From PaulSS: Challenge XVI wrap up and next steps!

I've really had a really productive time for Challenge XVI, the Barons' War collection got a significant boost with not only combatants.

But also lots of townsfolks and vignettes.

Plus a load of period terrain pieces.

An unexpected addition to the ACW forces landed in late February when I ran out of Medievals.

The first two Bonus Rounds saw a few more 5mm Napoleonic French to add to last years and a Hot wheels for Gaslands.

The third bonus round saw an entirely new project with a 10mm Vampire force for Midgard.

This undead force bloomed in the final weeks of the challenge and saw me as a late comer to the Skull Duel overtaking the established order and taking the skull!

With the challenge over it was time to clean the gunk off the brushes and give them a bath!

They did not get to rest for long, I wrapped up the last few units of undead and added some themed terrain for them.

The 10mm Midgard adventure continues, needing an opponent for the undead I've now started on an Imperial  force!

Really happy how Challenge XVI panned out for me.

From PeterA: AHPC XVI Wrap Up

AHPC XVI Production

I've finally got to posting up my AHPC XVI production, the main delay being I've kept painting stuff! After a pretty barren 2025 painting-wise, the Challenge really got me enthused and painting again, and that has kept being the case since the end of the Challenge, so a big, big thank you to Curt!

I started with some ECW Dragoons from Bloody Miniatures; I had hoped to get more done, but got sidetracked!

Then we have the start of the Irish War of Independence project - a mixture of Footsore Miniatures and Gripping Beast.

Next up was the Cartel project for Haywire - a mixture of 3d prints from Black Hills Games, Combat Octopus and Turnbase Miniatures, plus a couple of die cast toy Land Rovers.

Last of all in 28mm were some old Zombiecide minis for Haywire: Outbreak.

Then in 15mm there were some Modern NATO infantry (3d prints from WarDaddy Studios) and two Russian AFVs from Flames of War.

And to round it all off, 3 Dreadnaughts for The Horus Heresy  in 15mm-ish; these are all 3d prints.

So, a grand total of 110 miniatures:

92x 28mm figures

10x 15mm figures

3x 28mm vehicles

2x 15mm vehicles

3x 15mm Dreadnaughts

Which means the challenge for AHPC XVII has to be to paint at least 100x 28mm figures!

Once again a massive thank you to Curt, Sarah, Dave the Sunday Minion, and fellow participants for their companionship, encouragement and kind comments; AHPC XVI was a real joy thanks to you all.

All the best for the rest of 2026 - stay safe and well and I hope to see you again on Dec 20 2026 - only 257 more sleeps!

From Curt: What I Did During Challenge XVI

Hi All!

Well, the dust has settled on Challenge XVI and I've taken the requisite number of days to unplug, dust off, and take stock. 

I knew that with three weeks away on vacation over February and March I had to be realistic about what I could complete. 

Of course, me being me, once out of the gate, I became like a deranged racoon on meth, distracted by ALL the things, ALL the time. 

Nonetheless, I'm still happy with what I managed to get across the line. 

Here are a few things of the few things:

Challenge Trolls

30K Kill Team

A Mischief of Mice for 'Burrows & Badgers'

Villains for 'Devilry Afoot'

Thirty Years War Bohemian Pike and Shotte

Assorted Sci-Fi Scoundrels

Not in the roundup: Banksy's Flower Thrower in Greyscale

Not in the roundup: A Priestly Scholar for Greg

_____________________________________________

So, another successful Challenge with much hobbying and hanging out with excellent people. What's not to like, right?! 

Damn straight. :)

Stay tuned for the nominations for Challengers' Choice along with the poll to vote for your top three submissions. 

Thanks for dropping in!

Curt

From Barks: AHPC XVI

Where did the time go? I knew this Challenge was going to be a struggle, but my aspirations still exceeded my grasp. I have plans for the upcoming year, inspired by Planetfall and Traitor's Toll, and the Challenge gave me opportunities to make a dent in the piles of potential. I was glad to see the return of terrain and scenery, but that is not points-efficient at all! I was particularly happy to get the Robin Hood figures done, and for them to gain recognition at the Theme round. I was also pleased to be able to host the Skull Duel again, which had a particularly exciting finish. I'm sitting pretty on 238 skullz.

Congratulations everybody, I really enjoy the camaraderie here. It is difficult to find time for painting in the attention economy, and I appreciate your support.

For my entry fee I made a donation to Effective Altruism.

Skully McSkullface and the Skull-o-meter™ will return!

From RichardM - Wrap up for AHPC XVI - 6mm Peninsular Napoleonics

Well here they all are on display.

Before I get to the photos I would like to echo all of the recognition that has been paid to Curt for the continued offering of such a wonderful opportunity to display and celebrate our hobby.  Huge thanks also to all of the minions but for me particularly to Millsy and to Dave who covered for him on one posting period.  Also a nod to the wonderful group who meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a chat and paint - it adds massively to my enjoyment and output.

