Adieu Season 14 from the OG Boys!

Another year and another great Dad & Lad hobby event! Naturally, we lost some productivity by playing games against one another, but its a great problem to have and we both met our challenge targets which was great! 

From Paul: 

With my work schedule having me away for more than a third of the Challenge, I set a modest target to achieve 8,000 lifetime challenge points (over 10 Challenges) but ended up cracking a thousand points for only the fourth time, which was nice!

More lead models than plastic this year, so it felt like a thousand points worth carrying it!

I had a couple of different projects prepped but in November & December we enjoyed a few games of To The Strongest, which reinvigorated our stalled Roman Civil Wars project from AHPC IX. That became a throughly wonderful focus and I've now got the army ready for the tabletop to face Alan, which is exciting! Naturally, there was space for some Beastmen to celebrate the release of The Old World too :-)

And I was pleased to be able to help in my own small way, as the Duels Wallah and Guest Minion when required. I look forward to returning the support crew again in the future.

From Reilly: 

While thoroughly distracted with preparing to move house, I set a low bar to get the last few units done in order to finish my 3000+ point Warhammer Fantasy Battles Spider Goblin army. Whilst happy that I managed to get the few units done, inevitably with the release of The Old World more units to paint came flooding in and the project continues to grow. 

These massive spiders never cease to impress me
with their presence on the table... before they die.

From us both: Many thanks indeed to our Minion Millsy (the Antopodean 'paint and sip' sessions were excellent!) the broader minion crew that made Season XIV happen, and the wonderful AHPC community for their encouragement, banter and kind comments.

As ever the lion's share of gratitude goes to Curt and Lady Sarah - another wonderful hobby event, and thankyou for your tireless enthusiasm and passion for this project!!!

See you next year!

Duels & Challenges: The Victors and the Butcher's Bill!

I'm finally home again after a month of travel - so its time for the big reveal for Duels and Sidechallenges. Any disputes must be written in triplicate, sent in, send back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for 3 months and recycled as firelighters. Thankyou.

And for added interest- the pics are the first thing that came up when I searched each Duel title in Google

Legions and their Auxilia

• AlanD 845 - WINNER!
• StuartL 720
• PaulOG 616
• Dallas 226
• GregB 210
• SimonB 180
• PeterD 70
• SebastianR 26

Modern Things

• DaveD 155 - WINNER! Its lonely at the top mate :-)

The Old World

• Curt 1088 WINNER!
• SanderS 295
• Tom 125
• Reilly 130
• PaulOG 75

Really Little Guys

• Curt 1088 WINNER!
• Sylvain 893.5
• DaveD 625
• MartijnN 228
• EdwardG 130
• SebastianR 60.5
• Greg 18

Big Stompy Robots of Death!

• SanderS 80 WINNER!
• ChrisW 70
• TomL 25

Ray's Homage to the really awesome Napoleon movie

• Kent 1669 WINNER!
• IanW 1175
• Ray 480
• DaveD 305
• Millsy 255
• EdwardG 165

Squirrels!

• ChrisW 4
• MikeW 14
• Kerry 8

Honour is Satisfied for another year and the Season IX duels spreadsheet has been retired! Thanks for the fun everyone :-)

Duels Wallah signing off

So, Farewell Then Challenge XIV - From PeteF

 

It's hard to believe that this is it for Challenge XIV.  The time flew by once again.  Thank you Curt.  Thank you Kyle The Sunday Minion.  Thank you Other Minions and organizers.  Thank you Fellow Challengers.

It was not my highest output - but now I work full time I'm happy I got this lot painted after a very slow start in December.  I had some Minifigs Napoleonics in the queue but didn't get them painted in the allotted time.  I did have a large cavalry unit planned for the Antique/Rare books section which I started during the challenge and finished yesterday - not worth any points but here they are! 

