Well, all the votes are in for 'Choice of the Challenge', Sarah has made her selection for 'Sarah’s Choice', I’ve done the same for the Judges selection and we’ve made the prize draws for the six points thresholds. Whew! As you will see below this was a very hectic week for us!
This year, for ease of administration, I've combined the previous Challenger's Choice and People's Choice awards into one called the 'Choice of the Challenge'. We had 25 nominations for this award with 72 people voting. I must say it was a real delight to populate the voting gallery with the images of the nominations as the collective whole provides an excellent retrospective of the three months of the Challenge.
As the runners up and winners for the various categories are named I provide a sampling of their work.
For those wishing to see the voting results they can be found here.
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Choice of the Challenge
Honourable Mentions go to MartinN (Nick) and Millsy for their excellent bodies of work.
Third Place was tied between SidneyR and myself. Sidney will receive a 30 Euro gift certificate from Barrage Miniatures. Well done Mr. Roundwood!
Nick's Late Romans Ballistae
Nick's 'Shaeffer's Last Chancers'
Millsy's 'The Luncheon'
Millsy's 'Motte & Bailey'
Third Place was tied between SidneyR and myself. Sidney will receive a 30 Euro gift certificate from Barrage Miniatures. Well done Mr. Roundwood!
Sidney's The Artist Chance Card'
Sidney's 'The Flemish Cavalier'
Curt's 'Denizens of Edgar Rice Burrows' Barsoom'
Curt's 'Landsknecht Pike Block'
Second Place goes to MichaelA for his body of work. Michael will receive a subscription from 'Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy'. Congratulations Michael!
Michael's 'Clocktopus'
Michael's 'The Great Escape'
First Place for 'Choice of the Challenge' goes to Anne and her excellent body of work. She will get a 20 GBP gift certificate from West Wind Productions. Wonderful job Anne and congratulations!
Anne's 'Clint'
Anne's 'Steampunk Annie'
Anne's 'Hasslefree Moderns'
Judge’s Choice
The
Honourable Mentions go to MartinN's collective submissions, masterful
work sir, and Anne’s collective work, especially impressive with her
fabulous skin tones and colour blending.
The Judge’s
Choice goes to Michael’s for his 'The Great Escape' – Thank you Mr. Awdry for treating
us to your fevered imagination, inspiring modeling and beautiful brushwork. Micheal will receive a painted figure of his choice from me.
Michael's 'The Great Escape' for the 'Nostalgia' Theme Round.
Sarah’s Choice
With typical Canadian Prairie spring weather outside (yesterday brilliantly sunny and 21C, today dreary and overcast and 8C) I really have no excuses to not sit down with my iPad and scroll through all the terrific "Sarah's Choice" entrants.
Cup of coffee in hand, hounds by my feet and good tunes on the Hi Fi, and utilizing a highly scientific process I have determined the results.
3rd Runner Up
A tie between ClintB's 'Nurse Docherty' and Millsy's 'Margaret Graham'.
I attended a Girls School and Nurse Docherty has a strong resemblance to a certain headmistress ..... and maybe perhaps the infamous Mind Bleach has influenced my cognitive powers!
Clint's 'Nurse Docherty'
Margaret Graham appeals to me as I'm a manager of a busy retail store .... There are days when I do feel a wee bit cantankerous and Margaret Graham's method of stress relief, although extreme, definitely has its appeal:)
Millsy's 'Margaret Graham'
2nd Runner up
Anne's 1970's Female Action Hero
I've chosen this figure of Anne's due to the amazing yellow/gold of the lady's flared trousers and her skin tones. As has been said before, Anne's understanding of colour is amazing and this yellow is so rich and deep that there is a beautiful glowing tone. Just lovely!
Anne's 1970's Female Action Hero
1st Runner Up
AlexS' 'Tamsin the Gladiator & Anne the Sorceress'
I love that Alex has painted his rendition of Tamsin's and Anne's personalities. Both these ladies have made such a strong contribution to AHPC and beyond. Alex's artistic impression of them is inspired and a wonderful honour of their contribution this hobby.
Alex's 'Tamsin & Anne'
And the winner of Sarah's Choice ....
KyleC Slanneshi Daemon Princess
I've spent the last hour scrolling thru all the Sarah's Choice entrants and this entry really resonated with me, because I love purple (and green; your Valhallian Commisars are quite splendid) and the figure itself has such a lovely sense of ethereal motion. Your choice of pale luminescent colour really highlights the idea of movement.
