AdamC: Challenge 12 Wrap UP

 

Thanks again for a great challenge. I finished 51 figures all infantry this year. 

Also 22 pieces of terrain 

and of course ships 12 ACW River Iron Clads and gun boats of various types 

Also 17 Sailing ships of the AWI & Napoleonic era.  I lost almost two weeks to covid but still managed to just hit my Target.  I didn't get any other fleet pictures for the Naval Side Duel so I will declare that contest void for this year.  Thanks for the kind words.  

From ForestP: Thanks for allowing me to participate in a wonderful Challenge

So with this last post I want to say how thankful I have been to be able to participate in the Challenge this year. Given the stressors of my work I really needed the accountability that this Challenge provided to ensure that I could actually do some self-care. In fact things have been so busy (I have been traveling the past few weeks for both vacation and then work), I haven't even gotten around to this end-of-challenge post until now.

I set myself a modest goal of 500 points, and somehow more than doubled that, ending up with 1177 points, and was even in the top 25! I think next year I will have to up my game. 

Without further ado, there's "The Whole Shebang." Sorry for how small everything looks, but when the Alamo covers nearly my entire game table you can kind of get the full scale of it.

Lastly, here's me, saying "hello" and "thanks." Until next year my friends. Also, I intend to occasionally host Zoom meetings so people can collegially say hello and paint together throughout the year. I will post up notifications on the Challenge facebook group.

Happy painting!

Forest

From BruceR, All Good Things Come to an End, AHPC XII in the Books

In my second year of the Challenge I had another superb time.  I thoroughly enjoy paging through the numerous posts and "attempting" to comment on as many as I can.   I want to thank everybody for comments on my posts and to apologize to those I did not get to in commenting.  The feedback is a boost when read and keeps the juices flowing.  

Spring is here and time to move outside.  Though, right now it is snowing here in ND once again.  So I can write this.    

I've done it already, yet I want to thank Curt and Sarah once again for the opportunity to engage with so many like-minded hobbyists.  A big salute to the minions for their hard work and contribution to the hobby.  

I'm shrugging off  my trip to Adepticon, where I played games with multiple great folk and had a marvelous time.  I reloaded the paint pile.  

Proof of Adepticon.  Here is me............ with some bloke I met in Chicago.

Here is the fruits of my AHPC XII labor.

Some action shots from a themed Sharp Practice event at ACon with 4 of us bringing our forces and playing away all day Saturday.  A blast.  The new wee men did as usual and won some, lost some.  Fabulous time.

Rocking some SAGA.

A rear shot of my AHPC Warlord moving up on a band of Irish, who needs bodyguards....

Again, be well, be safe, and be happy.  

Cheers all.

Bruce

from RayR - Challenge Wrap up

First of all, I do apologise for the dodgy picture, this was the best of a very bad bunch! I think my wife was waiting for me to blink or pull an even more stoopid face than this one, and that's me being normal too!!!

Anyway enough with me, this post is about what I managed to get painted after all.

When I put all the figures out on the table they looked a lot, but not so in the photo?

Challenge XII was a first for me, it was the first challenge were I painted exclusively 25-28mm figures. Not s 15mm figure in sight this year?

I did participate in the bonus rounds in the Challenge Quadrant and even finished at the centre. It always helps knock your points total up. Luckily most of the bonus round figures can fit into my onging projects. There were only 9 figures that don't, they will live in the box of doom, never to be seen again, or maybe I'll give them away??

I concentrated on 2 projects this year, the Haitian Revolution above, were I painted up a Spanish unit, a Spanish Militia unit and some more dastardly rebels, as well as some Spanish commanders and Haitian Voodoo priests.

Last year it was the Ottomans, this year it was some of their foe for my Vienna 1683 project.

I painted up some Polish Winged Hussars, Pancerni, Polish Cossacks, three Haiduk regts and some commanders. Also for the Imperialists I painted up a unit of Militia, Cuirassiers and artillery.

The Ottomans did get in on the act receiving some extra commanders and their long awaited artillery.

My main aim like most challengers is to get as much painted as humanly possible, I set myself a goal of 1200 points and hoped for a top 20 finish. The 1200 mark was soon passed and changed up to 2000 points, thinking I might be able to get a top 10 finish this year round? 

