Egyptian Catacombs: Test Configurations

A pic of a test build for the catacombs.  I really like these tiles.

For the game there will be a 6ft x 4ft sized catacombs for the players to wander through which all lead to a central throne room and "boss fight"

It's fun to be working on terrain again!

Finally Some Terrain: Lunesdargent Workshop Egyptian Themed Dungeon Tiles

With the end of the Challenge,  last weekend was the first weekend I didn't paint 20+ 28mm figures in three months.  I love painting miniatures but it was a nice break.  In fact I was able to start on the terrain aspects for this summer's Historicon games.   I'll explain the game plan in another post but it will have an Egyptian setting and I'll need some catacombs.  I came across a Kickstarter from Lunesdargent Workshop that was just perfect for what I needed.  The company makes the standard 2x2inch game tiles that are cast with an Egyptian theme.  They material they are cast in are ivory in color and need to be shaded.

Following the instructions on the website, I made up a red-brown color using basic acrylic paint (Liquitex) mixing 1/3 red and 2/3's brown.  I then thinned the paint down to a wash by adding approx 10 parts water for every 1 part paint.  These are all rough guesses.  Using a 3/4 inch brush, I then painted the pieces and rubbed off the excess with a rag.

I think they came out really well and it was very relaxing spending a hobby session slapping on paint with a big brush (from a miniatures perspective) and not worrying about over painting other colors.  Think of is as the equivalent of finger painting for the miniature hobbyist.

The Egyptian tiles file well with the ones made by Dwarves Forge (the Dwarven Forge ones are 3/8 of an inch taller).

Lots of terrain to make!

Challenge VII: Total Output

 Here's what I painted over the past 3 months as part of this year's Challenge.  To be honest, the amount surprised me but at least I'm ready for Historicon.  As previously reported my final score was 4,125 points - not bad as it managed to grab 1st place again this year.

 This photo features the "non-WW2 Historicals" a unit of US War of 1812 infantry and all 8 modern factions I'll need for Historicon.

 The middle of the table features the frostgrave and related dungeon baddies.  I think I need a few more Egyptian  themed monsters for the summer con games.

The "WW2 Historicals" area - I'm really proud of the LRDG vehicles.

 And in the back are the 15mm stuff that was painted (Team Yankee and FOW pacific) plus two blood bowl teams and a blood bowl dugout.

For some reason Curt wanted pictures of everyone with their painted hordes.  He is my first time ever selfie - ugghhh.

This post would be incomplete without a salute to the 1 Davinci and 3 Winsor Series 7 brushes that served me well through the Challenge.  They've deserved a rest.

Lets go make some terrain.

Challenge VII: The Last Day's posts

 I submitted the following on the last day of the Challenge - a Winter themed late war German army and some odds-n-ends at the bottom of what remaining of my leadpile.

 The Winter germans are are Warlord figures including the Stug (one of the Italiarie plastic kits)

 The metal figures were superb and a lot of fun to paint

 The plastic Stug really wasn't a fun kit to build but still painted up well

 I went with the 105mm variety

 A shot with the JagdTiger

 A group of 12 plastic US Marines from Warlord and their ride a LVTP.  I've now done WW@ marines and LVTP's in two scales this challenge (12 and 28)

 A pair of WW1 vehicles from Trenchworx

 Ans 2 dinosaurs - a baby T-Rax and a Utah-Raptor

What Challenge is complete without Dinosaurs?

AHPC VII: A few more posts of stuff I painted

 The following are a set of pics of the stuff I finished in the last weeks of the Challenge, excluding the last weekend

12 SAS troopers (Perry minis)

 A British Sherman without any decals

 A US infantry regiment from the War of 1812 (Brigade games)

 Some insurgents and modern Aussies from Empress miniatures

Challenge VII Ends

Well another Analogues Hobbies Painting Challenge has come and gone.  What a grand event of 3 months of painting madness.

I'm pleased with my showing this year as it was a personal best coming in at 4,125 points.  That was 800 or so points better than last year and managed to secure first place for me again, just barely edging out MatinC.

What's even more impressive is the production of all the other participants - this year's Challenge really was the best one to date with 96 active participants, fantastic painting and great comradeship.  It remains, by far, my favorite hobby event of the year.  Well done Curt and gang.

I put a lot of effort into the Challenge and use it as a motivating factor to get all my minis that need to be painted for the summer convention games done and managed to accomplish that this year.  So how much did I paint to get to 4K?

Point Summary
28mm		Figs	Points	Percent
Infanty		476.5	2,382.5	58%
Cav / Guns		6	60	1%
Vehicles		28	425	10%
				70%
15mm
Infanty		297	594	14%
Cav / Guns		6	24	1%
Vehicles		53	318	8%
				23%
Ships
Bonus			321	8%
	Totals		4,125	100%

As usual, 28mm scale stuff dominated my workbench, but there was a nice showing from 15mm as I completed armies for FOW Pacific and Team Yankee.  I didn't get any ship models done, which surprised me.

I look forward to next year's Challenge but am thinking about approaching it less from a "quantity" objective and more from a "quality" one.  A lot of this year's submissions are true works of art - far better than my meager skills can manage.  I think I'd like to focus more on improving my painting technique rather that further testing the load bearing quality of my storage shelves.

There will be a few week break from the painting desk and then I move into terrain making mode for Historicon.  More on that in a future post.

I may have a Viking funeral for the Winsor Series 7 brushes I used through the competition.  They served me well in 3 months of intense painting and deserve a better send off than being consigned to the "terrain making" brush pile.  

AHPC VII: More FOW Pacific Stuff

 Added a few more units to my FOW pacific inventory for the Challenge - first up a US Marine 37mm AT unit

 Another US Marine Infantry Platoon

 3 Japanese Ho-Ro self propelled guns

and finally a group shot of the entire set of FOW Pacific units.  Not a bad haul for a few weeks of painting.

AHPC VII: Week 11

Through 11 weeks of this year's Challenge, I've managed to post 3,338 points (purple bar) which is just slightly ahead of last years total of 3,306 (green line) and there are two weeks left to go.

My totals are a little higher than the official score as it includes 125 points from the recently submitted bonus round, which have yet to be entered.

What am going to paint in the final two weeks.  On the workbench is a 40 figure War of 1812 US infantry regiment (figures from Brigade games).  After that it really depend on the postman/UPS as I've ordered a few odds and ends and if they show up they get painted.  There's a spirited 3-way competition for first place but I think I'll fall just a little short this year as I've run out of figures I really want to paint.

I'll end up with 3,500 points which is a respectable showing.