AHPC7 - The Round-Up (lots of pics)

The dust having settled from the weekend's tornado of entries, I guess it's time for me to do a round-up post. Let's start with a pic of everything I painted:

Updated to add links to the posts on the main Challenge and Bonus Theme Round blogs

Entry 1 - Baaa!

Linky-link

These 28mm sheep were just a quick entry on the first day to get myself on the scoreboard.


Entry 2 - Grav Vehicles

Linky-link

These 15mm grav tanks and APCs were my entry for the first bonus theme round "Armour"


Entry 3 - Ancient Nubians

Linky-link

A complete army for ADLG painted and based in a little over a week!


Entry 4 - Huzzah!

Linky-link

The first of my SYW Russian entries were these 36 hussars, representing the Novoserbskiy and Slavianoserbskiy regiments.


Entry 5 - Daughters of the Revolution

Linky-link

Some lovely 28mm minis from Bad Squiddo Games (Annie rocks!). These are only the second batch of WW2 figures that I've painted.


Entry 6 - Choson Korean Irregulars

Linky-link

These figures from Old Glory 15s max me out for Righteous Army and peasant levy troops for FoGAM and FoGR. They were my entry in the second bonus theme round "East".


Entry 7 - Cossacks!

Linky-link

This wild bunch were a mix of SYW and Napoleonic Cossacks from Essex. I will be adding some more Cossacks and some Kalmuks to my SYW Russians at some point.


Entry 8 - Horse Grenadiers

Linky-link

More SYW Russian cavalry, in this case the last two regiments of horse grenadiers - Kargopolskiy (green flag) and Rizhskiy (yellow flag).


Entry 9 - SYW Russian Infantry, Artillery and Wagons

Linky-link

This was quite a big entry - four infantry regiments, two artillery batteries with limbers and 4 wagons with fusilier escorts.

Nevskiy; Pskovskiy; Riazanskiy; Sankt-Peterburgskiy

The infantry were the first four of eight regiments I painted up this Challenge.


Entry 10 - Crew of the Lady Sarah

Linky-link

Some lovely 28mm sculpts from Pulp Miniatures. This crew will be a smuggler gang for games in Salutesville - now I've just got to buy a ship for them, build a dockside area...

It seems that the tattoos I freehanded on two of them were very popular.


Entry 11 - Choson Korean Regulars

Linky-link

This entry comprises enough front rank bases for me to field 14 units rather than 6 - great for any civil war campaigns or for very big Imjin war battles.


Entry 12 - SYW Russian Cavalry and More Infantry

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Another two infantry regiments - Kazanskiy at the front, Lazodskiy in the middle row; the cuirassiers are the Prinz Fedorovich (or Altesse Imperiale) regiment - the last of the regular cavalry regiments that fought in the SYW for my army.


Entry 13 - Well, Would You Believe It? Still more SYW Russians!

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The last two infantry regiments - Bjeloserskiy (orange flag) and Kegsgolmskiy (yellow flag) plus some generals.

You'll probably be pleased to hear that these end the SYW Russians for the Challenge!


Entry 14 - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme!

Linky-link

My Curtgeld entry. This year we were asked to produce something in collaboration with other Challengers. I was in a group with DaveD and JamesM. Originally we planned to do a bunch of gladiator gaming figures, including some lions but for all of us time ran out and we only did the lions. This is a 28mm figure from Wargames Foundry. I called him Parsley after the character in a certain children's TV programme.

At some point I'll finish painting up the gladiators (and Emperor) to complete the set that we'll be sending off to Curt.


Entry 15 - Postie's Lair

Linky-link

I had great fun writing the text for this entry. The original plan had been to paint them in normal full colour, but after doing pre-highlighting with the airbrush I switched to a Sin City type chiaroscuro effect - greyscale with a colour accent.

This was my very last entry of AHPC7. If you're wondering about the sandbags, well they're to indicate that "Ray Woz Ere".



Phew! That took a while to type up. Let's doa bit of summary.

15mm
Foot - 590
Horses -20
Mounted - 116
Guns - 2
Limbers - 2
Wagons - 4
SciFi Vehicles - 6

28mm
Animals - 4
Foot - 34


In terms of overall points, this was my second best year; also in terms of points per week (AHPC5 was my best). I probably could have got close to beating my AHPC5 result, or even beaten it but after my father died I spent quite a bit of time away and didn't feel much in the mood for painting. I'm in a much better mood now and looking forward to hitting the paint table again shortly.

