Celebrating Challenge XV

Welcome to our wrap-up of the 15th edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge!

We've tabulated all the votes for Challengers' Choice, Sarah has made her selection for Sarah's Choice as I have done the same for Snowlord's Choice. Whew!

We had an excellent turnout for the Challengers' Choice poll with 56 people casting their votes. As this is Challenge XV I thought I would list the top fifteen entries chosen by our participants. (FYI, points reflect a weighted scoring system where 3 points are given for 1st pick, 2 points for 2nd, and 1 point for 3rd).

1. MartinN ‘Burgundians’ = 38 points
2. Curt ‘Ned & Norri’ = 32 points
3. KerryT ‘Barron’s War’ = 28 points
4. DavidD ‘WWII Winter’ = 27 points
5. RayR ‘1812 Retreat’ = 25 points
6. KenR ‘Ships’ = 18 points
7. GregB ‘Dogs of War’ = 17 points
8. BruceR ‘Paratrooper’ = 15 points
9. Millsy ‘Sloggoth’ = 13 points
10. Curt ‘10mm Dogs of War’ = 11 points
11. Richard ‘10mm Sudan’ = 10 points
12. LeeH ‘1812 Retreat’ = 10 points
13. GregB ‘Hospitaller Banner’ = 9 points
14. MartinN ‘Romans’ = 9 points
15. JP ‘Dean Man’s Chest’ = 8 points

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AHPC XV Challengers's Choice

Third Place

KerryT with his wonderful collection of Baron's War figures.

Kerry, for your talented efforts I'm sure you will enjoy a gift certificate from your fellow Challenger JohnS at 'The War Room'!

Second Place

Curt's Ned & Norri. 

Thank you for the honour! For those who voted for me, your cheques are in the mail. ;P

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The Challengers' Choice for AHPC XV

MartinN (Nick) for his fantastic 'Burgundians'

Congratulations for your well-deserved win, Nick! Your prize is a gift certificate from our good friend Byron over at 'Northern Lights Terrain'! 

Sarah’s Choice

Hi Everybody

Congratulations to everyone on their Challenge!

As always, I’m honoured that my request to see more female minis represented in this hobby has become more than a novelty.

Choosing amongst all the entries is becoming increasingly difficult because you’re all just so darn good!

That being said, I do have a few highlights:

Teemu’s ‘ Sarah the Shootist’

Haha, if I were a Wild West Woman, this gal would be my role model - stylish, practical and deadly! For this Colt-armed femme fatale I award you a gift certificate from the good folk over at Warbases (I know you love getting some of your hobby supplies from them). :)

Another favourite of mine is from PeteB - Mexican Fury

What a terrifically characterful figure and I can imagine her furious and colourful language! I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that tirade😳  For this terrific submission I award you a gift certificate from BigRedBat. Enjoy!!

The absolute stand out for me were the totally awesome Witch of Westmorland vignettes from SimonG.

I really have no words except to echo minion Teemu, ‘this entry is staggering’.

Bravo Simon! For your fine efforts I award you a gift certificate from 'French Wargame Holidays' (thank you Matt!). Enjoy (Curt and I are jealous)!

Thank you to ALL the Challengers for the visual feast of this year’s entries... it's always a pleasure to see the creativity from such a wonderful crew of ‘mad painters’.

Be Kind, Be Safe

Sarah

PS: Our neighbourhood patrol of Canada Geese… enjoying a little R&R in the park across the street.

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Snowlord's Choice

For Snowlord's Choice I often like to acknowledge the new people coming into the Challenge as these folks will become the torchbearers for our hobby in the years to come. So in this vein this year the Snowlord's Choice goes to GavinB.

I very much enjoyed all your entries Gavin. From the Wars of the Roses to Turnip28, and then on to The Walking Dead, your work exhibited an infectious enthusiasm that was a joy to follow. 

I was particularly impressed with your large scale knight. Such lovely work. Transitioning between scales as diverse as 1/50 to 1/16 can be a real challenge, but you managed it quite deftly with excellent results.

Again, wonderful work Gavin! For your efforts I'm happy to award you with a gift certificate from Goblin King Games (makers of 'Moonstone'). I hope you join us next winter to enjoy this funny little hobby of ours.

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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 loot. 

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As Challenge XV formally concludes, I’d like to thank again our brilliant Minions for all their hard work in herding entries, wrangling with the Spreadsheet of Doom and generally keeping everything rattling along. Hats off to Peter and Barks for respectively managing all the Duels and keeping track of our skull-count. 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.  As I often say, the Challenge doesn’t need prizes to be a success, but it adds a nice bit of sparkle to the festivities.  Thanks again to all our wonderful sponsors! 

Finally, and I really can't emphasize this enough, I want to thank all of our Challenge participants. This event would be nothing without you. Your industry, your good humour and most of all, your open-hearted support for one another makes the Painting Challenge what it is. You folks are terrific, thank you.

In closing, I bid you all a very fond farewell. Enjoy the next few months until we get together again in December.

- Curt

From BenitoM: Warg Riders (40 points)

For my second post in this year's Annual Painting Challenge I continued with more Uruk Hai additions for Midgard, the recently published miniature rules to play in the heroic ages.  In this case, the first batch of warg riders, the mounted component for my army.

