'Tis the Night Before Challenge

Curt Campbell did gush,
So wipe down that workbench
And clean out that brush
You can begin painting
In a few hours time
Not figures you've started
Unless they're just primed


By the time this drivel is posted there will be 10 hours left before the kick-off of AHPC X. All my prep is done and only one batch of figures (the Judge Dredd minis) hasn't been primed yet.

My workbench has been wiped down and I've got it ready for painting my first submissions:

Taking a bit of a risk, I am going to try out my new wet palette tomorrow I've also got a new set of brushes out (my last pair of series 7 brushes have taken a heavy hammering over the past few months).


Here's a photo of the figures I definitely intend to paint:

What? You want close ups of the boards? Oh, go on then!

Strontium Dog minis

15mm robots and 10mm lizardmen

28mm characters and 15mm SYW Russians

28mm WW2 British Airborne

28mm Pulp

28mm Barbarians

Barbarian skirmishes, command, shamen and beasts

Barbarian swordsmen and axemen

Barbarian cavalry riders

Barbarian cavalry mounts

Besides the Judge Dredd figures, there is a lot more that's prepped and primed in the wings if I finish these early. I might also be making up some terrain.


Before I go, I would just like to wish all my fellow participants in this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge the best of luck in achieving their targets, winning their side duels but above all I hope that they will have good fun over the next three months.

Paint Table Saturday - AHPC X Is Upon Us

Well, in three weeks' time the tenth edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge will kick off and an intrepid band of 68 fools figure painters will retire to their workbenches, pick up their brushes, load their palettes, accidentally drink from their brush water mugs, and finally emerge at the end of March.

This year, in amongst working through my leadpile to get to my 1300 points target, I will be one of the Full Minions again. I've been assigned Friday as my duty day but this year it's "free fire" for submissions rather than victims entrants having assigned days.

Now, you might have spotted that my target of 1300 points is much lower than my typical output from previous Challenge editions, particularly last year when I achieved nearly 3500 points. That is because I will be largely focusing on character figures this year, rather than armies.

What do I have lined up for painting this time?

10mm Lizardmen - for James' charity project
15mm SYW Russians - there will be a small contingent of additions for this mega army
15mm SciFi - there may be some more Kra'Vak
28mm Pulp/Gangsters - I've got quite a few figures (including civvies) still left from last year
"28mm" Strontium Dog - some more figures for this project have come (or are coming) my way
28mm Barbarian Horde - a mixed foot and mounted warband for Dragon Rampant; lots of bare flesh, furs, leather and steel
28mm WW2 - there should be a small group of British Airborne hitting the ground
"28mm" Mega City One - errmm, yes, I did succumb and purchase the new Judge Dredd game from Warlord; my order arrived this afternoon:

I have opened up the packs and the figures are very nice indeed. Some of the packs are metal, but most are in Warlord's new resin. There may be some additional purchases made before (the two packs I didn't order) and during the Challenge (the second wave which will be released in January).

And now, the Workbench:

I've made progress but they aren't quite finished. That's mainly the result of my flat being horribly cold at the moment - my boiler broke down on Sunday night and the engineer who was meant to come on Thursday went to the wrong house and naffed off - I've got another booked to come tomorrow morning. However, I suspect that the pump he will need won't be on his van so it will be a few more days until I get central heating and hot water back.

AHPC IX - Fellowship

It's that time of year that many of us look forward to. Or dread. Whatever.

Yes, Snowlord Curt of the Canadian Campbells has announced this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. There may still be some places available if you wish to take part.

I have, of course, taken up my reserved spot. Somewhat foolishly, I opted for a target of 3000 points, which will be a fair stretch to achieve. Particularly if I end up painting lots of 28mm figures for my WW2 New Guinea project to the same standard as I have started out...

I decided to do a quick count-up of what I have in stock, ready to go. It comes to about 2000 points of prepped-and-primed figures. I probably have another 4-500 points of figures prepped but not primed, and a lot of plastics which haven't been assembled. I should have enough for the 3000 points, but will need to do a bit of a sort out in my hobby room if I'm going to have space to have everything primed before the Challenge starts.

There are also some planned purchases, mostly for the New Guinea project. Plus some terrain. All in all, it looks as though I have no excuse for not hitting 3000 points this year.

However, you probably want to know what I do have lined up for this year:

28mm

WW2 New Guinea Project - 1942 Aussies (in KD uniforms), M3 Stuart tanks, and possibly some Japanese to oppose them. I might also make some jungle terrain up.
Purchases needed - some more M3 Stuarts, some more 8th Army figures, the Japanese.

