Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VII (belatedly)

Oh crikey, is it June already? I started drafting this post weeks ago, and just never got around to finishing it...

Here's my belated wrap-up on what I managed to get painted during the Seventh Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, running December 2016 through to March 2017. A staple of my hobby calendar, there was no way I'd miss it despite knowing early 2017 was going to become quite different in my household, with a baby due to arrive! As expected, it was a fairly subdued showing for me, largely because of the little one, but also with a good share of my time for hobbies being taken up with a couple of regular board games nights. Still, the Challenge remained a highlight of my miniature gaming year, and it was awesome to balance out my own lack of output by getting involved with minion duties - shout out to the Friday crew fort all their awesome work.

I started out with some SCW, a project I've been plugging away at for some time. I seem to still have a sizeable lead pile for it, but pretty soon after the challenge opened I got cracking on my last few Carlist Requetes, though they were only entered just in time for the Challenge Cut. 

Painted to match my other Requetes, the rather colourful and impressive flag is from Flags of War.

For the 'Terrain: Home' Theme Round,  I represented the senseless destruction of life and property that has been a part of conflict throughout the ages, with a Mediterranean farmhouse destroyed in the the fighting. Once someone's home, reduced to a burned-out shell. Intended for the SCW, a reflection of the a violent repression unleashed against civilians in both the Nationalists and Republican zones, as the antagonists sought to root out suspected enemy sympathisers or "Fifth Columnists" or take revenge for perceived injustices.

It is a Timeline Miniatures ruined farmhouse kit, to which I added rubble, texture and detailing.

"Squeak"

My third entry was for a Theme round again: this time 'West'. I stretched the theme round definition and submitted two wonderfully characterful sculpts are from Statuesque Miniatures' Pulp Alley range. The gentleman, I named Commander Hector West, US Naval Officer (retired), decorated veteran of the Great War and joined by an associate, Camila Valentina Lopez, a beautiful but deadly bounty hunter.

Then, oh gosh, another theme round: 'Characters or scene from...' For this, I was working on a few miniatures from the 'Marvel Universe Miniatures Game' by Knight Models. The Marvel characters nail almost every category in this Theme Round: they feature in a gamut of Movies, Comic Books and TV Shows, a bastion of Western popular culture for decades (perhaps not 'piece of music', though). Perfect for me too: few miniatures to paint, and lots of variety to keep me interested. And for (the now-discontinued *grumble*) MUMG, I'd chosen the X-Men Faction, a major reason being the 90's animated TV series that I grew up with, and loved. I really should watch it again, to see how it's aged.

So I did want paint a whole team of X-Men for this Theme Round, hoping even for all seven that I'd picked up from Knight: Wolverine, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Gambit, Colossus, Jean Grey and Cyclops.

But disaster: I hit my whole set of these Knight Models with an can of old spray primer, which 'gritted' really badly. This really set me back, and led to some weeks in February was spent stripping them back, then re-prepping and basing them. But I got them sprayed back up and Scott Summers, aka Cyclops painted: their leader and Professor Xavier's right-hand man.

And finally, just towards the end of the Challenge I contributed my Curtgeld. For this, I had a huge amount of help from IainW, who put a shout-out for someone to collaborate on a diorama with. Iain had both the miniatures and a cunning plan.

The Battle of Marignano pitted the young King Francis I of France against the Swiss Confederacy during the Italian Wars, and resulted in a decisive French victory, establishing the dominance of French Gendarmes and artillery over the Swiss phalanx tactics. In celebration, Francis requested he be knighted on the battlefield, by the Chevalier Bayard. Iain had suitable miniatures for both the King and Chevalier. 

Chevalier Bayard, real name Pierre Terrail (1473 - 1524) seems like one of those larger than life figures of history, known as the "knight beyond fear and reproach", though he apparently preferred just "the good knight". He was considered the epitome of chivalry and most skillful commanders of the age. He boasts some rather excessive headwear and fashionable mustard leggings.

IainW painted King Francis himself. Here they are based together, having been dispatched over the pond to join Curt's Italian Wars collection. 

So by a long way my lowest challenge output yet, just a handful of miniatures. But, I had anticipated a small tally and set a low target, and judicious use of the theme rounds meant that I managed to hit my 200 points in the closing week.

If anything, I've fallen deeper into a miniatures hobby lull in the months since, barely picking up a brush and seemingly little able to motivate me. That doesn't feel like a problem to me at the moment. Instead, I've been leaning pretty heavily into a multitude of board games and card games, more social than just sitting upstairs painting and very much more accessible both in terms of access to people to game with, and requiring less time and focus away from the table.

But, I've been a miniature gamer for so many years, I've no doubt that I'll just take this little hiatus, but be back at it when I find something to inspire me. I do have the rather excellent Operation Market Larden event coming up this weekend, where I get to enjoy some frankly stunning looking games using my favourite rulesets, which might get the creative juices flowing!

