KentG Well here we are minis painted during the comp

 

Hard to believe three months went by so fast.

I spent part of every day in my painting room during those three months. I wonder whether my wife still remembers who I am. It has been a pleasure to be apart of this challenge once again

Thanks so much to Curt, you are one of the good guys, and the minions for all that hard work you put into each and every entry.

The picture below is about 2/3 of what I’ve painted, the rest sadly has already left to go to

Customers. For those who didn’t know I paint part time at nights. This challenge is so refreshing as I actually get to paint my own figures which in some years never happens. 

I hope to see everyone back here next year and to the Friday group you guys are awesome 

And I look forward to catching up regularly still for painting chats.

(Ready) from Kerry T - Sniff -The challenge is over and summer's gone as well

 Morning, afternoon & evening all

I can't believe where the time has gone, 3 months has just flown by in the blink of an eye. Not only does this mean that it's the end of this my 3rd challenge but summer has gone as well. It feels as if somebody has just switched the heat off here in NZ and I think this will be the last week I go to work in shorts.

Thank you all for the kindness and encouragement you've shown me in the past months. Again a huge thank you to Curt and Sarah along with Millsy my minion for all the work you've put into this. The challenge is without doubt the highlight of my painting year. Not only does it give an impetus to my own productivity but showcases some amazing painting talent and fantastic miniatures. I hope to be on the roster again in December. What was particularly enjoyable this year was the Tuesday paint & chat set up by Millsy. It really added to the pleasure of taking part.

Getting my photo taken is the worst bit of the challenge

I quite surprised myself this year with my productivity, I managed to paint quite a bit of my waiting Italian Wars Cavalry which was my main aim - I'll have to buy more now.

I managed to knock off more than 150 cavalry I think

I started with some Black Guard for the Reconquista

Just a few dwarves this year

The frigate looks out of place!

One problem is that companies like Victrix and Footsore have added so many lovely figures recently I just keep adding units to projects I thought I had completed and has meant I've started others. I was particularly pleased to have finished my early medieval Welsh army (he says having just bought a few more!)

I think WOTR and 100YW are likely to feature in the next few months

I managed some Italian Wars foot near the end

Casting room Miniatures turn out well despite looking uninspiring in bare metal

Where would I be if I didn't paint Gendarmes?

I have a stock of unfinished Oathsworn Miniatures for next year

Getting knocked out in the first round of the Club Championship (golf) this year meant I had more time than I had expected as I did not feel compelled to practice - maybe that's why I went out!

I also had a two week break in February and used a week of that to concentrate on my Norman Castle  which has been coming off my 3D printer since October last year. I'm now working on some cottages.  This was a new venture for me and a future resin printer in order to print off miniatures rather than terrain I think is going to be a must in the next year.

I can't believe how versatile and interchangeable this is

I think it will make its debut tomorrow in a game

Once again, thank you all. I hope you've all enjoyed yourselves as much as I have this year. Best wishes to you all and may your paint pots never dry up

Kerry

PS Hope to see some of you at Partizan this year

From SimonG: Wrap Up, Or A Mixed Bag (In Many Ways!)

It's once again time for my wrap up post and the one time a year I have to struggle with taking a selfie without holding my stupid phone at arms length (which btw always gives terrible results). It's also rather a shock that the picture that comes back is one of my father (but that's another story!)

Who is that guy? And why does he smile so oddly?

The Final Array

Anyway this is now my fourth challenge and while not a terribly high scoring excursion it has allowed me to embark on two exciting new projects. The first is the expansion of my existing Jewish Revolt 28mm skirmish project into a full scale Impetus based large battles setup with figures from Victrix.

I though it would be nice to show the figures alongside some key references. In this case they are of course Josephus' "Jewish Wars" but also Jodi Magness' recent study of Masada and how this has echoed down the centures, and finally Martin Goodman "Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations".

My other and completely new project was another Impetus army but in this case in 15mm for the Albigensian Crusade. All figures are from Khurasan.

The references here are Jonathan Sumption's first publication "The Albigensian Crusade" plus "The Perfect Heresy" by Simon O'Shea and Sophie Thérese Amblers "The Song of Simon de Montfort" to show how the experience of Simon the elder influenced the younger.

Finally I am close to finishing up my 10mm 1980s Cold War project with figures from Timecast.

In this instance I've shown the figures alongside two rule sets for the period -- Sabre Squadron and Battlegroup Northag -- all I need now is some terrain and I am ready to go.

Finally I wanted to share my secret for detail work at all scales -- a really good set of magnifying visors -- and I can heartly recommend The Donegan Optical OptiVISOR - I use the 2.75X No 7

So with no more to say I will offer up invocations and thanks to the lord and lady of the challenge -- Curt and Sarah, to my scholarly minion Sylvain (I hope my errors in erudition didn't embarass you too much), and all the others in the Monday crew who seemed among the most valiant posters and commentors and a great group to work alongside.

I also wanted to say how much I appreciated the theme for this year’s challenge. Libraries are sorely under appreciated, especially here in the UK, and I wish I was still in Portland, OR which has a great program of building new libraries to serve all the local communities and where I was able to make a donation. 

My calendar is now marked for November 20th 2024 and I am already making plans for the next time -- see you all in nine months time!

TomL AHPC XIV Wrap up

AHPC XIV has been a fantastic experience.  My original plan was to paint only figures needed for a linked set of pulp adventures I wanted to run. The siren call of the Library & the cart lead me to replace about 20 of those figures with 40 other older figures. Then my Skaven units were added and the target of 60 28mm figures became 161 painted 28mm figures and a few larger figures. 

