From AlanD: Sending a Message (20 points)

Hello all! How lovely to be back in your company again, and welcome to those who are new to the Challenge.

My hobby time this year has been dominated by Prussia! Prussia ! Prussia!, as I slowly but steadily paint a force for the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Two things have spurred this focus along. One has been playing Soldiers of Napoleon, a set of rules that I absolutely love. However, I can thank (blame?) the Challenge, and specifically Benito, for starting me off on this Prussia project. It began when I had the great pleasure of meeting up with him in Madrid in 2023 and visiting the incredible hobby shop Atlantica Juegos, a hotbed of temptation if there ever was one. I walked out with a box of Perry Prussian infantry, and here we are.

Anyway, to start off the Challenge this year, I present to you two Feldjaegers, galloping under fire to deliver orders. The figures are Calpe, now produced by Gripping Beast. Expensive they certainly are, but I have a smattering of them throughout my army as command figures and characters here and there.

With a satisfying 20 pre-Christmas points, I shall wish you the joy of the season and tidy up the house. Perfunctorily.

___________________________

Welcome back to the Challenge, Alan!

It was wonderful to meet up with you on the Antipodean Paint & Chat at the Challenge opening. (Though I regret that I was not too talkative as I was concentrating on getting my welcome entry done. I promise to do better next time!)

Well, if you're going to do Napoleonic Prussians in 28mm you can't do much better than Calpe, even if parcelled out here and there. What wonderful models, and you've done a magnificent job on these two troopers. I particularly like the messenger who is looking pensively over his shoulder. I imagine a French hussar hot on his heels, sword poised overhead, trying to cut that particular line of communication. I've not looked at 'Soldiers of Napoleon', which of course means I'll be shopping for a copy immediately after I finish this as I can't help myself from buying rules (especially those I know I'll never play). It's an addiction, really. I need help. No I don't.

These two will give you 20 points for your climb to your target. I look forward to seeing more in the coming months!

- Curt

From AndrewG: Law, Order, and the Undertaker (15 points)

Tap, tap…is this thing on? Okay! Hi everyone, my name is Andrew and let me start by saying thank you very much to Curt et al., for the kind invitation to participate this year. This being my first time doing the challenge, I set my own bar relatively low with a modest 300 points goal.

My own painting objectives over this winter are twofold. First, complete some small warbands for various skirmish games as my local group tends to play a lot of these. Second, add some more units to my ongoing big battle projects, specifically the Battle of Northampton in 1460 (Wars of the Roses) and the Battle of Bunker Hill/Breed's Hill in 1775 (American War of Independence).

My first entry is a simple one and consists of a couple of 28mm Old West characters which I can use for skirmish games such as What a Cowboy or Dead Man’s Hand. I bought these over a decade ago at a show in the US, and they’ve been sitting in the pile of opportunity since then waiting patiently for the paintbrush.

 

 

From left to right – a Wargames Foundry character (Judge Guthrie Prentice dismounted), the 2012 Partizan Show figure (No.15) - ‘The Undertaker’ - sculpted by Mike Owen, and an Artizan Gunfighters figure representing ‘The Bad’ in the Good/Bad/Ugly set. These will form the core of my law-and-order folks, soon to be challenged by a couple of gangs which I’m currently working on.

I find Western figures a joy to paint – the colours are simple, yet small touches can add some nice variety to an otherwise dull palette. The Undertaker’s waistcoat for example done in purple betrays the fact that his business is booming and he can afford some nicer threads. For the other two, functionality is the key. Simple clothes that hide dirt and a long day’s work.

I painted the figures with a range of Vallejo and Army Painter paints. I started with a black primer and then worked up from there, using colour, washes, and quick highlights where appropriate. The bases are simple plastic 2mm thick rounds. The basing materials consist of tufts from Vallejo scenery and Quicksand basing paste from Legendary Paints, over which I add a highly complex mixture of the free sandy grit that collects at the end of my driveway every spring before the dust cleaners go by (if you live in Canada and suffer winter road conditions, you’ll immediately know what I’m referring to). Once dried, I gave it a wash of Army Painter Warpaints Soft Tone to bring it all together. A bit of Vallejo Flat Earth covers the base rim.

Finally, I do two coats of varnish to protect the miniature for play. Done and dusted and ready for the table!

Claiming 3x 28mm foot = 15 points to get things rolling.

_______________________________

First off, welcome to the Challenge, Andrew! It's terrific to welcome new people into the fold of Challengeristas. 