6th Chasseurs a Cheval

Although I have a family tradition of Napoleonics, Kings of War - a fantasy rank and flank game from Mantic - is the the game I spend most time playing.  This Challenge I added to my Nightstalkers army with the completion of the gribbly Bloodworms Legions, my Forces of Nature with a Greater Air Elemental and started a new army with the Phoenix.

I'd have procrastinated most of this without the motivation of The Challenge and hope to be back next year to continue to chip away at the Pile of Potential.

From BruceR - With appreciation for all the support - The End Result

After ending a little early to the challenge due to being a short timer (ask a military person) by heading south to Texas for some warmth and then to AdeptiCon here is my wrap up.  I'm baaack.  

Again thanking Curt for the great behind the scenes work and the Lady for allowing all the excess.  Thanks to Teemu for the minioning and to all that engage in supporting everybody through this great gathering of like minded folk to simply put the world  aside and hobby (at least for a little  time).

Two shots of the accomplishment for AHPCXIV.

The Lord of the war room

ACon loot for AHPCXV

I hope to return next year and continue to be part of this great group.  I wish you all well in your gardening or whatever is your summer past time.  My bike for health and the lake for relaxing is on my agenda.  

Keep hobbying and cheers all.

Bruce

From KyleC - Chaotic painting comes to an end..

And with that the challenge is over for another year. As many have shown their bounty, and work allowing finally, here be my offering to the chaos gods if painting. 

First off thanks to Cute and Sarah for running this once more. Always a pleasure to participate and more so to help Minion it! Shout out to the Sunday Crew for keeping me busy Saturday nights prepping for Sunday! 

Looking back it was a smaller painting collection than previous years for me. Due to work trips abroad, minioning, and general lethargic nature due to health. 

But I was happy to reflect as see that I had painted enough for 3 full armies in 3 completely different genres of gaming systems of which they are of 3 different scales! 

The big one obviously is the Legion Imperialis army that I spent a fair chunk of time both printing and painted. Plus also getting in games with! Something that is normally amiss for me during the challenge time period. 

I was able to really focus on building up a decent sized Death Guard force with a side of World Eaters here. And seeing how they play just makes me want to print and paint some more! 

The star wars legion collection was built purely for the campaign our club was running. And I have to say that Mof and his Dark Trooper robots were a force to be reckoned with. Scoring top marks in all but 1 game, while giving none in return. Last game is still to be had but might not happen as the result won't change my top spot in the campaign apparently. So more games of LI will be happening instead. 

I do like how the Storm Troopers in particular came out. It was much better than the previous ones and I suspect it will be nice to see the other 40+ of them lined up in the same fashion. 

And finally the latest focus.. my Warriors of Chaos for The Old World. I have really put more focus on the quality of them as well as the output to get enough for a game. Still waiting on said game but it might happen soon enough. However when it does at least my army will look slick! 

For the library donation, I will be doing that when I visit back home in Canada this April. Either in Duncan where my folks live, or Nanaimo when we look at the campus for Jr who might attend there in a few years. 

Thanks again for checking out my painting, and commenting on the Sunday Crew posts! 

I leave you with my surprised face getting 2nd place for painting in a tournament I attended during the challenge. Surprised Canadian is Surprised. 

From Codsticker: Time Well Wasted

 I hesitate to call this 'another successful' AHPC for me as, for the second season in a row, I missed my target. However, it was a another really enjoyable challenge even though I didn't get quite as many minis painted as I had hoped. My goal was to get through all of my Bloody Miniatures backlog, which I nearly did. At this point just one pack of infantry (The Ragged Trained Band) is not quite finished; however, I never got to even priming the 12 cavalry figures. 

One of my favourite aspects of the hobby is the 'moving diorama' nature of the war game. I love looking at table tops that are as wonderful to view as the minis on it. That is the perspective I took when photographing my figures for The Challenge; I wanted to take photos of them in the setting in which they will be used. As my daughter moved out permanently (so I am told...) in August her room has become both a miniature photography studio and hobby store room. She would be appalled.