Some big surprises this year - no 6mm, no spaceships and hardly any SciFi.

This year was the biggest Challenge so far - it seems to keep on growing. We had 96 participants who achieved a total of 83,200 points of submissions - that's 867 points per participant. Just under 10% of the final points tally was submitted in the final 48 hours - that was a crazy weekend for those of us helping Curt out with minioning them. The scores ranged from a modest 5 to a whopping 4125. I got pipped from 7th down to 8th place in the very last hours.

Once again it was great to take part. Some of the entries were simply magnificent in quality, quantity or both. Some were absolutely bonkers (in a good way!). The sense of camaraderie was as strong as ever, with the usual encouraging and mickey-taking comments.

If you fancy taking part in this great event next time, keep an eye out on the Challenge blog (link at the top of my right-hand sidebar) around the end of October/beginning of November.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 89 They Think It's All Over

...and it very nearly is. There are just under seven hours left for people to get last-minute submissions in, but for me it actually is all over. At least as far as painting goes. After my Curtgeld submission of Parsley yesterday I didn't think I'd paint up anything else, but I felt in the mood this afternoon and did a few more figures. I started with a plan for how they'd be done, then managed to go in a different direction. Here's a sneaky pic:

Linky-link

Yes, I went greyscale with colour.

I've also been doing a bit of Minioning this weekend to help Curt out with the final flurries of submissions.

Which leads onto...

The Hall of Shame...

That's right, here are all the figures that I prepped and (for the most part) primed.

Left - 15mm Sea Peoples; Right - 15mm Mongols

Left - 6mm ACW
Right - 28mm Pulp; 28mm SciFi; 28mm Gladiators; 15mm Three Musketeers

After setting them out I did a count-up and calculated how many points they would have been. One thousand six hundred and one. 1601.

Hmmm, It's possible that I prepped a lot more than I needed. About 1100 points more than I needed. Well, I guess I've got plenty to work on over the next few months!

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 88 SYW Russians On Parade with Parsley

Life and not having any pics to show are the reason I haven't posted here for over a week. Over on the Challenge blog, a couple of people had asked me to post some group shots of the SYW Russians that I'd painted up this winter. I posted them on the Challenge blog, but as I know not everyone wants to pop over there I'm going to post them here as well:


This winter's additions:

The army so far:

Formed up in two lines, with the cavalry on the wings, I'm pretty sure that the army so far would be enough to cover about 8-10 foot of table-top.

It isn't complete yet. There are another thirteen line infantry regiments to be painted, Shuvalov's Corps of Observation, more Cossacks and artillery. Plus the regiments that didn't get to participate in the SYW and the various militia units if I decide to do a "what if?" campaign against the Swedes, Ottomans or perhaps even the Prussians - who's to say that Fred wouldn't have pushed East if given the chance?

As for Parsley, that's my Curtgeld submission which has just been posted: linky-link. It's probably my final entry of the Challenge.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 81 I'm Back

I have actually been back for a few days, but had catching up to do so didn't get around to posting.

First of all I would like to thank everyone who has commented here, on the Challenge blog or sent emails for your kind words of condolence. They have been greatly appreciated.

Secondly, my apologies for not posting a link sooner for my submission that was posted on Monday. I did finish the infantry regiments last Friday in time to get basing gunk added and the do the dry-brushing and flocking of bases so that they could be submitted alongside the generals:

Linky-link


These won't be my final entry in the Challenge. I have started work on the figures for my Curtgeld submission so there will be at least one more. I haven't taken any pics of those yet I'm afraid.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 74 More SYW Russians WIP 11

Before sitting down to finish the infantry this evening, I added gunk to the generals' bases. There's a good reason for that which I'll explain later on:

I then cracked on and finished the infantry. Fortunately there wasn't a great deal to do - the flags and some final touch-ups:

I'll be varnishing them shortly. Later on tonight I'll get them stuck down on bases and if there's time once the superglue has dried I'll add the basing gunk. Otherwise, that will have to be added tomorrow morning.


Now, the explanation for why I added gunk to the generals' bases this evening is to ensure that I can submit something for Monday, as I might not get the infantry finished in time.

You see, the reason I was going down to Sussex this weekend was to visit my dad who had just come out of hospital. Unfortunately when I got home this evening I had a call from my sister who had just got back from work (she's staying with him while her house has it's electrics redone) and found that he had died at some point after she left for work. So now I'm going down to be together with my sister and brother.

