Saturday 29 November 2014

'Let Me Connect You...'


I've just sent out an information PDF along with blog author invitations to all of this year's Challenge participants. If you are on the roster and have not received an email/invite from me please drop me a comment below or email me so I can get it sorted out. Thanks!! 


Sunday 23 November 2014

'There will be Paint before Breakfast' - Painting Duels and Side Challenges for the Fifth AHPC

'La!'
A fun element that has grown from the Challenge is the 'painting duels' and side wagers taken up between participants. These 'duels' run the gambit from seeing who can reach a defined points goal first, to being able to paint the most figures within a particular period or genre. They are great fun to watch unfold over the three months and provide a great source of goading and cheering for all concerned. 



Here are the first set of duels to kick off this year's Challenge:
- First, I'm calling out Sidney to see which of us will reach our 750 point target first - winner will claim a painted figure from the other. I aced Sid last year so I ask: Will I be hard-pressed this time out or will I get another limited edition Roundwood for my display cabinet?  ;P
- The Dutch Contingent (Jacco, Michael and Rob) have challenged one another to see which one of them will meet their 500 point target first. 
- Anne and Sander have challenged each other to painting the best Femme Fatale. The parameters of the duel are still being hammered-out but I hear murmurs that this clash will come off sometime in January. 
- Anne keeps busy with another duel, this one with Simon. They have challenged one another to see who can paint the most points in Pulp adventure figures over the three months of the event. The winner will get a painted figure from the vanquished. 
- I also have something in the works with Alan and Phil, but more on that once we've hammered out the details on the matches.
To the other participants, I challenge you all to comment below and issue your own call-outs for duels and cage-matches. Let's make this year's Challeng a paint-lashed scrum to the first day of Spring!  


Friday 21 November 2014

Extending a big THANK YOU to the Painting Challenge Prize Sponsors


I'm delighted to announce that we have a wide-ranging group of sponsors (nine and counting!) who've generously offered prizes for the Challenge. I know prizes aren't the be-all and end-all, but you have to admit they do add a certain lustre to an occasion.

This year I'm going to try something a bit different in that I will be holding prize draws for attaining specific points thresholds.  There will be six thresholds, starting from 500 points and going up to 2500.
Threshold I = 500 points
Threshold II = 750 points
Threshold III = 1000 points
Threshold IV = 1500 points
Threshold V = 2000 points
Threshold VI = 2500 points
I'm hoping that with this system I can provide a bit more fun than simply giving out prizes to the top-scoring painters, as I realize not everyone has the time, speed or stamina to compete at those upper levels.

So, without further ado, in alphabetical order, this year's sponsors are:

Barrage Miniatures



Romanesque Spanish Church
Grass Warmat in a Vietnam setting.
Barrage Miniatures specializes in very high quality, exquisitely detailed vehicles, buildings and warmats. I had the pleasure to visit Alf's workshop in Madrid this past spring and can attest to his near maniacal attention to detail and customer service. In addition to his generous prize offerings Alf is also giving a 10% discount to all Challengers who order from his store during the event (please contact me to get the discount code). Thanks very much Alf!


Deep-Cut Studios




Deep-Cut Studio is an artisan studio specializing in manufacturing miniature and RPG games accessories. They mainly focus on miniature games mats for various wargames. Deep-Cut also collaborates with companies looking to outsource their manufacturing and/or handling the distribution of their products. They provide a wide array of services: graphic design, drawings, manufacturing, packaging and shipping the goods to the customer's doorstep.


Diplomatist Books



The stock at Edwin King's wonderful online bookshop Diplomatist Books is always worth a thoughtful thumb through. You'll find titles on Military & Naval History, Archaeology, Early History and Exploration. Also, check out Edwin's Facebook page to keep up with his goings on.


Fife & Drum / Minden Miniatures



British AWI Commanders
Prussian Command Stand
Jim Purky's Fife & Drum Miniatures, whose wonderful 30mm figures focus on the American War of Independence, was awarded 'Best Historical Miniatures Range of 2011' by the Miniatures Page. Jim also has the excellent Minden Miniatures range, which focuses on the armies of the Seven Years War. Both ranges are sculpted by the very talented Richard Ansell.


J&M Miniatures


A long-time supporter of the Challenge, James Manto's J&M Miniatures is a great Canadian-based online hobby store specializing in all manner of products for miniature gaming.


Murawski Miniatures






Murawski Miniatures was created to fill a niche for Napoleonic figure collectors who wanted a comprehensive range that depicted troops from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw as they were dressed and equipped in the 1812-1814 period. The “look” of the figures is very much that of “in the field” rather than parade ground (ideal for the Peninsular, 1813 campaigns etc) . That said figures have also been designed with Czapska chords, plumes etc.



Orinoco Miniatures




A labour of love from the fevered mind of Mark Griffin, Orinoco Miniatures features a wonderful range of 28mm castings depicting the South American Wars of Independence (1810-1830) and the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay (1932-1935). 


SG2 Creations






Byron's SG2 Creations is a Canadian-based studio specializing in MDF terrain, figure storage and acrylic game markers. He is currently developing comprehensive ranges of buildings for 28mm Sci-Fi, 15mm Stalingrad  and another in 20mm for the WWII campaigns in Italy.


Westfalia Miniatures




Russian sledge gun, 1812.
Rude Scots
Kawe's Westfalia Miniatures combines the talents of Niels Rullkoetter, Paul Hicks, Ebob, Frank Germershaus and Bill Thornhill to build 28mm miniatures and 1/56 equipment that they always wanted for their own collections. Their research comes from Michael Bartling and many others.

