The Awards for Challenge XVI

 

Like so many prizes, it's the anticipation of the opening that's so exciting...

Ahem. Speaking of prizes, welcome to the wrap-up of the 16th edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge!

We're all dialed-in with the tabulation of the votes for Challengers' Choice, Sarah with her choice of a female figure, and myself for Snowlord's Choice. 

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We had an excellent turnout for the Challengers' Choice poll, with 28 nominees and 43 people casting their votes. Below are the top ten placings chosen by our participants (with several tied places). We used weighted scoring, where 3 points are given for 1st pick, 2 points for 2nd, and 1 point for 3rd pick.

1. KerryT 'Body of Work' 

2. DaveD 'Bolsheviks' 

3. AdamC ‘WWII Naval Project' 

4. ChristopherS 'Pyrric Epirote Phalangite'

4. BruceR 'Once More Into the Breach'

5. RayR 'Finnish Medics'

6. PaulOG 'Galactic Gals'

7. GregB 'Dogs of War' 

8. Curt 'Banksy' 

8. Martin 'Body of Work' 

8. Martin 'Sigurd Fafnir's Bane' 

8. LeeH 'Winter War Soviets' 

9. Curt '30K Kill Team' 

10. MartinN 'Fallshirmjaeger and Firefly' 

10. BruceR 'Warmaster 10mm Project'

10. BruceR 'Black Coach'  

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AHPC XVI Challengers's Choice

Third Place

AdamC with his excellent collection of WWII ships.

Adam, for your talented efforts I'm sure you will enjoy a gift certificate from your fellow Challenger ByronM at 'Northern Lights Terrain'!

Second Place

DaveD for his beautiful Bolsheviks. 

Dave, I'm happy to award you a gift certificate from 'The French Wargames Holiday Centre'!

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...and the Challengers' Choice for AHPC XVI goes to...

KerryT for his fantastic body of work over the course of the Challenge!

Congratulations for your well-deserved win, Kerry! Your prize is a gift certificate from Martin and Diane over at 'Warbases'! 

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AHPC XVI Sarah’s Choice

Hello Everyone!

It’s the time of year for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge wrap up and time to make the selection for Sarah’s Choice … an increasingly difficult task!

I’m always amazed at the cool figures presented and often the background stories included are soo interesting.


Honourable Mentions

Paul O’Grady: 'Galactic Gals'

Love the Power Ranger colours and the badass “grrrl power” vibe. I came upon this quote and it’s most apt for these ladies

“She wasn’t looking for a knight, she was looking for a sword”

ErikP: Farm Ladies from 'Horse & Musket Civilians in the Fields'

Anyone who includes a Pride & Prejudice quote about mud & petticoats gets my attention and fully deserves to be included in the Sarah’s Choice write up.

Well done Erik… the farm lass with the buckets is fabulous and her work worn clothes do indicate “an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country - town indifference to decorum!”

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Sarah’s Choice for Challenge XVI

PeteB. 'The Little Lady and the Cat'

I love everyone about this entry… the realistic cobblestone and stonework, the lavender blue of the shutters, her green dress and her whimsical daydreaming pose at the window. Who or what is she waiting for for? I look forward to seeing the additions to the vignette next year.

Pete, I'm delighted to award you a gift certificate from Kawe over at Westfalia Miniatures. Enjoy!!

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Snowlord's Choice

For Snowlord's Choice, I often like to spotlight fresh faces coming into the Challenge as these people will become the torchbearers for our hobby in the years to come. So in this vein this year the Snowlord's Choice goes to QuinnM.

I very much enjoyed all your entries Quinn. From the White Scars to Turnip28, and then on to The Walking Dead, your work exhibited a bold grasp of colour and the use of lighting effects that I quite enjoyed.

I was particularly impressed with your Tree Lord. Such lovely brushwork on that imposing figure.

For your great work this year I'm delighted to award you with a gift certificate from Goblin King Games (makers of 'Moonstone'). I look forward to seeing what you do with their figures!

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My thanks to all the nominees for sharing your wonderful work with us. For those lucky prize winners, please email me to work out the details for getting your prizes. 

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As Challenge XVI formally concludes, I’d like to thank again our brilliant Minions for all their hard work in herding the hundreds of entries, wrangling with the Spreadsheet of Doom and generally keeping everything cruising along smoothly. Hats off to Barks for keeping track of our skull-count and Stuart with those distracting squirrels. I also wish to thank our Challenge Sponsors for their generous support of the event.  If you have a free moment please visit their sites via the banners on the left sidebar and see if something strikes your fancy.  