KyleC's Slanneshi Daemon Princess
Thank you to everyone who has painted female figures for this Challenge, it has been real pleasure to view them all once more. I look forward to what next Challenge will bring!
Sarah, aka Snowlady
Thank you m'dear and congratulations to Kyle on his Sarah's Choice! Kyle, you will receive a 30 Euro Gift Certificate from Barrage Miniatures.
Points Threshold Prizes
Next we have the Point Threshold prizes. These are a random draw awarded to participants who broke through the six points barriers over the course of the Challenge.
Points Threshold Prizes
Next we have the Point Threshold prizes. These are a random draw awarded to participants who broke through the six points barriers over the course of the Challenge.
Threshold I / 500-749 points: ChristopherS
(Gift Certificate from BigRedBat Ventures)
Threshold II / 750-999 points: PeterD
(20 CDN Gift Certificate from Comic Readers)
Threshold III / 1000-1499 points: GregB
(30 CDN Gift Certificate from Dragon's Den)
Threshold IV / 1500-1999 points: DaveB
(3 x 3 Mat of Choice from Deep Cut Studios)
Threshold V / 2000-2499 points: AlexS
(30 GBP Gift Certificate from Orinoco Miniatures)
Threshold VI / 2500+ points: MartinC
(30 Euro Gift Certificate from Barrage Miniatures)
Also, I think it only proper to give some prizes to our Paint Monsters
who dominated the points roster:
3rd in the Points Standings: AlexS (Figure Voucher from Murawski Miniatures for a Baden battalion)
2nd in the Points Standings: MartinC (75 GBP Gift
Certificate from Westfalia Miniatures
1st in the Points Standings MilesR ($100 Gift
Certificate from Fife & Drum Miniatures)
Congratulations to all the prize winners and thank you for sharing your wonderful work with us. Please contact me to work out the details of your prizes.
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There you have it folks, another Painting Challenge, our sixth (!), now behind us. I’d like to thank all our Challenge Sponsors
for their generous support of the event. All of the sponsors are listed below and on the right sidebar, so if you have a free moment please visit
their sites, see if something strikes your fancy and consider giving them some trade. As I always say, the Challenge doesn’t need
prizes for it to be a success, but it sure adds a nice bit of sparkle and glamour to the proceedings. Again, my great thanks to all our wonderful sponsors!
Finally, and I really can't say this enough, I want to humbly thank all our Challenge participants. This event would be nothing without you. It is your humour, your vigour and your good will that makes these three months such a joy. I doff my hat
to you all.
I bid you all a fond farewell until the leaves fall next autumn.
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Barrage Miniatures
Barrage Miniatures specializes
in very high quality, exquisitely detailed vehicles, buildings and
warmats. I had the pleasure to visit Alf's workshop in Madrid last year 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). Thank you
very much Alf!
Comic Readers
Comic Readers
Comic Readers is our local game store here in Regina. Dana and Chad are wonderful pair of guys who do a great job supporting the local gaming community.
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 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. I have several of their mats and can attest to their quality and excellent customer service.
The stock at Edwin King's wonderful online bookshop Diplomatist Books
is always worth a thoughtful perusal. You'll find titles on
Military & Naval History, Archaeology, Early History
and Exploration. Check out Edwin's Facebook page to keep up with his goings on.
Dragon's Den Games
Just 250km up the road from Regina is Saskatoon's Dragon's Den Games (it seems nuts but this is a relatively short distance in the Canadian prairies). Darren has been a long-time supporter of the Challenge and I'm delighted that he has once again offered to provide some lucky Challenger a gift certificate. Cheers Darren!
Fife & Drum / Minden Miniatures
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.
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) . Their figures have been designed with Czapska chords, plumes etc.
A labour of love from fellow Challenger 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 continues to develop ranges
of buildings for 28mm Sci-Fi, 15mm Stalingrad and another in 20mm for
the WWII campaigns in Italy.
Warbases
Warbases
Martin and Diane Murray of 'Warbases' return this year to provide a gift certificate to some lucky individual from their excellent shop.
Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy
Fellow Challenger Guy Bowers, editor of 'Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy', has kindly offered a 1 year subscription as a prize to some lucky winner. Thanks very much Guy, much appreciated!
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.
Westwind Productions
Westwind Productions
The good folks over at Westwind Productions contacted me about being a prize sponsor after our own Challenger JonathanO gave us a shout-out. Thanks very much to both Westwind and Jonathan!