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.

_________________________________________________

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

EvanH - The Last Post (for this year, anyway) - A Song of Frost and Gravy (10 points)

So, this is it, my last post in my first Challenge. And what a roller coaster it's been!

I'm not going to pretend that I'm a demon painter having a slow couple of months; those of you who have seen my work over at Canister and Grape will know that I work at a rather measured pace.

Let's review; 20 figs prior to this post, not by any means earth-shattering, but not bad for a tyro.

And here are my last two figures for the 6th Challenge; in keeping with the prevailing theme of the last day, it's more Frostgrave. (Has everyone been saving these up for the home stretch? Everything's coming up Frostgrave!)

First, a Ranger, assembled from the excellent Frostgrave Soldiers box.

I went for a green palette as a kind of visual shorthand; "LOOK AT ME! I'M A RANGER!"

Next up is the Infantryman, with the air of a man who has seen better days; the clothing is bright, but is motheaten and without insignia or heraldic charge. The only obviously expensive item he owns is a two-handed sword.

So that's it from me. Its been an enjoyable and instructive experience, and looking back, I can see the benefits of having shedloads of primed and based figures in reserve BEFORE kicking off. This goes double for Bonus Rounds; so many ideas proved impracticable in the face of poor preparation!

The tally stands at 22 figures, all 28mm or thereabouts, working out to around seven a month on average. Nine of those were in a single submission as well, but let's gloss over that and take a look at the finished articles.

Wait up, where's Odysseus? Oh right, Canada...

Fantasy, Ancients, Medieval, pulp adventure, and even a World War II hero, so that's a varied bunch of figures. It's been a great experience, and I'm honoured to have been a part of it, seeing the work of some truly brilliant painters and modellers.

Thanks go to the many fine sponsors of the Challenge, to my good mate Millsy in his role as Antipodean Adjudicator and all-round good bloke, and to all the other minions whose skills in rounding up this ragtag band of misfits have entertained and enthralled me over the last three months.

And last but far from least, thanks go out to that Prince of the Prairie, the Snowlord Himself, Curtis Q. Campbell (the Q stands for 'Quality'!) for busting his bottom in the cause of ever-greater fellowship among the painters and bloggers of the hobby world. We couldn't have done it without you!

Time to rest up for a bit now, but who knows, I might be up for another go by December...

Stay tuned...!

Ev

Brrriilliant! Love it Ev. Even though you've succumbed to the Frostgrave scourge you continued to produce high quality work to the very end.  The green Ranger is, well, green and so obviously a Ranger, but he looks to be a really nice guy.  The lantern-toting infantryman definitely has a sartorial streak, but by the look of his sword he's obviously compensating for something.  I can't put my finger on it, and, funny enough, that's exactly what the lady's say too. <ba-dum-pish> Yup, I'm here with Ev, playing twice nightly - we do charades and dance a nice soft-shoe as well. ;)

I clearly remember at the announcement of this year's Challenge you professed you had other things to do (for THREE MONTHS?). But then apparently Millsy had you over dinner and withheld your dessert until you succumbed. Millsy's a very good man as we'd have been a poorer group without you Mr. Hughes. Thanks for your participation, madcap humour and good will. Just so you know, I've already marked I you down for Challenge VII, so don't bother trying to wriggle out of it. Now, start priming you lazy git.  :)

From JonathanO - A few more Assyrians. (45 points)

A small and rather late submission as the Painting Challenge draws to a close.   I have failed badly to meet my modest 500 point target.  Sorry Curt!  Also sorry to Tamsin for not helping the Tuesday team more.  I have been working away from home and my hobby time has been limited the last 2 months.  I did manage to play a couple of games in our great Frostgrave campaign, but most of my hobby time was spent trying to get the Edmonton MayDay Convention organised.  www.maydayconvention.com

Here are 9 more Lamming Miniatures Assyrian archers for 45 points.

I failed to complete all the infantry for this army and have not got very far with the chariots and cavalry.  I never started my War and Empire 15mm army either! I will work on them all this spring and summer.  My Curtgeld figure is also in progress and will follow soon.

I have enjoyed the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge very much and have been very impressed with the painting skills and output of my fellow participants.

