No plan survives contact with the enemy, and that certainly held true for me somewhat. Before the challenge details were announced I had resolved myself to not get carried away with painting up random things and instead focus on getting a few armies done.
And then Curt announced the Chambers of Challenge.
And then Curt announced the Squirrel Duel.
Oh well, it was a nice plan while it lasted.
Instead, I dove into my stash of models and started pulling out old projects and potential new ones like a dervish, trying to find something for every chamber and as many Squirrels as I could along the way.
I was able to maintain some focus though. By setting up the GW Minis Duel and entering into the Skullz Duel, I could at least guarantee that I would be getting something done.
At the start of the challenge, I had set myself several goals.
First a target score of 1750 points. Secondly, I had entered 3 Duels and wanted to do my best in each of them. Finally, I wanted to finish in the Top Ten this year.
Well, I finished with a total score of 2745 points, nearly 1000 more than my target. (I feel sad that I didn't paint 1 more mini for a nice round number). I won 2 of my 3 Duels, I'm guessing I came 2nd or 3rd in the Squirrel Duel, but the final tally for that duel hasn't been announced yet. And, my final position was 6th place, which I am very happy with.
Anyway, enough chin-wagging and chit-chat, on with the pretty pictures.
One of the areas I focussed on was my Warhammer 30,000 collection, painting up the core of an Ultramarines force, some World Eaters and a couple of characters for scenarios.
The other area I put a lot of time and effort into was Warhammer 40,000, painting up an Iron Warriors force, a bunch of Space Sharks, a few Necrons and a mass of Imperial Guard infantry. Plus some Skull-tastic ruins.
Some old GW Lizardmen and Skeletons added more of the bulk of my points, along with some specialist games figures for Blood Bowl, Necromunda and LotR.
My historical output mainly took the form of batches of 25 points (aka 1 Squirrel) for the various Chambers. Having done a lot of historicals last year, this year I've just been adding to various projects.
Some miscellaneous fantasy and SF minis also got dragged into the Chambers, and I am sure they'll all come in handy as NPCs and the like once I can get back to playing RPGs again.
And finally, the obligatory mugshot and a very crowded table. I painted 441 models during this challenge. In comparison, from December 2019 to November 2020, a period which includes Challenge X and the Quarantine Challenge, I painted 382 models. So in the last 3 months, I have painted more than I did in the previous year!
Honestly, that is far more than I thought and sadly/hopefully I will probably never achieve this much again. The effect of Covid on my job has not been that bad compared to some, I am still employed and still getting paid. However, my work time and salary have been cut by around 40-50% compared to previous years. Add in working from home a lot and my painting time has been greatly increased. Still, I would rather have a bit less painting time and a bit more money, after all I need to buy more models to replace the ones I have painted. Fingers crossed the effects of the Corona virus pass quickly and all of us can enjoy a booming economy and fewer health worries by the time the next challenge rolls around.
For those of you entering the Vaccine Challenge, I will see you there (No Duels, I promise). I hope you all enjoyed Challenge XI as much as I did and I look forward to painting with you all again next year.
