From StuartL - Challenge XVI Wrap Up

Hi all,

    Well, that is another challenge over and done with, and for once, I took it easy on myself. I finished in 24th place overall, came second in the Squirrel hunt and fourth in the Skull duel. 

    From the outset of the challenge, I knew that this year would be a quiet year for me. I set a modest goal of 1000 points and beat it by a small margin. I could probably have done more, but recent events in my life have shown me that I need to manage my stress levels, and spending every hour at my painting desk frantically highlighting skulls isn't the best way to do that. I do find painting relaxing, but there is a limit to how much enjoyment I get from it. I think I did well this year in finding the fun in getting stuff done, without burning myself out. In previous years, I have avoided my hobby room for weeks after the challenge finished, but this year, I have been painting (slowly) in the days since we passed the finish line.

    In terms of my output, I was happy with what I got done. I made progress on a bunch of projects and even started off a couple of new ones. I was able to enter something in all three of the bonus rounds, and gave a good accounting of myself in the duels I entered.

    Looking back over the challenge, I was a little disappointed at first that we didn't have the maps and bonuses from previous years, but I realise that not having them made it easier for me to relax and to enjoy the painting process a lot more. I certainly wouldn't mind if they made a comeback in the future, but I found the system easier to manage this year.

    A big thank you to Curt for organising this event, to Millsy for his minioning of my posts, and to everyone who commented on my entries. Thank you. You are what makes the AHPC such a joy every year. 

    So, that is it from me, I am already looking forwards to AHPC 17. See you all then!

Squirrel Duel - The Foregone Conclusion

Greetings fellow Squirrel finding fanatics,

    First of all, my apologies for not getting an update out in early March. Work was busy, life was hectic and putting one of these posts together takes a couple of hours and way more effort than people probably realize. 

    Anyway, I have gone through everything including the theme round entries and put together the final tally of Squirrel Points. Before we go on to the scores, a few quick notes. If you have more points than you expected, it was because I counted some entries that you overlooked. If you have less points than you expected, it is because your claims didn't meet the 25 points minimum to claim a Squirrel Point.

    Let's have a quick look at some of this month's entries, shall we?

A Roman gang by BrianC

Rashaar by CurtC

Some Austrians by KillianF

An undead catapult by TeemuL

Some Saxons by TimP

    This year's Squirrel Duel saw a huge range of minis in terms of periods, scales and genres. I would like to thank everyone who took part, and I would especially like to thank those of you who kept a list of your Squirrel Points in you challenge entries, it made my life a lot easier. In the duel information post I predicted that half of the entries wouldn't include the Squirrel label, and while it was less than half, it was still a fair number. I was pretty lenient and went through every challengers posts one by one, though I probably should have been a lot stricter.

    So, on to this year's winner. In the last Squirrel update, I asked if anyone could catch ChrisW.

...And the answer was.....

A resounding NO!

    ChrisW is this year's winner, with a splendid 36 Squirrel Points, Congratulations to KerryT and TeemuL for coming in joint 3rd place. Well done to all our Squirrel Side Duel challengers. You have proved once again that there is always space for another side project or extra set of minis somewhere in our collections.

    So, that is it for Challenge 16's Squirrel Duel. I hope to see you all again in Challenge 17.

    -The Squirrelfinder General

From StuartL - Finishing at the Start - 75 Points

Hi all,

Despite a lot of real life stuff going on, I was able to finish off some minis just in time. Both of the batches below represent new projects for me, hence the title of the post.

Many years ago, I got into Napoleonics with some friends at my local gaming group. I bought a few brigades of Waterloo era British, while those around me collected French, Russians, Austrians and Prussians, though mainly for the slightly earlier period. Unfortunately, all of my opponents moved away or changed hobbies completely. This left me with a bit of a problem. Having only one force meant that they would never see the table. So, I figured that I would have to start collecting a second army. While I was tempted to get a Waterloo era French force, I decided to go for the earlier uniforms. I got a couple of boxes of Perrys 1807-14 French for Christmas, but I haven't had time to start building them yet. I did want to do something for the challenge, so I had a friend print me some artillery.

    These are some French Foot Artillery from Battlecat Miniatures on MyMiniFactory. They were fairly easy to paint up and the details were nice and sharp. The gun limbers have very deep grain on the wood, which doesn't look so realistic up close, but at tabletop level it should be fine.

    I did have some trouble getting all of the minis onto the bases I had, especially the guy adjusting the wheel position. Some parts of the figure are sticking out over the edge of the base.

