From MartijnN: Challenge XIII wrap-up

Well, that's another amazing Challenge done! My third Challenge has been the most satisfying one so far as far as my own participation is concerned, I must say. I had raised my target again compared to last year, but I still quite easily reached it. And what a great theme again this year! I painted quite some useful pieces, and some that only served to enable me to travel around AHPC Studios, GmbH. Those distractions, however, allowed me to  reach the final destination on the map, for the first time ever. Although I painted no ships this year, and no 15mm, I am very happy to have painted a lot of 28mm figures, my very first 2mm army, and quite some terrain pieces too. In sum, my personal Challenge XIII was a great success!

Last year, I didn't manage to comment on as many posts as I would have liked, and I promised to do better; well, I have at least tried to comment on each contribution this year. Should I have perchance missed any, please accept my apologies. Looking at your posts and commenting was definitely no punishment his year. Once again I was blown away by the skill, creativity,  originality, and variety of the contributions. I have seen amazing figures, mind blowing terrain pieces, fantastic ships, and even some quite fascinating turnips. And also once again it was a pleasure and a privilege to be part of such a friendly, welcoming and generous a group as you Challengers are. 

Many and most heartfelt thanks to Curt and Sarah, for organizing and managing the Challenge, to the Minions, in particular to Stuart for streamlining the Saturday Squad, and to Tamsin for generally keeping an eye on pretty much everything. To Millsy for the tracking of the side duels. To Sydney, for producing that great AHPC Studios theme and map. And finally, to all of you who made Challenge XIII such a warm bath again, in particular those of you who commented so nicely on my posts; those comments are very motivating and encouraging, and much, much appreciated. Thank you all for a great experience!

Oh well, at your own risk then, you can have a picture of me with my haul of this year:

I hope to see you all again in December for Challenge XIV!

DavidB- Finished(?) forces

Although the snow and cold still lingers, Spring has sprung with tulips fighting through the thawing ground, Adepticon was here and is gone, and AHPC has come to a close. It was a pretty good time for me as I now have many new forces to play with when a chance to game comes around. The White Scars above are a prime example.

When combined with the ones painted last year, The White Scars are complete enough to game with although I would still like to add more bikes, assault infantry, and tanks and APCs.

The Iron Snakes were also completed and with the troops added to the ones from last year, they are a very large horde and will be able to properly fight Razor's Blood Angels with no troops being in an unfinished state.

My Chaos forces have a boost with new troops and the Milita is now sufficient to field without marine support. I will probably keep the few Alpha legion marines just for fluff purposes.

My Eldar forces have been painted with a veritable force in and of itself getting painted for the first time. A goliath gang was completed and a new one started. Several Imperial Agents and a titan were completed. The Corsairs and Death Korps have added to both 40k and also increased my number of available Kill Teams to play with.

More 1st Nation, two Mordenheim bands, a silver bayonet force, and scores of D&D figures were completed....My son already has the ones I painted for his collection someplace in his crime scene of a room...😨

I made serious inroads on my MERCS collection. The cyberpunk minis have also jump-started the 5150 New Hope City project. The MERCS and Cyberpunk figures are also perfect for Star Grave too.

I had weekend duty so I was unable to stay long at Adepticon as I left the con on Friday.  A Christmas gift of Gallowdark joins a hefty haul of new miniatures. I still have samurai, aeronautica imperialis, and flames of war bits I did not get to this time, so the mountain of neglect has not shrunk too much. Warlord Games did bring some FIW troops in exchange for cash and beer...I should have plenty to prep on rainy days.

This was definitely a productive run this time and I will have plenty of quality minis to play with. It was a grand time seeing all the work that fellow challengers completed and quite a few have inspired a few new projects I may pursue in the future. A friend has offered to give me a copy of Horus Heresy in exchange for painting an army for him, My brushes may be kept out a bit longer! Now I have to turn out gear and get ready for further training, work, and family time....but without extensive hours at the painting desk! Thank you once again to Curt and Sarah for the painting time and all of the minions for the assistance in keeping the challenge gears moving. Thank you also to all of my fellow challengers for the kind words and encouragement and the steady flow of miniature eye candy. I hope to see all of your brushwork again when the snows come!