Though I don’t expect to play WFB again, it was gratifying to complete the rank & file of the army. Painting units always seems more productive and it was nice to do that again. Improved health at the end of last year in combination with the support of the challenge helped me paint more than the previous 3 years combined.

As I said before, thanks to Curt, Sarah, Millsy and all of the minions for running the AHPC. Thanks also to all of the participants for their impressive painting efforts.  While painting was fun, I am going to miss looking at the other entries quite a lot. Hope to see you all again next year.  

Cheers,
Tom

 

I couldn't include my stompy robots from the gift shop as they have been called to action. So here is a bonus picture of the reinforcing Uban Mech unit (center) slowing the clan star just long enough for the runaway scientist to escape off board with the IS forces.

Sadly I was on the Clan side of the battle...

From BenitoV: Looking Past and Looking Forward

Time flies and I don't know you, but the older one gets, the faster it passes; I can hardly believe three months (and winter!) are already gone. 

Since COVID in 2020 I've noticed my painting mojo steadily decreasing, and in the past two Challenges it has been the only time in the year when I have productively used my hair brushes and airbrush. That also explains my reduced output, to the extent that I couldn't even hit my modest 400 points target (missed by 10 points), one of the lowest set in the last decade.

But let's cut the drama and get into business. This year I started the Challenge with no clear project in mind, and unexpectedly it evolved into a series of 28 mm vehicles of the Second World War around a common topic: light armor and recon.

The remaining models also share a common feature, things mounted, but not for the same historical period. 

At this time I want to thank all who passed by my posts and left messages, it was encouraging and really helped seeing so many people enjoy my work.  Also, thanks to the minions this year for putting up so much time and effort. And many-many thanks to Curt and Sarah for organizing again such a wonderful gathering.

No photo of me and my creatures, as I have them stored in the locker rented at my local wargames club in Madrid. But I leave this with my lovely wife from a trip to Rome organized by a group of archaeologists just days before the Challenge started last December.

  Looking forward to seeing you here again in nine months from now!

From MartijnN: Wrapping it all up

My fourth Challenge has flown by, and I had a blast as usual. One of the many things I like about the challenge is that it gets me to paint things I normally would not really have thought of. The themes challenge you to come up with some unusual models, and that is really fun. Normally, I paint because there is a game or rules system I want to play, but in reality I seldom have the opportunity to actually play. During the Challenge, I also paint things just for the fun of it.

I set my target low this year, as somehow Curt had had the curious idea of asking me if I would act as a minion. I felt a little apprehensive at first, and was not sure if i was up to it and if it would impact my production (which is not high in any case). However, I easily reached my initial target and even my extended target, and that is nice. Now if I make a plan next year I might get to actually finish some projects... Hmm, that may be a thought.  Still, seeing it all laid out before me like this in all its squirrelly variety is very satisfactory. As to the minioning, I really enjoyed the privilege of minioning the amazing posts you fellow Challengers produced. I did my best to be supportive and fair, and I hope I have succeeded somewhat in that.

Thanks to all my fellow Challengers for another great winter. Again, I have seen some truly amazing and creative work and a lot of camaraderie and friendship. Thanks to all who commented on my work, it has really been very much appreciated. I myself did not get to comment on nearly as many posts as I would have liked, and I promise to do better next time, but rest assured that I have been blown away by the quality and quantity of your work and it has made my winter much more enjoyable!

Thanks to Curt and Sarah for another great experience, and for letting me in on the minion crew. My fellow minions have been very supportive and friendly, which really helped a lot. Thanks to the Tuesday Crew, who were simply great. And finally thanks to my own  minion Teemu, who put up with some very vague promises and some late entries, and managed the Thor's Day group magnificently.

That's it for this year from me, I do hope to see you all again in December!

P.S. Teemu's post just reminded me: Belgian libraries are publicly funded and don't accept donations, so for my participation fee I chose the charity Fonds des Amis des Bibliothèques Sans Frontières Belgique, which provides books and reading material to children in needy circumstances.

From DallasE: Checkout Time

Well it's time to checkout of the Challenge Library and take a tally of production over the winter. Mine is (mostly) in the picture above - as usual I did forget to include a few models (the 1:6000 ships!). But here's a few highlights.

The vintage Tom Meier dragon was certainly fun to paint and turned out well I think. Two stray Squats in exo-armour and some Sisters Repentia also visible here.

Lunar was a big focus for painting this Challenge. The models and terrain are really cool but I haven't had a chance to play it yet - hopefully next week!

Another project well underway is the Imperial Romans/Ancient Germans armies for Warhammer Ancient Battles. Good progress made on those but more to do.

Some more Lunar stuff here as well as a couple of ancient Citadel LotR models.

Another project started and finished was the 15mm Blood Drinkers Space Marines force. Pretty fun painting.

My favourite accomplishment of the Challenge though was completing the "Emperor vs. Horus" Mike McVey tribute diorama sculpted by BigMrTong. I really like these models and I'm so happy to have gotten a chance to paint them and put 'em in the cabinet.

Final tally:
32mm infantry            11
32mm vehicles            1
28mm infantry            68.5
28mm cavalry            12
28mm dragons            1
15mm infantry            45
15mm vehicles            5
1:6000 ships                9
Terrain                        quite a bit

The obligatory self-portrait :-)

As I conclude I just want to thank the Snowlord Mr Curt and my fellow minions, as well as all the Challengers for making this Challenge a great one. Thanks especially to my Caturday Challenger crew for making my job pretty easy. 

Lastly, my donation was made to the Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library, a local charity that supports services and activities in our local public library system.

See you at the after-party!

Dallas