Final Results: The Spring-Thaw Painting Challenge!

It was at the beginning of February when I issued a challenge to see who could paint the most Napoleonic figures over the following three months.  Over those ninety or so days I've had the pleasure to make several new friends, paint ALOT of toy soldiers and experience an infectious enthusiasm for our 'little' hobby - in short its been a hell of a lot of fun. Amongst the six who participated we painted the equivalent of 449 28mm figures in three months!

As I stated in the original rules my participation was purely as the 'pace car' for the other painters and so I would not take a stake in any of the prizes.  The prizes are unimaginatively simple, being gift vouchers valued at 30, 20 and 10 pounds sterling for First, Second and Third place respectively. I know, its not much but it'll take the edge off a future purchase.

So with all that being said and without further ado lets review the podium.

Coming in Third with 67 points is Paul from Scotland! Paul was a late-entrant to the Challenge but made both great inroads and a great impression to those who saw his work. Unlike the rest of us, Paul's focus is exclusively in 15mm and the quality of his output is just amazing. There was numerous instances where I thought I was looking at beautifully painted 28mm figures and it made me think twice (but only twice :) ) about whether I should have gone in for a smaller scale. 

Second place, at 111 points, was taken by my good friend Greg from Winnipeg who was using the Challenge to get his Austrian brigade completed - and a very beautiful collection it is! The majority of his points came from painting two regiments of 28mm cavalry which is no mean feat in of itself, especially when a good portion of them were the very colourful and intricate uniforms of the 10th Hussars. Great job Greg!

Last but certainly not least, in First place is JohnM, who with 134 points demonstrated to us all that it is possible to have both a high output combined with an excellent level of quality. Even with the very funny (well, to me) 'uniform malfunction' of the Green Cuirassiers he recovered with aplomb and steamed on to victory. Bravo John and congratulations!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Sylvain and Tim who put in excellent showings with their Russians and Brits. Thanks a bunch guys! You can check out all of the entries at this gallery.

For the five in the DFL category I will only say, "Guys, not one bloody figure to even get out of the gate? Really? Really?"  Nuff said.

Finally, thanks to all you out there in the interweb who took the time to leave encouraging comments. I think I can speak for all of us to say that its so great to get positive feedback from others in the hobby - it really helps to keep up the enthusiasm during those late night painting sessions. So a big thanks to you all!

Postscript: Some have contacted me to ask if I'll run another Challenge. Absolutely! But I think we'll let everyone enjoy the summer season (well, for those above the equator) and then we'll see about a Challenge for the autumn! 

From Tim: 28mm Front Rank British Command: William Carr Beresford

 

Back in February when I issued the Spring Thaw Napoleonic Painting Challenge my friend Tim said he would kick in as he was on the path to collecting a British force for 'Black Powder'. Well, Mr. Tim's a busy lad as you can see from his blog but he knew he had commited himself and so sends in this entry - probably the first of what will be a mad dash to the finish line.

Here we have a lovely British command stand made up of 28mm figures from Front Rank. I think the bald fellow is Carr Beresford who was basically Wellington's second-in-command for much of the Peninsular War. Beresford was instrumental in organizing and training the Portuguese army along British lines. In fact, by the end of the conflict in Spain almost a half of the 'British' army under Wellington was in fact Portuguese. The usually dour Wellington paid a rare compliment to the Portuguese in calling them 'The fighting cocks of the army' - they were very hard fighters and this combined with Beresford's administrative abilities made them a potent force.

Though they were painted just before the Challenge date I'm taking the liberty to poach some shots from Tim's blog to feature his excellent 42nd Highlanders.

Some poor wee jocks taking a 'dirt nap'.

... and another command stand.

I really like Tim's painting style. I actually reminds me of Paul's - very clean and distinct, with great choice of colour tones. Beautiful stuff, Tim! You're officially on the board!