The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge V - December

Over a month into this year's Fifth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and there have been such treats on offer - the bumper crop of participants with around 250 entries so far.

I did n't manage to make a strong start - busyness at work hit the preparations (some of which I'm still working on), then Christmas sapped time away from the painting table. So I'm floundering in both side challenges with Curt and Juan.

My entries for December also firmly sat in my comfort zone - predominantly tidying up loose ends of the long-running Sudan project. But it'll be all change for January...

To get me out of the block on the first weekend, a small unit of skirmishing Sudanese Bazingers.

Bazingers were African irregulars, either mercenaries or slave-soldiers. They could be found in government service or the private employ of Arab slavers and merchants. They formed part of the garrison at Khartoum and Suakin and fought in Egyptian service at El Teb. They can also serve as the troops of local Shaykhs and warlords loyal (or not so loyal...) to the Egyptian government, provided with standard-issue Remingtons. 

The colours are fairly uniform but the poses and motley equipment suggests they are irregulars, I think they'll sit well alongside my Egyptian regular troops. I wish I'd bought more and will likely add another pack and command. As always, they are Perry Miniatures. 

Next up, the second theme round: 'Mounts and Riders'. Nothing too imaginative , I already had the last three Baggara cavalry prepped up, so painted them to match my existing ones.

The glad is courtesy of Flag Dude (and is damned fragile - I've already broken it once!

Here's the Mahdist cavalry wing - I should paint more camels to match it these fearsome horse!

Next, a little dalliance with single miniatures, first a particularly flamboyant a Egyptian officer. He's a fantastic sculpt from Gringos 40s Maximillian Adventure range. I'm really pleased with how his face came out

Last up, the Spanish Civil War onslaught begins. He was a freebie from Empress miniatures because my club put in a large joint order. In fact, the order was so big that eight of him were included! Happily, there is a 'priest' option in the Chain of Command SCW support lists, he can offer some religious zeal to my Requetes. 

An entirely new project offer the chance to use new methods, many picked up from this community. I'm reducing my use of washes as I think they slow my painting down quite a bit and often aren't necessary - AP strong tone has become a bit ubiquitous recently. So only one wash used on him, though he was a very simple paint job. I've also used a new colour for the highlights on the base: Vallejo 'Iraqi Sand' rather than 'Buff' and added more variation to the shade. I think it looks much better, but I'd be very interested what you all think as he project develops.  Unfortunately, it won't match my terrain, but that's already in a motley collection of colours as I've changed my bases a few times for different projects. I also used more definition to the face and a slightly different flesh recipe, though this one didn't quite come out right. Further improvements have been made though. 

That's it for December, I currently sit at 181 points, a good way to my 500 target but 50 behind Juan. Do check out the Challenge blog for everyone's excellent entries, if you don't already! 

Analogue Hobbies Challenge: the winners announced

True to his word, Curt has announced the winners of the 3rd Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

Aside from the 'top three' on points, there were four prizes to for Curt announce. 

Challengers' Choice went to MichaelA's delightful, gruesome cannibal cooking pot.

People's Choice went to MichaelA again, this time his quite awesome 'Seven Samurai in greyscale'.



Judge's choice, the lonely abandoned caisson by Kawe



And finally, Sarah's choice went to my Lady in White



I'm absolutely delighted with that as there were some excellent entries that could easily have won this category. Many thanks to Sarah for granting me the award for a second year in a row, it s much appreciated. Eek, that's quite a precedent!

My hearty Congratulations to the winners, to those at the top of the standings, the runners up in all categories and the rest of the field - exceptional efforts all round. The real winners are of course all the 'Ronin', to be encouraged and inspired to such efforts and the rest of the gaming blogging community, which is greatly enriched by Curt's challenge. Until next year (when I'll have to find some more ladies to paint...)

Closing the Challenge: the Lady in White

To round out my Challenge, I wanted to make a final stab at retaining the Sarah's Choice award. When I saw this miniature, I was a little struck by the ethereal grace of her. I thought she'd look great alone on a cliff edge, looking out. Perhaps a sailor's wife, waiting for his return, quietly looking out over crashing waves for sails on the horizon, with the breeze catching her hair. Or perhaps she is a ghostly spirit of a long-forgotten memory, a goddess or elven queen.

There's only so much space on a 30mm base, I wasn't up for making cliffs and crashing waves. But I thought I'd position her offset slightly from the usual position on the base, which I think draws out her loneliness a little. A simple paint job to bring out the simplicity of the sculpt, in my usual clean style. I tried a new recipe for the blonde hair and am rather pleased with it. She was a pain to photograph though, the flash often makes the dress look harshly pale.