 

From TeemuL: Challenge XIII Wrap up

It happens to be a Thor's Day again, so you know how it goes. First some cold hard facts about Finland and then some minis.

 :meanwhileinfinland:

MEANWHILE IN FINLAND

The feeling when all temperatures around +0 °C  feel warm.

Everything is relative. After a long, cold Finnish winter, even a chilly spring day feels warm.

---End of a Finn talking about Finland---

Here they are, the minis I painted during the Challenge. This time I paid attention to collect all the minis in one place after they were completed, so I wouldn't miss them (like poor hobbits couple of Challenges ago) when doing the wrap up.

And here is the famous(?) Ikea box. As you can see there are still some (quite a lot) Mithril minis and 10 metal warriors for Army of Dead (which were not included in the label). So yes, I managed to paint all the Rohan and Dwarf warriors from the box, part of the Challenge completed succesfully.

And speaking of dwarfs, here they are. I have painted some Khazad Guards and Dwarf Kings in the past, so together they are quite an army already, but I still want to buy some reinforcements, rangers and specialists.

There weren't that many Rohans in the box, but most of them required some repairing or converting, so they were a bit more time consuming, but here they are all finished. I'm happy to have two warriors with flag and one with war horn, they should do small wonders for my force.

Here I have collected all the Mithril minis I painted. They were very good material for the Studios (sadly the movie never made it) and refreshing to paint, so characterful - happy to have lots of them to do in the box!

And this is me, staring in the bright future. We had kind of a spring last week, sun was shining, snow melted and all that, but it started to snow again on Saturday and now there is some 10-15 cms of snow and it continues - it is Monday now, it should be snowing until end of Tuesday. So yes, we were above zero last week, but now below. I have scheduled to publish this on Thor's Day, when it should be around zero and it will fit the emoji on the top.

And here is a group shot of a small unit of Oldhammer Orcs, I painted the right column (and snotlings in back) during the Challenge and managed to get a quick shot of a nice unit. Most of the other stuff were quite random and didn't fit to any existing group or unit, so they should look quite ok in the main photo and of course in my weekly Challenge posts.

Thank you everyone, all the organizers, minions, participants, commentators and readers! Let's see what kind of madness we have next winter, see you in December!

From Sarah and Curt: Our Challenge XIII Wrap-Up!

 Challenge XIII done and in the books! WooHoo!! 

As much as I love the hectic flurry of the Challenge, I have to say one of my favourite aspects of the event is the exhausted aftermath, when we get to see each other's collective work and read opinions of how things unfolded after three months of hobbying like mad. 

Sarah and I, in the hobby studio, presiding over our Challenge largess . (Sarah looks quite smug, doesn't she?)

From Sarah:

Hey Everybody

What a terrific show from all of this year’s participants! Well done everybody!

As a new painter, I appreciated all the comments on my modest posts, but I truly appreciated all the tips and knowledge of the hobby from all of the participants. Thank you.

Thanks to my minion Miles (extra points are sweet!) and the rest of the Wednesday Crew. It was a pleasure to be in such excellent company.

This years Challenge was a challenge for me - I was disorganized and had no action plan and perhaps this is sacrilegious… but I had no figures to paint. I am very much a butterfly and only painted what struck my fancy.

Having access to a 3D printer, one would think make finding figures would be easy… but I found that I was paralyzed with all the options in front of me, and subsequently only had 6 miniatures to paint. And only one was a figure!

A cacophony of colour!

Next year, I hope to have a plan, pay attention to the map and meet my target!

Have a fabulous spring/summer and I’ll meet you here in December. ❤️

- Sarah

_______________________________________________

From Curt:

Lovely work Lady Sarah! I've always admired your use of vibrant colours. 

Now, from the sublime to the ridiculous. 

