20mm Viet Cong

Several weeks ago I posted a few American GIs from the Vietnam War and so I thought I'd paint-up some of their counterparts, the Viet Cong in their distinctive 'black pyjamas'.
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Awards for the Painting Challenge - Please Vote for Your Choice!

As some of you may remember from my early January post I stated that, in addition to the prizes for the top three finishers for the points standing (Congratulation again to Ray, Kent and Tim!), I added four additional award categories:

Challengers' Choice: This award will be determined by those who took part in The Challenge. So, to all Challengers, please browse through the entries from December 20th to March 20th and send me an email with your selection.

Judge's Choice: This will be my favorite submission of all entries submitted during the Challenge (myself excluded of course!). 

People's Choice: This is for our visitor/commentors to vote for their favorite Challenge submission. So, to all of you who enjoyed following the Challenge, if there was an entry that you particularly enjoyed please leave me a note in the Comments area of this post. I have temporarily reset my blog settings to moderate all comments so your choice will be private and only known to me - I will not publish 'People's Choice' selections. 

Sarah's Choice: This award has been sponsored by Sarah who will give out a prize for her favorite historical female figure. I am busy organizing all the entries for her to review so she will be quite busy over the next little while.


I will announce the winners of all the categories at 2pm, Saturday April 7th (Saskatchewan Time).


Again, for all those who've enjoyed following the Challenge please vote for your favourite entry. If you are new to the blog please take some time and peruse the Challenge submissions (again, from Dec 20th to March 20th), enjoy the excellent work exhibited by the lads and join in the fun by sending in a vote.


Thank You!


Curt 

Awarded the 'Cross of St. Steve' - Celebrities as Napoleonic Russian Generals

My apologies for the shameless cross-post but I thought this was just brilliant. Check out this digital artist who has done Celebrities as Napoleonic Russian Generals. These are manipulated renditions of original George Dawe portraits of 1812 Russian general officers.  I almost split my face smiling....  

Teaser: The Ian McKellan, Simon Pegg and Matt Damon portraits are brilliant (but there are many other that are very good as well).

I would pay a buck or two to have one of these done up... Hilarious.

From Curt: The Last Post - 2nd Annual Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge

Well everyone, we've done it! After three months of mad building, painting and basing the Challenge has finally reached its conclusion. And boy, am I knackered! I took the day off today knowing I'd be deluged with entries, and I was very, very busy with 20 submissions rolling in right until the last minute (yes, you Ray!).

Below is the list of participants and their final scores for the 2nd Annual Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge:

RayR: 4940 

KentG: 4724

TimB: 3385

FranL: 2152 

SteveM: 2044

ChrisP: 2029

DaveD: 1975

MilesR: 1061

GregB: 1019

JohnM: 1000

IanW: 900 

MikeW: 867

Curt: 791

Scott: 695

PhilH: 519

JuanM: 446

ChristopherS: 442

DallasE: 420

Michael: 315

JohnB: 310

RossM: 269

TimmyD: 138

Sylvain: 90

PaulP: 34

As I stated from the beginning I've always envisioned the Challenge not to be a competition where painting is judged, but rather an event where people of all abilities can challenge themselves to 'get stuff done' and more so to enjoy the energy, good will and camaraderie of other like-minded souls.  

In regards to the success of the Challenge, the 24 participants submitted 273 entries from all their corners of the world. As a merry band, we generated just over 30,000 points, which if roughly equated to 5 points per figure, equates to well over 6000 miniatures painted and based. That is freakin' incredible.

It was an amazing event with all of the guys being gracious, supportive and such good sports. It was also a great experience for me and I'm delighted to have made many new friends over the past few months. So to all you guys I lift my glass - you made my winter very entertaining and enjoyable!

So, before my blog returns to its sleepy corner of the blogosphere I thought it apropos to close the Challenge with a rear-guard entry of my own. I'm afraid its negligible in comparison to the titans at the top of the point standings, but nonetheless I humbly present a battalion of Portuguese infantry accompanied by a lone French unit/casualty marker to add to my others. 

Thats 145 points for me... ;)

So, until we meet next winter I wish you all the best of health, happiness and an unerring brush.

Warm regards,

Curt

PS: Be sure to check back in the coming weeks as we conduct the Judges Choice, People's Choice and Sarah's Choice. I'll also be posting shots of all the lovely Vikings that I coerced the Challengers to paint for me as 'Curtgeld'. Oh the suspense, the bright lights, the glamour!

From RayR: 15mm Russian Artillery (432 points)

Remember what I said about Ray and 'sandbagging' - well he should have his face under the description in the dictionary...

What we have here is 24 batteries of Russian guns for the Russo-Japanese War. Amazing!

There are 12 Old Glory guns and crews and 12 from Irregular Miniatures - all 15mm.

This veritable artillery park will give Ray 432 points, which in turn will give him a grand total of 4940! Right under the wire, you sneaky git. Congratulations Ray!