From JamesM: Challenge 13 Wrap-up

Hi folks,

Having had a chance to tidy my workspace a little this week, I had space to lay out my completed models from this years challenge efforts. 

Such was the impact of focusing mainly on 28mm models that I set a new personal best, finishing in 36th place with 814 points. You big scale painting folks have obviously got it easy when it comes to scoring!

The main aim this year had been to work on what I'd prepped and focus on getting some gangs painted for Necromunda. As usual, I failed slightly on these goals. This failure included having converted a 'Beastman' gang during the challenge and deciding to build a 15mm WW2 mini diorama. 

I also managed to get completed a few painting shelf lurkers and finish off a few more bits of 28mm terrain. As well as a small Space Marine fleet for Battlefleet Gothic. 

Much of this years efforts involved embracing and experimenting with Army Painter speed paints and Vallejo Xpress speed paints. Really useful tools when it comes to painting fantasy/sci fi minis. Hopefully Vallejo might expand their range to some of the more historical colours. 

In the end I painted:

A Goliath Necromunda gang (10 models plus a brute)

A Chaos Helot Cult Necromunda gang (16 models plus a demonspawn)

A Chaos Beastman Necromunda gang (9 models)

A Slave Ogyrn Necromunda gang (6 big models)

Various hangers on and NPC models for Necromunda (9 models)

Two small 28mm vehicles

A Space Marine Battlefleet Gothic flotilla

A 15mm Valentine bridge-layer tank

A 15mm Light Aid Detachment diorama plus a radio van

Some 15mm Snipers for my WW2 Brits

A battery of three 15mm M109 guns for my Cold War Dutch

120mm mortars and gun crews for my Cold War Dutch, plus .50cal APC turrets

Some random Necromunda terrain and scatter terrain

I'm particularly proud of the LAD diorama and the Dutch bits - as well as my ability to just get on and paint my Necromunda stuff. 

Big thanks go to Curt & Lady Sarah for organising us all, and to the minions for their efforts. Thanks also, as usual, to the paint and chat crew. 

Going forward for the rest of the year, I've a 15mm Cold War Dutch army to finish painting before Battlefront potentially expands the available range of models for in a few(?!) months!

From ChrisW: Challenge XIII wrap party

 

Well another winter has come and gone and I hardly noticed it as I have happily been spending the last 3 months (more or less) locked away in my basement! Time certainly does seem to move faster thanks to the challenge. As has been said by others, thank you to Curt and his minions of doom for making this all happen and for somehow keeping a handle on all of it. Also a big thank you to all the participants who inspired and encouraged all of us to strive just a little harder. (MartinC in particular for me😉)  

I very much liked the themes this year. Many of the studios seemed tailor made for my figure collection. At the same time, given my figure collection I really should have gotten to my various objective markers/plot points, set dressing items and other essentially movie themed objects. Well at least I got my film crew done. 

 So here is the stuff that I got done this year.

508 foot, 27 cavalry, 20 vehicles, 4 forests, & assorted monsters, robots & statues.

While it is quite a lot of stuff it certainly is not everything that I thought I would get to, apparently my dreams certainly were bigger than reality. So, no fort, no Martian tripods and no Dystopian wars, even though I did make a start on each of these. In fact my gaming room is now littered with the remains of many, many abandoned projects, just like last year.  This time I plan to finish off those partly painted items in April (yeah right 😶) When AHPC XIII started I still had figures that had been started last year but never progress beyond the faces.

When this years event kicked off, I was uncertain how much I would accomplish. I knew from the start that I would not try to equal my first year results but as of December 21st I was doubting that I would get to my target of 3000. It was the feedback from others, watching the success of fellow painters and, yes, I admit it, a strong competitive streak in me, that helped push me/drag me through this challenge. 

One other unexpected joy were the online chats. While I was late in starting to participate in them and only attended a few of them (scheduling conflicts) they were a nice addition to the challenge, a chance to talk shop and interact with humans once in a while. 

