Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Byron's Mad Plan for Curt's 5th Annual Painting Challenge




So after all the fun and shenanigans last year with the painting challenge hosted by Curt I figured what the hell, let’s give it another go.  It was a lot of fun and helped me get a ton or metal and plastic painted over the winter.  So, once again I am entering into Curt’s now 5th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

One thing that kept me going and on track was setting out a plan from the start and trying to stick to it and move forward all the time.  The way I work though is heavily influenced by gamer ADHD so I tend to bounce around a lot between things.  To allow for this and to still have a plan, I am not setting an order in which things will get done, as I fully expect to have at least ? of what I list here in different stages of paint on the table throughout the challenge.  I also expect to get distracted by new shiny items at least a few times.
The monstrous number of figures I finished last year. 
To give a sense of scale, the block in the center bottom is 32x 28mm French Napoleonic figures.

First Goal – Great War in 28mm

I started this project last year and got several units done, just not all of my units.  I finished up close to 80 28mm Canadians and Germans for the early war period.  I however still have roughly 50 more to get done over the course of this challenge to have my forces complete.  This is my primary goal this time around, get these done. As with last year these are primarily infantry sections for each of the 10th and 16th Battalion of the CEF from WW1.  To oppose I am aiming to finish at least 2 more infantry sections and an HMG section for the Germans. 

As part of this as well, I have some 28mm WW1 tanks coming in, if they arrive in time I plan on getting at least 2 of them done, I know they are late war and the rest of my figures are early war, but…. Oh well :)
Just one of the units I finished last year

Second Goal – French Napoleonic

Last year I promised Curt to actually try some Napoleonic figures and got a full unit of 32 28mm French done.  It was a pain in the….  However, being a glutton for punishment I am going to go back to this, and paint up another full unit.  I even have them cleaned up and ready to get going on them.

While I am quite happy with how the first batch came out, I question the lunacy of the French and their fiddly uniforms.... Maybe as much as I question the lunacy of anyone trying to paint an army of them in miniatures...

Third Goal – Gamer ADD Cleanup

Once again, I have collected far too many models that don’t have paint on them.  Over the course of this challenge I will be trying to clean up the following:

  • 25 Death Guard models for Warhammer 30k (tacticals, breachers, and terminators)
  • 5 Mailfaux Ten Thunder Clan so that I have a painted clan to play with
  • 50+ 15mm WWII Russian’s for some Stalingrad gaming
  • 30+ more black and white zombies for zombicide
  • 10+ zombicide survivors
  • 6+ Relic Knight figures (so I have a force to game with)
  • French Dystopian fleet (I have about a dozen ships waiting for paint to expand my fleet)
  • 10+ Nomad figures from the Infinity Operation:Icestorm box set
  • 5+ Tau Crisis suits and Riptide for a tournament in April
  • 20+ 15mm British WWII figures to flesh out my Chain of Command army
While not officially on my painting table yet (as some are not here yet) I also want to get at least some of these done over the challenge:
  • 10+ Robotech figures (when they show) as test figures
  • More All Quiet on the Martian Front figures
  • 28mm Romans (have had these around way too long, and would like to at least do a few test pieces)
  • 54mm something…. Want to play around with a larger scale
  • 6mm Baccus – have a game box with 2 armies and it is just sitting…

Fourth Goal – Complete figures for at least 5 of the 7 Bonus Themes

The same as last year, Curt added several theme weeks and bonuses.  These were a lot of fun and are the only things that I set in stone for painting in time.  However, as I am still unsure on what I want to do for some of them, I just want to make sure I get 5 of the 7 done.

Here is a listing of the bonus themes along with their submission deadlines and my initial thoughts on submissions:
  • December 14: Cold – Tau Crisis suit in a winter camo pattern
  • December 28: Mount(s) & Rider(s) – Girl surfing
  • January 11: Victorian – Steampunk Tinkerbell
  • January 25: Myth – a Troll
  • February 8: Hot - Satan
  • February 22: Comedic – Zombicide diorama
  • March 8: Anti-Hero – Punk Girl with Dog
    A Challenge piece I did last year and still one of the figs I am most happy about.

Overall

That list of items should let me get to my 1000 point goal and maybe beyond.  However, with trying to turn out new laser cut terrain, and an insane oncall schedule things may falter.  I hope not, and will try to stick to getting at least the 1000 points done, but only time will tell.

Challenge

I know there are a few other members of the Fawcett Ave crew participating either officially or unofficially by just following along and painting throughout the winter.  So I challenge you guys to make up a list and give us all an idea of what you are going to work on and what your overall goal is.  Even if you’re not really in the official challenge, post up what you plan to do over the winter so that we can either encourage or heckle (your choice) each other along to meet our goals!

Come on guys, I know there are a bunch of you lurkers out there (Looks at Mike and Steve, but also any other Fawcett crew not in on the challenge), join in and sign up to paint a set number of points regardless of being in the "official" challenge.  Post your points goal here and then just send in images throughout the winter as you paint.  It will keep this blog full of cool new content, and your painting tables moving. 




10 comments:

  1. Great idea to challenge the guys to post progress here too, if they're not in the official compo. Mine is directly above this post ;-)

    Big plans Byron and I look forward to seeing these models painted!

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  2. The last few times participating in Curt's challenge I have entered with huge expectations and fallen WAY short.

    So this time, I am entering with almost no expectations, and I'm hoping to do better :)

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  3. I love that first shot of all the stuff you got done during the last Challenge - awesome! Your to-do list is ambitious but that what the event is all about. I look forward to seeing some of this stuff roll off your hobby table.

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  4. Good to see you're back in for the madness Byron. I use the challenge to help with my gamer's ADHD as well. It's the gift that keeps on giving!

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  5. Challenge accepted. I need an excuse to get some more painted. Plans include malifaux, infinity, and dystopian wars.

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  6. Unofficial challenge accepted! My own modest plan is to finish a force of Strain for table top Sedition Wars by late winter/early spring:

    22 Revenants, 4 Stalkers, 4 Quasimodos, 1 Grendlr, 1 Scythe Witch, and 1 Brimstone, some 33 figs in total.

    Enough Level 1 and 2 monsters to be interesting, and will allow me to play 8 of the 9 basic scenarios.

    Also, I can't make myself paint the Cthonian (the toughest monster in the boxed set) yet; the figure is way too skinny, and demands a well thought-out conversion plan.

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  7. Good luck with all that, it looks like you've set yourself one mighty challenge there!

    The final photo from last year is also a great idea. I may have to steal that for the end of this year's ;)

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  8. I want to get my 15mm Waffen-SS platoon painted, along with another penal trooper squad for the Renegades. Maybe get those done over the Christmas break.

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  9. Challenge accepted, Mr.Mudry...

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  10. I plan on knocking a good chunk out of my Sons Of Horus for 30k(infantry and tanks), 15mm sci fi (vehicles and infantry ), Combined Army models for Infinity and Dark Eldar for 40k. Time allowing, I will hopefully get my Malifaux crew banged out as well. It's been at least a year since I have painted, so I expect some growing pains.

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