Strontium Dog - I've got a good bunch of figures prepped and primed and some terrain (mostly) made up but needing to be primed.
This project will fit in nicely with one of the bonus rounds ("Mercenaries").

Pulp/Salutesville - I have a lot of figures primed and some more prepped but not primed. Some terrain as well.

Miscellaneous - I've got quite a few figures primed for various small projects. There's a small group of figures in this section that will work for the final bonus round ("Fellowship").


15mm

SYW Russians - I have 4 regiments of infantry (plus spare figures) and 18 Cossacks primed. I don't have any plans to add to them at the moment.

Mongols - plenty of cavalry and some infantry plus baggage elements primed.

SciFi - I have a load of GZG's Kra'Vak figures and vehicles prepped.


6mm

ACW - mounted and dismounted cavalry plus some artillery for both sides primed. There are also various baggage elements and some terrain prepped but not primed.

SYW - I have a lot prepped. I was going to do these as ImagiNations for Honours of War, but I'm having a rethink on that right now.


Other project which might see the light of day:

28mm Wars of the Roses - I have a goodly pile of plastics for this project to add to the longbowmen I painted a few years ago.

28mm Fantasy - a wold army for Dragon Rampant. I have a bunch of wolves prepped, but need to order some more and bases for them to go on. I'll be multi-basing the wolves on 75x50mm bases which offers the opportunity to make them dioramic.


The next few weeks will see me busy getting ready for the Challenge, with lots of prep and priming plus some terrain making. Also thinking about what to do for the other three bonus rounds - "Reconnaissance", "Sport" and "Water Feature" - and making any necessary purchases.

Challenge Day One Without Me

Today is the first day of the Challenge and it's without me. At the weekend I withdrew, which wasn't an easy decision. I had been looking forward to taking part once again, but recently my fatigue levels seem to have been going up. I could only see them going up still further if I was taking part, so I decided to withdraw before it started and let someone else take my place rather than having to withdraw part-way through.

Anyway, despite withdrawing I will be following everyone's efforts and cheering them on.

So, I'll leave this post by wishing all those taking part this year the very best of luck in achieving and exceeding their targets.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge "Ate"

Once again the Snowlord (Curt) has announced the Analogue Hobbies Paint Challenge. And this year it is going to be monstrous! I mean, just look at who the Wednesday minion is....

With seven prior Challenges, that makes this year's AHPC "Ate". In recognition of this, Curt has made the theme for Curtgeld and the final bonus theme round "monsters". 

As a previous entrant in at least four Challenges, I had a reserved place which I have gladly taken up. I've set myself a (for me) low target of 1300 points as I don't want to get caught up inside the hermitage like in previous years. This time I plan to get out gaming at least once a week.

I guess you want to know what I am planning to paint this time around. Well...

1. 15mm Sea Peoples - left over from last year and part of the reason for my lower target as I've got to paint the different colour patters on the kilts and armour.

2. 15mm Mongols - left over from last year

3. 6mm ACW - I have a load of cavalry, artillery and generals left over from last year

4. 28mm monster for Curtgeld (to be bought at some point)

5. 28mm pulp/gangsters - I've still got a lot left from last year and some new purchases

6. 28mm Jailbirds  characters - left over from last year

7. 28mm WW2 Russian Women - some additions purchased at Salute this year

8. 28mm WW2 Aussies - purchased a few weeks ago at SELWG

9. 28mm 2000AD figures - I purchased a few figures at Salute this year

10. 15mm Kra'Vak - bought at SELWG

11. 6mm SYW - purchased at Salute (with some later purchases) to paint up as "imaginations" forces

The first four are my priority and should get me close to my target. If I complete them with time in hand then I'll pick and choose from the others. 

This year won't be seeing any additions to my 15mm Seven Years War Russians, and (probably) no spaceships (although one of the bonus theme rounds is "flight" so maybe...Hmmmm, I do have all those Shapeways TIE fighters to paint- that's a few flights!)

Apart from the "monster" figure and essentials (paint, bases, stuff like that) I won't be making any purchases until it's over. No indeed, I will absolutely not be making any purch...ooh, shiny!

With just under a month to go to the start, I need to start clearing the decks in readiness. That means I need to try to get the rest of the Ming painted. And think about the bonus theme rounds and whether I want to do anything for them.