Now to the colour and stats.  Firstly a few 'grand' shots (which means you can see nothing closely).

Neatly packed in their boxes - don't look like much do they?

Bit more impressive :)

Over the course of the challenge I have painted the following units - these amount to 2951 infantry figures and 578 mounted figures.

And some closer shots of the various contingents.  Firstly the Portuguese with the Cacadores in front of the Line infantry and cavalry behind.

Then the Spanish Infantry (Guards in front) followed by their cavalry and the British Cavalry at the rear.

And lastly the varied colours of the Confederation of the Rhine units with the French Cavalry at the rear.

I loved Paul's idea of a video so have given it a go and think it gets closer to many of the units and the colour of the Confederation.

This has been my third challenge - although the first was many years ago and I didn't make much of an impact.  I've really enjoyed myself and have a real sense of achievement at getting these units painted - some of which have been in a box for close to 20 years.  I still have a lot of 6mm Napoleonics to paint and refurbish - but this has greatly motivated me to keep going.

I've also put a reminder in my calendar for late November to make sure I do not miss the chance to sign up for the next installment.

Thanks everyone!

 

From ChrisW: Final post - A Cornucopia of miniatures (530 points)

A busy final week

So, first off, I really feel like I have to explain my painting process (such as it is) Any given week I typically slack off a lot before I frantically start flailing about to try and get some stuff finished. By Monday morning I wake up with a plan of what I can/must get done by Tuesday (posting date of Wednesday) However without fail I will suddenly start a brand new painting project on Monday morning rather than finish off the almost done stuff. The end result is that throughout the challenge I have started and stopped a number of projects, so that by the end of the challenge I have a lot of almost done miniatures. This is by way of explaining why my output seems kind of large this week. It also is not to say that all of this years challenge projects have been done. (more on that in my challenge end post)

The smaller groups of figures have been on the cusp of being done for quite a few weeks.

Now, armed with a new camera off we go!

VSF Prussian unicycle lancers [10x 28mm 'mounted' troops    [60 points]

&

VSF Prussian Armoured Penny Farthing [1x 28mm weapon      10 points]

I did not think I would get these done in time. When you are nearing the end of the challenge and you need a lot of points, these are not the figures you should choose. They are from Eureka miniatures, as is the armoured penny farthing bike. I have 4 penny farthing models, but could only locate this single model. The plan is to paint up each of the models based on the colours of some WWI German planes.

While the troops are 'mounted' they hardly count as fully mounted, so I gave them an extra point for the stick they are sitting on.

All Quiet on the Martian Front American tanks [25x 15mm vehicles 200 points]

These are the last major grouping of tanks that needed to be painted. I already have 18 of these tanks in the more traditional green colour and I decided to branch out to a different colour.

MK III tanks plus command (13)

MK IV tanks

There is 1 Command tank,  3 Mk 2 tanks, 12 Mk3 tanks, 6 Mk IV, and 3 hybrid Mg support tanks. The 3 support tanks will be assigned to some heavy armoured infantry companies. The remaining tanks will form a secondary company.

Except for the MG tanks, all the tanks were primed/base coated with English uniform rattle can. Then craft Khaki paints and light brown colours were used as an overbrush and drybrush, with the tanks ultimately having a wash applied to them , then more dry brushing and some weathering.

MG tanks (3)

Mk IV tanks (6)

MG tanks & Mk II tanks in front

BoB vehicles   [6x 28mm vehicles 120 points]

So, 2 Medium C tanks a ex French tank and 3 armoured cars. The two Medium C tanks will see service with my White Russian forces while the French Schneider tank is destined for a Chinese Warlord army. The German Ehrhardt AC will go to my Freikorps troops (once I paint them) Then the desert for one armoured car and somewhere in Russia (side to be determined) for the last armoured car.

Medium C tanks in White Russian service (2)

The two medium C tanks were not fun to build. Each of them are only 3 parts (plus some metal bits) but the two side parts are the same double sided part. This must make it easier to produce and ship, no mis packaging two left side parts. However it means that there is not any clear connection point when building it, no slot in one part to the other.

Chinese tanks

All of them have been well and truly dirtied up and one is especially rusty.

 

BoB Tugboat           [1x 28mm vehicle         20 points]

So, another Empress miniatures miniature. I just felt I needed one but I am not certain why. I may use it in some pulp game or maybe BoB. A total of 6 pieces make this a rather easy assembly. I left off the mast. There is no hole for it (yes I could drill one) but its main problem is it is very tall (yeah I could cut it down) I have visions of it getting tipped over in game play. But it would look neat on it, so maybe I will add it.

