Another year, another Challenge

Well, I've been pretty useless at doing anything with this blog other than making promises, then forgetting all about them. However, let's try again.

Once more I'm rather excited and very pleased to be included in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Last year I went all out to paint as many figures for as many points as I could manage, and hit the rather unexpected total of 6000 points. This year, Challenge X, I'm not aiming for anything like that. I'm hoping for a bit more quality, more or less ignoring the "quantity", though I'm still aiming for 2000 points, which is not inconsiderable, being equivalent to 400 28mm figures in three months.

My "quality" aim has three parts to it. Firstly, I want to paint some pieces which I feel are particularly interesting or attractive, such as command bases and maybe a few vignettes. Secondly, I want to paint pieces which are "missing" from some armies - I can't really call this "completing" an army, as no army is every complete, but the aim is to work on armies which are almost there, aiming to get them to feel as if they're whole. Thirdly, I want to add pieces which work as enhancements to particular projects. These are not necessarily figures, but additional features such as terrain pieces and buildings. But they might also be vehicles or perhaps even components such as standards or equipment.

I want to take this line because I too often focus on getting unit after unit done, and neglecting the details which can transform an army, or a game, from serviceable to spectacular.

To motivate me, I'm hoping to work on as many different projects as I can. I'm such an attention-squirrel, I need to be able to switch around as often as possible. However, I've four major focii - the Punic Wars, Napoleon in Egypt, Italian Wars and Black Seas.

I began the first this time last year, partly as I'd not had an Ancients project for some while, partly because I liked the variety in the Carthaginian army, partly because it seemed like a project that could be worked on with relatively low cost and partly because, well, elephants. It also opens up other arenas, such as Ancient Britons based around the Gauls, or wars against Iberians, Numidians and Greeks.

The second has been bumbling along for some while, motivated mainly by the wonderful Perry figures and, again, the range of exotic uniforms, on both sides. Napoleon's invasion of Egypt has some interesting dimensions, and it's also easy to extrapolate it into an Imagi-nations idea.

Alongside it I've built an Ottoman army, too, which I'll also be using as an opponent for my Venetian army which is the core of my Renaissance project, which also has Swiss and Landsknecht components, as you'd expect. I'm trying to be flexible with these developments so that, for example, I've the possibility of using some of these figures for Wars of the Roses or the Burgundian Wars. Probably this won't lead to big armies in any of these theatres, and some fuzziness about the appropriateness of some units, but I like to have as many options as possible.

However, the really big project is Black Seas. This is a very special project for me, as I had a fair bit of involvement in getting the rulebook together - though virtually no involvement in the design of the rules themselves (I made a few suggestions along the way). As they've now been voted the Best New Rules by Wargames Illustrated readers, I feel that some small part of that success is down to me, as much of the structure, language, style and content of the rulebook was down to me. The rules themselves are entirely Gabrio's, built on some of the Cruel Seas concepts, and excellent rules they are which I love playing. But much of the way it works as a "technical document" is down to me.

So I'm enjoying this project in several different ways - the game itself is fabulous, a brilliant balance between gaming fun and "realism". Then there's Warlord's models themselves: the plastic are superb, and the resin hulls pretty convincing, too, though some elements are a bit questionable. My developing fleets look really cool. And finally there's that niche of personal pleasure in knowing that I've had a hand in such a successful system.

My main plan is to fight the Battle of the Nile (linked to the Napoleon in Egypt project), but I'm trying to build enough ships of appropriate kinds to fight in several other theatres, too - the US Lakes, the Barbary Coast, the East and West Indies. A rich, exciting and rewarding game. So lots of painting for the Challenge.

At the finishing post

Ha!

Well, Challenge IX is over - an exhausting, rewarding, compelling and productive activity. I've done pretty much nothing else for three months, but I've enjoyed myself immensely. I also managed to paint much more than I'd expected, and climbed to top of the table, which was really pleasing.

A consequence of so much focus, though, has been that I gave no energy to this blog at all, even though the intent was to support work on the Challenge through this blog. Because the support activities associated with submission are themselves time consuming (taking photos, editing them, writing a post, commenting on other people's posts) there seemed no luxury time to pursue my own blog. Here's the summative photo, in any case:

Impressive for three months work, isn't it? However, a careful examination (which I don't recommend) will show that, despite my best intentions, not every figure laid out in my December post was actually completed. On the other hand, there's quite a few additional figures here which I hadn't contemplated at the start. Here's what I managed of what I planned:

In 28mm:
120 Imperial Romans: YES
48 Caesarean Romans: YES
120 Celts: Only 36
50 Zulus: YES
60 War of the Roses, foot and mounted: YES
100 HYW, foot and a few mounted: About 40 foot, and no mounted
500 Austrian Naps 15mm: YES
100 French SYW 15mm: YES
15 Sudanese: YES
6 British MTBs (1/300 from Warlord's new Cruel Seas): 5, in fact
Sarissa's Hougoumont: NO

