'Unity Through Paint' - The Roster for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

We have our team! Below you will find the roster of participants for the Fifth Annual Painting Challenge. This year we have 72 hobbyists rolling out, up by almost a dozen from last year - the more the merrier, wot! 

We have folks from 12 years of age to, well, let's say not 12 years of age (;OP) and coming from 14 nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United States, and the UK. Looking at this I think this year's Challenge's motto of 'Unity through Paint' may not be too far off the mark.

Note: To all the participants, please review the roster to make sure that you're there and that your points target and the link to your blog (if you have one) are correct.

I also want to take this opportunity to announce that there will be a few changes to how the Challenge will be accessed and administered for this edition. 

1)  I have created an exclusive Painting Challenge blog for the event. So when the event kicks off on December 5th it is there where you'll be wanting to go. The address of the Painting Challenge blog is:

http://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.ca/

In addition, you can find a button to it ('The Painting Challenge') at the top of this blog.

Why do this? Well, I believe the Challenge has now grown large enough to warrant its own web presence and I think it's time to keep it distinct from my own personal blog. Over the next few months I will be structuring the new Challenge blog to contain all of the content from the previous four events so it's self-contained and can project a sense of its own history.

Also, a dedicated blog allows me to be able to assign the participants of the Challenge as author/contributors. This is quite significant as it will give the participants more flexibility and control on how their submissions are handled while also alleviating a portion of the workload from me. (Don't worry, I will still act as editor and will post entires for those who either cannot, or do not, wish to mess with posting their own entries.)

2) In order for me to better keep on top of the entries I am assigning each participant a day of the week in which his or her work will be posted to the Challenge blog. This, in turn, helps me spread out the work over the week and gives me Sunday's off to work on my own stuff and manage the Fortnight Theme Rounds.

Nonetheless, during the first and final weeks of the Challenge the assigned days will be ignored, allowing people to send in their entries as they wish, maintaining the Challenge's signature pell-mell start and mad race to the finish.

I hope this all makes sense. I'll be sending out an email in a week or so to all the participants to go over the finer mechanics of the Challenge. 

Up Next: Our Prize Sponsors!