    
    These are really nice minis and I am thinking to have my friend print a few more for me. I have a couple of French generals printed as well, but sadly time was not on my side. 

    The second new force is more Space Marines. I have way too many Space Marine armies, (cough, 14 different armies including this one), I think I may have a problem. My armies come in two types, Horus Heresy armies and Badab War armies. These are both primarily Marine Vs. Marine conflicts, which explains why I have so many. I have dabbled with the new Primaris figures, but sold them on as they weren't really my thing.

    These five minis represent half of an assault squad for the Star Phantoms Chapter for the Badab War. Painting this much white was not as much fun as you might expect. 

    The Star Phantoms' background hints that they are an offshoot of the Dark Angels Legion, from the Dreadwing formation, which uses the same iconography. Their preferred tactical doctrines are 'Scorched Earth' and 'War Crimes'. They lean heavily into the 40K skull motif too.

     I have a bunch more models for this force lined up, so hopefully there will be more to come in the next challenge.

    Well, that is about all from me for this year. So, this final group should score me:

2x artillery pieces = 20 Points

6x French gun crews = 30 Points

5x Space Marines = 25 Points

    That should add 75 Points to my tally, taking me well past my target number, though not as high as previous years. 

    This lot get me two last Squirrels and the Star Phantoms have 32 Skulls between them.

  My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 271 (+32)
BSRoD - 17 (+0)
Squirrels - 20 (+2) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28, Space Wolves, Free French, Arabs, Snake Folks, French Napoleonics, Star Phantoms.

__________________________________

I know you've been very busy as of late so it's nice to see you back for a final volley, Stuart. 

The Star Phantoms are very nice in their stark white livery and close combat weaponry. That being said, the stars of this post (at least for me) are the French artillery. I've seen several examples of Battle Cat figures during this year's Challenge and they look very nice (I think the deep woodgrain is a nice feature as it helps with painting). You've done a great job on this small battery and I look forward to seeing more from this project next Challenge! 

Until then have a great rest of the year!

- Curt

From StuartL: Arabssss (50 Points)

    Hi all, well, we are coming to the end of the challenge, and I still have a small way to go to reach my target. Work has been incredibly busy this year, but I have managed to do a bit of painting here and there.

    Today, I have two small groups of models to post. First of all, some Arabs for Saga.

    These are a mix of plastic and metal miniatures. The plastic figures are from Gripping Beast, but I can't remember where the metal figures came from as I tend to order from a variety of makers when doing historical projects.

    

    The figures were all easy to paint up with just base coats, washes and highlights. 

    The next set of figures are some 3D printed Snake Folk.

    These models are from Artisan Guild on MyMini Factory. They were fun to paint and I have a bunch more of them in my to-do pile. I have no idea what I will use them for, but the models are cool even if I don't have a plan yet.

    So, that gives me 10x 28mm minis for a total of 50 Points, plus two extra Squirrels for my tally. (Apologies to all Squirrel Duelists, I haven't had time to do another update, so we'll have to wait for the Challenge to finish to see the final totals.)

    Hopefully I can get some more minis done before the end of the Challenge.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 239 (+0)
BSRoD - 17 (+0)
Squirrels - 18 (+2) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28, Space Wolves, Free French, Arabs, Snake Folks

From Millsy:

I recongnise those Arabs. I painted a whole pile of them last Challenge and that was just my most recent batch. You've done a sterling job on them Stuart and they look a lot better than the "serviceable" description I would normally apply.

Your Snake Folk are definitely cool. I'm 100% in agreement you don't need to have a specific use for something just to buy and paint them. It's one of the joys of a hobby, just do it because it makes you happy. My problem is that then leads to ideas on HOW I could use them, then needing MORE, and then... I'm willing to bet you suffer from a little of that too :-P

Great stuff and another 50 points banked. Nice one.

Cheers,

Millsy

From StuartL: A Group of Lone Wolves (25 Points)

Hi all,

    Another short post from me this week. Work has been taking its toll and I have had barely enough time to paint, let alone chase squirrels. (An update to the Squirrel Duel is coming though). 

    This week I have managed to finish 5 models for my Space Wolf army for Warhammer 30,000. These minis are a mix of 30K and 40K parts from various different kits. There are some 30K armies that look fine just using the basic figures, and there are some that benefit from being a bit more thematic. I believe that the Space Wolves fall into that category.