Additionally, I completed
Frostgrave: 10 figs
SYW: 3 regiments of Reichsarmee and two Prussian cavalry regiments
Roman: cavalry unit, 2 scorpions, unit of auxiliaries, three commanders
Terrain: one terrace of houses, 20 palm trees, desert gaming board, cricket pavilion, three desert houses, 3 pill boxes
Walmington on Sea: 6 cricketers, 9 canal personnel
WW2: 1 armoured car, 6 italians, 6 SAS
Carthaginians: 1 unit of veterans, 1 of Libyans
LOTR: 90 Orcs, 4 barrow wights, 13 warg riders
Napoleonic: 6 officers, 4 Ottomans
Crusades: 7 arab archers
Animals: penguins and dinosaur for EMP, elephants, snowcat, gorilla, goat
Victorian gentlemen: 5
Curtgeld: 2 Afghan wounded
Natal Native Contingent: 9

I'm really pleased with what I've managed, even though the lead mountain still looms far too large. What I'm hoping, therefore, is that I can use this personal blog a little bit like my own AHPChallenge (in a much lower key way, of course) to keep me motivated in a similar way and get more figures completed.

First points achieved

Well, it's been more of a struggle than I anticipated - a combination of illness and all the excitements of the holiday season - but I've managed to post twice to the Analogue challenge so far, giving me a reasonable respectable score of 146 points, which currently places me tenth on the table, though I'll drop further before I'm able to make my next post.

But that's okay. I've worked out a plan which should enable me to deliver my 2500 point target. And, if I'm lucky, I may well exceed that as I've certainly more than enough figures that can be fed into the painting factory.

Happy New Year,

At the starting blocks

This post is simply to record the figures I've prepared for the challenge. There's quite a few, though not as many as I envisaged:

Not a very good picture, but I'm just learning how to use this camera.

At the rear left is almost an army of 15mm Austrians. Ahead of them Caesarean Romans, and the massive black block at the front Imperial Romans - yes, I'll be building two Roman armies at the same time - possibly even three.

The centre column is the Sudanese unit of the Egyptian army that I'll probably paint first. The reddish figures to the rear at the right are Perries' zulus - beautiful figures. Next to them, five MTBs. Ahead of them a few War of the Roses foot and six cavalry, with a few small terrain pieces, too.

Then ECW cornets, a small group of arabs for Napoleon in Egypt, nine bargemen and a couple of Walmington characters for Sealion. Then various fantasy: barbarians for Frostgrave, a few orcs and undead, and some miscellaneous creatures, and finally Fallout figures from the starter set (there are other Fallout figures waiting in the wings, but I might not get to them).

Certainly this sets me up for the Squirrel challenge, to make a virtue of this one of my vices, at least.

And so it begins

Painting Challenge IX is underway.

I’ve now prepared about half the figures I think I may attempt during the forthcoming three months. Undoubtedly I’ll change my mind as I progress, but at least I have my starting points.

I’ve just noticed that the Lardies are sponsoring a “What a Tanker!” challenge, so that’s immediately adding a new consideration: have I a tank I’d like to paint up in the next three months? Well, I do have a Panther to make up – but it has no instructions, so it’ll probably be badly assembled. Then I’ve a Humber scout car, but that’s unlikely to qualify as a “tank”. I’ll have to search around in the jungle of unfinished projects and see what might be found.

I think I’ll begin with the Sudanese for the Egyptian army, as these have been waiting for years, and should give me what my boss used to call a “quick win”. Meanwhile, there are over 500 15mm Austrians waiting quietly in the wings. And, as it was recently my birthday, I’m now two boxes of Gripping Beast Romans, plus some Praetorians, that weren’t in the pile three days ago.

I’m also using the Challenge as an excuse to buy a new camera. Not much of a photographer, I need a simple device, but it has to give me the best chance of decent photos of all the beautiful miniatures I’ll hopefully be creating.

So, no time for posting - got to undercoat Austrians, sort out Sudanese, assemble Romans, find a tank, visit the camera shop. Fortunately, it's not one of those busy times of year, is it?

Analogue Painting Challenge

Last year I had an enormous amount of fun on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I'd begun with only a moderate points target, but found the desire to paint more and more figures, and zoom up the table of painters, gradually consumed me, till it was the only thing I paid attention to in pretty much all my spare time, between December 20th and the end of March.

This year I resolved to be more organised, working to a higher target, but with something like a plan and perhaps a bit more discipline. But, wouldn't you know it, my very first action almost scuppered me, as I misunderstood the arrangements for joining, and only crept into the Challenge through the kindness and courtesy of our glorious leader in this absurd project, Curt.