This is about the fourth round of photographing her - every time I spotted niggles that I had to return to the painting table to put right. While I felt she deserved me doing her eyes, I rarely do them for a reason and this shows why. Sadly, that's the best I could manage. 

Still, she is a lovely miniature and was a joy to paint. Hasslefree Miniatures. 

Analogue Hobbies Challenge: Coming to a Close

With a sigh of relief, the Painting Ronin can lay aside their brushes. Three months of some quite amazing work in the name of points, sharing, camaraderie and prizes.

First up, my deepest appreciation for our host and guide, Curt. To make so much time to run this competition is a gesture of great kindness, it truly must have been a Herculean effort. But rest assured, it is deeply appreciated by me, the rest of the Ronin and the rest of our hobby blogosphere who could watch the fun unfold. Curt, I salute you as the jolly nice chap that you are. Hopefully, 50-odd colourful (and greyscale) Samurai will be reward enough, in the end.

On my performance, I managed a miserable 365 points, well below my 500 last year and 550 target. I just ran out of steam in the end and was too distracted by othre commitments. But I'm pleased with what I did finish. My focus was on Pulp and WWII, with a smattering of other genres . My entries over the past month are below. First up, a second batch of Artizan Greatcoated Germans. While they need a little grubbying up, I'm pleased with how they came out, a few lessons learned from the first batch.



Just the one camo smock in an autumnal scheme

The whole bunch together

Next, a few French Foreign Legion in khaki, to make an appearance in a North African Pulp games. Artizan Designs once again, I think these were a 'useful somday' bargain bin or eBay find.

A pair of ladies, one Pulp adventurer from Hasslefree and one armed Victorian lady from Mutineer. I actually had three ladies on my final entry, The third was the one I was most pleased with, but painting her went right to the wire so I will add a couple of finishing touches before posting her up here.

So now the dust has settled, there is voting and prizegiving to be done. One prize is awarded for the 'People's Choice', so do head on over to Analogue Hobbies to vote on your favourite entry.

Finally, a quick shout out for another Easter giveaway at Sippin' on Paint Water - head over there if you want a chance at some mysterious goodies!

Challenge Entries; The Final Straight

Another motley collection of Challenge Entries for you. First up, two Willys jeeps from West Wind. The will serve as transport for my commandos or objectives for WWII skirmish games. I based them on plastic bases leftover from Perry boxes, as they are a bit small. The bases raise them up a bit and stop you putting troops too close, hopefully making them look like they scale better.

Next up, my entry fee, Ronin #33, a particularly colourful samurai. I tried a new yellow recipe around Vallejo Flat Yellow (in preparation for the stalled Dragoons project). It came out really well but is very unforgiving of mistakes. Not ideal when doing a freehand design! But he came out well and I hope he has good service with Curt's other Ronin.

Last up, some artillery support for my Napoleonic Spanish. I was pleased with how the gun came out, but the gunners are a bit chunky.

Apologies that I've not posted much up recently, I've not had much time to blog as well as paint and even the painting is going pretty slowly. I'm on to the final straight of Curt's challenge, which finishes in just over two weeks. I'm just over halfway to my points target, which I'm almost certain to miss. I also have a few AARs for Pulp Alley to post from a couple of weeks back.

I also recently went to the Cavalier show in Tonbridge, with Samulus keeping me company. Cavalier is a small show but a nice primer for the year. I didn't buy much, just a few bits and pieces as well as the vehicles expansion for Operation Squad (it was reasonably priced!). I think I need a few more games before I'm ready to use them though. Seeing some other bloggers' pics of the show, I think I missed a whole room of it somehow!

One final note: Dux Homonculorum is running a great giveaway, worth swinging by.

Challenge entries five and six: the KRRC, Commandos and Pulp

Entry numbers five and six were both small, the result of finally getting around to watching Danish series 'The Killing' (with its mighty fineSarah Lund jumpers). Although quite excellent, it eats into painting time as it is subtitled, so requires my full attention. I went off piste by making up some woods and rough ground, which set me back. 

Here's a firing line of King's Royal Rifle Corps for my dalliance with Colonial Sudan. I think I'm in a 'grey phase' at the moment, it certainly seems to be a feature of most of my entries. I had issues with them, I ended up re-doing the grey as it didn't match my first batch. It still isn't right but is closer, the chap on the left of the second photo was part of batch one, you can see that he already had grubby trousers whereas the rest are clean as a whistle (for now!). Perry sculpts - what else?