In closing, I bid you all a very fond farewell. Enjoy the next eight months until we get together again for the next run.

Cheers!

- Curt

The Nominations and Voting Poll for AHPC XVI's Challengers' Choice!

Hi All!

Below are the nominations (in alphabetical order) for Challenge XVI's Challengers' Choice. Feel free to follow links to view the nominee's source submission (or body of work). Afterwards, please visit the voting poll to submit your top three choices in order of preference. 

AdamC: WWII Naval Project

BruceR: Once more into the Breach

BruceR: Black Coach Vampire Lord

BruceR: Warmaster 10mm Project

ChristopherS: Pyrrhic Epirote Phalangite

Curt: 30K Kill Team

Curt: Banksy's Resistance in Greyscale

Curt: Villains for Devilry Afoot

DaveD: Bolsheviks

GregB: Axehole 2.0

GregB: Onward to Orleans

GregB: Dogs of War Entries

KenR: Obwalden & the Rear Rankers, Swiss Pike

KerryT: Body of Work

LeeH: Winter War Soviet BA10

LeeH: Winter War Soviets are Ready

MarkG: Russian Civil War Armoured Train

MartinN: Fallshirmjager and Firefly

MartinN: Sigurd Fafnir's Bane

MartinN: Body of Work

PaulOG: Galactic Gals

PaulSS: The Danse Macabre Marches On

QuinnM: Tree Lord

RafaelO: Warmaster Lizardmen

RaulM: Black Seas HMS Indefatigable

 

RayR: Finnish Medics

RayR: Polish Winged Hussars

RichardM: 6mm Spanish Napoleonics

Voting will be open until midnight Friday April 17th and we will announce the results for the roundup that Sunday (19th).

Thank you!

- Curt

The Close of Challenge XVI - Final Three for 30K Killteam

Brushes down and lift your paint water in a toast to the conclusion of Challenge XVI!

With 743 entries submitted over 13 weeks, we've managed to paint an insane amount of minis and terrain!

We also hit another landmark mid-Challenge with the submission odometer ticking past 10,000 entries since Challenge V (back in 2012). So, I'm pretty chuffed about that.

I was hoping for something a bit more in-theme for my last post, but time ran away from me and as a result I've circled back to one of my earlier entries to do a final flourish.

This is the final three figures for my 30K Killteam, built around the Shattered Legions storyline.

As I mentioned in my original post, this squad is meant to depict a group of survivors from the Dropsite Massacre. My crew is mostly made up of Raven Guard, but two of this trio are from the Iron Hands and Salamander Legions.

Similar to the first three figures, I've really dirtied these guys up, reflecting the desperate out-of-supply, out-of-support situation they are operating in. Each is sporting a jet pack as I wanted to depict a very mobile Assault cadre, conducting hit-and-run missions behind enemy lines.

The Raven Guard figure required it to be mounted on a flying base, which I sourced from my magnetised stocks.

Crossed fingers on his continued survivability, but I'm not entirely confident. Nevertheless, he's armed with power claw back-scratchers so at least he'll go down fighting.

Next is a Iron Hands 'Immortal'. These guys are breacher specialists meant to serve in the front ranks, soaking up fire with their enormous shields.

Accordingly, I heavily scarred up his shield and power armour to give him the look of a grizzled, shot-magnet, veteran.

Finally we have a Salamander 'Pyroclast' officer. These lunatics loooove heat-based weapons and huge honkin' hammers (you know, as one does).

Again, he's very grimy and sooty, ready to BBQ heretics with his flamer and then pound them into paste with his tenderizer. Funny thing is, in the 30K universe these guys are the most temperate and emotionally balanced of all the Legions. Yep, GrimDark indeed...

And a final shot of the Killteam as a whole, with Greg's wonderful Optae in centerstage.

These three fellas will provide me with a very modest 15 points, but I'll happily take them as, hey, the weren't done a few days ago and that's what the Challenge is all about, right?! Right.

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In closing, I wish to take cap in hand and give a deep bow to our marvellous Minions: (in alphabetical order): Byron, Dallas, Dave, Greg, Millsy, Peter, Sander and Sylvain. To all of you, thank you so much for keeping this silly event moving in one direction - It goes without saying (but I always will) that I could not have done it without you.