For just getting lots done, this was probably my best Challenge to-date. I managed to keep reasonably on-task with my primary goal of getting two baseline forces done up for Turnip28. Hooray!

I'm just two rooty units shy of my quest, but still, I'm happy with they turned out (and have to smile at the heads that were scratched by this wonderfully odd setting). 

I also had good fun working on a few cars for 'Mad Maximillian'. 

Again, I came up a little short for a race-ready roster, but hey, I'm definitely closer along than I was in November. Maybe this summer I'll get a few more jalopies finished to allow a proper dust up.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Challenge without a few distractions along the way, right? I enjoyed working on a film crew for 'Top Billing', some fantasy figures for 'Mork Borg', a command stand depicting Jean de Vallette at the Siege of Malta, and a smattering of avant-garde looking Kushites for, um, no reason in particular, just 'cause they looked badass.

I'm glad I managed to get most of my Turnip stuff done early, because the later half of the Challenge saw me down a rabbit hole, working on 10mm fantasy from Warhammer's 'Old World'. 

This was brought on by me coming across several old storage boxes of unopened Warmaster figures that, you know, just HAD to get painted. The origins of this veritable Eldorado of lead entailed a friend who was a GW store manager, who did some, um, creative accounting during an inventory purge - yes, the less said the better... Anyway, I have enough 10mm fantasy stuff for another Challenge or two.

All in all it was a very productive winter for me. Nevertheless, the best aspect of the Challenge was the opportunity to get together with old friends, make some new ones, and enjoy this funny little hobby of ours. Thank you all for making it happen.

__________________________________

I'd like all our participants to email me their top three nominations for Challengers' Choice. On April 2nd I'll provide a voting poll listing all the nominations. The announcement of the Challengers' Choice winner, along with the SnowLord's Choice and Sarah's Choice will be on April 9th.

I look forward to catching up with you then!

Warm Regards,

- Curt

From ChrisW: Challenge XIII wrap party

 

Well another winter has come and gone and I hardly noticed it as I have happily been spending the last 3 months (more or less) locked away in my basement! Time certainly does seem to move faster thanks to the challenge. As has been said by others, thank you to Curt and his minions of doom for making this all happen and for somehow keeping a handle on all of it. Also a big thank you to all the participants who inspired and encouraged all of us to strive just a little harder. (MartinC in particular for me😉)  

I very much liked the themes this year. Many of the studios seemed tailor made for my figure collection. At the same time, given my figure collection I really should have gotten to my various objective markers/plot points, set dressing items and other essentially movie themed objects. Well at least I got my film crew done. 

 So here is the stuff that I got done this year.

508 foot, 27 cavalry, 20 vehicles, 4 forests, & assorted monsters, robots & statues.

While it is quite a lot of stuff it certainly is not everything that I thought I would get to, apparently my dreams certainly were bigger than reality. So, no fort, no Martian tripods and no Dystopian wars, even though I did make a start on each of these. In fact my gaming room is now littered with the remains of many, many abandoned projects, just like last year.  This time I plan to finish off those partly painted items in April (yeah right 😶) When AHPC XIII started I still had figures that had been started last year but never progress beyond the faces.

When this years event kicked off, I was uncertain how much I would accomplish. I knew from the start that I would not try to equal my first year results but as of December 21st I was doubting that I would get to my target of 3000. It was the feedback from others, watching the success of fellow painters and, yes, I admit it, a strong competitive streak in me, that helped push me/drag me through this challenge. 

One other unexpected joy were the online chats. While I was late in starting to participate in them and only attended a few of them (scheduling conflicts) they were a nice addition to the challenge, a chance to talk shop and interact with humans once in a while. 

Anyways, I had a lot of fun this year and I feel I did make a dent in my great pile of un-painted stuff. I was able to finish off a few long out standing projects & I learned a lot from looking at everyone's posts.

Again thank you everyone for making this what it was!

I look forward to next years challenge!

 

Side Duels are DONE!

G'day All,

I think it's been long enough for any laggards to submit their outstanding Side Duels so I am calling time. Here's the final standings, and congrats to the winners in each Side Duel....