These are four mounted archers and will fight as regular light cavalry; I also plan to use them for scouting/recon patrols in campaigns. 

Note that number of models in a unit is irrelevant in Midgard. Units are arranged in square rectangle bases that you can fill with as many models as you want.  The rules suggests using a 12 cm frontage (which I know will annoy some imperial-metric fans like Richard Clarke) but you are free to use whatever size you deem, as long as all units have the same base frontage (note: depth of the base is not relevant).

Given than I'm basing my mounted units on old GW round 40cm diameter individual bases,  I can put three models per unit. But as I said, you can base individually in rectangular bases if you like to accommodate more models per unit.  

These warg riders are 3D printed models in 28mm designed by Medbury Miniatures belonging to its mounted orc range.

Next in the painting line are some GW plastic warg riders, in the painting pile since early 2000s (they were bought at the time when the Peter Jackson's films were released and GW started selling the LOTR range). 

This post adds 40 points to my score this year (4 x 28mm mounted models @10 points each).   

   

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Hello Benito

The Warg Riders look terrifying!  Your Midgard army  project is coming along nicely.

Another 40 points for your Scoresheet

- Sarah

From BenitoV: Uruk Hai leader, Rulers and Tokens for Midgard (15 points+?)

This is my initial post for this year's Challenge, presenting an Uruk Hai leader and some tokens and rulers to use with Midgard, the recently published system to play battles in the Heroic Age by the Reisswitz Press/Too Fat Lardies stable. 

For those in the unknown, Midgard covers both historical and fantasy-based medium sized battles (between 60 and 100 minis) focused on the action of heroic leaders. Having stopped playing fantasy battles for almost 2 decades, this was an excellent opportunity to undust my old GW LOTR  minis and add some reinforcements.

My first project is an Uruk Hai army. I already owned enough models to create a 200 points army, short of the 300-350 minimum needed to play a battle. For this reason, I'm looking now for reinforcements, and the first step is this mounted leader (or "hero" in the Midgard parlance), to be followed by a couple of warg-riding units.

The models presented today are 3D printed minis in 28mm from the Medbury's orcs range.   

Additionally I have printed and painted the rulers and tokens needed to play with these rules. The rulers are used to move units and to measure distances to charge or shot missiles. The tokens represent units with close combat advantage (red arrows with swords) and units that have already shot in the turn (green ovals with the quiver and arows).

In terms of points the post is worth 15 points for sure (10 points for the mounted model and 5 points for the model on foot) and I will leave to the discretion of the minion-on-duty to account some additional points for the rulers and markers 

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Welcome back to the Challenge Benito!

Great and terrifying addition to your Urak Hai army, that warg is especially fearsome!

In addition to your 15points, I will assign another 2pts for the 3D printed tokens/markers for a total of 17 points

Cant wait to see the rest of your Midgard project

- Sarah

Challenge XV's Theme: Dante's 'Divine Comedy'

Hi All!

For this years theme we'll be following Dante's journeys through The Abyss and Paradise. 

Our resident mapmaker Sidney Roundwood is currently lost charting what's ahead for us (I heard him murmur that he was waylaid somewhere between Lust and Gluttony, but I may be wrong in that). In the meantime, below you will find a full listing of the themes for all of the locations. Here are a few rules to guide your planning:

- The path through both Heaven and Hell is linear (as listed below) BUT similar to Dante who had guides to aid his travels, we have our own local experts. 

- In the Abyss there is 'Sarah the Succubus' who will allow you to move from theme to theme for the cost of a female figure OR one depicting a devil or demon.

- In Paradise you can be aided by 'Sarah the Seraphim' who can take you to the location of your choice for the cost of a female figure OR one depicting an angel.

- Theme submissions are awarded a 20 point bonus per theme. So a 28mm figures associated with a theme would be scored at 25 points total.

Everyone starts at the First Circle in the Abyss ('Limbo'). The only way to get to Paradise is to traverse five (5) of the infernal locations first. Once in Paradise you will not be able to return to the Abyss.

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The Abyss

Map of The Abyss kindly provided by Sander.

First Circle: Limbo

This is where previous projects have stalled. Submit something that has been partially worked on from before. Yes, this can include terrain. :)

Second Circle: Lust

Of course this could be something titillating but it could also be the miniature that you've always wanted for your collection but have denied yourself.  One of the few times where I condone NSFW content. Young visitors may wish to avert their eyes. 

Third Circle: Gluttony

Would you like your meal supersized? Show us a figure who has overindulged at the table. A little too much Holiday feasting perhaps?

Fourth Circle: Greed

As the depraved Emcee in the musical 'Cabaret' sang, 'Money makes the world go around...' Submit something illustrating an unbridled lust for filthy lucre.

Fifth Circle: Wrath

Paint us something that illustrates unchecked fury. Could be something shouty with a bad temper.

Sixth Circle: Heresy

Something that breaks with the accepted code. Shatters valued conventions. 

Seventh Circle: Violence

Hmm, as many of us are wargamers I don't think I need to elaborate on this one too much.

