From NoelW: Counting Down (365 points)

This may look like a bad photo of Bigfoot, but it's actually a good photo of a bear. Good, that is, compared with the other three photos I took. I can only imagine that I painted it so well that it's actually alive and kept moving whenever I tried to pin its soul to an image. It's a Reaper figure.

I decided to paint it on a whim, largely because I'm not sure I'll be able to bear life in twenty four hours time. No Challenge?! What will I do with my time? 

About a week ago I picked up some Warlord French very cheaply, even though I knew I'd never get round to painting them. So, to prove how wrong I generally am about myself, here they are:

Just 24 figures in greatcoats to augment existing forces. They're really intended for the 100 days, but these'll find themselves in the Peninsular, too.

And talking of which, here's the final post of my ECW figures. When I began the challenge, I had 6 painted ECW dragoons and a preacher. With these 24 cavalry, I've now something like 64 cavalry, 2 guns and 250 foot. (A proper audit needs to be done, clearly). If nothing else, the Challenge has taken me from a nonexistent ECW collection to a force well worth gaming with. 

I painted them as three troops of 8. A blue troop:

a green troop:

and a red:

It's not that historical to distinguish cavalry like this, nor to have troops entirely uniform, but it's by far the best way for identifying units in games. I'm going to mix and match as a general rule, but want to be able to have identifiable troops when needed, which particularly may happen in big games.

The ECW figs, like the French, are Warlord. 

24 infantry @ 5 pts = 120, 24 cavalry @ 10 pts = 240, and an out of focus bear @ 5: Total: 365 pts

From Byron: 

All I can say is WOW!  With my zombie bomb, I thought I might get close to the top trio, but you guys are all certifiable!  Don't worry, that is a compliment around here!  I just don't understand how you guys turn out so much painting so fast.  Let alone how you assembled and cleaned a unit of Napoleonics and then painted them in a week!  In the end though you certainly have added a sizable amount added to several factions and that is a huge accomplishment!

As for the bear and what to do with your time after the challenge.... Can I suggest maybe a late winter hibernation for yourself, Miles, and Kent?  I doubt you slept much so far this year, you may as well catch up before summer hits!

All kidding aside, you completed a great challenge this year Noel!  Great work and congratulations on a huge amount of figures out of your pile-o-shame (what we call our unpainted figures).