Thanks to Curt, Sarah, and all the Minions, especially Kyle who was my Sunday minion. I am already thinking about next year and look forward to seeing everyone's hobby endeavours next winter.

From Bartek R: When life gets in the way

Having been MIA for the duration of this Challenge, this post feels part mea culpa and part a thrown towel. The short version - I started a different job late last year which was busy, but it amped up this year (long days, long weeks, some weekends). And when that wasn't nipping at my heels,  'real life' stepped in to fill the gap. Sooo, my entire contribution this Challenge was...read 'em and weep...a whopping 35 points (with Library bonus) of 40K greenskins, from a 1000 pt target.  

Below is what I'd intended to get done - a 28mm Caesarean army (mostly Warlord pictured, some Foundry in the wings). This will be a slow burn over the next few weeks months.

The grand project for the Challenge

I did have a cunning plan to get with the program, jump on the team and come on in for the big win by taking a week off work, painting 9-5 and delivering salvation in a points bomb. Yeah, no, alas. What had been planned for a few weeks ago kept being shifted but finally happened this past week.

The almost-rans

 

So, apologies to Millsy and the Antipodean Friday crew for not pulling my weight, and to those who missed out on a place in the Challenge (honestly, if I'd known...). Of course, thanks to Curt and the 'back of house' crew who keep things ticking along, and, lastly and importantly, to everyone who took part - I've (at long bloody last) had a few days to indulge in perusing the posts. Some stellar stuff.

 

from Ray R - Challenge Wrap up

 

Hello everyone

Well that went quick, didn't it?

Can't believe the Challenge is over for another year.

I'm already thinking about, what I can get ready for December and Challenge 15????

Thanks got to Curt & Sarah for all their hard work setting up and throughout the Challenge. Thanks to my Minion Teemu, and to all the other Minion's, I know how much time it took out of my painting schedule, when I was a minion!! Lastly a big thanks you to all you other Challengers who all help to make this Challenge what it is today. Especially those who found the time to comment on my posts, I really appreciate the encouragement.

Austrian Lothrengin Infantry & Bavarian Arco Horse

Ottoman Infantry, El Cid statue, St Dominic fountain, Highland Cattle, Star Wars AT AT's

Haitian Revolution Infantry and Cavalry

This year 25/28mm figures were dominate. I painted up...
127 x 25mm infantry figures

20 x 25mm Cavalry figures

The rest were various scales

2 x 1/1200 scale ships

1 x 54mm figure

3 x 2/6mm figures

In total 153 figures.

I always try and aim for a top 30 finish and top 10 finish would be preferred, but I'd have had to paint up another 600 points worth for 10th place, so was not achievable. I'd like to think my illness played a big part in that, but I'm not convinced that I could have painted up another 600 points worth of figures, if I had another month to paint!!!

Here's my performance so far in all the Challenges

Challenge II 4940 points 1st
Challenge III 2586 points 4th
Challenge IV 1227 points 17th
Challenge V 691 points 37th
Challenge VI 681 points 36th
Challenge VII 1093 points 24th
Challenge VIII 662 points 40th
Challenge IX 2274 points 8th
Challenge X 1687 points 11th
Challenge XI 2260 points 8th
Challenge XII 2168 points 7th
Challenge XIII 1111 points 27th

Challenge XIV 1160 points 25th

AHPC XIV: The Statistical Round UP

Well it's finally time to do the statistical round up of Challenge XIV.  I know, I know we skipped last year but there is no reprieve for any of you THIS year.  Buckle up, there's a load stats coming down the information super highway towards you AND they aint got no brakes.....

dun, Dun, DAAAAHHHHH.......

Anyway lets first take a gander over our standard statistical table.  I warn you, this table is formatted seductively what with it's columns and decimal places and those "come hither" spelling and grammatical errors.  It really should come with a parental warning and would likely get banned from a Florida public library.