I Aten't Ded

Well, it's been a while. More than five months since my last post. But no need to worry - I've not fallen off the ends of the earth or been taken by dimensional horrors (yet). No, it's just been a deeper summer lull than usual for me, with little miniature hobby enthusiasm to post about. Due in parts to other hobbies, distractions and general life stuff. Including quite a few games of Netrunner, both in my local 'meta' and travelling to a couple of organised play events.

But I've been languidly back at the brushes in recent weeks, to the the point where I've actually finished something - huzzah! Yes, another two Requetes for the SCW, started months ago, sat idle for the summer and finished off over the past fortnight.

But beyond these, I've not been totally idle. After the last AHPC, I dug out all of my terrain for a good sort out, into worthy completed pieces, bits that needed some repairs or a refresh to meet current standards, and stocktake the many bits and pieces that I've picked up over the years. One of the new pieces that I built was this walled apple orchard:

This was my first dabble in using the crazy-cheap trees that can be sourced from China on eBay. While a bit uniform and of dubious colour, I tarted mine up with some paint and reckon they came out ok. As good as model railway trees on the cheaper end, anyway.

While I could have squeezed a couple more trees onto the base, I left it a bit roomy to easily fit miniatures on, giving the effect of an orchard while hopeful the trees would get less mauled with usage. I did briefly consider doing the trees separate to the main base, too, but felt it unnecessary..

I also knocked up another 'coir mat' field as more area terrain always comes in useful, and reworked a kitchen garden/veg patch that I made years ago.

And a whole host of other repairs, including re-basing and re-foliaging my hedgerow set:

In a nutshell, what I've been up to miniatures-wise. But, as they say, 'winter is coming' which means we're heading full tilt for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. For that, I've got miniatures to prep, including a new project with that brother of mine Gharak. You should definitely see more of me over the winter months!

Sixth AHPC - February 2016

February definitely wasn't a classic month for my AHPC VI entries. Unfortunately, the home improvements for 2016 really took hold and sapped hobby time and energy throughout the month. 

,y first entry was chosen to just nip me over the line in my tightly run race to 100 points against Juan. This pair of Quintos (conscripts) join my mountain brigade, who have green-piped gorillo caps, rather than the usual red. I picked these out because they were e quickest to paint, but alas that makes them not that interesting - lots of green and not much else to say. 

I dug their painted compatriots out for a group shot. Since then I picked up a weighty bag of lead from Empress to bulk these out to a full section with support options. 

My next entry came nearly a fortnight later: to the L'Amour bonus round. I had just the ticket in the lead pile, drawn from a stable of Saturday evening TV when I was young: the Swash and Buckle of Sean Bean playing Sharpe in the adaption of Bernard Cornwell's novels. Of course, each episode was basically the same: a dastardly villain, an incompetent or nefarious British officer, the relaxed cameraderie of the 95tn rifles, Sean Bean doing his heroic stuff....and a love interest. And sometimes a different love interest from episode to episode! 

This mini from Brigade Games in the US is the spitting image of Teresa Moreno, a Spanish partizan working to evict the (dastardly) French from her beloved Spain. She meets Sharpe on a typically unlikely errand for Wellesley with his 'chosen men'. They fight, romance and the rest, is history. Well, made-up history. 

She meets an unpleasant end at the hands of Sharpe's nemesis, Sgt Obadiah Hakeswill, freeing up our main man to woo a series of other beautiful ladies. 

I painted her to match e rest of my Napolenic era guerilla band. I also dug these two fellows out of the lead pile - the comrades of the band that I'd posted up to this blog in one of the very first posts, more than five years ago. They've languished in the lead pile since then, undercoated but unloved, for more than five years (and through 4.5 Painting Challenges!) 

These were posted up in March, but mostly done in February and as they go with Theresa above, so I'm claiming them for February. 

March's offerings more interesting, but the challenge is nearly over; less than 24 hours still to run. Still time for me to post one entry, or perhaps even two! 

Sixth AHPC - January 2016

Ah wow it's a whole month since my last post. While its halfway through the AHPC (aka Winter Festival of Paint), hobby time took a battering from a load of home improvement works from mid-January, which are still ongoing. I did manage to get a few games in, including one of Chain of Command Espana with Ian at the club way back in January, and some decent board gaming sessions.

But coming to write this post summarising my AHPC January painting, it doesn't seem as dreadful as I expected. I suppose February was when it all started to bite. Showing atypical focus for me, it was a Spanish Civil War month, mostly plodding through some less snazzy Spanish Army troops. Less colour on them, but they're quick to work through. 

This mounted Carabinero conversion came out pretty well, might have to make myself some more of them. I had envisaged just using him as a marker for a supports choice of a mounted section, but maybe a whole team of them would look great on the tabletop. Or some mounted Requetes...

I steadily turned out enough of these to narrowly win my side challenge with JuanM, restoring honour from last year's defeat. I'm hopeful I've still got enough time to hit my 300 points target and clear some more off the painting queue. 

For the Defensive Terrain bonus round I made up some 28mm scale entrenchments and barbed wire obstacles, sized of course for CoC. Fairly simple scratch builds. 

Little painting done during February so far, though I have been back at the brushes this week. I've also got a week off next week, giving me some chance to make up for lost time. 

