From TomM: the wrap up video

 And so it came to pass, the 11th edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, and the 4th one I participated in.

How fast those three months have gone by...

For me personally, it was yet another succesfull edition, though like last year I regret not being able to frequently comment on the magnificent work of the other challengers, as free time was more then ever a utopia this edition.

But even then, I managed to get my two goals: break the 1.000 points barrier, and finish the whole Chambers of Challenge route to the Altar of the Snow Lord.  This resulted in me totalling 1112 points this year, far off from my personal best but never the less a hefty total.

To reach this, I finished 25 entries, and that placed me nicely in the first half of the table again, ending at a 27th spot.

Here the progress I made for the chambers map and the followed route:

And a small clip showcasing all my entries of this edition:

It was great fun once again, and next year I`ll be back with a personal challenge, namely to try and enter (any maps if they are present permitting) solely with anime styled models, which i can pull from various ranges and boardgames hopefully to reach my goals then as well.

Just a small personal impression, maybe a points score for 28mm+ "Monsters" might be in order, they are often bigger then their sci-fi equivalent vehicles....

From TomM: Seiya (5pts) - my final entry

One can not look into gaming Saint Seiya, without having of course the figure of the titular character, Seiya, painted up.

Throughout the whole franchise, the Pegasus saint has been the chosen champion of the godess Athena, and in the main timeline this of course is Seiya himself.

A hot blooded boy at first, he grows into a responsible (yet still hot to anger if Saori is threatened) hero, often going above his weight to save her and his friends.

The model is from Nonsense Miniatures, printed in resin, and now that I have two models finished already, I guess I can take a look at their ruleset Constellation Warriors and give the game a go in solo play.  I might not have a grid mat to play on, but that will be solved by using dungeon tiles.

As a single 35mm figure, this adds another modest 5 points to the tally, and a great figure to round off my personal Challenge for this edition...

 

From TomM: Altar of the Snowlord: The Dread Pageant (40 pts)

 Not an edition can go by me without finishing at least something for the Prince of Excess, Slaanesh, and this year it is the entry for my finale of the challenge.

After reaching the Altar of the Snowlord, I have been set with the task of completing a warband for Warhammer Underworlds, the newest edition warband The Dread Pageant.

Dedicated to the Chaos god of pleasure, the band comes with 4 members, and from what I read so far are actually quite a difficult band to master, so challenge excepted on that front once Covid permits us to attend smaller tournaments again.  And then I'll be taking these guys out for a tournament for sure one day.

As black latex is sooooooo last year in the fetish world, I went for white instead.  This also makes the whole band look more bright and less depressed as black would have been.  The clothing and weapons are done with vibrant pastels as well for more contrast.

For the metals, I took the good old Citadel Amethyst Purple and Enchanted Green metalic paints, giving a magical touch to the items as if some strong spell is cast over them.

So that is it, my final challenge room of the year completed, with a (ahum) hefty week to spare.  With 4 models, this means 20 points for the warband, and an additional 20 for the room, ticking the total with an extra 40 points.

From TomM: the Oldest of Rivalries (10 pts)

 If there is one long lasting rivalry in anime, it is without a doubt the one between Amuro Ray and Char Aznable.

Ever since the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime aired back in 1979, the two have been protagonists, and Char is actually a very complex, highly liked villain.

Char is one of the most charismatic and loved bad guys around, and with a record service of 44 years and counting at the moment, one that remains incredibly popular even with new generations, as could be seen by the OVA series Char's Origin the past year.

For this entry, I went up and painted two 1/400 scale gasaphon, whic I plan to use in MechaTop, a kickstarter I`m eagerly awaiting delivery for (should be march btw).  I like this scale the best to game, as the models are the size of a 28mm figure (I scored them as such below), and work really well with 1/300 scale infantry, vehicles and buildings without towering TO much over them.  Even though your average Gundam stands at about 18 metres... as could be seen in the news as Japan is working on a functional RX-78-2 recently.

To that end, of course I need the famous RX-78-2 (it's also the Gundam appearing in the excellent Ready Player One movie btw), and one of Char's mobile suits in which he duelled with Amuro, the aquatic MSM-07S Z'Gok in his typical red colour scheme as he is "The Red Comet" for a reason.

This means 2 figures at 5 points each, like their equivalent 28mm models as they are the same size and dimensions, good for 10 points onto the account.

Demaz!

From TomM: Dungeons and Denizens (40 points)

  Every year, near the end of the challenge, I end up with one of these posts: literally a dump post of all the things began, yet not finished for this year.

And it is no different in this edition, so labelling it Dungeons and Denizens, it is quite a hotchpotch of things painted in between entries, with the solemn goal of  "who knows if I need it in DnD one day" kind of stuff.

As well as some terrain, being mostly 2x2 dungeon tiles but also a rather big statue, there is some variety of beasts in here.

Repainted clix models, some metal guy on bails of hay of which I got no clue where I ever obtained him from, all that sort of loose stuff.

