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.....
| | | | |
| | | | |
| Total Points | | 77,735 | | |
| | 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.