    These models represent Deathsworn, an elite assault unit made up of somewhat mentally unstable, cold blooded killers, even by the regular genetically-enhanced murder-machine standards of Warhammer. Their rules are pretty good in 2nd edition 30K, as they synergize well with the Space Wolf Legion rules, which are all about getting stuck into combat quickly. 

    I've had comments before about my Space Wolves blending into their grey bases, which they clearly do. However, that is the basing scheme I chose for all my Heresy armies, so I guess I am stuck with it. 

    Five 28mm scale infantry should get me 25 points closer to my challenge target. It's not much, but it helps. They also come with 17 skulls for that duel and a squirrel point too.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 239 (+17)
BSRoD - 17 (+0)
Squirrels - 15 (+1) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28, Space Wolves

From Millsy:

I don't often miss stuff I've sold but when I saw these Stuart it made me think about my old metal Space Wolves and I do still miss them. Maybe it's the Viking aspect, or all the skulls and pelts, there's just something so appealing about them.

Great brushwork on these mate, especially the power weapons and shoulder decoration which both look awesome. They definitely have an "elite" feel to them.

25 points more towards your target. Good stuff.

Cheers,

Millsy

Squirrel Duel - Fourth Update

Greetings fellow lovers of all things Squirrelly.

    My apologies for the lateness of this update. Work has been really busy recently. I have tried to tell my boss that I need time for Squirrel Finding, but she just makes comments that I don't really understand, such as "...not what we pay you for!" and "Have you been taking the medicine the nice doctor gave you?" Managers eh?

    Anyway, before we get into the details, here are a few of the squirrel related outputs from some of the challengers. 

ChrisW has some heroic divers.

DavidB painted a bunch of Battletech minis.

MartijnN painted some Austrians for Silver Bayonet.

MartinC painted some English Football Fans Ogres for Bloodbowl.

    Now for some admin stuff. Just to remind everyone to tag your posts with the Squirrel label. The plural label Squirrels is not necessary, I do check it, just in case, but you won't be getting double points. Speaking of double points, there are a couple of challengers who use two different handles for posting. (With and without a space), making it necessary to double check everything.

    As a reminder, you get Squirrel Points for painting a unique army. You do not get them for claiming two different parts of the same army, e.g. infantry and tanks. So, DavidB, you didn't get a Squirrel Point for your WW2 German vehicles. However, I think your Battletech models were undervalued, so I counted them for a Squirrel Point instead. (The Squirrelfinder General has the authority to do so under Section 9, Clause 7 of the Squirrelfinder Code).

    And now for the part where we find out who is leading the pack. While there has been a lot of changes to the scores, one challenger in particular has been particularly thorough in their Squirrel-ing. See if you can spot who it is.

    Did you find them? Yes, it's ChrisW, who scored more Squirrel Points since the last update than nearly every other challenger has scored in the challenge so far. Well done!

    There should be one more update before the end of the challenge. Can anybody catch up the ChrisW.?Could anybody catch up to ChrisW? We shall see. (The smart money is on 'no'.)

    As always, questions below. I do keep track of what you have been awarded points for, so if the numbers seem wrong, please do speak up.

    The Squirrelfinder General.

From StuartL: Even in death, I still serve (20 points)

Hi all,

    Just a short post from me this week. I work part-time teaching junior high school students to speak English here in Japan. I have roughly 300 students at any given time, and this month is when they write essays. So, I have 300 essays to proofread and spell check. Fun. Unfortunately that really eats into my painting time. I had hoped to get more done for today, but even getting this done was a struggle.

    This model is a contemptor dreadnought of the XIII Legion, Ultramarines for my Warhammer 30,000 army. (Well, one of them). It is an older plastic kit from the Betrayal at Calth box set that came out in 2015. The model is very mono-pose, so I used a spare arm from the newer kit to build it's melee arm, complete with a massive chainfist and built-in melta gun.

    I originally had the model done yesterday, except for the decals, but when I went to apply them, I had a number of mishaps. The first few just would not release from the backing paper and wound up disintegrating instead. Once I got a new batch cut and ready, the first one went on fine, but as I moved the model to set up the next one, I touched it and it adhered to my finger. The decal on the kneepad refused to line up where I wanted it. It was.... frustrating.

    Eventually, I got everything in place and varnished, so those pesky things are there for good now.

    One of the differences between Warhammer 30K and 40K is that the 30K models have less skulls on them, a travesty, I know. So I did what any right thinking person would do and added some of my own. There are only 4 skulls, so not an amazing increase. I will take what I can get. It also adds to my Big Stompy Robots count for that side duel. Not enough for a Squirrel point sadly.