Which also makes it a bit of a puzzle for the points calculation.  I guess 10 points is sufficient for all the tiles and the statue, it goes for about 6 cubic inch, but the paint jobs aren`t that hard for those.  The beasties are all 28mm ones, so that is 6 of them for 30 points, making 40 points total?

From TomM: 6mm Italian riflemen for the CSIR (12 pts)

  While working away on my finale entry, I did manage to complete some small sideprojects in the meantime.

And this one is the first of those, some 6mm infantry to bolster the ranks of the CSIR.

The models, produced by Adler, are standard italian riflemen with the occasional smg mixed amongst them, but as they are for use with the Blitzkrieg Commander rules, that doesn`t make any difference game wise.

I went for a dark olive colourscheme on them, in order to "blend in" with the dark green soil, though it doesn't really make a difference.  An infantry force facing the might of mother Russia's tank companies probably will spell disaster any way.

But that won`t mean I plan on holding the head low, as the brave carabinieri will take to the battle with panache, head up high, and a lot of galantry!

Or at least yield 12 points to this years tally, that counts for something as well ;-)

For TomM: The Altar of the Snowlord

Altar of the SnowLord (brought to you by the kids of Kinsmen Park South)

  

Tom, you've mentioned that you need to get another warband painted for your Warhammer Underworlds collection. Let's see, perhaps something Slaaneshi, all lascivious and tentacly? Get those done-up and you can claim your prize.

Tom's Prize: Roman Centurio by Benito

From TomM: Lair of the Beast: Fomoroid Crusher (30 pts)

 And so our descent through the Chambers of Challenge comes through an end, as we stand before the sealed door to the final challenge.

But in order to get there, one must first face this last quest, the Lair of the Spider (well, it became Beasts).

I decided to go for the Fomoroid Crusher from the WarCry range by Games Workshop, a game I read a lot of good things about, but which I haven`t gotten round to play yet, let alone finish a warband.  But I really liked the model, and it is also your protagonist in the Underworlds solo game mode, though as I only completed him now, he has been stand in by a Mordor Troll when my Zarbag Gitz faced the challenge.

It's actually quite a tall model, about twice the size of a GW Ogre, and slightly smaller then the old giant, and it is full of details.  I really liked painting this guy up, and of course being me I couldn`t resist from giving him a slightly Slaanesh influence with the pastels for his clothing and hair, providing just that hint of following the god of Excess as such.

 

And now it is time to enter the Altar of the Snow Lord, and face the final challenge that will be set before me!

Points wise I have no actual idea on this beast, it is a big bloke standing about two and a half times in height of a stormcast, and I guess it takes about as much plastic volume as for example a 40k attack bike or the likes.  Better safe then sorry, I aim at 10 points for it?  Together with the room that means 30 points total, AND putting me over my 1k goal for this year, huzzaaaah!

From TomM: Hall of Heroes: Fatty Bolger (25 pts)

 As I slowly and steadily, like a true Hobbit, will be painting up models for the Scouring campaign book, I arrived at the Hall of Heroes.

And so it is only fitting to paint up one of the most unsung heroes in the Lord of the Rings: brave Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger.

 

 

Best friend to Frodo, it was Fatty who in the end stayed behind at Bag's End, to keep the appearance up of the place being inhabited.  And had to ran for his life when the Black Rider came knocking down the door.

Fatty was also instrumental in the uprising against Sharkey and Worm in the scouring of the Shire, and all these heroic deeds resulted in... no screentime booh hiss.  Luckily, GW did a model of the brave little guy years ago, and I selected him to be my hero to feast in the hall.  

 

 

Because after all, feasting is even more suited to a Hobbit then heroics...

And that means only a single room left before entering the Altar of the Snowlord, and 25 points to the total, meaning my objective for this challenge is also in reach.

From TomM: Graveyard beach: Zombieeeessss (170 pts)

Well, I`m not really planning on building any 9th age or WFB Vampires army anytime soon, but these zombies, an old set from Mantic, would have been perfect for that.

Instead, I grabbed the box at a discount bargain, with the sole purpose of having "fodder" for games of Dungeons and Dragons or Rangers of Shadow Deep.

In that regard, I painted them in a fleshy, not to gory, colour scheme, because that way I can use them as crzed starved fanatical villagers or something as well, forming wave after wave of low hp and unskilled masses to throw at the heroes.

An added bonus is that it paints up really smooth as well, so a couple of hours later I had a nice heap of 30 zombies, ready to claw their way towards the unwilling opponents!

 

So that makes an excellent 150 points for the models, and a nice boost to my tally as it becomes 170 points due to the 20 point location bonus...

From TomM: Teleporting to Graveyard Beach: Fiametta (30 pts)

 As I stand at the Knight's Solar, I invoke once more the Lady Sarah on her sorcerous powers to transport me to Graveyard Beach.

And for the required tribute, I painted up Fiametta, sorceress of the Shattered Sword.