So I'm now on the Roster as NoelW with a target of 2500 points (that translates into "500 28mm figures in three months). But I want to exceed that target by some way, as last year I hit 4880 points, and I'd dearly love to make the 5000 point mark. I also know that the only way I'll succeed is by having lots of projects on the go at the same time. I get bored with any given project too easily, so need several things on the go, each being both a relief and a distraction from the other.

So my plan is to have as many figures prepped, ideally, well over target, in as many periods and theatres as I can get organised by start date (Dec 21st). So far, not even 100 figs ready to go. But on the stocks as potential, if I can get them sorted, are, in 28mm:
120 Imperial Romans
48 Caesarean Romans
120 Celts
50 Zulus
60 War of the Roses, foot and mounted
100 HYW, foot and a few mounted
Of smaller figures: 500 Austrian Naps 15mm, 100 French SYW 15mm and 6 British MTBs (1/300 from Warlord's new Cruel Seas).
And in terrain, I've Sarissa's Hougoumont which my wife wonderfully has put together for me, but has been sitting there waiting for paint for months.
As a rough estimate, if I managed all this (!) that'd be around 3200 points, so greater than target, but not close to ideal.

However, you can guarantee that by December 26th, following both birthday and Christmas, there'll be more new figures to take care of. Of course, I'll have to fit the prepping of them in. Somehow three months doesn't seem enough...

My main problem, and one I found a bit time consuming last year, is photographing the figures. I'm not much of a photographer, and I don't have a decent camera, so getting decent shots of many of the figures took time, and most of the results didn't please me. I'm hoping that maybe Santa will take pity on me.

Good luck to everyone taking part.

Why Adderphue?

Adderphue is a land I created for a novel I wrote. Chapter 2 began like this:

On the Creation of the World (Again)

Naturally there are other explanations for where this glorious world of ours came from. Some look to its name for clues: Adderphue.

In Tekmarada, seat of the most noble and idle of religious archivists, the Reverend Floppy Eared Bun-i argues that, in the Time before time, in a Space without space, in an Impossibility without impossibilities, they used to serve snake curry. The effects of such meals on daemons and the Frogs (praise be to the sticky-tongued!) was bound to leave a distinctive stench in the lower parts of Paradise. The Reverend Bun-i suggests that the Frogs, being tidy beings, decided to fumigate the place, so gathered all the errant whiffs of after-snake into one neat bundle and hung it somewhere obscure in the heavens where no-one was likely to look. Hence the name, adder-phew

Others disagree with the Reverend Floppy Eared Bun-i, notably the Right Mrs Reverend Floppy Eared Bun-i (divorced). She lays out an interesting hypothesis. Summarised, (and we apologise for any oversimplification which might result from this summary), she states that a concept as complex as snake curry could not have existed before there was a world in which such a thing was possible, so arguing that the smells of snake curry gave us Adderphue is therefore an argument a posteriori, without fundament, a logical absurdity and just plain silly (but, wouldn't you know it, absolutely typical of the Reverend Floppy Eared Bun-i, who couldn't even starch his thurible without an illustrated manual).

Much more likely is the argument a fortiori, namely that the Frogs downed forty or more double scotches and, inspired to see things they'd never seen before, decided to tinker with reality just for the hell of it and bring their visions to life. It follows from this perfectly tenable assumption that the world was created when they'd adderphue, but obviously well before they got to the curry stage.

Others in Tekmarada prefer not to be involved in family squabbles, especially when one of the family concerned has been champion hippo flounderer three times on the trot.

It must be said, however, that whilst the theory of the Reverend Floppy Eared Bun-i (that the world is the redolence of spiced reptile) accounts for quite a lot (such as the smell of the River Zitsphil), that of the Right Mrs Reverend Floppy Eared Bun-i, (that the world is the incomplete ravings of a few drunken adolescent Frogs), accounts for everything. And a whole lot more besides.

From The Book Of Contradictions to The Book Of Commotions, Hexaglint vs 93 - 93. © His Leaklessness, Philosophus of Arlene.

15mm Napoleonics

[UPDATE IN DECEMBER: The post below was made in May, to help a fellow gamer pick figures he wanted to buy. Subsequently, I decided to keep most of the figures he'd not wanted, so these photos now document much of my 15mm Napoleonic collection. It's a rather odd affair now, though it's supplemented by a large 18mm collection of French - the two sets of figures clearly look out of scale against each other, but still might permit quite reasonable battles. At any rate, I plan to paint up much of the unpainted Austrian Minifigs I bought, and see what this offers.]

Here are pix of the Napoleonics I still have for sale. The pictures should be clickable, for expansion. I've placed a number by each item, so they can be identified separately, on the list.

Firstly, Neapolitan army.

Next, Italians:

  

And finally, Danes:

And miscellaneous command figures:

More command figures: