From MilesR: What I Did Done Paint (and Build)

 

Curt commands us to show a picture of ourselves and our work at the end of every Challenge.  If you find yourself upset after gazing at my less-than-pleasing countenance, please direct any complaints, diatribes and/or lawsuits to the Snow Lord himself.

Because this year's challenge was so terrain oriented, my output was significant in terms of volume so it was difficult to get everything into one shot.  Also, my basement is a disaster after the flood so please excuse the untidiness of the space.

Lets take a stroll across my Challenge XI production.  There was a lot of Stalingrad terrain - the lowest tub was stuff built before the challenge but the upper two have things that were made and submitted this challenge (but don't fit on my game table).  Stalingrad is my most ambitious gaming related project and, to be honest, suffered from a bit of mission creep.

Here are all of the capital ships and torpedo/destoyer squadrons that the Russians had during the Russo-Japanese War.  The RJW was a project that was started during Challenge X and now completed in XI.

On top of my "mobile troop cabinet" are the Japanese fleet from the Russo-Japanese War and a 6mm Seleucid Army.

The terrain for the southern section of the Stalingrad  board and some Russian troops - I have a few more to paint up but am confident I'll be ready to put the game on IF Historicon is held in July.  If that convention does need to be cancelled then this game will be held in the Fall and Fall-in.  Either way, I'm putting this damn game on and, as always, choice commands will be reserved for Challenge participants.

Moving down the board are a bunch of Soviet and German tanks and another Russian infantry company.

At the far end of my table are some of the generic countryside hexes I made at the end of the challenge and a rather large 6mm Republican Roman army.

A final look down the table from the other end - in the upper right you can see part of my painting bench.

Oh crap! - I forgot to put out the Parthians - they're put away in a troop drawer and I am too lazy to set them out.  I need to build about 30 or so more of these drawers which will be a project for April.

One thing that is not recommended to do during a Painting Challenge is to have a flood in your  basement from a leaky water heater.    It's surprisingly distracting and forces a capital reallocation away from sensible things like buying miniature towards the frivolous such as a new water heater, drywall and new flooring.  Despite my whining, progress has been made on the restoration:

This is how my basement looked on Feb 6th, 2021

and it looks like this now.  Probably 2-3 more days work to finish up the project.

Despite a minor distraction of the flood, I am extremely pleased at how this challenge worked out.  I was able to complete two big projects (Stalingrad and the Russo Japanese War) and add 3 6mm ancient armies.

One big variance this year - I did not paint a single 28mm figure - that's a first for me!

The distribution of my points was very concentrated this year:

3,643 points is nothing to sneeze at but it's not as high as some past Challenge efforts - I would say the level of effort put in this year was the highest I've ever mustered - making hex terrain and a bunch of custom and kit buildings can be a bit labor intensive.  I was aided in this effort by no business travel - one of the few positive aspects of a lock down.

 

Perhaps the best point of this year's challenge was ending up in a three-way tie with Martin and Noel for tops in the points category.   To be mentioned in any way in the same breath with those two gentlemen is an honor.  I am still amazed that all of us ended up with same points level - what are the odds of that happening?

I very much treasure the privilege of participating in the Painting Challenge and that is due to the wonderfully supportive community that makes it up and the hard work that Curt and my other fellow minions put in to managing this circus.  Thank you all very much.

I hope all of you enjoy a wonderful and healthy summer, get your vaccines and we all put the nightmare of covid-19 behind us.

Miles