As you will see, good 'ole XIV was a steady performer - pretty much reight down the "average fairway".  If XIV was a person, you'd want them to be your neighbor - their yard would look fine so as not to detract from your property value but not so good as to make your neighbors think you are the one bringing the neighborhoods property values down.

Through 13 weeks of "pigment positioning frenzy" 83 participants made it to the end and put up 77,735 points.  Was that the best challenge in terms of collective productivity?, no - Was it a GREAT challenge in terms of artistic expression and Fun?  Hell Yeah.  Achievement UNLOCKED!

The island/room bonus concept continues to really shape how people approach the challenge with 573 of the 689 total submissions (83%) being associated with one room of the library or another.  Some of those assocaitions were a bit on the tenuous side but lets not quibble

AHPC XIV Stats Summary:
	XIV	XIII	XII	XI	X
Total Points	77,735	85,421	86,646	82,619	68,878
% of Target	112.00%	126.34%	101.35%	121.68%	109.00%
Participants	83	83	97	84	68
# of Submissions	689	785	885	1,261	956
#Planets/Chamber/Island Spots	573	551	626	518	437
Avg Subs per Participant	8	9	9	15	14
Avg Pts per Submitter	937	1,029	893	984	1,013
Avg Pts per Submission	113	97	98	66	72
Total Points per Week	5,980	6,571	6,665	6,355	5,298
Figures Painted
28MM
Inf	5,509	6,936	7,337	6,765	4,785
Cav / Art	831	683	609	798	454
Vehicles	108	157	215	97	122
15MM
Inf	3,689	2,473	2,835	2,519	2,083
Cav / Art	289	855	423	527	588
Vehicles	355	143	162	196	144
6MM
Inf	3,465	4,521	1,100	2,519	2,496
Cav / Art	751	342	192	695	471
Vehicles	508	164	248	30	235
Terrain "Cubes"	113	294	178	125	191
Points Distriution
28mm	48.90%	52.27%	54.33%	52.95%	44.85%
15mm	14.63%	11.13%	9.99%	10.55%	11.14%
6mm	4.50%	3.43%	1.43%	2.44%	3.18%
Terrain	2.90%	6.88%	4.11%	3.03%	5.54%
Chamber / Island Bonus Pts	14.75%	16.22%	15.72%	22.94%	25.12%
Other Scales	14.33%	10.07%	14.42%	8.10%	10.18%
Total	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

We did see a continuation of the trend of fewer but larger submissions per participant and the average points per participant still hovering around the 1K level.

28mm is still the favorite scale but has finally slipped back under 50% of the points, with 15mm staging a very nice come back.  Terrain saw a significant decline but that was likely due to one particular participant not doing a lot of terrain - the less said abut that miscreant the better.

Now some of you prefer to look at data via both gaudy and vulgar charts vs the pristine look of a data table.  For the life of me I don't understand it but it seems to be what the masses want and who am O to say what's cool (data tables) and what's blinding obviously not cool (charts).  Look at me being all non-judgemental and such!

Another way to look at the progress of the past 14 challenges is to convert the total points into equivalent 28mm figures - when that minor bit a of is performed it seems we have collectively painted the equivalent of 181,720 28mm Infantry figures - that's a lot.

Just think of the storage space needed to 182K figures.   It's just under 1,300 square feet of shelf space.  I dont know about you but I dont have that much space in my house!

Economic Value Add

This section tends to be the most popular but does require a little explanation.  As an enterprise, the AHPC does represent a form of economic stimulus for the hobby as we purchase miniatures along with the supplies to paint and base them.  Moreover we will also likely replace those resources consumed in this enterprise with new ones.  Professionally, I live in a world of unit economic analysis and, as a financial services professional, you know you can trust me - when have we ever let you down?