The Fifth Annual Painting Challenge Roster

	Challenger	Post Day	Initial Points Target	Blog
1.	AaronH	Monday	650	Dulce et Decorum Est
2.	AdamC	Monday	1000	Fencing Frog
3.	AlanD	Monday	1500	Dux Homunculorum
4.	AnneO’L	Monday	500	O’Leary Miniatures
5.	BenG	Monday	400	Monsieur Rosbif & Johnny Frog
6.	BrendonW	Monday	1000	The Gamer’s Table
7.	BrianB	Monday	500	RayGun Gothic Galaxy
8.	BurkhardS	Monday	1000	dhcwargamesblog
9.	ByronM	Monday	1000	Fawcett Ave Conscripts
10.	ChristopherS	Monday	500	Bunker Hill
11.	ClintB	Monday	1250	Anything But a One
12.	DaveD	Monday	2250	One Man and His Brushes
13.	DavidB	Tuesday	750	-
14.	DavidL	Tuesday	750	The Miniatures Corner
15.	EdwinK	Tuesday	1000	Thoughts of a Depressive Diplomatist
16.	Evan&GrantH	Tuesday	200	-
17.	FranL	Tuesday	600	The Angry Lurker
18.	GillesW	Tuesday	1000	Wilderness of Mirrors
19.	GregB	Tuesday	300	Fawcett Ave Conscripts
20.	IanW	Tuesday	1000	The Blog with No Name
21.	IannickM	Tuesday	600	Par la bouche de mes canons Marauders and Citadels
22.	JaccoK	Tuesday	500	-
23.	JamesR	Tuesday	750	Baconfat Log
24.	JamieM	Wednesday	500	GOG Online
25.	JeremyM	Wednesday	300	-
26.	JohnM	Wednesday	1000	Wargaming in 28mm and Sometimes Smaller
27.	JuanM	Wednesday	500	Ad Finis
28.	Kawe	Wednesday	200	Grossbeeren 1813
29.	KevinH	Wednesday	300	Fawcett Ave. Conscripts
30.	KevinS	Wednesday	?	Diggers Home
31.	MarkE	Wednesday	500	The Occasional Wargamer
32.	MarkG	Wednesday	750	The Wilde Goose
33.	MartinC	Wednesday	1000	-
34.	MartinN	Wednesday	400	Moiterei’s bunte Welt
35.	MarkE	Wednesday	500	The Occasional Wargamer
36.	MarkO	Thursday	1000	Chasseur
37.	MichaelA	Thursday	1000	28mm Victorian Warfare
38.	MichaelF	Thursday	501	MiniStories
39.	MichaelP	Thursday	500	Mad Padre Wargames
40.	MilesR	Thursday	2000	Lair of the Uber Geek
41.	Millsy	Thursday	2000	Canister and Grape
42.	PaulS	Thursday	500	EndTransmission’s gaming stuff
43.	PeterB	Thursday	1000	Comes Britanniae
44.	PeterD	Thursday	1000	The Single Handed Admiral
45.	PeterT	Thursday	500	Well, this isn’t a reasonable use…
46.	PhilH	Thursday	500	Diary of a Gaming Magpie
47.	RayR	Thursday	300	Don’t Throw a 1
48.	RichardC	Friday	500	-
49.	RichardM	Friday	700	Working on the Lead Mountain
50.	RobH	Friday	200	With General Custer Down in Mexico
51.	RobP	Friday	500	-
52.	RossM	Friday	500	Brushes and Bases
53.	RoyW	Friday	750	R.W.’s Hobby Blog
54.	SamuliS	Friday	1000	Engineered Gaming
55.	Sander	Friday	500	Modus Reg Magni Momenti
56.	SeanS	Friday	1000	Sean’s Wargaming Corner
57.	SebG	Friday	200	Back to the Minis
58.	ScottB	Friday	600	Scott’s Wargaming
59.	ScottS	Friday	1000	Too Much Free Time
60.	SidneyR	Friday	750	Roundwood’s World
61.	SimonM	Saturday	500	Fantorical
62.	StacyS	Saturday	300	-
63.	SteH	Saturday	750	Off t' Club
64.	StefanK	Saturday	750	Monty’s Caravan
65.	StefanoS	Saturday	300	-
66.	SteveM	Saturday	800	-
67.	SylvainR	Saturday	300	-
68.	TamsinP	Saturday	1500	Wargaming Girl
69.	TeemuL	Saturday	500	Vain Vader
70.	TobiP	Saturday	500	Tobi’s Paint Pot
71.	VincentC	Saturday	500	Blitzkrieg Brushes
72.	…and Curt		750

'Remember, Remember...' The Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

V image by GChiny @ Deviantart

Today, November 5th, marks the 410th anniversary of the failed Gunpowder Plot to destroy the British Houses of Parliament and the subsequent capture of 'the man without a light': Guy Fawkes. 

'Fawkes'

Today, the 5th of November is celebrated in Great Britain as Guy Fawkes Day, Plot Day or Bonfire Night, with Guy Fawkes often being toasted as 'the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions.' 

To commemorate the events of 1605 and celebrate the wonderful and complex spirit of dissent, derision and deconstruction, I dedicate this year's Painting Challenge to:

Antiheroes, Rogues & Ruffians

(and all those others of wonderfully shady ilk)

'Carter'

The Rules

The Challenge will extend from 12:01 am December 5th through to the first day of Spring, 12:01 am March 20th Central Standard Time.

Figures can be prepared and primed prior to the start date (Dec 5th), but no colour can be applied until the 5th. In order to be fully scored the figures have to be based and their groundwork completed. The figures have to be painted by you. The honour system will be followed in the completion and entry of figures to the Challenge. Again, great dishonour goes upon anyone who shames themselves in the time-honoured craft of painting toy soldiers!

