from Kerry - AHPC Sweet Sixteen Roundup

 Morning, afternoon & evening all

It seems very strange to put up a round up post so soon after the end of the challenge but I'm doing it because I want to put everything away!

I can't believe that 3 months has gone so quickly, the last few weeks in particular have flown by. I'm lucky though that being a member of the down under crew, I will still have regular contact with my mates at least once, if not twice per week during our regular Tuesday & Thursday night paint n' chats. Its a great group and we'll chat about anything really and throughout the challenge have leaned on and supported each other, its after all what the challenge is about.

I want to say an huge thank you to Curt and Sarah for once again allowing me to take part in this wonderful event. Mate, the amount of work you put into this is phenomenal, the AHPC is such a fantastic thing and long may it continue and be a source of pride to you. Thank you so much

I'm sorry, I  rushed my last post yesterday and had no time to say thank you to another wonderful group, the minions. How would we fare without them? Just brilliant guys, thank you for taking valuable hours out of your hobby time to meet the needs of the rest of us and make the challenge the success that it is. Huge thank you and especially to you Millsy, not only for the practical work you do for the down under or Friday group but for just the way you are. Cheers mate

The challenge is over for another year but already I'm looking forward to next Tuesday's paint n' chat with the regulars Kent, Millsy,  John, Paul and Richard. ( Richard I reckon with those names you should now change yours to Ringo :-) )

I think I went a bit mad this year

I was really pleased to see the return of terrain into this year's challenge, not least because I had a fair bit of 3d printed terrain I wanted to finish, Thank you Byron for minioning this.

This I think is my 5th challenge and it has really given me a focus after retiring last March (though I still work 1 day//week). I think I might have struggled to adjust without it. There are only so many days in a week that you can play golf. 

It was never my intention to try and finish at the top of the points roster, it just happened as I got so carried  away, particularly with the bonus rounds and this along with my tendency to try and produce figures in units and try and post every week meant it just happened. I really do struggle with the discipline of regular basing though. My timing is never great and I think I submitted all 3 bonus rounds with under 10 minutes to spare. That that was also the case yesterday and subsequently meant no time to preview it before posting. I have to address that because I know it stresses me a bit and is not that sensible, in fact its daft! Next year I think I might try and tone down my expectation a level and try not to get so much done every week. To be honest the challenge can take over and become all encompassing, like it obviously has this year!

I'm in a bit of trouble with a couple of blokes because I didn't give them their moment of fame as they had warned me to do in yesterday's "Knight's Tale" because I was so rushed. Most people seem to regard them as some sort of natural born killers so I'm going to play it safe and show them in the next picture. They are Lord Lucan's bodyguards, Lennie the Lion and Idris.

That's Lennie the Lion on the left with the flag, many people think he's named because he must be a handful in a scrap and fight like a lion.  The honest truth is that its not the true story, he got his name because he spends so much time in the Red Lion. Idris is on the right in the picture and again he has a reputation for being really mean - he really is though, but not in a tough killer way, more of in a sort of frugal way, as he never spends any money and would never buy you a pint!

With those two off my back I'll just put up a few pictures of what I managed to get paint over past 3 months.

That leaves only one thank you to make, and that is to my fellow participants. Thank you all for your kindness, encouragement and support. I've had a blast looking at what you've been posting and tried to comment as much as possible. The amount of skill and talent on here is as astounding as is the variety of interests which includes weird shit! Not only has it been great fun but the reality is that you've managed to tempt me into a couple of new projects, yeah, thanks! 

Thank you all

On a final note, I hope to see as many of you as I can at Partizan this year, I've already chosen my clothing so you'll find me easily.  

Thank you all, best wishes

Valleyboy

LeeH: My Winter War Soviets are ready for the offensive!

So, how do I wrap up this year’s Challenge? If I’m being totally honest, I didn't get quite as much painted as I originally hoped. My "to-do" list was definitely more ambitious than my "done" list! But you know what? I got the essentials finished, and in this hobby, that’s a win in my book.

Despite the slower pace, I managed to hit two major milestones: My personal 600-point target was officially crossed, and I'm happy with that. Of course, no competition compared to the top of the leaderboard, but I'm happy with what I got done.  Second, I completed everything I wanted to get done, meaning my Winter War Soviets: These guys are complete and will give me plenty of options when list-building for games of Bolt Action or Chain of Command. They were the missing piece for my collaboration project with RayR, and I’m thrilled to have them ready for the table.

The dream now is to get my Soviets and Ray’s Finns into a proper scrap. However, we’ve got a bit of a "one in, one out" policy happening right now. We have a few urgent projects that need to be cleared off the workbench before we can play with these guys. Our big focus for the immediate future? Two 1812 Retreat from Moscow games. We're working on a skirmish ruleset with a friend, and alongside this, Ray and I want to run a big battle with our collection for a demo game at Broadside in June. Once we have these playtested and polished, the second half of the year is looking very clear, and very wintery!