Finally my thanks to all our participants. This event would be nothing without your participation, talent and good nature. It was an absolute treat to spend the winter with you all painting figures and having a great time.

I ask all participants to email me your three nominations for Challengers' Choice (deadline end of day, March 29th). From that list I'll post a voting poll and on April 19th we'll make the announcements for Challenger's Choice, Sarah's Choice and my own Snowlord's Choice.

Finally, as per tradition, I invite our Challengers to post a final round-up shot of what they managed to achieve this year. Come now, don't be shy in showing your hard work and fabulousness! 

Best

- Curt

 

The Votes are In for the 'Resistance' Theme Round!

The votes have been tabulated for our third and final theme round: 'Resistance'! 

I enjoyed taking-in the various interpretations of 'Resistance' (some perhaps a bit more tenuous than others).  We had entries depicting Joan of Arc to the Dutch Resistance, from Luke Skywalker to the Free French, all excellent examples of the power of various kinds of resistance. 

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In third place is Barks' excellent submission of Robin Hood's 'Merry Men'

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For 2nd place, we have Dallas' doom of Custer, his wonderfully painted 'Plains Warriors'.

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And, in first place, we again have Kerry (the Man with a Plan) with his very impressive castle and siege works in his 'Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War'!

Wonderful work, Kerry!

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Kerry, in recognition of your first place for the theme I'm delighted to award a $50 gift voucher from Byron's Northern Lights Terrain & Gaming Supplies. Please drop me an email for details and thank you Byron for your prize support!

Again, a big congratulations, to Barks, Dallas and Kerry!  Also, a huge thank you to all those who submitted their creations for this, the final theme round - alway good fun!

Now, back to your brushes and final projects as we close-in on the end of the Challenge - Good Luck!

- Curt

Full Speed to the Finish!

Hi All!

Holy moly! It's hard to believe, but we are now entering the last week of the Challenge. Wowzers. With that in mind, I have a couple administrative reminders, and an update:

1) If you haven't done so already, please put aside some time to take-in the wonderful Theme Round entries for 'Resistance' and cast your votes for your top three choices. The deadline for voting is today (Saturday) midnight. I hope to announce the results of the voting late Sunday. 

2) Starting Monday we will be going into the final 'Free Fire' period for submissions. This means that you can submit at any time you like and our friendly minions will post and score your hard work.

3) Finally, due to a very busy work week, I'm going to extend the Challenge by 24hrs. So instead of concluding at 12:01am Friday, the wrap-up will be 12:01am Saturday. I'm sure there are a few of us that will welcome those few extra hours to get that last submission across the line (I know I will)!

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing your final entries over the coming week! Full speed ahead!

- Curt

The 'Resistance' Theme is Now Up!

Hi All!

Just briefly nudging into Dave's late Sunday to notify everyone that the entries for our last theme: 'Resistance' are now up on display on the Bonus Theme blog so please click over and check out all the terrific submissions (and remember to cast your vote for your top three picks).

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My entry for the round lifts shamelessly from the theme poster, which is Banksy's 'Rage, The Flower Thrower'. The original can be found in the town of Beit Sahour, near the wall separating Israeli and Palestinian communities on the contested West Bank. It depicts a rioter in sharp black and white, throwing not a Molotov cocktail, but rather a bouquet of flowers, which are depicted in colour. 

It's one of Banksy's most iconic pieces and can be found on t-shirts, posters and geegaws everywhere (in fact, Sarah has it on her favourite coffee mug which she got in Antwerp when we were last there). I found a 3d design of the image on Cults and printed a 40mm copy to work on.

To echo Banksy's stark contrast of the b&w figure to the flowers, I dusted off my greyscale recipe that I used for my WWI project and did the figure along the same lines. 

It was fun getting reacquainted with painting in greyscale, though it's been a good while since I've tried it. Thank goodness I had the sense to keep a paint journal, otherwise I'd be completely hooped trying to remember the shades I originally used.

Banksy's work is a powerful statement on protest and non-violent resistance, and I thought it particularly apropos considering recent events, especially in light of the people of Minneapolis being nominated for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for their nonviolent resistance to the ICE activities in their city. 

I'm sure the President was absolutely thrilled to hear of this news as well. :)

Enjoy the entries and remember to vote for your favourites!

- Curt