The subject matter can be in any scale and in any theme, including sci-fi, fantasy.

In order to be scored, photos of all figures/units along with a short descriptive note must be uploaded to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge blog (more on this later). Up-to-date scoring will be maintained on the blog's main page.   

The Judge (me) will participate, but my score will not have any standing in the Challenge (I usually struggle for a middle of the pack score). 

'Heisenberg'

The Scoring

6mm foot figure = 0.5 point
6mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 1 pts
6mm vehicle = 2 points

10mm foot figure = 1 point
10mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 2 points
10mm vehicle = 3 points 

15mm foot figure = 2 pts
15mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 4 pts
15mm vehicle = 6 pts

20mm foot figure = 4 pts
20mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 8 pts
20mm vehicle = 12 pts

28mm foot figure = 5 pts
28mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 10 pts
28mm vehicle = 15 pts

40mm foot figure = 7 pts
40mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 15 pts
40mm vehicle = 20 pts 

54mm foot figure = 10 pts
54mm mounted figures, artillery piee or crew served weapon = 20 pts
54mm vehicle, limber, etc. = 30 pts 

Other scales, miscellaneous models/figures will be scored on a submission-by-submission basis. 

'Mata Hari'

Challenger Personal Targets and Duels

Same as previous years, I ask that each Challenger declare his/her points target that they hope to achieve by the March 20th deadline. I encourage Challengers to pick a target that is a bit beyond their comfort zone, but still achievable. Many participants have found this a great incentive to help maintain their pace over the three months of the Challenge. Also, last year a few folks had a lot of fun issuing 'duels' to other participants in order to race to meet a declared target, paint the most figures for a specific period, etc. I leave this to the participants to organize, but I'm more than happy to log the duels and keep track of the points.

'Nucky'

Challenger Target Thresholds

New for this year is that there will be six point thresholds set out for the Challenge. Each time a participant reaches a Point Threshold his/her name will be entered for the prize drawn for that level. So, the more points you accumulate the more prizes you will be eligible for. The Threshold prizes will be drawn at the end of the Challenge.

Threshold I: 500 points

Threshold II: 750 points 

Threshold III: 1000 points 

Threshold IV: 1500 points 

Threshold V: 2000 points 

Threshold VI: 2500 points

'Ahab'

The Fortnight Theme Bonus Rounds

Same as last year, we will have a series of 'Fortnight Theme Bonus Rounds'. Each 'Theme Bonus Round' asks Challengers to enter a submission that illustrates a particular theme. The Bonus Rounds are not mandatory, they are just a little bit of fun to pace out the the Challenge and allow people to gain decent number of points through vignettes and single figures.

Those Challengers who manage to submit an entry for a 'Fortnight Theme Bonus Round' will get an extra 50 points on top of the regular entry tally. No scales less than 15mm will be eligible for the Theme Bonus Rounds but they can be of a historical or fictional subject.

The Bonus Themes along with their submission deadlines are:

• December 14: Cold
• December 28: Mount(s) & Rider(s)
• January 11: Victorian
• January 25: Myth
• February 8: Hot
• February 22: Comedic
• March 8: Anti-Hero

The theme submissions are to be sent in by 12:01 am (CST) on the specified date (Sundays for all).

For each bonus round I'll post a poll listing all the round's entries so visitors can vote for their favourite. 

'Tank Girl'

Paying the Piper

As in previous Challenges, I ask for a small memento from each Challenger. In keeping with this year's Fawksian theme, the entrance fee' for this year's Challenge will be a single 28mm figure characterised as an antihero, rogue or person of dubious character but undeniable charisma (yes, it can even be a figure of me!). The figure will be supplied and painted by the entrant. This miniature can be submitted any time up until the end of the Challenge. Again, same as previous years, for each figure I receive I will donate $5 to the Saskatchewan branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

'Constantine'

The Call

This year I've changed a few aspects of how the Challenge will be administered. Not to worry, I will still be the master of ceremonies, but I've devised a cunning way to host a generous amount of participants - but more on that later. Nonetheless, I do have my limits, so please don't waffle if you're interested - drop me a note below to get on the roster. I'll place notification in this space when all the participant slots for the Challenge have been filled.