Next up, the first of the Blackwater Gulch characters, this one 'The Norwegian', I'm reliably informed he is an homage to the TV show 'Hell on Wheels'. Heaven knows what use I'll find for him other than BWG, perhaps a slightly unbalanced hitman with a penchant for antique firearms and bullwhips in a Pulp game? The flash of white among a head of very black hair is inspired by a chap I know.

Why so serious?

And a daring female adventurer for Pulp, ready to take on the world. A cracking Artizan sculpt. The blue comes out very pale in the photos, the second image is closest the the actual colour. 

Clearly a lady that won't need rescuing

Entry number six was just four models that I turned around in a few days: Artizan Designs British Commandos. One last pack I had in stock, I've 20 or so done but mostly wanted the mortar and PIAT finished. They will come in handy, offering some punch in games of Operation Squad. I drilled out the PIAT and added a wire to the radioman (since dubbed Mr Hendrix), both if which came out really well.

With these, I'm sitting at 195 points, barely over a third to my 550 target. In a week we'll be two-thirds of the way through the challenge. Eek!

Challenge entry four: Greatcoated Germans

First up, apologies that all of my posts are challenge entries, I don't seem to have so much time to blog at the moment. This was my last entry, 10 days ago. I've nearing another entry, but it is achingly slow. I've also been trying to do some woodland/rough terrain, which I've just finished but won't score.

This pilot is a great dual-purpose miniature, he will join my Pulp crew as a pilot, once again the last adventure required one but we were short. He would also be a good objective for small-scale WWII games.

I thought some German efficiency would get my Challenge back on track. I'm still well below par as we approach the third-way point, but this bunch of points should help. All of these were part of my Christmas gift from Gharak and are from Artizan Designs.

Halt!

Nine Greatcoated Germans, a two-man checkpoints and a seven-man part-squad. I've nine more to paint, almost certainly on the workbench soon. They are a rag-tag bunch, some late war armed with G43 rifles, others bolt-action and supported by an MG34. So I echoed this with the painting, mixing up the colours to give the impression of a hard-bitten unit. I spent a while trying to get my colours right, but couldn't find a definitive on the greatcoats - flat grey or the more greeny 'feldgrau'. I eventually settled on two colours of greatcoats, to represent different batches, shortages or fading through wear. I'll add one or two more shades with the second batch.

Once I've painted the second group, I'll spend some time dirtying them up before the final coat f Dullcote. Neat at the greatcoats came out, I think some grubbiness will really suit them. I'll post up pics once that's done.

These will oppose my British Commandos, originally I thought I'd use Brink of Battle, but I've just picked up Operation Squad, having heard good things about it. I'll be giving it a try with Samulus tonight.

Challenge Entry three: Sods and Odds

Belatedly, my third Challenge entry, still rambling around the Pulpy era. I am completely off the pace in the challenge and struggling to build up momentum in my hobby time - these should have been a quick two-night job but took me over a week. First, a handful of Indian infantry, this is what I was going for (I'm sure someone can name the film!):

They are Newline Designs sculpts, picked up in a recent sale. This was my first order from them and I was disappointed, more so because I ordered the wrong sculpts - Hindu infantry would have been better. The poses are a bit wooden, the details soft and the casting poor, with lots of filing and filling necessary to rectify some quite bad pitting. I won't deny that I am spoiled by usually buying excellent Perry and Artizan sculpts. Still, they were reasonably priced and will suffice to save our heroes from peril. I wasn't concerned about historical accuracy here, this is very much a film homage, which is one of the joys of Pulp. As with all of my entries, they haven't been varnished yet, so some bits may be a bit shiny. 

Next up, another antagonist to spoil our heroes' plans in a future adventure. A Russian or Eastern European hard man for hire, a fabulously menacing sculpt, but perhaps not an original paint job!

Finally, what was going to be an attempt at retaining the 'Sarah's Choice' award. Alas, the rules are slightly different this year so this blonde warrior-woman probably won't qualify. She is a fabulous 'Hour of Glory' character,  I still have an alternate sculpt still to paint another day. I see her as an SOE agent, inspired by a small but moving memorial to them I accidentally found a while back in central London. Her uniform isn't ideal for behind enemy lines work, but it kept her colour-themed with my Commandos.

Next to show you? I've a batch of Greatcoated Germans which are pretty much ready to send to Curt. I started them with some new Rosemary & Co brushes, as recommended by Ian at The Blog with No Name. I won't review them yet as I'm still making my mind up, but they were very reasonably priced and have held up pretty well so far.