Anyways, I had a lot of fun this year and I feel I did make a dent in my great pile of un-painted stuff. I was able to finish off a few long out standing projects & I learned a lot from looking at everyone's posts.

Again thank you everyone for making this what it was!

I look forward to next years challenge!

 

From Barks: AHPC XIII completed

I like looking back at the end of each Challenge to see what I have painted. It is often a surprise and a reminder of what I can achieve with your inspiration and encouragement. Even though my points target was a bit optimistic, I got a lot of projects out of my 'to-do' tray. I can't really pick a favourite.

I made it through the studio and should now be eligible for admission to the elitist 10 000 points club. Let me in!

Here's a pic of yours truly after an incident trying to get a glass marble into a 200mL bottle of Vallejo Grey Surface Primer.

Looking forwards to XIV!

From Skully McSkullface: The Champion of Skullz AHPC XIII

And the skully overlord is... StuartL!

• StuartL 1575
• DavidB 697
• TeemuL 512
• Sander 97
• ChrisW 86
• MikeW 29
• Barks 29
• PeteF 26
• GregB 18

DavidB painted a mighty 97 skullz in the last week, but we were all swamped in a skullslide from StuartL with his 40K scenery. As winner, Stuart gets to keep last year's winner's skull- which was CurtC! Hopefully Curt has looked after your trophy well.

StuartL's winning gambit

Skullicious detail

Some of DavidB's skullz

DavidB's peak 90's nostalgia

KyleC painted a fellow skull-collecting enthusiast

MattT's evil seven dwarves

ChrisW's distressed damsel

RichardH shares his bony collection

JamesM's Goliaths accessorise with skully motifs

StuartL also painted a rat skull banner!

Skull of the week:

SteveA's classic Warhammer Fantasy

Skully McSkullface has enjoyed counting your skullz and hopes you've enjoyed painting them. He will return!

S McSf, powering down.

Rob H - Wrap Up!

Thank you Curt for organizing the event and thanks to all the minions who help make it run smoothly, and finally to all the participants who made it through the winter.

I am afraid that AHPC XIII ended in late January for me.  I am happy to have succeed my goal by almost 50% . My best showing yet. Three weeks of antibiotics and a request to move after 25 years, put a damper on my grandiose plans. New housing has been secured and packing continues at a brisk speed. My miniature storage units have been dismantled and all the nicely organized boxes packed away in preparation of Der Tag. 

From SimonG: Wrapping Up Another Great Year

With some sadness I've come to the end of my third cycle around the AHPC quarter. It's been another great experience and a points total I'm sure I will never get any where close to again given an unexpected bonanza with my Jewish Revolt Temple Mount terrain!  

Once again I get to bless you with my ugly mug and the fruits of my labours, which included this time around ...

... The last vehicles for my 1980s Cold War Gone Hot project -- all that remains are the BAOR infantry figures (10mm camo, fiddly stuff) ...

... A smattering of vignettes to meet the needs of the AHPC XIII Studio Challenge -- luckily I have lots of shelf space to display these things ...

... More Descent and Black Rose Wars characters, always fun to try out different painting techniques ...

... And the Jews ...

... And Romans for my Jewish Revolt project along with the temple as a sample of the large terrain I worked on -- still plenty more to add for this one and I'm taking delivery of lots of other base figures to work up and add in!

It only remains to say thanks once again to my fellow Tuesday toreadors, to Tamsin for excellent minioning once again, to Lady Sarah for inspiring an exploration of the world of high fashion, to Curt for being the mastermind and ongoing inspiration for this whole shebang, and to all who participated in, commented on and overall made this another great experience -- see you all again in December!

Postscript- I forgot my Nogs, now that my Wife has them in the Kitchen, so here’s a hello from them too

From LeeH - Wrap Up Post: The Battle of Bosworth Project

As always it has been an honor and a privilege to participate in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. It's a credit to everyone involved that it always seems so effortlessly and flawlessly executed. I have been busy painting almost exclusively for my Wars of the Roses/Bosworth project and although there is still work to be done, I have got a large chunk of it completed. It didn't help that a recent trip to Bosworth itself resulted in several more units being added to my initial order of battle. The wrap-up picture shows all the units that I got painted, with blank bases for those units still yet to be done. 