Let the fun begin!

28mm Pulp Character for 'Eldritch Horror': Brother Anastasios Sangarangos - Vrykolakas (Vampire) Hunter

Our gaming group enjoys board games almost as much as pushing miniatures around (Gasp! Sacre bleu!) and one of our current favourites is 'Eldritch Horror' by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). 

'Eldritch Horror' is a cooperative game which is set in the world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos (similar in theme to FFG's 'Arkham Horror' but significantly streamlined). The players work together, investigating exotic locations around the globe, gathering clues and combating monsters all in order to thwart the coming of an ancient evil who is set on the world's destruction. The game is very well designed, giving a brisk-paced and very challenging romp which plays out like a rip-roaring cinematic adventure. 

At the beginning of each game every player needs to select a pre-designed character from the dozen provided (though I understand that there will be more featured in an upcoming expansion). The characters represent a gambit of the great archetypes. Some are cleft-chinned, two-fisted heroes, a few are well connected politicians and debutantes while others are unassuming academic-types who can harness arcane spells of incredible power.  

Example of the stock Character Cards from 'Eldritch Horror'.

We've played the game enough now that we've tried out all the characters numerous times, enjoying each one's strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, always liking to tinker, I've decided to make up characters for the game which correspond to each member of our gaming group or are tongue-in-cheek sendups of friends and family. 

Each of these new characters has it's own custom designed card and a corresponding figure to represent them on the game board. Some of these characters I've already shown in a previous post (my apologies for the repetition for some), but as a brief recap they are:

Captain Peter Douglas (retired Royal Navy)

Captain Douglas is a grizzled veteran of the Great War where he made a reputation for himself as a hard-driving commander of a destroyer. He gained both his D.S.C and his prized 'Broomhandle' Mauser from a boarding action where he and his crew captured a light cruiser off the coast of Africa. (The same Mauser shattered his left arm, when he was wounded by the German cruisers captain.)

Major Marty 'Gimme' Mohr (League of Nations League)

Like Douglas, Mohr is also a veteran of the First World War, but that is where the likeness ends. 'Gimme' Mohr ended his Great War as a German Stormtrooper, where he was ultimately captured, severely wounded, entering the outskirts of Paris... by himself. (From this, he has the unique distinction to have personally marked the furthest point the Imperial German army had advanced on the Western Front.) His martial skills were quickly recognized by his captors and he was quietly recruited into the secret 'League of Nations League'.

Lieutenant Jarmilla 'The Hand' Fedorak (League of Nations League)

Jarmila is also a valued member of the elite 'League of Nations League'.  As a teenager she was a member of a Ukrainian nationalist group who fought with the Whites during the Russian Civil War. She attracted attention to herself when it was found that she could, through shear force force of will, throw devastating shock waves from her withered right hand. The League has helped her harness and focus her powers through arcane psychic training and utilizing a unique power gauntlet developed by the renown Nikola Tesla.

The new character I wish to debut today is...

Anastasios Sangarangos, Brother of the Order of Alexander, renown slayer of the undead (Vrykolakas in Greek) and keeper of the Faith.

In fact Anastasios is the real name of our friend Stacy from our gaming group. Stacy is quite proud of his Greek heritage and so I thought for fun I'd make up a character (and select a figure) to reflect this.

For Anastasios' character sheet, I scanned an original card from the game in high-resolution, imported it into Photoshop and then stripped out the contextual information to create one with blank values. Now I can design cards for each member of our gaming group at will. The power is all mine...Mwhahaha!!

This 28mm figure is from the Victorian Steampunk range offered by Brigade Games. Great,  characterful and clean sculpts that I can heartily recommend.

It will be fun to see how Stacy's character works out in the game. I just need to dream up some stats for that funky automatic crossbow he's toting...