It wasn't unexpected - he was treated for bladder cancer last year (the hospitalisation this week was for the follow-up to see if the surgery and chemo had got everything. It hadn't). He was also waiting for some heart valve surgery. Although we spoke on the phone a couple of times a week, the last time I saw him in person was at Christmas.

Of course, over the next few weeks I expect to be otherwise occupied, so these Russians might be my last entries in the Challenge. There's no internet at my dad's house, so I'll be incommunicado for a few days.

RIP Dad

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 73 More SYW Russians WIP 10

I took last night off - I was feeling pretty rotten with the start of another cold, just as my previous one cleared. I'm feeling better now, After a bit of a nap when I got home, I cracked on with the infantry and have finished the touch-ups, highlights and metals:

Just the flags to do, some final touch-ups/highlights then varnish. I'll do that tomorrow night and if I have time I'll get them off the painting sticks and glued onto bases ready for adding gunk on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately I won't be able to do my bonus round entry as I have to go down to my Dad's this weekend. I might still do it as a regular submission now that the Russians will be finished.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 71 More SYW Russians WIP 9

I've had a pretty good day at the painting desk. I've managed to get the two infantry regiments close to finished - just highlights/touch-ups, metals, flags and varnishing to do:

I should get them finished quite easily tomorrow night. That will leave me two evenings and Saturday to work on my bonus theme round entry.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 70 More SYW Russians WIP 8

Ten weeks in and twelve submissions totaling 1936 points - that's what I call productive!

My twelfth submission got posted earlier this evening:

Linky-link


Today has been quite productive. First of all, I drybrushed and flocked the bases of the cuirassiers and infantry, photographed them and submitted the post.

After that I cracked on this afternoon and finished the generals, popped them off the painting sticks and glued them onto bases:

Then I got out the airbrush and primed a few figures - my contribution to the Curtgeld (I'm in a team with Dave D and James M):

This evening I've made a good start on the final two* infantry regiments:

*for now - there are still thirteen regiments left to do to complete my ambition of having every regiment that fought in the SYW.

I've also started work on a little project:

This will be for the final bonus theme round "Characters and/or scene from a Movie/Television show/ Book or Piece of Music". Which may or may not feature the Curtgeld figures. It will have some Salutesville figures. I'll leave you guessing.

I've got tomorrow off work as well, so I should be able to get the infantry finished.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 69 More SYW Russians WIP 7

Well, would you Adam 'n Eve it - I did manage to finish the two infantry regiments today, get them glued onto bases and add the gunk to them and the cuirassiers:

I also managed to get a little bit done on the generals - I realised I was unlikely to finish them in time to submit along with the infantry and cuirassiers, but that's life.

I'll do a bit more later tonight and finish them tomorrow, then make a start on the final two infantry regiments.

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 68 More SYW Russians WIP 6

"Shouldn't that be WIP 7?"

Well, it would be if I hadn't taken last night off from painting. I was feeling very tired and sleepy so judged that it was probably best not to do any painting.

Which does make this the 6th WIP day for this batch of Russians. I'm still feeling a bit tired and sleepy today, so progress has been a touch slower than hoped. But I have managed to get the two infantry regiments to within striking distance of being finished:

Once they're finished and varnished I'll be sticking them on bases, adding the gunk (also on the cuirassier bases) ready for dry-brushing and flocking on Monday morning. If I finish the infantry quickly enough, I'll try to finish the generals as well for the Monday submission.

Monday will also see me starting on the last two infantry regiments, which will probably be finished on Tuesday. I'll then need to work out what to paint next - 15mm Mongols, 6mm ACW, 28mm Salutesville gangs and civvies, something else...

AHPC7 - Challenge Day 66 More SYW Russians WIP 5

I've got a bit of a cold and I'm feeling rather drained, so progress on the Russians hasn't been as fast as I'd have liked this evening:

I have got them to a point where I should be able to finish them tomorrow night or Saturday afternoon, but I don't think I'll be able to get the other two regiments done in time for submission on Monday - they'll have to wait for the following week. I will get the generals done though.

Last night I popped the cuirassiers off their painting sticks and glued the officer, standard bearer, drummer and six troopers onto bases (the other two troopers will be going on bases with generals):

I also forgot yesterday to post a pic of some goodies I received through the post:

Some more stencil sheets from Anarchy Models. If you're wondering about the "loose skulls", if things go to plan, you might see what I've got planned for them in a couple of weeks time.