A Squirrel a Day

ChrisW maintained his lead and crossed the finish line with a health 10 squirrel gap to second place. StuartL made a valiant effort to finish second in good form and we have a tie for third. Well done gents!

ChrisW - 57

StuartL - 47

KyleC - 21

KerryT - 21

MartijnN - 13

AdamC - 10

MikeW - 9

PhilH - 7

BenitoV - 4

JezT - 4

RobertH - 0

PaulS - 0

BenF - 0

Total - 193 squirrels!

Codpieces & Ostrich Feathers

KerryT carried all before him, more than doubling the score of the second place finisher in MikeW, who in turn doubled the score of Curt in third.

KerryT- 1,115

MikeW- 461

CurtC - 216

ChrisW - 200

IainW - 0

PeterD - 0

Total - 1,992

Carausius Emperor of Britain

Only PeterD scored which means he's an emphatic winner, and weirdly we have a three way draw or sorts for second. Or is that last?

PeterD - 343

CurtC - 0

KyleC - 0

IainW - 0

Total - 343 (obviously!)

Turnip28

Curt's sudden fixation with turnips saw him sweep the field (see what I did there?). Kudos to PaulOG for a creditable second and AlanD for his podium third place.

CurtC - 387

PaulOG - 195

AlanD - 169

StuartL - 115

Barks - 10

Total - 876 turnips!

Neverending Cold War

Ice ice DaveD

Ice ice DaveD

All right stop

Collaborate and listen

etc...

DaveD - 1,382

MattW - 104

SimonG - 94

DavidB - 0

Total - 1,580 vanilla icebergs

SPQR

MattW crowns himself Emperor with a comfortable win, PeterD sits second and SimonG finishes in third.

MattW - 755

PeterD - 176

SimonG - 100

Total - 1,032

TFL America 500

PhilH is the winner per my last update, with JohnE and CalebG making up the numbers. Nobody actually logged a score so I can't say who finished second or third.

Airbrushes at Dawn

KyleC takes the crown with the smell of airbrush cleaner wafting about the podium. DaveD put in a creditable push at final hurdle to nick second from Curt who finishes third.

KyleC - 8

DaveD - 5

CurtC - 4

DavidB - 1

MattW - 0

BenF - 0

Total - 18

Terrain du jour

My own meagre efforts to build Mos Millsy paled beside the crazy island building madness of MilesR. Sorry SimonG, you never registered for this duel so despite your amazing Temple Mount the crown goes to Miles.

And that's it! Thanks everyone for helping out by using the form thingy which has made keeping score a much simpler process than trawling emails and blog posts. Well done everyone!

Cheers,

Millsy the Duels Wallah

From KerryT: Final post - Challenge Round-Up

Morning, afternoon & evening all

That 3 months has just whizzed by hasn't it, I can't believe we're at the end already which is just as well I suppose because taking part in this, only my second challenge occupied so much of my spare time. I suspect the discipline of trying to paint and prepare entries each week probably led to some obsessional thinking and a temporary unhealthy preoccupation  with things metal and plastic. I had a great time though!

I'd like to extend my thanks to Curt in particular, not only for allowing me to take part, but for his persistent commitment to the Challenge over so many years, and though I've only recently become involved I feel part of something unique and wonderful.

We all know it wouldn't be possible without the help of the Minions who must it seems sacrifice so much of their own hobby time to facilitate our own posting, I wonder where they find the time. Special thanks to Tamsin who is a standout for those of us in the Tuesday Terrors and though I've never met her is obviously an all round good egg. Thanks Tamsin. I'd also like to say a big thank you to Millsy the masterful accountant who I suspect did an huge amount of work behind the scenes

To the rest of you many thanks for your praise and encouragement, you've produced some superb entries and further inspiration. Its a shame time is so tight as its been hard, particularly in the past 2 weeks to keep up and comment on all the brilliant stuff on show. Like many others I tried my best to comment on most things

Not only did I have a great fun time, I was also very productive

256 28mm Foot figures, 62 mounted & 3 carts,41 15mm figures & 3 elephants

My main aim this year was to take big bite into my slow burn Italian Wars project. At the outset my secondary aim was to try and produce more squirrels than last year and I thought I might produce 40 at most. I soon abandoned the idea though as I soon realised there was no way I could keep up with Chris, Stuart & Kyle without losing sleep and sanity. Well done guys

My Fantasy submissions, though more were planned

The Italian Wars bite

Lest call them miscellaneous

Did I learn anything? 

