From RossM - The Last Post (Mixed scales 110 Points)

Challenge end always comes around too quick and I am never ready enough for it.

Firstly, a few thank yous

• To the Monday crew, awesome body of hobby painting and glad to have been a part of it
• Pete, thanks for organising the above crew and keeping us in line for posting. Superb job all round
• To everyone, thank you all. Its always a pleasuring sharing the darkest months of the year with so many fellow hobbyists. 
• Lastly, and by no means least, Curt, the Snow Lord. Thanks for creating the AHPC thirteen years ago. I've been involved over the last twelve of those thirteen. Looking forward to sharing in future events too. 

So, now to the posts for my last entry this year. 

Perry Wars of the Roses Man at Arms - 1 x 28mm infantry at 5 points

Northstar Miniatures - Cultist Guards - 2 x 28mm infantry at 10 points

Vikings - Foundry and Gripping Beast - 3 x 28mm infantry at 15 points

The figures painted for this entry are the two bare chested berserker and the rear most swordsman on the left stand.

Plastic Soldier Company Early Imperial Roman Cavalry - 3 x 15mm cavalry at 12 points

Forged in Battle Early Imperial Romans Cataphracts - 4 x 15mm cavalry and 3 x 15mm riders at 22 points 

Four horses and riders were painted from scratch and another three riders also made the pass. The problem is I don't know which are which other than all of the command stand was started prior to the start date of the AHPC XIII

Gladiator Miniatures Numidians light cavalry - 16 points

Opps! Where did the horses nose go?

Xyston Miniatures Thracians archers - 8 x 15mm infantry at 16 points

Rapier Miniatures Macedonian Phalanx - 28 x 6mm infantry at 14 points

Fiddly getting the single 6mm figures on the base in lines but worth it in the end. The ragged pikes work to my eye; perfection is too much at times and who really knows what massed sarrissa looked like. 

This completes my efforts for this year's Challenge leaving a few also rans in the sidelines that didn't make the finish line. 

The total for the above comes to 110 points with a running total for the challenge at 221 (44.2% of the challenge total). Fell short of the total  however, it always the taking part that counts for me!

As always, it's been a blast and looking forward to the lift off later this year!

Cheers for now, 

RossM

____________________________

What a wonderful assortment of figures to end your Challenge, Ross! So much to admire here. I always have a soft spot for WotR, so that single man at arms is a winner for me. But all of the rest is excellent as well. I especially like the Cultists and the 6mm pikemen. Excellent work.

Until next year, Ross.  :)

- Curt

First Post - 6mm ACW: 133 points

 Hi, this is Sean from the God's Own Scale Podcast.

This is my first year on the AHPC. I have followed it for many years but for some reason or other not got involved. Probably because I procrastinate far more than I paint. But also because my painting ability is fairly basic. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy with it but it's never going to win any prizes.

It will be no suprise that as the host of the third most popular historical wargaming podcast dedicated to 6mm miniatures, my first entry is...6mm miniatures. I am nearing the end of my Antietam project using the Altar of Freedom rules and the scenario therein. For the most part I have used Baccus Miniatures, though there are a few Rapier in there plus some Adler, mainly for the generals.

My plan for the next 3 months is to finish the Antietam project then look at my Charlie Don't Surf project using 10mm Pendraken figures. They remain in the cupboard, untouched since purchase over the summer. I have a company of U.S. grunts plus a company of VC for them to go up against.

I also have a couple of other projects in 6mm. Actually several. First of all are my First World War projects. I am using Great War Spearhead for these. Mons is up first. This is nearly done. Just buildings and scenery to finalise. Then it's onto my demonstration game for the Joy of Six 2021 show, on 4th July. I'm crossing everything that this show will go ahead. The game will be the GWSH scenario for the Thiepval sector of the first day of the Somme. I have nearly all of the figures purchased. I have several feet of latex trench from Timecast. And I have several ideas about how to build the table. 

Ontop of that I have plans for the beginnings of my foray into 6mm AWI. I have the Continental army for Guildford Court House using Rus de Guerre. Also I have figures for a planned 6mm Rorkes Drift.

...and I have a metric ton of 28mm Mantic Games figures. For the purposes of the challenge I have the figures for the Hellboy boardgame plus some for the Walking Dead. So lots to go at.

Anyway, here is my first entry into the #AHPCXI. The first picture is of the last untis for the Army of Northern Virginia for Antietam. I now have 36 Confederate brigades and 12 batteries plus 3 brigades of cavalry done. These figures were painted between 25/12/20 and 28/12/20.

The totals are:

 224 x 6mm infantry

 21 x 6mm cavalry

Total Points: 133 (300 target)

This is my General Thomas Jackson command stand. Mounted figures are from Adler. The standard bearer is from Rapier Minioatures.