Thanks,
Jonathan

No worries Jonathan! I'm just happy that you managed to get some more of your lovely miniatures into the Challenge before the curtain fell. These are very, very nice. The bright palette you've gone with fits their old school design and the chunky bases have a great esthetic all their own.

I hope that next year allows you better hobby time so we can more enjoy your work. Have a great time at your MayDay Convention! 

From SidneyR - The Last Day of the Challenge: More from Laarden 1688 and my Curtgeld (116 Points)

It’s been an amazing Challenge, and all too soon, it has come to an end this evening. I’ve loved every minute, watching everyone’s incredible submissions and preparing my own. I’ve really only managed the themed submission rounds, but alongside those I’ve slowly been painting up a few extra figures, which I’ve finished today.

So here are a couple of extra pike stands from the Laarden civic militia, some extra engineers (slightly left over from the Defensive Terrain themed round) and – finally – the arrival of the first of the Laarden cavalry. I suspect, like a few of you, I prepared a lot of troops at the start of the Challenge which have not seen paintbrush yet. And I’m no exception. These are the two command stands for three regiments of Flemish and Spanish cavalry (36 cavalrymen, in all), all of which are still waiting patiently in the painting queue. 

 
Like the other Laarden militia, I’ve tried to keep the theme of yellow and blue in the standard of the Laarden pike stand, proudly displaying the civic Pelican motto. The militia still have a mix of uniforms and armour like their comrades in the second of the themed rounds, “Epic Fail”. 

And you might spot the Pelican motif on the grenadier’s cap, and the trumpet banner of one of the cavalrymen.

So, with the Challenge at an end, there’s only one last thing to do – complete my Curtgeld. With the theme of Risk-takers and Gamblers, I had intended to paint a rather nice Foundry casting of the Duke of Marlborough. But, over the last few days, I’ve thought that one of the citizens of Laarden might be more appropriate. So, armed with some “brown stuff” putty and a Dixon Miniature casting with a Bicorne Miniatures partisan, I’ve built, prepared and painted my Curtgeld during the course of today. And so, for the Sixth Challenge, here’s my Curtgeld – and it’s none other than that famed, rakish Flemish cavalier, Antoine de Gautier. 

Equipped with a ludicrous wig, attired in elegant French fashions and carrying a stylish, if antiquated, partisan he’s once again preening and parading across the fields of Flanders accompanied by to Laarden chickens. No doubt he’s taking a gamble carrying a partisan on the field – but at least it’s more use then his wooden duelling sword he was seen carrying in the sixth themed round. 

And with that, I’m done. Huge thanks Curt on a wonderful Challenge and well done everyone!  Hope to see you all again later this year for the next Challenge!!!

Ahhh, more lovliness from the picturesque Flemish town of Laarden, absolutely fantastic. Sid, this whole Laarden project of yours is brilliant. I just love the quasi-fictional setting, the characters the colour palette, well everything really. Just like your WWI project, it's so wonderfully realized. Bravo sir!

And to this I am absolutely delighted to receive a figure of one of the principle worthies of the town of Laarden, Antoine de Gautier himself! With attendant chickens no less! How cool is that! Tremendous stuff - Thank you so much Sidney! 

Again, I'm delighted that the Challenge, in its own small way, helped to move your project along. I for one look very much forward to following the development of the Town of Laarden on your blog in the months to come, and I hope we are treated to some more of its characters during our next edition of the Challenge. Until then Mr. Roundwood, I say adieu. :)

From PhilH: Doing My Bit (45 Points)

Final day of the sixth AHPC, and here I am at 2300 tapping out my last post. It's almost enough to make one teary-eyed. And that's nothing to do with the paint fumes. As were short of our collective points target, it was full steam ahead is evening to do my bit to make up the shortfall. 

First up, a SCW Schneider m1908 70mm mountain gun, to provide some heavy firepower for my Nationalists. A squat little thing in a fine Empress kit. 

Each Spanish infantry battalion had one of these, and unlike many support weapons there were actually enough for the Peninsular army to receive their allocation.  They were typical detached and brigaded together into batteries. I couldn't find that much about them online, nor many pictures of either real ones nor painted miniatures. The camo is conjectural but a saw a B&W photo of one in a camo scheme and the green/khaki colours seemed most likely to me. It received a heavy dose of chipping and more weathering pigments than the photos give me credit for. 