The process used to calculate the Economic Value Add of the Challenge involves the determining the three pillars of miniature valuation:  

Pillar 1: 28mm Equivalent Figures

Convert the total points into equivalent 28mm infantry figures.  This one is pretty easy divide the total score by 5 points per figure: 77,735 divided by 5 equals 15,547 figure equivalents

Pillar 2: Cost per Figure 

Estimate the unit cost of painting a figure.  This step is a bit more complicated and breaks down the total cost of a figure into three components.  I did factor in a standard inflation rate of 10%, which is a real inflation rate (removing the cost of energy which have been impacted by that criminal activities of a certain Mr Putin)

Figure Cost: 

The cost the figure itself which includes postage, taxes and such.  The figure costs have have been increase this year from $3.30 to $3.63  

Consumables:

Paints, glues, basing materials, Xacto blades and other items that are consumed in making the figure.  Bear in mind its not just the cost of the paint on the figure - your paint wastage on your palette has been factored in.  Please note medical costs from xacto blade mishaps are factored into labor costs below.  Consumables are estimated at $3.30 a figure

Labor:

Painting a miniature takes time, your time in fact and time IS money so we need to factor in a Labor cost.  This has always been a hotly debated component as different people paint at different speeds and quality varies and some of you have rather high opinions of your own value - yeah, yeah, yeah - blah, blah, blah. By the way that hourly rate is $15.40 - congrats on almost earning as mush as a Star Bucks Barrista

Pillar 3: Economic Velocity

It just takes one glance at out respective lead mountains to realize we purchase more than we paint.  In fact theres an economic term for that called velocity - after many year of costly research and field experimentation, scientist have determined that for every figure painted, 5 are purchased, hence a base velocity of 5.  This value has been adjusted upward to 5.25x to reflect stress buying induced byd the current global instability.  When in doubt, buy lead - an addage that seems to fit a lot of different occasions.

The formula for total EVA is just to simply multiply the three pillars together - easy, peasy right?

Without further ado - I present to you the EVA calculation for Challenge XII - drum roll please.....

Ecomonic Value Add (EVA)		CHALLENGE XIV
Total Points		77,735
Equivalent 28mm Figures		15,547
			Previous
		Economic	Challenge
		Value Add	(AHPC XIII)
Cost per Mini	$3.63	$56,435	$3.30
Paints etc	$3.30	$51,305	$3.00
Painting TIme	$15.40	$239,423	$14.00
Sub Total	$22.33	$347,163	$20.30
Velocity	5.25	$1,822,604	5.25

Wow - we've created a rock solid 1.8MM boost to the world economy of miniature manufacturing.  You can take that number to the bank! (1)

(1) Terms and conditions apply, past performance may or may not be indicative of future performance and if you trust me, well you get what you deserve.....

In terms of total EVA created over the challenge - we've just crossed the $20mm threshold.  If only Curt had had the foresight to negotiate a flat rate commission to be paid by the lead moguls of Nottingham.....

Halls of Vallejohalla

Finally it's time to pay homage of our "Heroes of the Painting Wars" - the top performers from Challenges past who our enshrined in the hallowed halls of Vallejohalla, where ones paint pot never dries out and it's paint water magically turns to beer when you drink from the wrong cup.  The first stop in our tour is the hallowed list of the "Top 25 Individual Performances in a Challenge". These are the painting beserkers of our time

Rank	Challenge	Challenger	Points
1	9	NoelW	6,268
2	12	ChrisW	6,072
3	13	GrahameH	5,500
4	8	KentG	5,343
5	9	MilesR	5,051
6	10	NoelW	5,011
7	2	RayR	4,940
8	8	NoelW	4,880
9	13	ChrisW	4,778
10	2	KentG	4,724
11	13	MartinC	4,644
12	12	MikeW	4,601
13	8	MilesR	4,550
14	9	MartinC	4,470
15	4	AndrewS	4,180
16	5	DaveD	4,138
17	7	MilesR	4,125
18	3	ChrisP	4,076
10	7	MartinC	4,051
20	14	KentG	3,889
21	8	ByronM	3,881
22	5	MarkO	3,854
23	8	MartinC	3,844
24	12	MartinC	3,813
25	10	MartinC	3,789

Challenge XIV saw only one name added to the top 25 - KentG and his massive 3,889 Points - well done Kent, you are now OFFICIALLY famous.

