From TimP -Challenge XVI wrap up and Thank you!

A hearty thanks once again to everyone involved especially

Curt, Sarah, DaveD and the minions for other days.

Really enjoyed it, and not wanting to repeat too much from my last post, it's helped get me back painting. It's amazing how the pressure of a totally voluntary target and posting day deadlines can ensure figures are produced and finished. Normally I'm surrounded by projects that are 95-99% done.

Didn't manage a Squirrel or any side duel - maybe I'll manage that next time.

All the figures.

Lower angle shot showing the SOCO at the front.

Next steps, get the Saxon standard bearer finished, and finish the buildings I didn't get done in time for his time. 

Here's looking forward to next year.  

TimP

From TimP Late Saxon Command Group (55 points)

First of all a thank you…

3 months ago, before I started the challenge, if asked I would have said I love making terrain and scenics, but I hate painting miniatures. There was a reason for that, I hadn't really done any meaningful volume of figures since lockdown. I wasn't happy with what I was producing and for fear of producing rubbish, I was avoiding painting. 

As most experienced figure painters know - painting is all about practice - the more you do, the better you get. While I have not been the most productive, joining the Challenge has encouraged me to paint and over the weeks I've turned out some decent figures. So thank you to everyone who is involved, Curt for organising, DaveD our friendly Sunday minion, and everyone for their kind words and encouragement, I hope I've also given my fair share of encouragement.

I've regained my mojo and now look at the pile of primed figures awaiting completion with the confidence I can turn out something nice, rather than dreading what will occur.

Those Dead Man's Hand figures will be next on the painting line.

Was hoping to get this in as a last Sunday post, but I spent all day Saturday gaming - and let's not forget (mostly) that's why we paint. To game. So now this will go in the last week - at least i got them done, I didn't think I would.

So the command figures should just take me to under my target. I hoped to have a few bits of scenery  finish in the flnal week but it's not looking likely 

Sadly no squirrels, despite my planning. Maybe next year - as I most definitely will be signing up again.

So Saxon command group

I had to do a bit of work on some of these, for example the monk holding up the cross, that would have been pointing sideways as sculpted, so i replaced the shaft with a bit of wire. I also chopped and changed the other monk/priest to hold one of Victrix's lovely loot boxes, perhaps holding a holy relic. 

I just flat ran out of time so no standard bearer. These have been 99% done for a few days, but i finished them off with some nice gold touches (Using the brilliant Vallejo Liquid Metal Rich Gold 70.793 and finished off the basing with the usual flowers etc.

Group Shot…

Swordsmen Ældormen…

and backs

Four Axeman Ældormen…

and backs.

Warlord, Trumpter and Priests…

and backs

Head God Botherer

Warlord, replete with gold trimmings.

Behold, the right toe of St. Cuthbert…

11 x 28mm Saxons @ 5 points = 55 points

Thanks again… everyone.

See you next year.

Tim P

From DaveD . Wonderful to hear that you have been enthused on the painting . Great to hear about the gaming to . That looks like a fine group to command your Saxons - 55 it is . Let’s see the total output in the post challenge wrap up then shall we . 

From StuartL - Last minis of 2025 - 100 Points

Hi again,

    My second post for today, and hopefully a lot more positive than my previous one. 

    I'm lucky to have a long break over the winter period, and I have wasted very little time in getting pigment onto plastic. I have way too many projects on the go at any given time, so there is always something around for me to be working on. So, this post has a few small batches of minis that I had sitting in the (far too large) to-do pile. 

    First off, some Afghan tribesmen. Ages ago, I got a selection of Afghans and British troops for the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War from Artizan Designs. I've managed to get most of my forces done, but I still have a handful of Afghans to do. My plan is to play The Men Who Would Be Kings with them. These minis are all metal, and were really fun to paint. I went for simple colours for the clothes, but with some splashes of brighter colours for the turbans and sashes. Having done this batch, I kind of want to order more of them, Artizan do some amazing figures.

