TtC MMM April Painting Challenge

It's Begun!

On Friday the first ever TtC MMM April Challenge started. However, there is still time for you to join!

The challenge is aimed at encouraging participation in, viewing live or watching the recordings of the Tabletop Commanders Paint and Chats, or participation in the informal non recorded Miniature Modelling Mayhem Hangouts.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1103247999727724/

To take part in the challenge all you have to do is pick a couple of 'units' that you want to get painted. The number of units you pick is up to you, but should push you. The units can be any size, and scale, any period - or even just terrain or other such gaming linked projects.

Once you have picked your target, join us in either the TtC Paint and Chats or the MMM Hangouts. You can participate just by painting while you listen in if your not comfortable talking or being on camera. You can also view the TtC Paint and Chats while they are being recorded or afterwards on Youtube.

If you join us on the various chats, or here on the group, let us know what your working on, how your getting on, give us some details about the units your painting, their history, the rules you are using... anything that starts a discussion and helps you get those units painted!

We're a friendly bunch and aim to be as inclusive as possible. And if you have not tried painting while on a hangout, its amazing how much you get done while talking toy soldiers and military history.

So far in the Challenge we have people doing Naps, ECW, WW2, Sci Fi, AWI/French Indian Wars... and no doubt a host of other periods and scales as well. Join us and get those units that you've been putting off done!

I'm working on getting a good start on my Flames of War German Grenadier army, with my Goal for April to be finishing 2 infantry platoons, a HMG platoon and my HQ platoon (with A/T, Snipers and Mortars). I will be continuing into May with the aim of bulking out the support units. Hopefully by June I'll have a good portion of my German infantry figures painted and out of the lead pile!

So far this week I've made good progress on one platoon of Grenadiers (which I started at the tale end of last week, slightly early!). The other units are blocked in with the main colors and hopefully will get completed over the next couple of weeks. Bigger lolipop sticks than normal!

WiP for this week!

Still to do!

The paint and chats on Google Hangouts (advertised on the Facebook group above, or via our Google+ communities Tabletop Commanders and MMM) are a really great way to focus on your painting. Chatting about the hobby and history (and on the MMM groups everything else under the sun) really helps you lose track of your painting - and paint more than you would normally. It's a very peculiar thing, but being distracted by easy going conversation makes you stop thinking about how many rifles, boots or faces you have to paint or have painted, and just crack on!

So thing about joining in, taking part and stopping by a paint and chat and saying hello!

Miniature Modelling Mayhem April Challenge!

Hi Folks,

After a bit of restructuring the 'randomly regular' weeknight paint and chats are going to be hosted by a new Group called Miniature Modelling Mayhem, while the more 'formal' Paint and Chats are going to remain under the Tabletop Commanders banner.

As a way of launching the new group we are having a small Painting Challenge!

The aim is to paint a number of units in April and May - the number you pick is up to you, which units you pick are up to you. Basically we want to encourage people to take part in the hangouts once or twice in the months - use the hangouts to keep your motivation up, talk about what you are working on, talk about the unit and it's history, if you hit a problem with your painting then ask for help or advice. Or just tune in and see what everyone else is doing. Some of the chats will be live and recorded for upload to YouTube, others will be just visible to the people in the hangout and will not be uploaded to YouTube.

For those of you who have not tried using the hangouts, it's a really great way of talking about history, toy soldiers, painting and modelling, etc, while getting some models painted and talking to fellow hobbyists. All you need to take part is a Google account and a mike if your are on a PC or Laptop. You can also use a webcam if you wish. There are apps available via the App Store on the Ipad and Iphone (Called Google Hangouts) which makes the process of joining in easy and use the Iphone or Ipad mike and camera (you can turn the camera off). 

Whether you join in for 15 minutes or 3 hours is fine - or for the live ones you can just watch 'live' via youtube.

You can find an example of one of our hangouts here:

So the challenge involves:

1) Picking a number of units you want to paint, either over one or two months. Any unit size, any period or scale. I'm going to aim to do 3 units a month which is a push for me.

2) Join the Miniature Modelling Mayhem group on Facebook or Google Plus.

3) Join or Watch our paint and chats, talk about what your working on and generally use the chats as a way of keeping yourself motivated.

4) Post your progress on your blog on YouTube channel, let us all see what your doing!

And:

5) Finish a month of focused hobby work having gotten a unit or two (or more!) that you've been staring at for a long time done and out of your painting queue!

And example of what one of our contributors will be working on can be found here:

Feel free to leave a comment here if your are interested. I'll update the post with links to the various Google Plus and Facebook groups once we have everything set up!