This has been a real bugbear on my painting desk. I blitzed through the crew while on holiday at the start of this month. But the gun took me ages, working at it on and off. The hassle of basing it up after painting, not my favoured method. But I'm pleased with the result and hope I can give it a run out soon. 

I finished this earlier in the week and cast my eyes around for something to quickly work up for the finale. I received these Pulp Miniatures 'cowled cultists' for Christmas. As my Secret Stana got me 'evil hooded' cultists as well, I settled on doing these in a colour scheme of grey robes, and will save the classic purple for the hooded cult. I feel like these nee a decal of some kind to break up there robes, and will keep an eye out for something suitable. 

I imagine that and the other half of the group will form a 'not-necessarily-evil' cult, that may work to aims that aren't so blatantly nefarious as global domination, annihilation or the attempted summoning of elder beings. Perhaps they like knitting or something. 

It doesn't feel like my best challenge in terms of my entries, as with many fellow challengers, real life took its toll. But on that front, I can delightfully report that redecorating was finished this weekend, as well leaving mere odds and ends to do over the rest of the year. And the garden, that rather needs some attention. So I'm look it forward to a relaxing Easter not having to worry about full-size paintbrushes. It pleases me that the 1:1 project was kicked off, and also finished within the challenge. 

With that, I'll just say a massive, heartfelt 'thank you' first to Curt, who is generous enough with his time to organise and shepherd us through the challenge over the winter months. It's a great pleasure to be able to participate once again. Also to Curt's fine helpers, whose amusing commentary and enthusiasm was appreciated by all, no doubt. And to Resident Statistician Miles, because what isn't improved by a resident statistician (even with Curt's gremlins at work. Talking of statistical gremlins, my counting puts my points tally 10 short but what's 10 points between friends, eh? These entries and the last theme round points should be enough to put me well past my target). And finally to my fellow challengers, whose outstanding work keeps my enthusiasm and creativity up across the whole year. 

Beautiful work Phil! That mountain gun is brilliant. I like your take on the camo and also how you've based the crew tightly around it - those gunshields must have felt pretty darne small under fire. Your cultists are ace as well - I'm particularly taken with the grey-blue you've used for their robes - it's slimming, traditional and yet so chic. :)

I know you've been pretty pegged-out with 1:1 scale project so I appreciate the effort you put into the Challenge with the time that you had - and hey, you managed to recover the honour of Britannia with your duel with Juan. That's gotta be worth a heap of street cred there in Blighty, right?

Until next time Phil. Take care.

From IannickM: Il buono (Curtgeld)...and a disgusting Nurgle beast (27 Points)

Well, just in time here is my entry fee to Curt. The Man with no Name gambles his way and risks his life on numerous occasions in search of a fitsful of dollars and a tomb of gold through three awesome movies, culminating in the epic (and my favourite movie) The Good the Bad & the Ugly. Clint Eastwood just nails the character to perfection, and this is my little homage to one of the last true man's man. Yes, I have a man crush on Clint.

I painted the figure as closely as I could to the movie's poster, and I'm quite happy with how he came up. My only regret is that I was not able to reproduce the famous poncho's decorations. I was not happy with my first try, and time lacking I painted over it and went with a plain poncho. I hope Curt will manage to forgive me for this obvious lack of historical accuracy!

On a completely different style, I managed to finish painting a Nurgle beast for my Chaos army. The figure is from the Hell Dorado range and when I saw it I just knew it would work perfectly in my Nurgle force as a beast of Nurgle, the God of plague, despair, disease and death. The figure is basically a full 40mm of worms crawling over one another. Eurk. Disgusting, but oh so Nurgly! The figure was a pain to assemble though, with parts that didn't fit real well. I made it as if it just rose from a puddle of goo, and well, I think it looks how it is supposed to look!

So that's 7 pts + the points for the Curtgeld (it's late and I don't remember how much its worth, sorry!)