Eighth Circle: Fraud

Somebody or something who claims to be something they are not.

Ninth Circle: Treachery

The back stabber, the turncoat, the faithless friend.

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Paradise

Map of Paradise kindly provided by Sander.

First Sphere: The Inconstant

No Ray, not the Incontinent... :) Instead, think of something which may try its best but often falls a bit short.

Second Sphere: The Ambitious

A figure that is as keen as mustard, an overachiever (yes, so annoying, I know).

Third Sphere: The Lovers

This could be platonic love, romantic love, but not love based on lust - that's for the 'other place'.

Fourth Sphere: The Wise

Something contemplative and sage. Essentially no figure having any kind of resemblance to me. :) 

Fifth Sphere: The Warriors of Faith

Religious lunatics anyone? Perhaps those from a local militia? The options are depressingly rich and diverse.

Sixth Sphere: The Just Rulers

This one could be tough. An unfortunately small field to choose from, but hey, thankfully we have fictional characters we can fall back on. :)

Seventh Sphere: The Contemplatives

The reasonable thinking person. Yes, arguably another rare beast, but I'm sure we can all rise to the occasion and find something.

Eighth Sphere: The Fixed Stars of Faith, Hope and Love

Submit a figure depicting any of these laudable themes. 

Ninth Sphere: The Angels

This one could be interpreted quite broadly. From the fierce warriors of some deity to a simple beatific child, the options are plentiful.

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There you have it! I know for certain I've missed important details so please feel free to query in the comments section below.

I'll see you all in Hell!

Curt

The Participant Roster for Challenge XV!

Hi All!

Below is the participant roster and corresponding Daily Minion assignments for Challenge XV. Sticking to form, I try to assign people to Minions who are roughly in the same geographical location (though there were a few exceptions that had to be made to align workload and schedules). 

Please keep in mind your submission day as it will establish your 'Challenge schedule' over the three months of the Challenge. I strongly suggest getting your entries in the day before your publication day as it allows your hard-working Minion the appropriate time to write comments, score and post your heartbreaking works of hobby genius.

In the coming days the Minions will be reaching out to go over details/structure of your submission days and to work out any kinks along the way.

	Name	ID	Points	Target
1	AdamW	1	0	600
2	AlanD	2	0	500
3	AndrewB	3	0	1,200
4	ArronH	4	0	1,000
5	ArthurS	5	0	300
6	Barks	6	0	1,000
7	BartekR	7	0	750
8	BenitoM	8	0	400
9	BobV	9	0	1,000
10	BrianC	10	0	1,000
11	BruceR	11	0	800
12	ByronM	12	0	1,000
13	CarsonG	13	0	300
14	ChristopherS	14	0	500
15	ColeF	15	0	300
16	Curt	16	0	800
17	DallasE	17	0	1,000
18	DaniHG	18	0	300
19	DarrellH	19	0	1,000
20	DaveD	20	0	1,000
21	DaveV	21	0	400
22	DavidB	22	0	2,000
23	DennisC	23	0	750
24	EdwardG	24	0	500
25	FrederickC	25	0	1,500
26	GavinB	26	0	100
27	GeoffT	27	0	1,000
28	GrahameH	28	0	2,500
29	GregB	29	0	1,000
30	IanS	30	0	400
31	JamesM	31	0	750
32	JamieM	32	0	1,000
33	JeremyM	33	0	300
34	JezT	34	0	300
35	JohnB	35	0	400
36	JohnS	36	0	500
37	JonathanO	37	0	400
38	JP	38	0	500
39	KenR	39	0	1,500
40	KentG	40	0	1,500
41	KerryT	41	0	2,500
42	LeeH	42	0	300
43	MartijnN	43	0	750
44	MartinC	44	0	2,000
45	MartinN	45	0	300
46	MattL	46	0	780
47	MattT	47	0	300
48	MattW	48	0	500
49	MikeD	49	0	750
50	MikeF	50	0	300
51	MikeW	51	0	2,000
52	MilesR	52	0	1,300
53	Millsy	53	0	1,500
54	NickY	54	0	500
55	PaulSS	55	0	1,000
56	PeteB	56	0	300
57	PeteF	57	0	750
58	PeterA	58	0	750
59	PeterB	59	0	1,000
60	PeterD	60	0	500
61	QuinnM	61	0	500
62	RaulM	62	0	200
63	RayR	63	0	1,000
64	RhysH	64	0	1,000
65	RichardM	65	0	1,200
66	RobH	66	0	300
67	RossM	67	0	500
68	SanderS	68	0	1,000
69	SarahHC	69	0	300
70	ScottR	70	0	1,500
71	SebastianR	71	0	484
72	SidneyR	72	0	500
73	SimonG	73	0	1,000
74	StephenS	74	0	350
75	SteveA	75	0	500
76	SteveM	76	0	500
77	SylvainR	77	0	1,000
78	TeemuL	78	0	1,500
79	ThomasL	79	0	1,500
80	TomC	80	0	250
			0
	Grand Total	Grand Total	0	65,214

Next up we'll have Peter illuminating us on the age-old tradition of Duels and Side Challenges.

- Curt