A model from the CMON range for Relic Knights, she comes in a cute school uniform (she is from the limited run of "cosplay" variants of some characters) but still toting around her staff for protective magics and barriers.

I really like the range, even though I never played the game, though I might actually look into some small affair solo-wise for it.  

So for this entry, I got 5 points for the model, 5 extra for it being a spellcaster, and 20 for using the teleport service, meaning 30 points total and a step closer to both my points goal as well as the Altar.

From TomM: Knight's Solar: Riders of Gondor (65 pts)

 Ride for wrath, for ruin!  Ride for Ro.... errrrrr... GONDOORR!

As I enter the Knight's Solar on the third level, ever drawing closer to the Altar of the Snowlord, the next entry required a knightly theme.

So what better to finally finish the unit of 6 Gondor knights, of which the first two where painted... 2 editions ago.  What do you mean, slacking?

But now I got round to painting the other 4 of the armed lancers, to storm across the fields and drive forth bloody retribution against the foes of the White City.

To add some more Might points to my Gondorian force, I also painted up a captain on foot, to lead the ranks of warriors on the battlefield.

So even though a bit overdue, they can finally be fielded... should Covid-19 finally stop ruining all the gaming plans this year.

So that means 4 cavalry and 1 infantry for this entry, totalling 45 points.  Together with the room bonus, that makes as such 65 points to the tally, woohoo!

From TomM: Ptolemy, silver saint of Sagitta (5 pts)

  For those who follow my blog, it will be no suprise that I like anime perhaps even more since wargaming.

And that all started back in 1986 with Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque on the french channel TF1, a series known even better perhaps under it's japanese name Saint Seiya.

It's also on Netflix btw now, just ignore that crap 3D monstorsity Netflix made, that is just horrible and in no way representative of both the story and the mythos of this mythology inspired series.

Now recently, a spanish company named Nonsense Miniatures started to make resin 3d printed "Constellation Warriors" models, well, the Saints actually, and one of their first 4 figures is this one, Ptolemy, Silver Saint of Sagitta, scaled at about 36mm.  They also have a free to download beta ruleset for them on their website.

 

 

So I painted up him as the first one, don`t ask me why because even if his appearance in the anime was rather short, he was the one that mortally wounded Athena, instigating the race across the twelve Houses of the Zodiac up to the Grand Pope's palace.

 

And just for reference, here is his anime version...  

So that makes a single figure and good for 5 points in this entry

From TomM: The Tomb: Mausoleum (25 pts)

 For the entry of the next room in this epic quest through the Chambers of Challenge, I literally went for what the quest says: a tomb.

A perfect chamber to get some scenery piece done, I printed up a small mausoleum and accompanying graves to build a piece of CD terrain (am I a year late here?).

The model has been scaled to fit the Shire games I`m planning, because unfortunatly Hobbits don`t live for ever either, even though they have long lifespans.

For points calculation, as it is nowhere near 6 cubic inches, I thought 5 points would be suited, together with the 20 bonus points for the room.

And now onwards to the third level!

From TomM: The Oubliette: 6mm AWI Britsh (60 pts)

 One of my personal goals in this year's AHPC is to paint up as much 6mm as possible, in a variety of era's and settings.

Because I have a lot of the little guys, and I find that the AHPC isn't a good project finisher per se, but it is a great project starter as you navigate the challenge map.

To that end, I began at last on painting some of my AWI british by Baccus Miniatures which have been lying around here for 7 years now, and did a few odds and ends to have a good starting point and idea of colourschemes and all.

This small kick off force as such consists of 3 stands of infantry numbering 16 soldiers each, 3 stands of 3 dragoons, two mounted officer stands and a cannon.

All in all, accumulating into 52 infantry models, 13 cavalry models and a man-handled gun, good for 40 points in the challenge and 20 bonus points, totalling 60 as such.

Well, if you're using each of the chambers to kick off a project, you're going to have enough projects to keep you going for at least a couple of years! Nice work on the wee chaps, Tom!

Tamsin

From TomM: The Shrine: Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven (45 pts)

  As we descend ever further down the Chambers of Challenge, we stumbled upon a shrine, dedicated to the God of Murder, Kaela-Mensha-Khaine.

In all the blood and gore, his priestesses, known as the Daughters of Khaine, where seen bathing to preserve their unearthly beauty...

For this entry, I painted up the Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven from the Warhammer Underworlds range.  I wanted these ladies as my band to go to tournaments, but as it stands with Covid, they will actually be cycling out their generic cards before events pick up again hopefully late 2021.

But heck, it are gorgeous sculpts, and I must say that over the past year or so, it seems GW is pulling out all their stops on fantasy again, as the models imho look way better then their 40k counterpart.

And that goes especially for their small skirmish games, like Underworlds.  While some bands don`t appeal to me (anything Nurgle or Skaven for example), there doesn`t seem to be one ugly sculpt even amongst them.

So that makes 5 models for this entry, which should total 45 points after the inclusion of the location bonus...