I learned that I'm a slow learner and always had an unrealistic expectation of what I might complete in a week. My golf and garden suffered but I think I only stayed up really late on 1 occasion to complete an entry.

I thought I was organised this year, but I learned otherwise. The postal strike in the UK threw in a  few spanners, in the picture above there is a Norman fort. I put this on the table at the start of the challenge intending it as a centrepiece for the Norman Foot I was going to paint. They never got done as the bases and shield transfers only arrived in mid March despite being ordered in early December. The Footsore Welsh & Victrix Danes never got painted either - never mind there's always next year!

I also learned that I still hate basing and the thing I found the hardest each week was basing and posting. 

Now that time is moving more slowly, I'm looking forward to updating my neglected blog, catching up with others blogs that I've not had time to follow, planning my purchases at Partizan, making a decision what rules to use and eventually getting these out and putting them alongside the rest of my now growing Italian wars collection and finally playing a game.

From ScottR Last Post - Wrap up.

Hi all,

Well, as requested here is a final post with everything taht I did over the painting Comp.

So kicking off on Dec 21 and finishing Mar 21.  Although I was away for the middle for about a month.  So two months worth and happily double my intended 700 points.

It was a good incentive to get some projects finished and some other moving along a bit.

My Celts and Greeks for Hail Caesar.  The Command stands for my Pike and Shot Scots Royalists under the Earl of Montrose, My 15mm Australians for NAM and lastly....  Hmmm no thats it.

Lots of figures for sure.  My thanks to Curt and his awesome support team who made this program run so smoothly and for putting it together of course.  Now to plan out whats for next years.

So here you are in my basement of Doom with my work laid out.

Figures and terrain from Warlord, Colonel Bills, Battlefront, Foundry, Victrix, Perry and Warbases

My heart felt congratulations to all those that submitted work.  It was an absolute pleasure to troll through the weekly submissions to see the great work that was done.  Until next time.  Cheers.  Scott R.

From BenitoV: The Challenge Wrap up

My warmest thanks to everybody making the Challenge such a fun competition: Curt and Sarah for organizing year after year; Sidney for putting out the idea of the Studio, the minions, and specially Tamsin, for taking care of the posts; the rest of the Challengers for sharing your master pieces and leaving comments.

This edition is the first in years where I reached my target score. And probably I should thank Tamsin for it: being part of the Tuesday Terrors is a major responsibility, as you don't want to fail your team mates ... or get Tamsin disappointed... as the say in Spain goes, Tamsin wears s a silk glove hiding an iron fist... she knows how to be persuasive enough.

As for my output, quite happy with the results. I wasn't planning for any specific project but at the end of the day I focused in a narrow number of projects, making significant progress with my Saga warbands...

... completing (yes, finalised!) an early war Fallschirmajager unit...

...starting a motorized German early war unit...

and breaking the monotony of painting field grey with some LoTR very old ane venerable models  plus some bits and bobs to mainly earn some bonus points.

The other relevant item this year was the opportunity to meet Alan and his partner in my home town, Madrid. As I said in the post  related to the visit, I love this hobby for the ability to bring people together from very different parts of the world, no matter the language or the cultural barriers.

 

Time now to take a break from the brushes and the paints. I will invest my hobby time mainly in playing. And no better selfie to say farewell (or "hasta pronto") to all, that me at Club Dragon in Madrid this same morning, where I was playing a game of Romans vs Seluecids with my new favourite board wargame SPQR. 

Have a wonderful rest of the year and hope to see around next December!