These gunslingers look terrific and compliment each other wonderfully even though they are from different sculptors. Very neat and tidy brushwork, and your basing is equally on-point (what did we ever do without tufts?). 

This trio will give you 15 points to work towards your target. Well done! I look forward to your upcoming entries over the next three months. 

- Curt

AaronH - Imperial Storm Troopers (60 Points)

This year I'm going to try to get through my nemesis, Storm Troopers. I've been collecting Star Wars Legion since it came out, six or seven years ago. I've painted a fair few models for it but I've always been intimidated by the Storm Troopers (and Scouts and Snows). As an aside, I only play this game with painted models. It forces me to paint up models I want to use. So no Empire up to now.

The tray of potential, waiting for the Challenge start. This is approximately 135 war dollies.

I assembled and primed everything and laid it out to be ready for the Challenge. I've found other bits since this picture and added them to the tray.

Storm Trooper wash on the left. Fresh off the factory on the right.

I started with a flat white prime. I then cleaned up the spots I did a bad job of priming with more white. I then hit these guys in a batch manner. 12 models. 12 sets of lenses, then 12 lines above the lenses, then 12 mouth snouts, then 12 weapons. I had to do the black undersuits one at a time since every model is different. I then dry brushed gun metal on the guns and put some sombre grey on the high points of the black. I touched up everything with another bit if white and then everyone got washed in storm trooper wash. As you can see in the picture above it knocks back the white, emphasizes the details and makes the armor look more lived in. I really like the affect.

The 12 man unit. I have 3 heavy weapons in here, as well as the optional five man upgrade.

The back shot. 

And now the closer ones in focus.

In Star Wars Legion you get a base unit of four dudes that you can then add on weapons and specialists to, getting you up to a potential unit size of 10. There's one more heavy weapon that I don't have a model of, so is not included.

This is 12 x 32mm infantry models = 60 points.

_______________________________

Welcome back to the Challenge, Aaron!

It looks like you have a veritable battalion of Stormtroopers ahead of you, and what better way to work through them than the Challenge! I quite like the final result that you've achieved, with these looking like hard campaigners with little time to keep their armour white and shiny. Question: What do you use for your 'Stormtrooper Wash'? I'm sure there are a few of us that would be keen to compare notes. :)

This large squad of 12 will give you 60 points for your climb up the points ladder. Well done!

- Curt

From TeemuL: Faramir's Ranger (5 points)

Hello fellow participants and followers! I'm back for my... umpteenth(?) AHPC and my first ever mini for AHPC was a Ringwraith from GW's LotR range. I have quite often started my Challenge with GW LotR minis and this time it is not different!

This is one of the Faramir's rangers, a metal mini which I got from one of the second hand loot boxes I have acquired just in case... I first thought he was an elf and primed him a while (year and a half) ago with "other elfs" until recognizing him. Apparently he is the only ranger I have, but he was nice to paint so who knows if gets company...

I really like GW's old LotR range. The minis are not that heroic and almost like scale models based on the movies. So there are not insane amount of skulls or other megasized small details, but there are lots of layers of different cloths, like this ranger proudly shows. I went through my collection of greenish and brownish paints and mixed them trying to separate each layer.

I have often used basecoat, wash and drybrush method, but recently I have tried to make the results better. Instead of drybrush I have highlighted the raised areas once or twice instead of drybrushing and surprisingly it is not that more time consuming, but looks a bit better. Nowadays the wash is the last step, just need to be careful not to use too dark wash.

I lost the number of times I fixed the bow, the upper part fell of so many times. Maybe it was already broken before priming, I can't remember. It looks ok now, but don't touch it! Some sand and couple of tufts to finish the model, brown bases are my choice for Middle-Earth. This should give me my first five points for the Challenge! Looking forward to collect some more during the Christmas time.

_______________________________

First, welcome back to the Challenge, Teemu!

I always enjoy your LotR entries and this one is no exception. I do like your new approach to your highlighting. The colours seem more vibrant and the raised relief more distinct. Well done! My vote is for you to get more Rangers as this fellow clearly now needs more comrades to keep him company in the wilds of Middle Earth. :)

5 points to you for your ascent to your target. Well done!

- Curt

From DallasE: Rovers for Lunar (15 points)

Happy winter everyone. The weather here in Winnipeg certainly reflects that, I think I shoveled snow 3 or 4 times in the past week. But more important than that it's time to get the brushes moving for the Challenge. I'm starting off with a pretty simple lot - three resin rovers for Lunar. 