    This is a single 28mm scale vehicle, so 20 points for my tally this week. Not a lot, but it keeps my score moving in the right direction.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 222 (+4)
BSRoD - 17 (+1)
Squirrels - 14 (+0) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28

    That's it from me for now, back to the proofreading. See you all next week.

From Millsy:

Your line about "right thinking people" and extra skulls made me laugh mate. Clearly you are fully invested and anyone who thinks differently is a heretic and should be purged!

As someone who has been suffering the pain of decals of late I can sympathise. Seems like there is no way to know if a set have degraded until you try to apply them unfortunately. They came out well in the end so kudos for persisting! He looks sweet and the script on his chest is a great touch.

Well done! That's another 20 points added to your tally.

Cheers,

Millsy

From StuartL - A Terrifying Tale of Turnips - 25 points

Hi all,

    I managed to get another entry finished off this morning, and I have just enough time to get it posted before I start work. A few years ago, the game Turnip28 squelched onto the scene and was quite popular for challengers. I worked on a small force myself. However, I was always one commander and one unit short of finishing my army. Today, I am proud to say that I have completed my last entry for that force.

'He's a Very Naughty Boy'

One day, Farmer Brown was in his field tending his turnips. He would always stand in the same spot and watch his turnips growing. As they didn't grow very fast, he would stand there for a very long time.

Now, on that particular day, as he was standing in that particular spot, he saw a particularly peculiar figure. Dressed all in robes, carrying a long staff and with a body made up of a spongey green plant.

"Mornin'," said Farmer Brown. "Lovely day for turnip farming isn't it?" 

".....," replied the newcomer.

"I guess so," said Farmer Brown. "Do you have a name there stranger?"

".....," replied the newcomer.

"The Moss-iah? Well, that's a new one on me," said Farmer Brown.

".....," said the Moss-iah.

"I'd never really considered that," said Farmer Brown.

".....," said the Moss-iah.

"But who'll stand here and watch the turnips grow?" asked Farmer Brown.

".....," replied the Moss-iah, handing Farmer Brown a gun.

".....," said Farmer Brown as he took the Moss-ket.

    First up, we have the Moss-iah. A strange figure moving slowly through the boggy marshes of Turnip28. Rumour has it, that if you stand in the same place long enough, he will appear and enlist you into his entourage. 

    

    Next, we have the four Moss-keteers, sworn to protect the Moss-iah at all costs. Equipped with their powerful black powder moss-kets, they are not to be taken lightly. As their motto says, '.....!' 

    The Moss-iah model is an old D&D cultist figure, while the Moss-keteers are Warlord Games AZW British. All of the figures were painted and then a mix of green paint, PVA glue and flock was used for the moss. Once that had dried, I added some washes and drybrushes to give the moss more colour.

    In terms of points these are just 28mm infantry, for a simple 25 points, plus another Squirrel point.

  My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 218 (+0)
BSRoD - 16 (+0)
Squirrels - 14 (+1) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne, Modern Vehicles, Turnip28

From DaveD , A second bite of the cherry for Stuart or maybe it’s the turnip . I like mine roasted .. anyway a decent bit of output , the greens have worked well . 25 points it is .

From StuartL - Man's Best Friend? - 33 pts

Hi all,

    This week I just have a small post, though I may have something later if I can find time to get some painting done. During the challenge, I often see challengers posting comments about their dogs and their antics. I don't have any pets, but as I didn't want to feel left out, I thought I would see if I had any of our four-legged friends in my to do pile. Luckily, I did, sort of. 

    For those of you unfamiliar with Games Workshop's offerings, these are Flesh Hounds of Khorne, the Chaos God of War, Blood and Skulls. They are demonic entities that hunt down Khorne's enemies (as the god of war, he has a LOT of those). 

    I painted these in exactly the same way as I painted my other Khorne daemons in previous challenges. (For example) A very dark grey base coat, with red drybrushes going lighter at the top of the model. As these are not 'real' creatures, I figured that they didn't have to adhere to 'real' colours and patterns. Their fur is made of the same warp ecto-plasm as their skin after all. I have made their claws, teeth and tongues a different colour, along with any spikes, as a way to break up the red a little. 

    Being the god of skulls, Khorne obviously has a thing for them. He isn't quite at Barks' level of obsession with them, but he does like them a fair bit. As such, there are a few skulls on the bases of these figures, which will add to my side duel total. 