Sixth AHPC - December 2015

I managed two entries into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge in December - not bad going considering I had some bits to finish off before it started, and the Christmas festivities with families. Well the second wasn't posted until January, but I'll claim it for adember as 95% of the painting was done then. 

First was a trio of Nationalist officers for my Spanish Civil War project. First, a figure of unknown provenance in a Germanic uniform, that I did in the khaki of the Condor Legion. Not someone who would usually grace a platoon level action in Chain of Command, though perhaps he might stray too close to the front while surveying the abilities of the Nationalist forces or the effects of experimental tactics by the Condor Legion. The uniform isn't strictly right, I think, as the tunic should be open necked and worn with a shirt and tie. But never mind. As a corpulent fellow, I couldn't resist giving him the flushed look of a man who loves his Riesling and Rioja. 

Also, a Nationalist officer who was actually was the show freebie from Partizan this year, meant to represent the actor and producer Sir Donald Wolfit in 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Sculpted by Bill Thornhill. This seemed my best use for him, as he looks a bit like he is giving a facist salute. He has the 'galetta' showing the three stars of a Colonel, so again not someone to grace the table as a combatant in Chain of Command. 

Finally, a Carlist Platoon Sergeant, hurriedly painted in a day to try to match Juan's swift pace. From Empress miniatures once again. 

The second entry was for the 'Nostalgia' theme round - a deftly chosen round with some reall touching entries. I almost entirely paint and game historicals these days, but like many of my generation, I got into this hobby in my youth via the juggernaut of Games Workshop. It has been a long time since I've had much enthusiasm for GW's products or games, but I look back fondly on those formative years, and have maintained a smidgen of interest in what GW have been producing (and perhaps perverse fascination with some of their more outlandish business practices). Personally, I  don't appreciate much of their design aesthetic, but occasionally I find they do still nail it with impressive miniatures. 

But GW's recent replacement of the classic Warhammer world with 'Age of Sigmar' has brought Gharak back into the miniatures hobby after a couple of years hiatus; certainly unexpected.  And his enthusiasm to do some kind of AoS/Realms of Chaos mashup with warband-based narrative games has piqued my interest a little, I admit. What could be more nostalgic for me than painting up some Games Workshop minis? 

So, for this theme round, I presented seven Games Workshop plastic Plaguebearers, the lesser Daemons of Burgle, Lord of Decay and pestilence. 

I didn't take the theme as far as the classic, Oldhammer style sculpts, preferring instead these recent offerings. GW are refreshing a lot of their Chaos minis for AoS, but the Nurgle stuff, which I think is a few years old now, is holding up well. I quite liked this kit for giving Plaguebearers a scarier look, as for a few years they were the naff cousins of the other lesser daemons. Though I did find it a bit light on options. I avoided the usual green-hued skin in favour of a sallow grey. 

Seven is the sacred number of Nurgle in GW's old lore, so a fitting number to paint up (absolutely nothing to do with that being how many I thought I could paint this week, and a number that didn't include the goofier standard bearer or musician).

A wildly different topic meant I could mess about with some new techniques - including GW's 'Typhus Corrosion' paint from their new 'technical' range. A bit odd, like mid-brown wash with added grit, that dries very matt. Something to experiment with in combination with pigments, sometime. 

I also tried to do some new bases, using a strange method of dripping superglue onto PVA - it dries in odd, naturalistic patterns, that I painted as some kind of pestilential swamp. It's glossy, but doesn't come out very well in these photos. 

Of the seven, this one ended up being my favourite - I liked his pose, cute chipped front tooth and the fact he has such a wide mouth you can see his tonsils. Who knew plague deamons had tonsils?!

This should just be a dalliance, I cannot see myself investing in mounds of pricey plastic kits. In fact, I've already been hard at work on the historicals...

Gaming-wise, the first club of January, Stu had his copy of 'Zombicide: Black Plague', the fantasy version of CMoN's miniatures board game juggernaut. 

It was lots of fun for a light evening's entertainment. I got to play the wizard, hilariously hurling magic missiles into my own teammates because I hadn't found, nor would anyone lend me a sword. 

The first attempt was something of a disaster, as we had to improvise a new plan when an un-killable abomination emerged very quickly. It was looking ok here, as we passed and were conducting a fighting withdrawal from the zombie spawn point, but a few card turns later, dozens of them appeared and we were overwhelmed. 

We replayed the same scenario, with a somewhat better understanding of how to play and a new plan. All was going perfectly swimmingly - I was even the proud owner of a sword. 

We were making our way to the final objective in the same bottom right corner when the same thing happened: a few spawn cards and many zombies:

Maybe this corner is where all the cool zombies hang out. 

But by this time we were tooled up and spoiling for a fight. With Dane, Hendrick and Stu heroically  sacrificing themselves/being eaten, Paul and I could fireball and hack our way to the objective and claim the win. 

Oh, and finally, Gharak's sent me an awesome belated Christmas present, which might foreshadow some of this year's gaming activities...

The Prof heads to investigate the unearthly blackish standing stones...