From: LeeH & RayR - A combined project round-up (and punch-up)

Ray and I got together yesterday to bring both sides of our Retreat from Moscow project together in the Rejects Shed-o-War. Laid out on the table we are more than a little amazed at how much we have got done during the painting challenge. Once again this amazing event has stimulated our creative juices, whipped up our enthusiasm and kept our brushes whirling in a way we never normally manage to replicate at any other time of the year. 

Ray beat Lee on points... so we recreated that beating in
front of our combined output from the Challenge 🤣

We've had a good long chat about our respective armies and have already made a list of extra units we want to add. We have already started making some of the terrain we want for this project and yesterday we made agreed what to buy next and exchanged ideas of items we would like to see on a future battlefield. So while the frenetic pace of activity during the challenge will abate a little over the next few weeks, we are hoping to keep that enthusiasm burning throughout the year. Ray summed it up perfectly when he describe our efforts during the Challenge as "phase one of the project". 

From FrederickC - AHPC XV Rounds Complete!

It is hard to believe that Spring is finally here, and yet it seems like the Solstice  was only a few weeks ago rather than three months. This is my fourth year of active participation, and I am very happy to finish in fourth place in the standings. I want to thank Curt and his crew of Minions for organizing and running the painting challenge, especially my Saturday Minion, Sylvain. I also want to thank all those who left comments on my posts (in no particular order - JamieM, SAS Wargames, TomC, Peter Brian, Teemu Laaksonen, MartinC, peter, DaveV, Adam, Bluewillow, caveadsum1471, Curt, Tom L, BruceR, Greg B, RichardM, Ray Roussell, Barks, Millsy, Norber, valleyboy, Emjenic, Dave D, Sander, Dallas, Peter Douglas, Robert Herrick, SimonG, JP, david bromley, Geoff T, Moiterei_1984).

With the removal of terrain from the scoring, I had to do some quick hunting through the storage boxes to find some old projects that were ready to go, so this year was a mix of new figures acquired in the latter half of 2024 and figures that have been in the 'Pending' basket for decades. I have always found the challenge to be very useful in getting me to stop ignoring those miniatures that have long been sitting around waiting for some paint to be applied. I am already looking at some other long forgotten projects to get ready for next year.

For my collection of Second World War figures I painted 48 French, 38 Sikhs and Punjabis, 34 Poles, 28 Germans, 8 Soviets, and 1 Italian, along with twenty-four motorcycles, four armoured cars, two machine guns, and two mortars. All of these were new acquisitions, most of them being 3D prints.

 

Soviets, Germans, Sikhs, Punjabis & an Italian, French, & Poles

 

For my collection of First World War figures I painted 34 French, 32 Germans, and 30 Canadians with two machine guns. The French were new, but the Germans and Canadians have been around for at least two decades.

 

French, Canadians, & Germans

 

The rest of the challenge projects were a real mixed bag from Historical to Fantasy to Old West consisting of 112 American Civil War Union and Confederate cavalry in 15mm, 49 Númenóreans, 24 Roman gladiators, 21 Old West gunslingers, 4 Star Wars characters, and 2 theme related miniatures.The oldest were the ACW cavalry from 30 years ago, followed by the Númenóreans which were patiently waiting for only 15 years. The rest were new acquisitions from 2024.

 

A rather eclectic collection.

 My congratulations to all the other participants. Whether you made your target, or not, you all put paint to minis, and that's what it's all about. Now that the pressure of painting has passed, I can go back and read all the posts I missed. My best to all, and we will see you again in about 9 months for AHPC XVI. 

The mandatory self-portrait

From LeeH - It's a Wrap! : The Russian army for the Retreat from Moscow

That was probably one of the most fun Painting Challenges I have done for years. I left my 6mm comfort zone to team up with Ray for a Retreat from Moscow combo, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. My initial target was 300 points which reflected the models I had bought when the challenge started. I didn't officially increase my target but once I had breached the 300 points and had a clearer idea of what I wanted to complete I set myself a private target of reaching 1000 points. I did indeed achieve this yesterday so you can see I bought a few more figures along the way! 