An example of one of the infantry brigades. They are Law's brigade from Hood's division. They were made up of 2nd and 11th Mississippi, 4th Alabama  and 6th North Carolina. It suffered over 50% casualties at Antietam in fighting Hooker's I Corps on the morning of 17th September. The unit here carries the Confederate battle flag. They are Baccus Miniatures. The fence is a resin print, kindly given to me by Aaron from Project Wargaming.

Another example pf one of my brigades. These are Hood's brigade, commanded by William Tatum Wofford from Hood's Divison. They carry the Texas flag as befitting a unit bearing Hood's name.

Okay, that's enough for now More soon. Play nice and keep talking about six!

WEDNESDAY - A Beginning from RossM (12 points)

In comparison to some of the first entries seen so far in this year's challenge below is somewhat smaller than others.

The entry has two parts to it, firstly a command stand for ADG or DBA with 6mm Rapier Macedonians.

This is the second command stand that has been recently completed for these games although the other can't be shown here as it was pre-challenge painting.

6mm is a new scale here and still trying to workout the best way of painting the little chaps for me. This stand started off with a white undercoat and then blocked in the main colours before washing with a certain earth coloured wash. On this occasion the mounted character's leg has blended in with the animal skin on the horse, so perhaps less is more on this colour scheme.

From the 6mm specialists on the challenge any hints and tips would be appreciated.

Next is a 28mm water wagon from 4Ground. A good model that was easily assembled - watch the axles as they are bit fragile once out of the frame - and very easy to paint.

The painting involved a base coat of Khemri Brown, followed by washing with that certain earth colour and then dry brushing up to the finish you see here.

Felt that the barrel needed more colour to it hence the coloured barrel lid, no branding intended.

So, there you have it the first entry from here for this year

6mm Infantry x 2 = 1 pt
6mm Cavalry x 1 = 1 pt
28mm limber x 1 = 10 pts

Total for entry: 12 pts

Cheers for now

ByronM:  A really nice first entry into the challenge Ross!  I can sympathize with the new to 6mm scale thing as I only painted my first 6mm figs about 2 years ago (in a previous challenge).  You are completely correct in the "less is more" statement as you really end up painting for effect more than detail. 

Others can voice in, but with 6mm I find the best thing to do is base black then work up, so that you leave really hard shadows that can be seen at that scale, to each their own though.  I tried working from white down and found it didn't have enough contrast.  Your results are really good though, so whatever works!

The water wagon is a wonderful little kit and you really brought it to life with your paint job, excellent work!  It would be a shame to haul water in there though, it really should be beer or whisky!

From RossM - Various Items (66 points)

This will be one of the last submissions from myself in this year's Painting Challenge with more varied items to follow shortly.

First up is an Uruk Hai captain from Games Workshops's LOTR range. A great figure in 28mm and a good depiction of the Uruk Hai at Helm's Deep in the Two Towers film.

Next is the main body of a Chaos Warrior Warband for Songs of Blades and Heroes. These are retro figures from the hay-day - my own opinion of course - of Citadel Miniatures. First is the Chaos Sorcerer or Priest depending on how the warband will be constructed. The figure is from the C02 Wizards range as shown in Compendium 1 and 2; a High Sorcerer of Chaos.

The clash between the robes and cloak sets the figure off well, drawing the eye to what will be the central figure of the warband when used.

Next is a tribute to another Moorcock character, this time, Rackhir the Red or as he was sold Buoophut Bane-Arrow - Devotee of Alaman from the Warrior Knights of Chaos set.

The next three figures are all from the Chaos Warrior range as shown in Compendium 2 and are the core of this warband.

Character, strong armour and realistically sized weapons set these figures apart from their later successors.

There may be a couple more from this range before the end of the challenge, only time will tell.

Lastly for this entry is the start of something very small; Hoplite and Macedonian armies in 6mm. Shown here are eight stands of archers and four of javelin armed light infantry. All of the 6mm figures that are planned to be painted this year will be based on 40mm frontages to allow use in a variety of systems including ADG, Impetus and Command and Colours.

The twenty four javelin armed troops above and below are from Rapier Miniatures as will all the Macedonians be. These are slightly larger than their Hoplite counter parts; although on the table it would be hard to really notice given the scale of them.

The twenty four Greek Archers below are from Baccus and are slightly smaller and finer than their Rapier counter parts shown further down the post.

Below are the four stands of Rapier Miniature archers, there are twenty four here as well.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Cheers for now.

From Curt:

A great entry with a wide assortment of goodies for us to enjoy - well done Ross. 

Those 6mm Greeks are very fine but I have to say that my favourites are the old school Citadel sculpts. I've always had a soft spot for the whacky Chaos warriors and wizards from that era and these lads certainly don't disappoint. That sorcerer has a bit of the James Earl Jones look about him and I love the nod to Moorcock's Rackhir with all that fabulous red (even the bow!). Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Great stuff Ross!