Now lets us gaze upon the lifetime points summary for the top 50 of 970 total challenge participants over the past 12 years.  This is a "body-of-points" look at what people have achieved over the various challenges they have participated in.

Rank	Name	Lieftime Points	# of Challenges	Pts/Challenge
1	MilesR	39,361	13	3,028
2	MartinC	36,790	10	3,679
3	DaveD	25,265	13	1,943
4	RayR	20,292	12	1,691
5	NoelW	19,802	4	4,950
6	TamsinP	18,776	9	2,086
7	MikeW	17,422	7	2,489
8	Millsy	17,324	11	1,575
9	GrahameH	17,095	6	2,849
10	KentG	16,407	4	4,102
11	ByronM	15,069	10	1,507
12	DavidB	14,555	9	1,617
13	GregB	13,970	13	1,075
14	ChrisW	13,742	3	4,581
15	SanderS	13,543	10	1,354
16	AlexS	13,516	13	1,040
17	StuartL	12,608	6	2,101
18	AlanD	11,764	10	1,176
19	Curt C	11,311	12	943
20	FranL	11,294	6	1,882
21	KenR	10,918	11	993
22	Barks	10,731	9	1,192
23	AdamC	10,688	9	1,188
24	KyleC	9,341	7	1,334
25	EricM	8,860	4	2,215
26	IanW	8,769	7	1,253
27	JohnM	8,679	10	868
28	FrederickC	8,590	3	2,863
29	PaulOG	8,460	10	846
30	TeemuL	8,278	9	920
31	SamuliS	8,007	9	890
32	PeterD	7,864	11	715
33	LeeH	7,682	9	854
34	KerryT	7,616	3	2,539
35	JamieM	7,458	8	932
36	PeteF	7,363	6	1,227
37	PaulSS	7,097	5	1,419
38	BrendonW	6,859	7	980
39	IainW	6,480	7	926
40	SteveM	6,256	7	894
41	ScottM	6,189	6	1,032
42	AaronH	6,146	6	1,024
43	ChrisP	6,105	3	2,035
44	MichaelA	5,951	7	850
45	KevH	5,861	2	2,931
46	SylvainR	5,656	9	628
47	TimB	5,573	2	2,787
48	MarkO	5,507	2	2,754
49	AndrewS	5,454	2	2,727
50	ClintB	5,347	4	1,337

t really is a wonderful chart, save for the creepy guy at the top.  Please note that the tally is subjected to constant challenge and change as there is a certain person who runs this challenge and is a well known quantification anarchist.  he has been known to use different spellings of  peoples OFFICIAL challenge handles handles in a deliberate attempt to prevent accurate enumeration.  I'm not naming names but until recently there was both a CurtC and just a Curt  in the database.  That infamy has been corrected but other horrors yet may lurk within the inner warrens of the spreadsheet of Doom.  

We have several honorary levels based on total points.

First there is the 10,000 club, for those individuals who have scored at least 10,000 lifetime points.  This tier saw the membership of the 10k club swell to 19.  Congratulations, you will soon be contacted to get your measurements for your rose colored smoking jacket.  \

As we move up the ranks, there were no new entrants in the fabled 20,000 club, which has 2 members DaveD and RayR.  I know it can be VERY difficult to have the concepts of both exclusive / member only and RayR coexisting in the same logical entity but there you have it - the math just doesn't lie  Finally there is the LEGENDARY 30,000 club which also only has two members - the honorable and deserving MartinC who is a role model for us all and some other guy we don't really need (or want) to speak about.  Will next year's challenge see one or more entrants into the 40K club?????

Well there you have it, thats stats round up for Challenge XIV is done.  I shall now step back in bask in the warmth of your adoring admiration of my mathamagical incantations and remember kids - always carry the one!

I look forward to confusing you even more as I answer your questions.