Well, the brushes have been cleaned and the painting desk reorganized, temporarily of course, the Quarantine Challenge has thrown my post challenge plans into a bit of a spin.
So, time to recap what went on during Challenge X eh? Well, my own feeling at the end of the whole thing was one of mild disappointment. Not with the challenge itself, the Snow Lord set things up and ran the whole show magnificently. No, this was one of disappointment in myself. Last year I managed a finish in the Top 10, painted nearly 270 minis and was thoroughly exhausted by the end of it. This year, I placed 25th, painted just over 100 minis and felt as fresh as a daisy. While I didn't want to burn myself out like I did last time, I know I could have done much better if I had put the effort in. In unrelated news, I did finish two PC games off over the course of the challenge. Could that be connected to my painting output somehow? Hmm.
On the other hand, I painted up a force for Rebels and Patriots in time to play a game with my friend before he left the area. I also got around to painting a vignette I had had in mind for a long time. So that's good. I'm happy with all of the minis I did, but the table below looks a little sparse compared to last year.
During the challenge I visited 14 of the 19 locations on my little tour and had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to tie them all together. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my entries and comment on them.
And that leads me to my second reason why I am disappointed in myself. As with last year, I intended to comment on every entry that I read, but I quickly reached a point where I was missing entries and then entire days. Sadly real life gets in the way from time to time, but I also found that my phone (my principle method for viewing the challenge) was really struggling with the challenge website. I guess it is the format for the site where several entries and the background are loaded up at once. The Quarantine Challenge page seems to have a different layout for mobile and for desktop which makes it much easier to view. I can't promise I will comment on everything, but the intention is there.
As with last year, I have painted a fairly broad mix of stuff. The island tasks were certainly an interesting take on things, though at times I had a hard time finding stuff for them. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. My hat is off to Noel for going across the island not once, but twice. A truly stunning feat of painting and effort.
So that's about it from me for this challenge. I'd like to thank Curt, Lady Sarah and all of the Minions for their hard work and diligence throughout the challenge. I'd also like to say thank you to all of the other entrants for their inspiring posts, fabulous minis and supportive comments. The sense of community here is astounding and I hope that it continues for many, many years to come.
See you all in the Quarantine Challenge.
Stuart
