Let's start with the most important thing of all: saying a BIG well deserved THANK YOU to Curt, the good Lady Sarah, the Mionions (specially our Big Lee!) and all you other participants for making this year's Challenge such a fun event to take part in. Special mentions must surely also go to Michael for putting up with me for another year, Tamsin: how do you manage to reply to each and every post in here AND paint more brilliant stuff than most of us at that?! Personally I have not been able to reply to all your excellent posts and apologize for that guys. And last but by no means least to my eldest son and Companion: Arthur for sharing this love that is our Hobby.
Am I happy with this year's crop? Hmmm hard to say really, while I did manage to get some stuff off the desk that has been hanging around for years (a decade in the case of the Dreadnaught) I do feel like I could have painted more. Next year I will try a bit more planning and pre-Challenge prep. For most of the Challenge my gaming table looked like this:
You can see Arthur's painting-desk in the foreground. While the Challenge progresses I put the painted stuff in the table to see my progress; the prepped pile gets smaller, the painted pile grows.
The boxes of stuff are filled with miniatures still to be put together, most of which I got for my birthday which is in January and therefore mid-Challenge.
So on to the "done" picture:
Some more close ups:
Oh and of course after taking the picture you realise you forgot some models: the HQ Ogres and my Necromunda Gangs were used in games during the Challenge and were put away instead of back on the table.
Most happy I am with finishing the Battle Platform and the Spyrers, the platform had been cluttering the table for ages and I really looked up against painting it, now it's done! The Spyrers were just such a love to paint I would gladly collect the other versions for them if they weren't so damn expensive.
From the prepped stuff the lot below was left undone and I have decided that this get's painted before I allow myself to get into other stuff.
Meanwhile the lad has done well too, he's really all over the place where concentration is concerned and he likes gaming a lot more than painting but he's been a real trooper and I am mightily proud of him.
During the Summer Holiday we will be staying in Canterbury (UK) for 2 weeks and as I know the place a little I will be taking him to the local GW (can't seem to fond a decent gaming shop there) and try to get him into some games and perhaps even some painting in the store.
A picture of myself is supposed to be in here as well, I asked my wife to take one of me painting but it's hideous so you'll have to make do with this one:
So what's up for the future? Well as I have said elsewhere, some new projects were started during the Challenge and they will be going on since I seem to have gotten into the flow of painting regularly. None of that post-Challenge blues for me, no sah! First will be the Transformers, keenly followed by Star Quest/ Space Hulk stuff. More HQ figures are always on the horizon and surely some more Necromunda as well.
For next year's Challenge I think I am going to go more into the Historical era, finishing my Indian Mutiny and getting some Napoleonics on the menu seems like a good idea.
For now farewell and till next year!
Cheers Sander and Arthur