Finally, this hasn't been a very productive year for me, as I've been living in boxes and preparing to move in a few weeks. A busy week-end of house visits (we are selling our house) screwed with my last entry, a complete battalion of Baden Napoleonics, which are painted but not based. I thought of showing the unbased unit to get the points but I just can't do it! Roger and I at Murawski Miniatures are giving a complete Baden battalion as a prize this year, so hopefully when Curt announces the winner he will allow me to show the completed unit on this blog to show you exactly what you are winning!

A big thank you to Curt and the whole minions gang for making this challenge possible. I feel that this year I haven't participated as I usually do, in output and comments, and so I cannot wait for next year's challenge; I intend to make up for my lackluster 2015-2016 showing! 

Iannick both of these models are fabulous! First, thank you so much for the Man With No Name, he's just brilliant and true cinematic risk taker if I ever saw one. I quite like his pale blue shirt juxtaposed against his otherwise earth-tone clothing. A big thank you!

I must say that without a doubt that is one of the best Nurgle daemons I've ever seen. You usually see them done in green, pink and purple but this putrescent yellow is a terrific take on the theme. Well done Iannick!

Best of luck with your upcoming move - I know it's stressful but I'm sure you'll love your new digs. And yes, please send along some pics of your Napoleonic Baden battalion as it will be perfect for when I divvy out the prizes next week. Otherwise I look forward to having you with us next time out. Take care Iannick!

From TamsinP - At Salutesville City Penitentiary (20 Points)

I made it - just. Well, they still need to be varnished and the black rim of the base touched up, but they're good enough to post as is for my 25th entry in the main part of the Challenge.

Over the last couple of years, I've been posting various denizens of Salutesville, the fictional city for my Mob Wars project. Now any city with criminal gangs and a tenacious police department will inevitably have hoodlums being found guilty and sent to jail. And prisons need prison officers, so here are four officers from Salutesville City Penitentiary:

"There is no truth behind suggestions that our prison officers accept bribes from inmates" Mayor Reidy, 21 March 1926

The figures are 28mm from Copplestone. That will be a final 20 points added to my tally. I've got nowhere near the points levels of the last two years, but much higher than I expected going in - my initial target was 1000 points and these should leave me just shy of 1800 points. I might have actually got past 1800 points if I'd had time to paint these handsome chaps:

but I simply ran out of time (it's just after 1am here and I do have to go to work tomorrow morning!). Still, it does mean that I now have the opportunity to fix a small problem with the middle figure - hint - the shield is upside down.

And so, my Challenge ends. I've had great fun once again and managed to complete two whole armies - my 6mm Rebs and my Crusties, as well as making good headway on some other projects.

If all goes well this evening, I should manage to get another entry in before the deadline. However, in case I don't get that far I'd like to thank:

Curt "Snowlord" Campbell for putting on this grand event again; sorting out sponsors; herding the cats; and for giving us all the opportunity to come together.
Bravo!

Lady Sarah for allowing her husband to do all the above once again
Brava!

My fellow Minions - for not leaving the adjudication chamber in too bad a mess (except for Peter - all those takeaway cartons I found on Tuesday mornings made the place look like a student dorm).
Bravo!

"Reverend" Miles Reidy for setting up the spreadsheet we've been using and for the statistical mumbojumbory he's done throughout the Challenge
Bravo!

Byron for keeping track of the various side duels.
Bravo!

The Tuesday Troublemakers Troop for being such good eggs and not making my life too difficult.
Bravo!

To all my fellow Challengers for your great contributions over the past three months. The quantity and quality of painting is always astounding.
Bravo and Brava!

Thanks again for putting up with hosting us Curt!

Ooh, these are great Tamsin. I like that you're returning to Salutesville City for your wrap-up as it's such a great project. Your break from the standard cop blue is inspired - the green is absolute ace - they have an almost Guardia Civil look about them. Very cool.

Well, it's been a great run Tamsin. You managed to fight your way up to 5th place - BRAVO!! Well done m'dear.

Once again your enthusiasm and good will has been an inspiration to us all and let me give you my deep thanks for all your help with the Tuesday mob. I know we all enjoyed the antics of Challenge Flight 06 and Head Stewardess Piper. Until next time Miss P. - it has been a pleasure. :)