From Kerry T - All on the table - AHPC XV round up

 Morning, afternoon & evening all

Its been a more relaxed week this week because I haven't frantically been trying to get things on the table and though I've still had the brushes out, they're working at a more leisurely pace. I'm certainly not missing the rushed weekly basing sessions and am looking forward to returning to my habit of basing en masse when I run out of room on the desktop!

First things first and most importantly a big thank you to Curt & Sarah for organising the challenge once again and allowing me to take part in this, my fourth challenge. What a fantastic concept this is and I so wish I had discovered it years ago. I'm envious of those of you who've been in all the way through. Secondly a huge thank you to the minions, especially the awesome articulate Aussie Millsy for his diligence and kindness in minioning my work and coordinating our twice weekly chats where as many as 5 or 6 of us down-underers have chewed the fat. It has really added something special this year. Last but not least, my fellow challengers for their unwavering support and encouragement. Very many thanks to you all, the camaraderie is fantastic, its what makes the challenge

I set myself a target of 2,500 points with the aim of reaching 10,000 career points and am pleased to say I made it and though my score was higher with bonuses I actually managed to knock off 2,500 points worth of figures.

The completed host with 2 extras!

I'm embarrassed to confess that I dropped a clanger this year at the end and miscalculated the time that the challenge finished here in NZ. Rushing home late on Thursday night I thought I had a few hours left and put up a post only to have missed the deadline! Curt there's a draft post sitting in the queue which needs to be deleted please. If only I'd tried to tackle 6 not twelve hobilars I would have finished in plenty of time!

Here they are -zero points but they want their moment of fame!

See the red thing in the distance not quite finished, I needed another 20 minutes - sniff!

I just had to dry brush its spines and claws - another sniff!

I've always used the challenge to beef up my Italian Wars collection. No Gendarmes this year but some Landsknecht pike, characters, command and artillery. The intended Milanese units got bumped down the queue

The Emperor Maximillian

Warlord Games looters

Foundry big guns

Artizan pike to complete an already painted pike block

Over the Christmas holiday I painted up a load of horses and quietly drove myself bonkers churning out cavalry in the early part of the challenge but I put a big dent in the ECW leadpile

A mix of Empress and Bicorne horse

I should get around to playing FKP rules now

The other main theme for me this year having bought a resin printer, was printing, prepping and painting some of Medbury Miniatures STLs for the Scottish wars of Independence and 100YW 

Victrix knights with LBSM transfers

Medbury Miniatures, Footsore and Antediluvian Scottish pike /spear here

Then there were a few other odds and ends along the way

Little man with a big banner

Artizan Black Guard Moorish infantry and horse

Finally TAG Polish Hussars because I'm a butterfly

With very many thanks for your encouragement and support again this year, I've had a great time and hope to see you next year again

Valleyboy

KenR - A Yarkshire Gamer Round Up Challenge XV

 

There used to be a game show in the UK called Bullseye 🎯  a knowledge / darts based quiz and at the end of the show, if you lost the host would say "look what you could have won" (usually something totally impractical like a speedboat ) well above is what you could have won if I'd got the end of the Challenge right 😆 I always use 00.01 as one minute past midnight so I convinced myself that 12.01 am was midnight on the 20th so I went to bed with these three ships to finish off the next day and submit with a few hours spare. Imagine my surprise when I woke up and the Challenge was over !

So the centre piece of the Challenge never made it, here's a look at HMS Warspite a 1/700 scale monster, it's what you could have won 🏆 😉 

I've divided the Challenge entries that I did get in, into wet and dry. Here is the dry bit, I had intended to make a dent in my 28mm Napoleonic Project but only managed a couple of units, a French Foot Battery and a Prussian Fusilier Battalion. I also managed a couple of units of Spanish Heavy Cavalry for my Italian Wars collection.

The wet bit was a bit more successful and I managed (with the late comers) to get all bar one ship done for my Narvik Project. Other than the Warspite, there are 5 German Destroyers, 3 British H Class, 2 Tribal, 2 F Class and a solitary K Class Destroyer for the Royal Navy.

So it was quite a positive Challenge in terms of getting the Narvik Project done but I was a long way short of my target and loosing 200 points by getting the end if the Challenge wrong didn't help either 😆

Thanks once again to Curt for organising this wonderful yearly event, thanks to Teemu, my Minion (and all the others), hopefully see you all again next year, unless of course you tune into the Yarkshire Gamer Podcast in which case, see you next week 😀