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

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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.

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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