I did manage to pass the 2k mark late on, but ran out of time and steam and reached a total of 2168, I did late on try to beat my total last year of 2260, but it wasn't to be. But I did get my highest placing of 7th, since Challenge III in 2012/13 where I finished 4th. So I was well chuffed with that.

So all in all I painted up

227 x 25mm foot figures

57 x 25mm Cavalry figures

Total of 344 figures last year it was (231)

Various terrain pieces and buildings

5 Boxes

Torture Cage

5 Artillery pieces

a BBQ!

a Forge

a Table

Here's my performance so far in all the Challenges

Challenge II        4940 points 1st

Challenge III       2586 points 4th

Challenge IV       1227 points 17th

Challenge V          691 points 37th

Challenge VI        681 points 36th

Challenge VII      1093 points 24th

Challenge VIII      662 points 40th

Challenge IX       2274 points 8th

Challenge X        1687 points 11th

Challenge XI       2260 points 8th

Challenge XII      2168 points 7th

I've said it before and everyone's already said it, a massive thanks to Curt, Sarah, all the Minions and all the rest of you Challengers, for all their hard work it running the challenge,  putting it all together and for pulling me along in 3 months of madness! Its been a blast and I'm already looking forward to it all starting again in 9 months!

Cheers

Ray

From StuartL - Ready For Challenge XIII - Challenge XII Wrap Up

Hello all,

So that's the challenge all over and done with then? Right, best get started prepping for the next one. Three months sounds like a long time, but I am always surprised at how quickly the challenge is finished. Similarly, I never think that I have painted as much as I have, but when I put everything onto my table, I am shocked by the sheer number of minis. 

So, how was this year's challenge for me? Well, my initial target was 1500 points, but after milking every point I could from the Challenge Quadrant and then some, (I think I scored about 600+ points from the map) I was able to adjust my target up to 2000 points, which I bypassed by a margin of 10%. When the challenge began, my wife asked me how many models I was going to paint. With my 1500 point target, I guesstimated 300 minis, assuming a 28mm scale infantry figure on average. Since I don't really paint smaller scales very much, this turned out to be quite accurate with my final figure total coming to 298 minis. This wasn't my most productive year, but as my non-challenge painting speed is about 30 figures a month, it was still a phenomenal output. I finished in 5th place overall, but still over 1000 points behind FrederickC in 4th place. I don't know how others break the 3000 point barrier. Even if I had more time available, I don't think I could spend it painting. This year I also served as the Squirrelfinder General, adjudicating the Squirrel side duel after withdrawing my entry to that contest. It was actually a fair amount of work as the variety of posts, schedules and challengers meant that tracking down who had painted what was way more complicated than it at first appeared. In a couple of cases entries had been posted in the wrong order, so people's Squirrel counts appeared to be going down, not up! Even though I didn't enter myself, I did a quick count as I was taking the photos below. I think I managed 15 Squirrels for myself. 

Thank you to everybody who commented on my posts and a huge thank you to all of the challengers for making the challenge what it is. A glorious celebration of our hobby covering everything from the dawn of man to the far future and the most impossibly tiny miniatures to massive mountain fortresses. There is such a huge diversity here that I am always inspired and awed by the output of all the challengers. Special thanks go to our supreme Snowlord, Curt and the Lady Sarah for running this challenge, the Minions for all of their hard work, and PeterD in particular for managing my posts.

So, on to the pictures.

Despite not playing any GW systems, I have a lot of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer 30,000 armies on the go. I actually expected to paint more figures for them than I did, but my attention seemed to have wandered a bit. There are also two Battletech minis included in this shot.

I painted up a large number of dwarves from North Star/Oathmark for this challenge. At the time I said that I had finished all of the models I had, but it turns out that I had missed a few. At some point prior to the challenge I had set 5 minis aside as a potential Squirrel and then forgot to put them back in with the rest of the figures. Also included are a few Malifaux and Post Apocalyptic minis.

Locally there aren't many historical players, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I really enjoy Saga and Bolt Action, so naturally have multiple armies for each system. I also have a large and steadily growing collection of minis for the Anglo-Zulu war. All of these got some reinforcements during this challenge.

