was created to fill a niche for Napoleonic figure collectors who wanted a comprehensive range that depicted troops from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw as they were dressed and equipped in the 1812-1814 period. The “look” of the figures is very much that of “in the field” rather than parade ground (ideal for the Peninsular, 1813 campaigns etc) . That said figures have also been designed with Czapska chords, plumes etc.

Orinoco Miniatures

A labour of love from the fevered mind of Mark Griffin, Orinoco Miniatures features a wonderful range of 28mm castings depicting the South American Wars of Independence (1810-1830) and the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay (1932-1935). 

SG2 Creations

Byron's SG2 Creations is a Canadian-based studio specializing in MDF terrain, figure storage and acrylic game markers. He is currently developing comprehensive ranges of buildings for 28mm Sci-Fi, 15mm Stalingrad  and another in 20mm for the WWII campaigns in Italy.

Westfalia Miniatures

Russian sledge gun, 1812.

Rude Scots

Kawe's Westfalia Miniatures combines the talents of Niels Rullkoetter, Paul Hicks, Ebob, Frank Germershaus and Bill Thornhill to build 28mm miniatures and 1/56 equipment that they always wanted for their own collections. Their research comes from Michael Bartling and many others.

Again, I wish to thank all our prize sponsors -  their very generous support of the Painting Challenge really adds a wonderful sparkle to the event.


Next Up: Paint Duels and Side Challenges! (Note to Challengers: Please send me your call-outs and white feathers...)

'Unity Through Paint' - The Roster for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

We have our team! Below you will find the roster of participants for the Fifth Annual Painting Challenge. This year we have 72 hobbyists rolling out, up by almost a dozen from last year - the more the merrier, wot! 

We have folks from 12 years of age to, well, let's say not 12 years of age (;OP) and coming from 14 nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United States, and the UK. Looking at this I think this year's Challenge's motto of 'Unity through Paint' may not be too far off the mark.

Note: To all the participants, please review the roster to make sure that you're there and that your points target and the link to your blog (if you have one) are correct.

I also want to take this opportunity to announce that there will be a few changes to how the Challenge will be accessed and administered for this edition. 

1)  I have created an exclusive Painting Challenge blog for the event. So when the event kicks off on December 5th it is there where you'll be wanting to go. The address of the Painting Challenge blog is:

http://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.ca/

In addition, you can find a button to it ('The Painting Challenge') at the top of this blog.

Why do this? Well, I believe the Challenge has now grown large enough to warrant its own web presence and I think it's time to keep it distinct from my own personal blog. Over the next few months I will be structuring the new Challenge blog to contain all of the content from the previous four events so it's self-contained and can project a sense of its own history.

Also, a dedicated blog allows me to be able to assign the participants of the Challenge as author/contributors. This is quite significant as it will give the participants more flexibility and control on how their submissions are handled while also alleviating a portion of the workload from me. (Don't worry, I will still act as editor and will post entires for those who either cannot, or do not, wish to mess with posting their own entries.)

2) In order for me to better keep on top of the entries I am assigning each participant a day of the week in which his or her work will be posted to the Challenge blog. This, in turn, helps me spread out the work over the week and gives me Sunday's off to work on my own stuff and manage the Fortnight Theme Rounds.

Nonetheless, during the first and final weeks of the Challenge the assigned days will be ignored, allowing people to send in their entries as they wish, maintaining the Challenge's signature pell-mell start and race to the finish.

I hope this all makes sense. I'll be sending out an email in a week or so to all the participants to go over the finer mechanics of the Challenge. 

Up Next: Our Prize Sponsors!