    

    Scoring wise, there are 6x 28mm minis, which will add 30 points to my tally.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 218 (+12)
BSRoD - 16 (+0)
Squirrels - 12 (+1) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French, Daemons of Khorne

From DaveD. These are some fine looking beasties .. the colour scheme works nicely for me , always like a bit of well done red - 33 it’s is . 

Squirrel Duel - Third Update

    Hello all, this Squirrel Update is coming a little earlier than the previous ones, as my non-Squirrel Finding duties outside the challenge are restricting my time to do the really important stuff, like allocating Squirrel Points. 

   

    We have had a lot of cool entries over the past couple of weeks, so before we get to the scoreboard, here are a few that caught my eye.

PeterD painted some dangerous looking female adventurers.

IanS has produced an army of 10mm ghosts.

JohnB's CMP trucks will be providing logistical support to his forces.

KerryT's magnificent looking French forces are on the march.

    We have had a few new Squirrel Hunters joining the fray this time around, and a LOT of high scoring posts. There isn't much between the top few posts. AndrewG has come from nowhere to rack up 8 points, well done!

    Just to remind people of the rules about Squirrel Points.

- You get 1 Squirrel Point for every 25 points of miniatures you paint of a specific genre/army/scale.

- This applies over the entire challenge, not just individual posts. So, you can score points by spreading your entries across multiple posts if you want to. (Please do make a note for me in your post, so that I know where to look). However, you cannot score points by simply posting the same army twice in different weeks. I keep a record of what everyone is being awarded points for. 

- Squirrel Points are awarded at an army/force/warband level. So you would not get 2 points for posting Russian Cavalry and Russian Infantry, but you would get 2 points for posting Russian Cavalry and Austrian Cavalry.

- All posts should be labelled with 'Squirrel' and/or your user handle. (E.g. mine is StuartL). Ideally both labels will be the best option. If you don't, it becomes much more difficult for me to track things down.

- It is really helpful if you keep a list of all the Squirrels you think you have scored in your posts.

As always, if you have any questions, please post below.

- The Squirrelfinder General.

From StuartL - Les petits Français - 72 Points

Hi all,

    So, after taking a week or so off from the challenge and painting to deal with some real life stuff, I managed to get back behind the brushes a bit this week. Todays post was largely inspired by minis painted by fellow challenger GregB. When I first joined the challenge back in 2018/19, Greg was working on some Franco-Prussian War minis in various scales. I had not previously heard much about this conflict, and I was rather impressed by Greg's fine work. 

    A couple of years ago, I was browsing My Mini Factory, and came across a 3D designer there by the name of Turner Miniatures. He was just starting to add some FPW minis to his tribe, so I subscribed, eventually getting everything that he released. I got some minis printed out in time for last year's challenge, but as I was unable to enter, they just sat there gathering dust. 

    So, with my entry to the challenge this year, I resolved to get some of these chaps done. Turner Minis are somewhere in the 6-8mm scale range normally, but these were printed at 135% so should be a bit over 10mm. The figures come in strips of 4 and I based them as full battalions.

   

    Each of these units is made up of 24 soldiers mounted on a piece of plasticard roughly 9cm by 4cm. The flags are all hand made. No-one I know locally is going to know what they should look like, and sourcing flags for minis that are not at any exact scale seemed like a bit of an effort.

    Normally, only the 2nd battalion of a regiment would carry a full standard with an eagle, and the other battalions would have fanions. But again, no-one I am going to play with will know or care about that. Simple French Tricolore make it easy to determine allegiance on the tabletop.

    I'm not a huge fan of painting smaller scale minis. I tried these at 6mm and didn't enjoy it. Even at 10mm, it felt like a huge departure from my usual style when I do 28mm. Perhaps these will grow on me if I do more of them, I'm not sure. I have a bunch more French waiting to be painted and after that I will need to arrange printing out some Prussians to oppose them.

    Scoring wise, there are 72x 10mm minis, at 1 point per model, so that should just be 72 points.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 206 (+0)
BSRoD - 16 (+0)
Squirrels - 11 (+1) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French

    Hopefully life will stop getting in the way and I can work on some more substantial entries for next week.

From Millsy:

Good to have you back on the tools Stuart!

Despite what you say about not enjoying smaller scale stuff these look great. I know next to nothing about the period but I like what I see and may have to dig a little deeper now. Probably a bad idea as we all know where that leads.

Such fine fellows all deserve their own eagle despite what the button counters might say. Anyone as well turned out as these chaps wouldn't leave home with a mere fanion.

Great stuff and another 72 points added to your tally mate.

Cheers,

Millsy