    The next set of figures from my work bench are some robots. I painted up a bunch of robot minis for This Is Not A Test for the challenge back in 2021. I have to admit that I haven't actually used them yet. But, that isn't a reason not to paint up more of them, right? These minis are all from Reaper Bones. The quality of them varies quite a bit. The big green one was super clean and crisp, whereas the robot at the back right is permanently leaning forwards, despite my best efforts to get it to straighten up.

    Being robots, painting was largely a case of base coating them in metallic colours, giving them a dark wash and then adding some highlights and spot colours for interest.

I'm going to be cheeky and claim these two robots' noggins look like skulls...

    My final entry for the year is a group of ten Anglo-Saxons. These figures are for Gripping Beast and will be joining my massive Saxon army (around 200 minis so far), for use in Saga, the new Pillage game from Victrix and possibly Hail Caesar once I get my Normans done. Having already done a lot of these figures, I can practically paint them in my sleep, so I blasted through these chaps in no time. While the sculpts aren't as pretty as the newer Victrix options, I find these very serviceable and they look good enough for gaming with.

      And that should see me done for 2025. I still have a lot more to do in 2026, so I will see you all then!

    Points wise, there are 20x 28mm minis, which should set me up for a nice, round 100 points. There are also entries for all 3 of my side duels.

My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 141 (+2, assuming the robo-skulls count)

BSRoD - 5 (+5 for the robots above)

Squirrels - 6 (+3) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons

____________________

A great way to close out 2025, Stuart. I really like the Afghan fellas with their coloured turbans and the not-Terminators with their creepy glowing red eyes.  A very tidy 100 points for New Year's Eve, well done!

- Curt 

From MartijnN: Anglo-Saxons. Again? (60 points)

Well, here I am in my fifth Challenge. I had really, really, really wanted to get a submission in before the New Year this time, but ah well. Anyway, just like last year, here are some Anglo-Saxon Ceorls. I will probably be using them for Saga mainly, or perhaps for Lion Rampant or Midgard. They are fairly generic men with pointy sticks, so will quite easily pass for any type of Dark Age or even medieval lightish infantry. 

These are plastic Warlord figures. I really like the metal Warlord miniatures, so decided to give the plastic ones a go. To be honest, the experience has not been altogether entirely satisfying. I am definitely not an experienced builder, not do I particularly like doing it, but I had a bit of a struggle with these. In  particular, I found the necks and heads a poor fit. I ended up having quite a number of Louis van Gaal-type longnecks in the forces. Also, the details on the figures are quite soft, making them hard to distinguish at times. Still, I think they will do; which is just as well, as I have still one box and a half left of them....

 

I used the waterslide decals supplied with them on the shields. Applying those was a daunting task as well, again mainly due to my inexperience (and perhaps just a little lack of patience). Previously, my only experience was with the Little Big Men sticker type decals (which work very well), and the waterslide ones were quite obstinate. But again, they will do.

 

A simple paint job for simple figures, mainly using contrast and speedpaints, but a welcome addition to my collection nevertheless, and at least I am on the board now!

Scoring is simple too:

12x 28mm foot @ 5 = 60 points. And a squirrel.

 

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Hi Martijn

Lovely to see some Anglo Saxons and the decals look really good! I get overwhelmed just thinking about decals .....

Contrast and speed paints are alot of fun and your figures have turned out well.

Congrats on the 60points and don't forget to update your Squirrel Points with PeterD

- Sarah

From MartijnN: Anglo-Saxons. Or are they? [New Acquisitions] (62 points)

I have more than enough unpainted figures, vehicles and terrain, not to mention STL's, to last me for the rest of my allotted time even if I live to be 115. However, at the end of the last year Berliner Zinnfiguren in Berlin had a sale (they have a great book selection too, and a great second hand selection, especially if you read German), and offered some Crusader Miniatures at much reduced prices. Now I have several sets of plastic Viking and Anglo-Saxon figures in stock (I'd like to give Saga a try), but I am really not too great a fan of building figures. And these were good old metals. So I obviously had to buy some.