I have managed to complete one, sometimes two units a week, while still keeping up with posting here on the Challenge blog, on my own blog and still getting a weekly video for my channel in on time. Time now to dial back the workload, take a deep breath and have a tidy up... my Operations Room is a complete mess and unsurprisingly there is snow everywhere! 

My trajectory during this challenge has been pretty consistent,
netting my third highest tally.

Grenadiers

Musketeers / Line Infantry

3 units of Jáger skirmishers

Mounted officer

Another Musketeer / Line infantry unit

Three junior officers /  NCO's

12 Pounder Artillery and crew

Don Cossacks

Moscow and St Petersburg Opolchenie

Two mounted officers

Smolensk Dragoons

Two units of Jágers

Opolchenie 3 pounder gun & limber

Opolchenie 3 Pounder Gun Team

Cossack Opolchenie

6 Pounder Artillery piece & crew (and a Water Cart)

6 Pounder and 12 pounder Guns side by side

Water Cart

Two units of Carabineer's

Very angry peasants!

Phew!

Well done to Curt and all the Minions for a terrific job on this years Challenge. As always it is a highlight of my hobby year. And congratulations to all the participants this year. Your work has been inspirational. 

From DaveV: Dimachaerus and dungeon dwellers (15 points)

A final post; hopefully it makes it.

FrederickC and I have demo'd Wiley Games' gladiator combat game Arena of Blood on a few occasions now. Crusader miniatures has a very nice line of metal Gladiators. One fighter type I did not have a painted example of was the Dimachaerus, a double-armed fighter.

The figure has a lot of different textures: cloth, leather, bronze armour, steel swords, and a tinned or silvered helmet. I burnished the sword blades, and used aluminum and silver paints for the base layers of the helmet. I sketched other colours in acrylics over zenithal highlights, and finished with oils for blending. shadows, and highlights.

Along with a couple more dungeon monsters for The Fantasy Trip, 3D prints of in imp and a wolf I painted in similar style, this brings this year's challenge to a close for me. 

Congrats to all the participants; your modelling abilities (and speed!) are inspiring.

XXX

I tried to get some more Talisman figures done, but only managed some base coats on the planned figures. 

3 x 28mm figures = 15 points.

______________________________________

It's a bit past the deadline but I'll let it go because who doesn't love a well painted gladiator, a wolf and a green imp. Great work Dave!  :)

- Curt

 

From LeeH: Partizans ...or very angry peasants (80 Points)

My last entry for the Russians seeing off the French invasion are a couple of groups of very angry peasants. I’m calling them Partizans but essentially the Tsar ordered the whole state to rise up against the invaders. So alongside the regular army were up to 200,000 militia, the Opolochiene, some of which I painted a few weeks back. But civilians were also encouraged to harass, attack and frankly murder any French stragglers they could overcome. Talk about a hostile environment!

These models are from Perry Miniatures and I have based them as two units of Partizans in an irregular formation. They have a mobile deployment point that could potentially pop up anywhere. Not that I expect them to be any good against formed regulars, but for harassing stragglers or lone commanders, they will be ideal. As you can see I have also managed to paint another wagon, this time a simple two wheeled cart. It is stick in the rutted road, frozen in place and has been abandoned. 

 

So this is my last batch of figures for the challenge and I have to say I have had a great time painting my first 28mm army in probably 30+ years. Would I do it again? Probably not. I have enjoyed the challenge of painting this scale and breaking into Napoleonics for the first time. And I have really enjoyed collaborating with Ray on this project. But I have spent more money on this army than the last half dozen 6/15mm armies combined. And now I have to find a way to store them because they are taking up the space of four smaller-scale armies. I will find space, and I will play with these but I don’t think I will be dipping into 28mm again, except for the occasional lone figure…and more cavalry for this army at some point. Famous last words I’m sure, I’m convinced Ray has another project up his sleeve to tempt me with!

Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, Ray & I will bring both sides of this project together for a combined wrap-photoshoot and an ill-advised adding up of how much we have spent. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if our combined spending on this project exceeded £1000… and we haven’t even really started on the terrain yet. For comparison, my last three 6mm armies came to £96 combined. 

Scoring: 
12x28mm foot = 60 Points
1x28mm Vehicle = 20 points

(Total = 80 Points)

I just wanted to end by thanking Curt for running this event once again. It has become a staple of my hobby year and I'm always blown away by the quality and quantity of miniatures challengers produce in just three short months. I also must say thank you to the minions/judges for their tireless efforts. Well done to everyone who has taken part...we are nearly at the end, then we can have a rest while we plan our painting projects for next years challenge!

 

 

Sylvain: I have been watching the progress of your amazing Napoleonic project over the Challenge. Don't even worry about the money, it's all well "invested". And look at the final result, a brilliant collection of miniatures that will bring hundred of hours of fun! Have a great in-between Challenges rest of the year! 

 

From FrederickC: Early WW2 German Kradschützen and one more Circle of Paradise [The Wise] (285 Points)

Talk about sliding in under the wire. This morning I managed to finish off my last submission for this year's AHPC - two squads of German Kradschützen for a total of 28 men on 24 motorcycles or in sidecars for Bolt Action.

Kradschützen, vorwärts!

These are all 3D prints using STL files purchased from MyMiniFactory of German motorcycle troops either as single bikes or bikes with sidecars. Of the various sources for 3D prints I have seen, I thought these did an excellent job of rendering the Mauser Kar98k rifles and the M35 helmets. Where they fall down a bit is in depicting the standard German ammo pouches, which look more like the German Army flashlight. A few figures even had them positioned where the flashlight was often hung from the Y-straps. There was also in figure that had pouches for MP40 magazines (yeah!) but was still equipped with a rifle (boo!). Also the motorbikes don't quite look like either a BMW or a Zündapp, primarily in the position of the muffler.

All the bikes were mounted on popsicle sticks using PVA glue. They were then primed with Vallejo German Panzer Grey Surface Primer using an airbrush. Painting was done primarily using Vallejo acrylics (Army Painter colours indicated by AP) as follows: faces and hands - Flat Flesh; jackets - German Fieldgrey; trousers - AP Uniform Grey; canteen covers - Flat Earth; gas mask canister - Luftwaffe Camo Green; helmets - Charcoal Grey; belts, jackboots, ammo pouches, and bike tires - Black; rifle stocks - Beige Brown; rifle slings - Mahogany Brown; metal weapons parts - German Grey; motorbikes - German Panzer Grey; motorbike seats, and goggle straps - AP Leather Brown. When all was done, the figures got a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. Once the Quick Shade was dry, the bikes were mounted on bases that are either Warlord Games cavalry bases, or larger ones cut from old plastic restaurant gift cards.

The final figure for my final entry is an old school West End Games Star Wars figure of Obi Wan Kenobi to represent the Circle of Paradise - The Wise. This figure has been sitting primed black in a box with other Sci Fi/Star Wars minis along with Luke, Darth Vader and the Imperial officer I did for an early submission. He was painted with Vallejo acrylics (Flat Flesh, Dark Sand, Chocolate Brown, Stone Grey, White) followed by Citadel Reikland Fleshshade on the face and hands, Army Painter Mid Brown Wash on the robes and cloak, and Army Painter Blue Tone on a white base for the light saber. 

 “Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?”

             - Obi-Wan Kenobi

 

“An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”

“Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

The points being claimed are as follows:

29 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points = 145 points

24 x 28mm 'mounts' (motorcycle or sidecar) @ 5 points = 120

1 x Circle of Paradise - The Wise = 20 points

Thanks for stopping by. See you at the afterparty.

 

Sylvain: Especially for me, because I have an acute interest in the period, it's always a pleasure to read your posts about early WW2. I like your precise observations on the accuracy of the models. And I also enjoy the final result, a neat little formation of bikes that will buzz around some helpless French or British (or Dutch, or Belgian, or Norwegian). And Obi Wan is just like the mythic character we all love. Excellent last (?) post!