Challenge Update

Well, I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one who, over the festive season, completely lost track of the days of the week!  Suddenly it was the fourth of January and I had to quickly paint some D&D boardgame bad guys for the second theme weekend!  To avoid a repeat, I've had an hour or so today to quickly base and prime my entry for the 19th January.  I'll like to get them finished with a couple days to spare, in order to take some pictures in daylight this time (I've only been free in the evenings, so it's been harsh lights and camera flash all the way.)

These guys are really, really tiny.  Why are they taking so long to paint then?

Other than the theme weekends, I've been painting up some 10mm ECW infantry.  Some guys at the club have been talking playing some small Field of Glory: Renaissance games in, but no one seems to have got very far.  Perhaps seeing some finished figures could spur some of them on!

The idea with going with 10mm figures, is that it's more affordable than 15mm (by a good margin) and that they are quicker to paint too.  It's not gone to plan so far though; firstly I'm cramming ten figures to a 20x40mm base and, secondly, I can't get out of the habit of base, wash, layer and highlight when painting - and it takes a bloomin' age to do!  For the second unit of infantry, I'll try a simpler colour scheme and see if I can speed things up!

A night off painting tomorrow, as the club is back on.  I've a couple card games arranged, the obligatory Android: Netrunner savaging (although, I have won a few times recently,) and then a intro game for a friend to the Lord of the Rings card game.  Both games by Fantasy Flight Games and both absolutely fantastic.  Good times.

10mm Roman Command stand

Here's my first entry into the Analogue Painting Challenge; a 10mm Republican Rome command stand.  Figures are from the Pendraken cavalry pack, nice enough sculpts, but the rest of the pack are all one pose figures - one of my pet hates!

I want to avoid the whole sea-of-red look for my Romans, so tried using green as the main colour and will probably keep it as the main colour for the legionnaires.  These guys have sat glued to the base since the last year, so it was somewhat apt that I started this year's challenge with them.  4 points done!  Chuffed with that.

Sadly after day two, I'm already a bit behind schedule!  My scheduled day off on Monday went a bit pear-shaped and I ended up working a long shift.  Work and the club on Tuesday meant no activity at all. I managed to get some brushwork in this morning, but am going to have to push Thursday and Friday nights to get the theme weekend entry completed on time. Still, there's plenty of time left, isn't there?

One down, many, MANY more to go!

Well, that's me off the mark, one base of figures painted.  Having written that, it sounds more impressive than it actually is!  I'll have to wait for daylight tomorrow to take pictures, but otherwise I'm happy enough with the days work.  In some fortunate timing, it was my first day off in over a week today, coinciding nicely with the start of the Analogue Painting Challenge.  As a result, I was able to take a few hours to set up my desk how I like, look out some favourite pots of paint and generally gear myself up for the next few weeks.

Like many other participants, I haven't painted anything in the last few weeks, so today was a chance to brush off the cobwebs.  A few thought occurred to me while painting away:

• More light!  After lunch, the natural light on my desk dropped off dramatically.  I'll need to dig out a couple lamps for afternoon/evening painting, maybe swap out to using daylight bulbs too.
• Painting itself is reassuringly satisfying.
• My home-made wet palette is a godsend, particularly useful for correcting mistakes, by keeping original paints usable hours after a first coat.
• Listening material is essential to keeping your brain occupied during the more mundane tasks. Football earlier in the day and the latest D6 Generation episode in the afternoon.
• My points target suddenly seems a long way away!

Another day off tomorrow, so the plan is to finish up another group of figures by the evening. If I manage that I won't feel too guilty about not painting Tuesday while I go to the final club night of the year.

Everyone finished prepping yet?

Only a few hour now until the Analogue Painting Challenge 2014 kicks in.  As plenty of other Bloggers have documented, December has been busy with modelling figures, prepping bases and arguing about exactly what constitutes priming a miniature!

Dreadball figures aplenty!

Although not as much as I'd have liked, I've prepared a few weeks worth of figures; some Dreadball teams, the remainder of my Saga vikings, some 15mm sci-fi reinforcements and a few figures for the lucrative bonus theme weekends.

My Viking army.  Doesn't look like that much work, does it?

It'll be interesting, keeping an eye out to see how everyone starts off the challenge.  I work in retail so this is the busiest time of our year, but I have some painting time scheduled, including tomorrow as a day off.  first goal; to get off the mark.  Best of luck to everyone participating and for those not, I hope it'll be interesting to read about!

Vamonos!

Along with another forty nine, slightly barmy bloggers, I've signed up for The Fourth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge  Curt very kindly offered previous entrants the chance to sign up for the challenge last week and I'm stoked that I had managed to get a place on board.

Curt has introduced two big changes this year; by allowing non-historical figures in the challenge for the first time and by introducing themed bonus rounds.  The diversity and quality of last years challenge was immense, widening the field can only be a good thing!  I've already picked out some figures for the first bonus round; non-combatants.

The entrance fee this year is to provide Curt with "a single 28mm figure that is inspired by a Sam Peckinpah film."  I use the term "fee" loosely as Curt actually donates cash to a local charity for each figure he receives. For the third painting challenge, we were asked to paint up a 28mm Samurai figure for him, my entry was this guy:

There are definitely no cowboy or similar figures in my lead pile, so looks like I'll have to hit the 'Bay to find something appropriate.  Of course, that sounds like the perfect excuse opportunity to pick up the Dead Man's Hand rulebook while I'm there, maybe some extra figures too...

The challenge is points based, awarded for each painted figure based mainly on scale and how generous Curt is feeling!  Although he puts up a league table, the only competition is with yourself.  In fact, the most enjoyable aspect from last year was how supportive the participants were.  I'm going to aim for the same points tally I set for last year, 1000 points. It's ambitious, very ambitious, but it's probably what I need to kick my painting mojo into action again.

Although the challenge last year started well enough for me, my progress never recovered from a string of bad news that began last new year (enough about that though, I've adopted a no-whining policy from now on!)  This year, I think I'll be able to plan a lot more and learn some lessons from last year.

The first big task for the next few weeks is to prep everything that might possibly be entered. Last year, I totally misjudged this and was still sanding, filing and basing long after I should have picked up the paintbrush.

Next up is some sort of schedule of what to paint and by when.  Having a list and some deadlines written down should help me stay on track and keep the motivation levels up.

Lastly, I need to find an easy(ish) and effective way of taking pictures of figures.  At the moment, the pics I take are either washed out from too much light or are tinged from the coloured lightbulbs in the house.  Add into the fact I hate taking pictures, something set up, ready to use will save a lot of headaches in the coming months.

Best of luck to everyone entering.  Best get preppin'