The Fifth Annual Painting Challenge Roster

	Challenger	Post Day	Initial Points Target	Blog
1.	AaronH	Monday	650	Dulce et Decorum Est
2.	AdamC	Monday	1000	Fencing Frog
3.	AlanD	Monday	1500	Dux Homunculorum
4.	AnneO’L	Monday	500	O’Leary Miniatures
5.	BenG	Monday	400	Monsieur Rosbif & Johnny Frog
6.	BrendonW	Monday	1000	The Gamer’s Table
7.	BrianB	Monday	500	RayGun Gothic Galaxy
8.	BurkhardS	Monday	1000	dhcwargamesblog
9.	ByronM	Monday	1000	Fawcett Ave Conscripts
10.	ChristopherS	Monday	500	Bunker Hill
11.	ClintB	Monday	1250	Anything But a One
12.	DaveD	Monday	2250	One Man and His Brushes
13.	DavidB	Tuesday	750	-
14.	DavidL	Tuesday	750	The Miniatures Corner
15.	EdwinK	Tuesday	1000	Thoughts of a Depressive Diplomatist
16.	Evan&GrantH	Tuesday	200	-
17.	FranL	Tuesday	600	The Angry Lurker
18.	GillesW	Tuesday	1000	Wilderness of Mirrors
19.	GregB	Tuesday	300	Fawcett Ave Conscripts
20.	IanW	Tuesday	1000	The Blog with No Name
21.	IannickM	Tuesday	600	Par la bouche de mes canons Marauders and Citadels
22.	JaccoK	Tuesday	500	-
23.	JamesR	Tuesday	750	Baconfat Log
24.	JamieM	Wednesday	500	GOG Online
25.	JeremyM	Wednesday	300	-
26.	JohnM	Wednesday	1000	Wargaming in 28mm and Sometimes Smaller
27.	JuanM	Wednesday	500	Ad Finis
28.	Kawe	Wednesday	200	Grossbeeren 1813
29.	KevinH	Wednesday	300	Fawcett Ave. Conscripts
30.	KevinS	Wednesday	?	Diggers Home
31.	MarkE	Wednesday	500	The Occasional Wargamer
32.	MarkG	Wednesday	750	The Wilde Goose
33.	MartinC	Wednesday	1000	-
34.	MartinN	Wednesday	400	Moiterei’s bunte Welt
35.	MarkE	Wednesday	500	The Occasional Wargamer
36.	MarkO	Thursday	1000	Chasseur
37.	MichaelA	Thursday	1000	28mm Victorian Warfare
38.	MichaelF	Thursday	501	MiniStories
39.	MichaelP	Thursday	500	Mad Padre Wargames
40.	MilesR	Thursday	2000	Lair of the Uber Geek
41.	Millsy	Thursday	2000	Canister and Grape
42.	PaulS	Thursday	500	EndTransmission’s gaming stuff
43.	PeterB	Thursday	1000	Comes Britanniae
44.	PeterD	Thursday	1000	The Single Handed Admiral
45.	PeterT	Thursday	500	Well, this isn’t a reasonable use…
46.	PhilH	Thursday	?	Diary of a Gaming Magpie
47.	RayR	Thursday	300	Don’t Throw a 1
48.	RichardC	Friday	500	-
49.	RichardM	Friday	700	Working on the Lead Mountain
50.	RobH	Friday	200	With General Custer Down in Mexico
51.	RobP	Friday	500	-
52.	RossM	Friday	500	Brushes and Bases
53.	RoyW	Friday	750	R.W.’s Hobby Blog
54.	SamuliS	Friday	1000	Engineered Gaming
55.	Sander	Friday	500	Modus Reg Magni Momenti
56.	SeanS	Friday	1000	Sean’s Wargaming Corner
57.	SebG	Friday	200	Back to the Minis
58.	ScottB	Friday	600	Scott’s Wargaming
59.	ScottS	Friday	1000	Too Much Free Time
60.	SidneyR	Friday	750	Roundwood’s World
61.	SimonM	Saturday	500	Fantorical
62.	StacyS	Saturday	300	-
63.	SteH	Saturday	750	Off t' Club
64.	StefanK	Saturday	750	Monty’s Caravan
65.	StefanoS	Saturday		-
66.	SteveM	Saturday	800	-
67.	SylvainR	Saturday	300	-
68.	TamsinP	Saturday	1500	Wargaming Girl
69.	TeemuL	Saturday	500	Vain Vader
70.	TobiP	Saturday	500	Tobi’s Paint Pot
71.	VincentC	Saturday	500	Blitzkrieg Brushes
72.	…and Curt		750