The Figures What I Prepped

Well, 'tis the season (for repeats of family favourite TV shows) and most of my UK readers should recognise my homage to the late Ernie Wise in this post's title. But enough blather, this post is to show off everything that has been prepped and primed so far in readiness for the Challenge.

Everything:

6mm ACW:

Mostly cavalry, some artillery and generals, plus casualties and gabions.

28mm stuff (and some 15mm):

Some WW2 Soviet women, some sheep, a whole bunch of gangs and civvies for Salutesville and some of the Raging Heroes "Jailbirds". Not to forget a trio of 15mm grav tanks and a trio of grav APCs.

15mm SYW Russian cavalry, generals and wagons:

15mm SYW Russian infantry and artillery, plus Three Musketeers, friends, enemies and collateral damage civvies:

Sorry for the blurry pic - red are Russians, black are Three Musketeers

15mm Nubians:

I'ms till waiting for another 48 bowmen to arrive.

15mm Choson Korean regular and irregular troops:

15mm Mongols:

This last pics is of a box containing the first of my 15mm sea Peoples to arrive (all prepped) and some figures received today from DaveD for our Curtgeld submission - I'll prep those tonight.

Phew! What a lot of stuff to paint! And what a variety! I haven't done a points count of them, but it should be over 3000 points worth with the Sea Peoples when they arrive, more if any get entered for bonus rounds. I don't expect to paint them all and at the end I will take pics to show what has been painted and what remains.

In terms of my personal priorities (but not necessarily painting order - the Bonus Theme rounds could mean stuff gets painted earlier):

1. Nubians or Sea Peoples
2. Sea Peoples or Nubians
3. 15mm SYW Russians
4. Mongols
5. Raging Heroes
6. Soviet women
7. 6mm ACW
8. 15mm SF armour
9. 28mm pulp
10. The Curtgeld group

If I excel my expectations by a huge margin and all this gets painted, I do have lots of other lead, plastic and resin in the pile that can be prepped, primed & painted.

Wish me luck!

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VII Announced

Yes, the announcement has been made by Curt. There will indeed be another AHPC this winter (or summer for those unfortunates on the wrong side of the equator).

If you fancy taking part, hop on over to the announcement post (click here or on the pic above), read through the rules, post a comment and send Curt an email. Then check your lead mountain, check your paint stocks, make sure your brushes are ready to paint, make your plans and get cracking with the prep.

At least all the prep and planning I've been doing aren't in vain. Not that they would have been anyway - I'd still be painting them all, but maybe it would take me longer.

A Pleasant Surprise

This morning I received a package in the post. As I wasn't expecting anything, I quickly checked for a return address, saw who it was from and realised what it must be.

I was right - it was "Wild Bill Hickock" from PaulS of EndTransmission's Gaming Stuff blog. He'd submitted it in the "Risk Takers, Gamblers and Daredevils" bonus round of this year's Challenge and suspecting that Curt might receive several versions of Mr Hickock he said to would go to me instead to thank me for "minioning" his submissions.

So, I took a few pics before adding him to my growing collection of character figures:

Thanks ever so much Paul - another lovely example of blogger generosity.

AHPC6 Entries - 28mm Character Figures

And the time comes at last for my final summary post of this year's Challenge entries - the 28mm character figures.

My opening salvo on the first day of the Challenge was this rather characterful figure from Hasslefree, whom fans of the original (UK) version of Shameless will recognise that I have painted up as Frank Gallagher (as portrayed by David Thewlis):

I wasn't the only person who had painted this figure for the Challenge - Anne painted him for her "Revenge on Ray" entry in the last bonus theme round. I think someone may have painted him last year as well for their AntiHero.


Moving on, my second entry of character figures was "I'll Be Max!" I had bought these two figures from Hasslefree, but they're now sold directly by Studio Miniatures.

It took a lot of effort (and trial & error) to make the black leather tones look right and different. For the Arnie figure, I also wanted to capture the pallid, dead flesh look from the first film. I think I got pretty close.


The fourth character figure was a bit of a departure for me - a High Elf rogue from Citadel. Quite fun to paint, but some of the details were tricky to access.

The fifth and final character figure was also my Curtgeld. The theme for this year's Challenge was "Risk Takers, Gamblers and Daredevils". I think that Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica) is an excellent embodiment of all three.

The figure I used is "Pilot Vic" from Hasslefree.


Phew - that's a lot of painting done in 13 weeks!