So I have 38 bases yet to be completed, which will keep me busy for a couple of months...especially now the gentle but relentless peer pressure of the Challenge is over! I can't complain, I have managed to hit my points target by a comfortable margin and turned out 123 bases of figures, so I'm well on my way to completing this project. Here's a closer look at the two armies as they stand at the end of the Challenge. 

The partially completed Yorkist army of Richard III

The completed Lancastrian army of Henry Tudor...
...with the Stanley's lagging behind. 

My revised and updated OOB with the unpainted units in yellow.

A Trio of Earls - Henry Tudor, Jasper Tudor, and
Sir John de Vere, Earl of Oxford

Poynings, Guildford, Talbot & Savage

Medieval Town using 2mm buildings

Henry Tudor's army...the French had yet to be completed

Norfolk, Howard, Talbot, and de la Zouch plus 
artillery & skirmishers

The French and Scottish contingent of Henry's army
under the command of de Chande

I even had time to take a weekend out from painting to 
visit the Battlefield of Bosworth in person. 

Henry Tudor and his mounted household

Richard  III and his Knights

I just wanted to end by congratulating everyone that has taken part in this year's Challenge. I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the incredible quality of entries as they have been posted. The challenge blog has been something of a second home for me over the last 13 weeks, checking in every day to enjoy the dizzying array of incredible talent on display. Well done to everyone, and I look forward to crossing brushes with you all for Challenge XIV !!

From JamesM: Necromunda Goliath gang and industrial vehicle (77 points)

Hi folks,

My final entry for this years challenge, and the fourth gang I've painted for Necromunda. This time, the mighty Goliaths - vat born abhumans with more brawn than brains. 

This gang, the 'Skull Boltz', was initially themed around bolt weapons. However these weapons are bloody expensive and so make for a small starting gang. As such, I went with cheaper options of weapons and focused on axes... with a plan to equip with bolt weapons as we play through a long campaign. The gangers are plastic GW offerings, with some plastic and resin upgrade bits and a couple of beastman axes. 

Paint scheme wise, I was really impressed with the Vallejo Xpress orange colour - so matched that in with some greys and the likes for a nice bright and industrial looking gang. 

I also painted up a proxy model for a 'Zerker' - described in the game material as 'a fighter whose body has become warped and swollen to gigantic proportions by the effects of the combat stimms pumping through their veins'. This model was purchased via Etsy from CrisisActorMinis (who incidentally also sell blanchet esq models which might be suitable for root veg enthusiasts). It's worth noting that I sought a proxy for this model as the Forgeworld kit is hideous as well as expensive. 

The gang contains few heavy weapons currently, with only a Rivet Cannon and Storm Welder providing short range but heavy firepower. 

I actually had to add another model to those I had prepped, as while still primed plastic this gang had fought a couple of games and added another member. 

In total, this gang has ten 28mm models, and one 40mm model (for a total of 57 points). 

Alongside this gang, I quickly painted up the partner vehicle of one I'd already entered. This is another GW kit I picked up a while ago on the cover of a magazine, and will primarily be used as scatter terrain. I've painted it to match in with my scenery - the rusted and decrepit remains of industry in the deep underhive. 

This single GW 28mm vehicle is worth 20 points, giving me an entry total of 77 points. 

______________________________

What a great looking gang and gothic machine-thingy, James. The orange of your Goliaths' armour adds vibrancy to what could be a pretty dour looking mob. I also like how you've designed them to 'grow' into their more heavy-hitting bolt gun aspirations. The 'Zerker' is truly a beast, and I'm definitely going to be checking out the designer so see what else he has to offer.  

An excellent final entry James. I look forward to seeing you next time we roll out.

- Curt