Lunar, of course, is a very cool game of an alternate future/past where the Soviets got to the Moon first and NASA rolled up its sleeves and said "hold my beer." It has a real "For All Mankind" vibe where things have escalated to the level of open lunar combat between and among a variety of belligerents. 

Of course, on the Moon you need support gear, and above we have an oxygen rover carrying bottles of the life-sustaining gas.

Next is a drill rover carrying a mining drill. I'm not sure why it seems to be nestled in a basket of hay but I'm not the sculptor and that's how the example was painted. What do I know. Anyway there was space on the bottom of the solar panel for a decal so I put one there.

Lastly there's a shield rover, the in-game effect is that it provides mobile cover for astronauts (cosmonauts?). I sponged it up a bit and added some Soviet branding for fun.

I know there's at least one other Challenger who's going to be painting some Lunar models and I can hardly wait to see them up here.

28-ish mm models x3 = 15 points

Thanks Mr. Curt!

_______________________________________

Merry Christmas, Mr. Dallas, and welcome back to the Challenge!

'Lunar' is a very characterful and evocative game and these models certainly fit the theme. Like you, Dallas, I'm a bit puzzled at the straw packing for the lunar drill, perhaps they're trying to get that 60's shipping vibe. I particularly like the rover with the oxygen bottles. Like nothing could possibly go wrong riding around with those in the back with solid rounds flying about. But I guess that's what the shield rover is all about. Very cool.

Well done Dallas! As they're fairly small vehicles, I'll go with your points estimate, so 15 it is. Looking forward to seeing more from Lunar in the coming months!

- Curt

 

From JP - 1/1200 ACW by Thoroughbred and Langton miniatures (28 points)

Hi folks, as usual I am trying to get something done quickly and ahead of Christmas. The obvious choice is my ever growing ACW collection.

These are rather large vessels, pretty much at the top of the vessel sizes for the ACW.

 USS Dictator was the largest US Ironclad built, late in the war. She's a real bruiser under any gaming rules for this period.

CSS Alabama needs no introduction for connaisseurs of the era - the most reknown of Confederate raiders. CSS Rattlesnake and Colonel Lamb were blockade runners.

Here are the 4 together along with a stern view. As an idea of size, Dictator was more than twice as large as Monitor.

I am claiming 

4 x large 1/1200th vessels    at 5 points each (for lack of a better idea!) = 20 points

__________________________________

Welcome back to the Challenge, JP!

Great work on these ACW ships. I always thought it was particularly brave to be in any of the wooden riverine craft during this period as the ranges were so close and the guns quite large. Brutal.

1/1200 scale naval has always been a bit of a puzzle for scoring in the Challenge, but we'll go with 5 points for smaller craft and 10 for larger vessels with full masts and rigging. With this in mind, I'll pitch these at 7 points each for a total of 28. Well done, JP!

- Curt

From MartinC Los Lunchadores (90 points)

 Good to be back. 

I'd kinda lost my mojo and enthusiasm over the summer and was looking for some inspiration. I'd last played Bloodbowl in the 1980s and wasn't that impressed but the new season 3 was out last month and I thought I'd give it a go. Its absolutely brilliant, me and a couple of friends have played a couple of times a week for the last month. It's tactically challenging and very funny.

One of the best parts is looking up non GM teams on Etsy and being amazed by the imagination of the designers. Look them up even if you are not buying, they will have you giggling.

So with that in mind I present to you Los Lunchadores,  the Mexican wrestling halfling bloodbowl team

The team

La Chicas. Female halfling hopefuls

The guys, halfling hopefuls

Cactus ents, without them halflings are terrible at bloodbowl. With them they are just rubbish. Also painting spines is annoying

The catchers, holding their tacos

Halfling hefties, like tacklers but less so

The venerable coach

These guys will get their 1st game this afternoon. 

Scores on the doors

18 x 28mm foot = 90 points

Have a very merry Christmas one and all

_________________________________________

First, welcome back to the Challenge, Martin, it's great to have you with us again.

This Bloodbowl team is both hilarious and absolutely fabulous. So much to love here: female halfling wrestlers, catchers with tacos, cacti heavies... wonderful stuff. And all excellently painted and ready for the scrum. You'll have to let us know in the comments how they did for their first game!

With these as a terrific start, I hope the coming months shows us that your painting mo-jo has been restored. 

Merry Christmas to you!

- Curt