Well, there was the Challenge Library coming to the rescue. They are really quite simple figures, so ideal to paint up for the New Acquisitions section. This must be the fastest I have ever painted figures after acquiring them! So here they are:

Eight spearmen. They are advertised as Viking Thralls, but they can really represent any Late Roman or Dark Age warrior, or even a Medieval one for that matter. They will end up as Anglo-Saxons in my forces, I suspect. They came with separate shields and without spears, I decided to leave some of them without shields for variety, as there are eight figures in the pack but only four separate poses. I was lucky in that I had just ordered some metal spears from CP Models. They are on the thin side compared to the oversized poles usually found on 28mm figures, but I actually think they work quite well.

As I said, it is a simple paint job, mostly using contrast paints and finished with a wash of Agrax Earthshade; I like the gritty look that that gives, even though it darkens them quite a bit. I kept the shield designs fairly simple and generic to preserve the generic, general purpose men-with-pointy-sticks characteristics.

That leaves us with this week's book recommendation: The Anglo-Saxons. The History of the Beginnings of England, by Mark Morris. Also a new acquisition for me:

In fact, it is so new that I have not even finished it entirely, but I have no hesitation in recommending it. Some may be put off by the publisher's blurb  ("The Sunday Times Bestseller". "An absolute masterpiece") defacing the cover, but I find it actually a thoroughly engaging and fascinating read. Obviously aimed at a wider audience, but there are footnotes for those who wish to pursue the matter further, and it is really well written.

Those interested in the period I would also point to David Crowther's Anglo Saxon England podcast, part of his The History of England podcast, for an entertaining and well researched look at the early history of England. It was a redo of the earlier episodes of the latter podcast, so it is no longer ongoing because finished, but still available to listen to. Also much recommended.

Finally, as requested, the map:

I wonder where to wander...

Well, that's it for me this week. Scoring is easy:

- 8x 28mm figures @ 5 = 40

- New Acquisitions section bonus = 20

Total: 60 points

TeemuL: What is more fitting for a Thor's Day than some vikings in disguise, acting as Anglo-Saxons? I try to paint my new acquisitions quite fast so that they don't pile up, but that means that those old minis won't get painted... A problem yet to solve. Anyway, a nice looking bunch and your Agrax Earthshade treatment combined with Contrast paints gives a nice finish on those textured minis. I'll add couple of bonus points for the hand painted shields.

From StuartL - Everyone Knows Me - Statue of a Famous Person + Library Cart - 100 Points

Hello again,

    My second post for today is for the Statue of a Famous Person section, or in this case, a statue of a  famous anthropomorphized concept. Looking through my various boxes at the start of the challenge, I came across this piece of terrain by Reaper that I thought would fit the theme, a statue of death. Since everyone who ever has or ever will exist, will eventually meet death, I think it counts as being pretty famous. It also adds 1 skull for my total. 

 

    At the same time I painted the statue, I also painted a second piece of terrain, a Japanese o-haka, or a grave in English. In Japan they don't really bury their dead, nor do they fully cremate them. Instead they burn the bodies until only the bones remain. Then, the family select some of the bones and place them inside a specially prepared box. This box is then placed inside the o-haka. Once a year, during August, they believe that the spirits of their ancestors and departed family members return to their homes. Families go back to their hometowns, clean up the o-haka and pray for the souls of the dead. It is a good way to remember those who have left us and it gathers the whole family together. 

    If you have been following the news about Japan recently, we have had a pretty awful start to the year with a big earthquake in the prefecture of Ishikawa, followed by a plane crash in Tokyo. I have in-laws who live near Ishikawa (who are thankfully, all safe and fine), but this has been quite a worrying time for us all. Japan lies atop several major fault lines and big earthquakes are a constant risk unfortunately. It is a wonderful country to live in, but at times it can be terrifying.

    On a rather more positive (and miniatures) related note, as well as the statue above, I also have some Anglo-Saxons that I painted up on a whim.

    The figures are all from Gripping Beast's plastic range and are fairly simple and straightforward to assemble and paint. 

    And to pay for my trip on the library cart, I have another Reaper mini, a rather grim and gritty looking axewoman. This should pay for my jaunt over to the Maritime area.