It is rather larger than some vehicle, but I scored it as a 20 point vehicle but a 25 point vehicle score would be another squirrel, just saying😉

So, while I confess it is painted yellow, it really does not look this yellow in person. It has a more of a dirty yellow, light yellow look to it. I can tell, because the bumpers are painted off white not yellow.

VSF static defenses and turrets. [3 defenses (10 each) 2 turrets (5 each) 40 points]

These are from Oshiro part of his VSF range. I have painted them for service on Mars (what else) but the redness of the base is not so intense that I could not use them on Earth. It took a while to paint these as I, at first, wanted to emulate the pics on Oshiro's site. But the pale grey/white did not work with the reddish bricks. So I went with shades of grey/green (3 in all)  

Witch Hunter general and troops    [8x 28mm foot, 1x mounted 50 points]

Foundry ECW officers, a Warlord shot and a Warmonger Witch Finder General make up this collection. Again, I still have not read the rules, but these are slated for Devilry Afoot as another faction/group. 

Combat Robots  [5x 28mm     25points]

I do not remember where I got these (maybe Alternative armies) I thought I had more of them but if I do all I could find were five of them. I seem to have a thing for robots, usually pulp robots but these are more Sci-fi in nature., so, I am not certain what use I will get out of them though I do have some  other Sci-fi stuff.

Old school Epic Knights [ 14x 5 points (28mm equivalent) 70 points]

Yet another blast from the past. So, here are twelve Imperial knights and 14 Eldar. These figures just cry out for contrast/speed paints. I especially like the contrast effect on the Eldar figures. I wanted the Imperium figures to be a bit more solid for their colours with the Eldar being more ethereal.

Fantastic battles characters  [7x 28mm figures  35 points]

So, a mix of figures these are to be used in fantastic battles. There are two Goblin thieves, an Orc mage and four Undead characters.

The two thieves and the Orc mage came from Warmonger miniatures. I had a tough time finding a good thief character, but stumbled upon these a while back. The Orc mage comes with a feather back thing, and once I find it again I shall paint it up.

Two of the undead characters are quite tall and fragile. There had been a large sword being wielded by the figure on the left, but it fell off pretty soon after purchasing the miniature. My attempts to fix failed, so now he just clenches his fist in anger. 

Solitaire (y) figure. [1x 28mm figure 5 points]

Points this time

•  200 points for 25x AQMF tanks [15mm]
•  120  points for 6 armoured vehicles [28mm]
•    20  points for 1 tugboat [28mm]
•    70 points for 14x Old School Epic knights [28mm size figures] 
•    50 points for Devilry Afoot Witch Finder general (mounted) + 8 foot troops [28mm]
•    35 points for 7 Fantastic battles characters [28mm] 
•    40 30 points for VSF turrets & static defenses
•      5 points for Solitaire figure

 Points Total 540

So that is that. I have reached my target, but it was a near run thing. Discounting the one theme post, I achieved my target on painted miniatures! But at a cost. This week was a frantic one, painting until 12:30 AM on Wednesday night. I would have been painting right up to the last minute but I have a convention to attend.

Thanks to my minion and to Curt for another fun challenge! 

Squirrels

8 more squirrels for a total of 36

1. Gladiators
2. Epic Orcs
3. Epic Imperial
4. Warlord Chinese
5. Red Russians RCW Back of Beyond
6. Alien Invaders
7. Pulp US Marines
8. Urban Cultists
9. Egyptian cultists
10. VSF Japanese armoured vehicles
11. Tripods
12. Bugs!
13. Evil minion deep sea divers
14. Puritans
15. Explorers of Egypt
16. Jungle explorers
17. Heroic deep sea divers
18. Muslim troops for the British
19. Free stater Armoured cars
20. Guardians of Antiquities
21. Minerva's Flying Circus
22. British cavalry and rocket launcher
23. BoB terrain (terrain post)
24. Epic Chaos Warlord Titans
25. Pillage Viking shield maidens
26. VSF Martian Hill Martians
27. Plague Apothecaries
28. Witches fair and foul
29. AQMF American tanks
30. BoB White Russian Medium C tanks
31. Witch Hunter General and troops
32. 28mm combat robots
33. Old school Epic Eldar knights
34. VSF Static defenses
35. VSF Prussian unicycle troops
36. Fantastic battles characters

Big stompy robots of death 

+14

Lady Sarah

Solitaire

****

Well...what can one say? That is quite a lot of stuff. I salute your devotion to the "Squirrel Duel" aspect of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. 

This was a little tricky to count up, but following some expert consultation on terrain points, I will actually rate your terrain bits at 30 points. I'm not sure the old time Epic Knights would sit to my eye as 28mm figures, but they are close enough I love to see OOP kit getting some paint, so I'll let that ride. 

By my count, that comes up to 530 points which is...quite a lot of points! If nothing else, Mars looks set to fall..or to conquer Earth?

Hope you have enjoyed your Challenge Chris!

GregB