Again, I wish to thank all our prize sponsors -  their very generous support of the Painting Challenge really adds a wonderful sparkle to the event.


Next Up: Paint Duels and Side Challenges! (Note to Challengers: Please send me your call-outs and white feathers...)

Monday 17 November 2014

'Unity Through Paint' - The Roster for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge



We have our team! Below you will find the roster of participants for the Fifth Annual Painting Challenge. This year we have 72 hobbyists rolling out, up by almost a dozen from last year - the more the merrier, wot! 

We have folks from 12 years of age to, well, let's say not 12 years of age (;OP) and coming from 14 nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United States, and the UK. Looking at this I think this year's Challenge's motto of 'Unity through Paint' may not be too far off the mark.

Note: To all the participants, please review the roster to make sure that you're there and that your points target and the link to your blog (if you have one) are correct.

I also want to take this opportunity to announce that there will be a few changes to how the Challenge will be accessed and administered for this edition. 


1)  I have created an exclusive Painting Challenge blog for the event. So when the event kicks off on December 5th it is there where you'll be wanting to go. The address of the Painting Challenge blog is:


In addition, you can find a button to it ('The Painting Challenge') at the top of this blog.



Why do this? Well, I believe the Challenge has now grown large enough to warrant its own web presence and I think it's time to keep it distinct from my own personal blog. Over the next few months I will be structuring the new Challenge blog to contain all of the content from the previous four events so it's self-contained and can project a sense of its own history.

Also, a dedicated blog allows me to be able to assign the participants of the Challenge as author/contributors. This is quite significant as it will give the participants more flexibility and control on how their submissions are handled while also alleviating a portion of the workload from me. (Don't worry, I will still act as editor and will post entires for those who either cannot, or do not, wish to mess with posting their own entries.)

2) In order for me to better keep on top of the entries I am assigning each participant a day of the week in which his or her work will be posted to the Challenge blog. This, in turn, helps me spread out the work over the week and gives me Sunday's off to work on my own stuff and manage the Fortnight Theme Rounds.

Nonetheless, during the first and final weeks of the Challenge the assigned days will be ignored, allowing people to send in their entries as they wish, maintaining the Challenge's signature pell-mell start and race to the finish.

I hope this all makes sense. I'll be sending out an email in a week or so to all the participants to go over the finer mechanics of the Challenge. 

Up Next: Our Prize Sponsors!



The Fifth Annual Painting Challenge Roster


Challenger
Post Day
Initial Points Target
Blog
1.               
AaronH
Monday
650
2.               
AdamC
Monday
1000
3.               
AlanD
Monday
1500
4.               
AnneO’L
Monday
500
5.               
BenG
Monday
400
6.               
BrendonW
Monday
1000
7.               
BrianB
Monday
500
RayGun Gothic Galaxy
8.               
BurkhardS
Monday
1000
9.               
ByronM
Monday
1000
10.            
ChristopherS
Monday
500
11.            
ClintB
Monday
1250
12.            
DaveD
Monday
2250
13.            
DavidB
Tuesday
750
-
14.            
DavidL
Tuesday
750
The Miniatures Corner
15.            
EdwinK
Tuesday
1000
16.            
Evan&GrantH
Tuesday
200
-
17.            
FranL
Tuesday
600
18.            
GillesW
Tuesday
1000
19.            
GregB
Tuesday
300
20.            
IanW
Tuesday
1000
21.            
IannickM
Tuesday
600
22.            
JaccoK
Tuesday
500
-
23.            
JamesR
Tuesday
750
Baconfat Log
24.            
JamieM
Wednesday
500
GOG Online
25.            
JeremyM
Wednesday
300
-
26.            
JohnM
Wednesday
1000
27.            
JuanM
Wednesday
500
28.            
Kawe
Wednesday
200
29.            
KevinH
Wednesday
300
30.            
KevinS
Wednesday
?
31.            
MarkE
Wednesday
500
32.            
MarkG
Wednesday
750
33.            
MartinC
Wednesday
1000
-
34.            
MartinN
Wednesday
400
35.            
MarkE
Wednesday
500
36.            
MarkO
Thursday
1000
Chasseur
37.            
MichaelA
Thursday
1000
38.            
MichaelF
Thursday
501
39.            
MichaelP
Thursday
500
40.            
MilesR
Thursday
2000
41.            
Millsy
Thursday
2000
42.            
PaulS
Thursday
500
43.            
PeterB
Thursday
1000
44.            
PeterD
Thursday
1000
45.            
PeterT
Thursday
500
46.            
PhilH
Thursday
?
47.            
RayR
Thursday
300
48.            
RichardC
Friday
500
-
49.            
RichardM
Friday
700
50.            
RobH
Friday
200
51.            
RobP
Friday
500
-
52.            
RossM
Friday
500
53.            
RoyW
Friday
750
54.            
SamuliS
Friday
1000
55.            
Sander
Friday
500
56.            
SeanS
Friday
1000
57.            
SebG
Friday
200
Back to the Minis
58.            
ScottB
Friday
600
59.            
ScottS
Friday
1000
60.            
SidneyR
Friday
750
61.            
SimonM
Saturday
500
62.            
StacyS
Saturday
300
-
63.            
SteH
Saturday
750
64.            
StefanK
Saturday
750
65.            
StefanoS
Saturday

-
66.            
SteveM
Saturday
800
-
67.            
SylvainR
Saturday
300
-
68.            
TamsinP
Saturday
1500
69.            
TeemuL
Saturday
500
70.            
TobiP
Saturday
500
71.            
VincentC
Saturday
500
72.            
…and Curt

750