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.