For scoring:

11x 28mm minis = 55 points

2x small terrain pieces = 5 points (because I hate math and it seems right - Millsy)

Statue of a Famous Person = 20 points

Sarah's Library Cart = 20 points

TOTAL = 100 Points

For my duels:

Skulls +1 = 33 Skulls

Legions +0 = 140 Points

From Millsy: A fine second entry for the day Stuart. You may be the first person to ever use the words "Anglo-saxons" and "on a whim" in the same sentence but I have no proof of that so you will have to just trust I am right because I am a minion and we're never wrong :-P. You gave yourself a measly 1 point for the terrain which seems daft so I upgraded you to 5. What's not to like about a 500% increase?

From Codsticker: By The Skin Of My Teeth... (40pts0

 So, another mad scramble to get my final entry in before the challenge ends; 2 hours, 7 minutes and counting as I type this. As I live on Vancouver Island I may be the latest posting challenger by time zone (not sure if our antipodean friends are ahead of me or behind me time-wise). I close this edition of the challenge with 8 Dark Ages warriors from Victirx.

These are actually the result of combining two kits: Anglo-Danes and Dark Ages Archers.

I wanted the majority of my warriors without armour but armed with spears, carrying shields and wearing helmets.

As has been reported elsewhere, the plastic weapons are a tad fragile on these Victrix figures; I broke the sword (you can see the seam in the weapon above) and two spears.

Easy enough to drill out the hands and replace with metal spears but the heads of the plastic ones are so nice.

Such beautiful sculpting on these figures; wonderful hands and faces, hardly a mould line to be seen and great value on top of that. 

8 28mm figures @ 5pts each= 40 pts.

This has been another great challenge even though I am falling short of my 500pt goal this year. I attribute that to the Khand figures taking more time to paint than I anticipated; loving the Dark Ages figures so much I spent a bit more time on them than I normally would; and I only hit one stop on the Studio tour so not many bonus points collected. Thank you all for all the wonderful support and comments and I apologise for not commenting this year as much as I have in the past. I look forward to seeing your work again next year.

______________________________

Wonderful work on these fine figures, Rob! I especially like the abstract raven shield device and lush groundwork. Well done, and thank you for participating in the Challenge.

- Curt

From Codsticker: Horsin' Aroun' (56pts)

Most war gamers I know don't painting horses, but I really enjoy painting cavalry. It may have to do with my career choice: 

So this entry is an all mounted affair:

First up are some 15mm Sassanid light horse archers:

The scourge of the Eastern Romans in the twilight of their empire; they are lots of fun for Sassanid commander; not so much for the poor Roman general 😈

I am not sure the make; they were part of a second hand batch I bought online. Fun little models to paint and I particularly like that the sculptor accurately portrayed the drawing fingers.

Next up are two Mounted Saxon Thegns in 28mm.

These are from Bob Murch's 1066 Kickstarter. I will be using them in either Saga or Lion Rampant.

Really wonderfull figures, great castings.

Last but not least another addition to the Variags of Khand; this time a chieftain in a chariot.

I actually prepped, assembled and primed this after starting the challenge which was a waste of precious hobby time when there is a points total to be met. 

I may do another one near the end of the challenge but at this time it is still in a shrink wrapped box; so probably only if there is no chance of me meeting my target (which, at this point, I am on pace to miss).

My point tally is based on the chariot counting as a vehicle (which it is... technically) however I recognise that may not be the case for AHPC purposes..

4 mounted 15mm figures at 4 pts each= 16

2 mounted 28mm figures at 10 pts each= 20

1 28mm vehicle at 20pts each= 20

Total= 56

From TeemuL: I'm the one, who didn't like painting horses, but nowadays with Contrast paints (or similar), they are not that hard. I guess the problem for me was that they were big and it was difficult to paint between the legs etc... And they have all those leather straps here and there, which I don't know what they are. :D But Contrasts have made my life easier. And I do assemble and prime during the Challege, those are the tasks I really don't like, so there won't be enough primed minis at the start of the Challenge to last til the end.

But enough of me, let's take a look the minis. Yes, they are all mounted, different scales, different themes. They are beautiful, very nice. I believe you like painting horses. Chariots have been scored as vehicles in the past, at least sometimes, so I'll go with that. Some say, that chariot is 20 points and each horse is 5, and the driver is another 5... But I'll include the horses in the vehicle section, so that is 20 points, but I give you 5 for the driver. Hand painted shields, banner, let's say 65 in total.

From StuartL: Under Construction (120 Points)

Hello all,

It is good to be back in the Challenge, and this year I am hitting the ground running. As this is my first year as a minion, I want to get as much done as possible before I have to start spending my brush time checking posts. For me, the challenge starts at 3pm and luckily I had the afternoon off, so I was able to jump straight in with the painting and get to work. I had also made sure that dinner was ready to go (just a quick zap in the microwave), so when my better half got home I didn't need to take an extended break from the workbench. 

I opted for the Under Construction part of the studios as all of the minis I painted up today seem to fit the bill quite nicely.

First up, ten Anglo-Saxons from Gripping Beast miniatures.

I bought a huge pile of GB plastics way back in 2017 as part of a group project to recreate the battles of 1066, starting with The Battle of Fulford. We managed to get that battle played, but due to the easily distracted nature of wargamers that was it. Members of the project then moved to other countries, or downsized their collections, leaving me the only person in my local club still interested. So I have been slowly plugging away at a vast stash of figures and the above are part of that ongoing war of attrition.

Which leads me to these five Vikings, also from Gripping Beast. Originally I was only going to paint up the Saxon force for 1066 (plus maybe a few dozen Normans), but the player doing the bulk of the Vikings sailed off for distant shores, rather fitting I suppose. So, nothing else for me to do but collect them too. 

Since most dark age/early medieval figures tend to look somewhat similar, I try to make my two forces easy to tell apart. The Saxons tend to be in very simple colours, with a cross or quartered pattern on their shields. For the Vikings, I go for brighter clothing and a half patterned shield. This should make gameplay a bit less confusing when models get swallowed up in a melee. Eventually I will have enough minis for the Battle of Stamford Bridge, and these five will help me reach that goal.

My final set of minis for this post are five Northstar/Oathmark Dwarves. In the last challenge I painted up what I thought was all of the minis for my Dwarf army. (HERE) However, as it transpired, I had actually missed a bunch. When AHPC 12 was announced, I considered joining the Squirrel duel and so set 5 minis to one side for that. When I came to paint up the bulk of my army, I forgot to include the Squirrel group. These guys have been sat waiting to join their brethren all year.

 

So, with those out of the way, my Dwarf army is finally complete. Until I buy more minis that is.

So, that should be 10 Anglo-Saxons, 5 Vikings and 5 dwarves for a total of 20x 28mm minis. That plus the location bonus should bring me to 120 points as my opening score. 

These 3 entries are all Squirrel points as well, giving me a nice hat-trick on my first post. Yay.

My Side Duels:

Squirrels - 3

Anglo-Saxons

Vikings

Dwarves

Skullz - 0

Turnips - 0

So, now to wait for a minion to come along and confirm things.

Wow, you call that an entry? Those shields look a bit rushed, and the rims on the dwarves' shields don't match the ones you did last year. You didn't even bother to paint the eyes. Go back and try again.

-Stuart

Wait, why am I being so mean?

You are your own worst critic. Be thankful you are getting any points at all.

Um.... I don't think I can actually minion myself.

Why not, Curt does it?

Yeah, but he's the Snow Lord and is all-powerful and all-knowing. Maybe I should wait for him or one of the more experienced minions to come along.

Oh, I see how it is. Fine, we'll wait for someone else then!

Fine!

________________________

Stuart, buddy, you're talking to yourself. You need to stop drinking your paint water and take a bit of a break. Take if from the 'all-powerful, all-knowing Snow Lord' (who is both a bit manic, and has a great affinity for paint water). :)

Seriously, great work Stuart! As we're not even a full day into the Challenge I think this counts as our first Paint Bomb. Well done! Your Anglo Saxons and Vikings look right proper for a Dark Age dust-up, but I have to say my favourites here are your doughty Dwarves, especially their spiffing shields. Well done! 

- Curt