If you kept up with my posts, you will probably have seen that I really like the models from the Reaper Bones kickstarters (having backed all 5 so far). I still have 1000s of these to do, but I made a dent in my pile this year, painting some of the larger models in my collection. There is another kickstarter beginning very soon, so no doubt the pile will be increasing again.

Finally we have some Warhammer Fantasy minis. Again, I don't play any GW games, but own far too many figures for them. Say what you will about GW's prices (ludicrous) and rules writing (average at best), but they do make some wonderful figures.

And (nearly) finally, the obligatory picture of everything I accomplished, complete with a mug shot. 

And before I forget. I entered into the Skullz side duel again this year, though I didn't really focus on it all that much. As the winner of the duel, Curt is entitled to use the skull of the previous year's winner as a drinking vessel of some kind. To help give Curt some idea of the volume of my noggin, I have provided measurements below.

See you all in the next challenge!

From JamesM: It's a half-wrap (AHPC 12)

Hi folks,

Another year, another challenge and another chunk of a project for my collection done. It's time to pat myself on the back, clean my brushes and... keep painting half-tracks. 

*sigh*

This challenge, I stuck mainly to my planned 15mm WW2 project, with a slight diversion into some old school Battlefleet Gothic. Next year I may suggest an 'anti-squirrel' duel. 

The winter months saw me completing twenty three vehicles, three guns and 24 infantry figures - all at 15mm scale. Mainly German (which I find far more time consuming to paint), but with a few British HQ and logistics bits thrown in. I've ended the challenge with six more half-tracks and six self-propelled guns to paint, and then I can move onto something else.  

Unfortunately the joys of brand new modern phone cameras designed for distant object zooms and wide angles means my group shot was blurry round the edges. 

Some close ups:

I finished the challenge with the six remaining half-tracks in a state of partial completion, and as usual a paint shelf full of stuff I didn't even get round to painting. German camo and foliage on vehicles really ate into my time each week. 

The British HQ base and the BFG ships were only considered after the challenge had finished, and I was really pleased with how both turned out. The BFG ships in particular were a pleasure to paint. I'm looking forward to painting more of these in the future as a diversion from my WW2 plans.  

As I didn't get a picture of me with the models (the camera on the phone isn't THAT wide lensed), I will stick with my new tradition (established last year) of me and one of my other top creations - my son. 

Thanks everyone for the company, especially those who joined the Paint and Chat's to say hello. Thanks to the minions and Curt+Sarah for running and organising again. By my count, this was my sixth challenge - and long may it continue. 

In total this year I completed 382 points against my target of 250, finishing way down the table in 64th place. 

Thanks all,

JamesM

From Barks: Gaze upon my works

The Challenge is an annual highlight I always look forwards to. It has been an honour to be your Thursday minion for AHPC XII. I fell heroically short of my target, but I did complete my Challenge Star. I got there in a very fuel-efficient manner, and should probably have used a few Star Yacht trips to gain more bonus points. Everything I did this year was 28mm sci-fi or fantasy, with a shameful lack of historicals. I did complete over 100 skullz, and got a fair way into Slowpainter's alphasoup.

Very much looking forward to AHPC XIII!

Barks

From TeemuL: Challenge XII Wrap up - Squirrel Hunting across the Galaxy (1376 points)

Let's start with some unfinished projects. My son managed to paint and finish some models, but he got a severe painter's block at some point and couldn't just decide what colours to use - I guess we all suffer from that from time to time. That left him with a bunch of partly painted minis, but I didn't want to pressure him, just mentioned from time to time, that my working area is crowded with his unfinished minis. :) The painter's block is seen best on the German halftrack (Revell 1:72), which we assembled together during the Challenge and which he painted in subassemblies, but then the block struck: he didn't know what colours to use and he "didn't want it to be too colourful..." Yes, Tamsin, once this is ready, we'll book a flight and go to the Mega City One for a ride. :D

There is also a terrain piece with purple rock, some wooden houses (the red one might be finished, I'm not sure), two Pathfinder models, Stormcast Eternal and Space Marine (he wanted to paint a marine from Aurora chapter once he saw one in my many books, but once assembled and primed, he wasn't so sure anymore), the already mention German halftrack Sd. Kfz. 9 "FAMO" and Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-10.