Next up: Hmm, Romans or Gladiators or more Pulp Characters - perhaps all three! We'll see what the week brings.

15mm WWII Tank Battle: Hunting T-34s

Sylvain, in his usual phlegmatic gallic style, tells Jeremy to cheer up - there is always the good wine (or is that whine?)

Sylvain here, reporting from my basement. I hosted a game set on the Eastern Front and the players were provided with the following intelligence:

German Objective: May 1942. The rasputitsa is almost over. In one month, the Heer will launch Fall Blau. High command wants us to test the Soviet defence line and to accomplish our mission, we have been given three band new PzIV equipped with the new long 75mm gun. A recent air reconnaissance patrol reported the presence of a company of T-34s in the village of Karrotgrad. This is where we are going. Our mission is to hunt T-34s.

- The German player gets one victory point per T-34s destroyed and minus one victory point per PzIV F2 destroyed.

Soviet Objective: Kamarads, the Motherland has been invaded by the nazi barbarians and the time for retreat is now over. General Zhukov wants us to protect the village of Karrotgrad and I intend to destroy any enemy coming close. We already have a company of T-34s, the best tank ever designed. We also received 10 new tanks from our Canadian friends. We will see what we can do with them. If we see the enemy coming, we will hunt him with our T-34s!

- The Soviet player gets one victory point per German vehicle destroyed and minus one victory point per T-34 destroyed.

House Rules: The core rules were “Flames of War” with a few significant changes:
1. The turn sequence used cards (inspired by Too Fat Lardies).
2. A spotting rule was added to make reccon units more important (inspired by Firefly).
3. The artillery was off board (inspired by reality).

Jeremy, in the back, confident that the Gods of Dice will be smiling upon him. (They won't!)

My goal was to come up with a somewhat realistic simulation of tank warfare on the Eastern Front with 15mm miniatures. I decided to set-up a table as big as possible. It was 10'x6', and there was barely any room to move around.

Each unit (platoon or company) was represented by a card. There was a deck to set up on the table an another deck to use for orders.

Jeremy commanded the Panzers while Curt and Stacy oversaw the defences of Karrotgrad. The Soviet players hid half of the cards representing their units under terrain features like hills, woods or buildings.

A BA-10M, minding his own business.

I added a rule for spotting. It was to be used by the German to reveal Soviet units in ambush and by the Soviet to accumulate "threat points". These threat points could be used to call reinforcement and stronger units, like a company of T-34s, required more points than a simple platoon of anti-tank rifle.

Some German panzers bogged down in the stream.

Jeremy entered his units on the other side of the river. There was a small platoon of BA-10M in the woods that the panzers quickly dispatched. However, Fortune started to become unfavorable to the German side. You can see in the picture above that some units got bogged down while crossing the river, including the Air Liaison unit in charge of calling in the Stukas.

Lend-Lease Valentine tanks sent from Canada, in neat parade formation, en route to intercept the panzers.

This was a very lucky company of Valentines. They survived a few bomb runs from the Stukas (when the observer was not trying to push his half-track out of stream) and many hits from the German guns.

Realizing that staying too close can be dangerous, the Valentines fan out in the field.

Destruction brings satisfaction to the host.

More reinforcement on the way. This does not look good for the German.

 

The Valentines are standing firm in front of intense German fire.

A company of seven T-34s enters the battlefield. Is there any end to this flow of reinforcement?

In conclusion, the German did not make it very far onto the table. Crossing the river proved difficult, with lots of units bogged down. It took too long for the German to deploy effectively and use their superior gunnery. Basically, the Soviet were able to destroy the German tanks piecemeal as they showed up.

The house rules I prepared for this scenario did not work very well. The spotting rules were not clear enough and the Soviet were able to activate most of their units before the German got too close. The activation sequence needs to be fine-tuned as well. Eventually,  I will come up with a satisfactory set of rules. I just love 15mm scale and I have a few more ideas for scenarios.

Many thanks to the players who showed up. Their patience and good sense of humor made the whole evening enjoyable despite glitches in the rules.