He did finish the Pathfinder Orc and a genestealer amongst the others, but I don't have a group shot of them, unfortunately. Anyway, it was much fun to paint and assemble and in general have hobby time, father-and-son time, doing something together which we both were interested - in addition of playing lots of boardgames and being outside in nice Finnish winter.

Guilty as charged. Here they all are in a compact formation with me lurking in the background. Photo taken by my son. Below are some closeups from the stuff I painted, but they came a bit blurry because of the lightning and my eagerness.

I had lots of ideas and plans before the Challenge, but most of them were thrown away. I wanted to "finish" projects, painting those last minis for armies from the pile of shame, to complete things. I made some progress on that. I also got carried away hunting squirrels and going through the planets, which distracted me from my first target - the Runewars army still has some unpainted minis and 20mm Austrians are still in the Italeri box and so on...

I did manage to paint all the Sludge minis I had planned for and even managed to play a game, that was nice. Sludge raised some interest, so here is a link to the rules (not free): Blaster 3 from DriveThruRPG. The Blaster 4 has some additional rules, if you are interested in, but Blaster 3 has all the rules you need to play.

It was fun to paint all these "strange" minis, ducks from Glorantha and pulp minis from Crooked Dice, without the Challenge I would still be painting Oldhammer, Blood Bowl and LotR, I guess - not necessarily a bad thing, but there is much more competition on my working area now and those three saw very little paint. May be again in the next Challenge.

Here is something from the smaller scale. Start of an Undead army for Warmaster, some tactical squads for Epic and a modest display piece of Cruel Seas ships. Beginning of Flames of War armies can be seen in the backrow...

Here they all are again, rather many Tyranids got paint as well. I guess I need to see what I need to paint more in order to be able to play with them. From this photo you can also see that planetary expedition gave me lots of points (including the tour of Twilight Ring and several stops at Sarah's Star Yacht). There are not that many minis painted, at least when they are all very close to each other.

Thank you Curt and Sarah, all the minions and other participants! I make my best to not miss the next Challenge. In the meanwhile, if you are interested in, you can follow my minis, boardgames and life on my instragram account: https://www.instagram.com/vainvader78/

From LeeH -AHPC XII Wrap Up - French Foreign Legion in Southern Algeria 1900-1903

Before discussing my closing picture I wanted to say what a great time I have had this year. On a personal level, this challenge has been hugely rewarding but as always it has also been a great bulwark against the craziness that is the real world. I continue to be in awe of the productivity and creativity of all the participants. I count myself very lucky to have been able to take part alongside you. And of course, I can't ignore the huge effort that Curt and the Minions put into this event every year. If I were wearing a hat, I would doff it to you in respect. 😆

So, after thirteen weeks of intense effort, I have managed to complete my entire French Foreign Legion project. Terrain, Buildings, French Legionnaires and Berbers and even some little side projects like unit markers, movement bases and a set of rules for a game within the game. Of course, when I say completed what I really mean is I completed everything that I had planned to paint when the Challenge started in December. I'm sure there will be a few additions to both sides and some scatter terrain passing across my paint desk soon...but first I need to clean up the mess that is my hobby room! As per tradition, here is my obligatory wrap-up shot of everything. 

Now I need to get started on some intensive playtesting to hammer the scenario into a workable game (and to thoroughly refresh my memory of the rules). In the process, no doubt, I will find all sorts of little projects to work on like a French Legionary flag for the fort; wild animals; and maybe more casualty figures. I'm also currently hunting for a suitable desert well in 15mm for this part of the world, and some 15mm figures I can use as Tirailleurs and Spahis for use at some unspecified time in the future. No project is ever truly finished. 

Ray recently commented that there weren't nearly enough spreadsheets or charts to accompany my entries this year. I have been using my long-running worksheet to keep a track of my progress, I just wasn't sharing it a lot... but just for Ray, here's my wrap-up chart for Challenge XII. 

Not my highest final tally, but considering I did that largely without the aid of the bonus rounds for the first time, I consider 923 Points a respectable total. 

So that's it from me. Once again, congratulations to all the participants this year. I'm already planning for Challenge XIII so I look forward to seeing you all on the field of battle in 9 months' time!