The Challenge - 3 Months and what do I have to show for it.........

Well quite a lot it turns out, as the most interesting realisation for me was that I actually enjoy painting! That sounds a bit weird seeing as I've been doing it for about 17 years however I actually signed up to the challenge thinking that I'd use it as a sort of artificial project manager, constantly bugging me to deliver on my milestones and meet my deadlines, and at first thats exactly how it felt. However as the months passed I became more and more motivated to paint things that i enjoyed. Most of my painting over the years has been motivated with one singular goal - to get my armies on the table and roll dice. And yet my motivation has changed, maybe its my getting old (I hit the big 40 a couple of months before the challenge started) but i find that if I'm not enjoying painting then I don't want to do it, no matter how much I enjoy gaming with the figures.

So my plan going in to the challenge was to paint my Lord of the Rings figures, they were all based up and undercoated, and yet when I look back at what I've actually completed I find a whole of host of scales and genres - 15mm and 1/3000 WW2, Victorian Sci-fi, 15mm Sung Chinese, 28mm Dwarven Pirates and of course GW Lord of the Rings. My output was a total 82 models of which only 50% (41) were what I had planned to do.

Actually to be honest I never planned to paint the cave troll, it was more of a sanity check for myself as to whether I had the time and technique to paint 54mm (I was going to get involved in the Perry/Jackson ANZAC project but decide my sanity, employment or marriage wouldn't survive the pressure).

I think the most enjoyable models to paint were Smeagol (Gollum) who seemed to paint himself, the Victorian Sci-Fi (and especially the footie scarf!) and the Dwarven Pirates (Oooarrr).

Huge thanks to ScottB for talking me in to taking part, Mr C for hosting the crazy thing and most importantly my fellow challengers. It was great to see the range of genre's and scales on display, the varied interpretations of the bonus rounds and the quite terrifying volume that some of the challangers were able to put out!

Some of the challengers are putting up a bit of a retrospective on the challenge blog, head on over for a good nosy

Anyway here's the combined outputs of 3 months of initially frantic and then quite enjoyable painting!

Uruks-a-Mundo!

There’s one very clear benefit to me taking part in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge this year and that is it’s made me nearly complete my Isengard force for The Lord of the Rings SBG. I had one warband complete and one on the way when I started however now I’ve managed to cobble together 3 full strength Uruk Warbands (with captains), Lurtz with 5 Scouts, an Orc warband (and the makings of another) and a full Warg rider Warband.

Woohoo!

Anyway my latest (and last) submission to the challenge was the leftover Uruks that brought the warbands up to full strength (12 models) and also a final captain.

Now before anyone starts no he isn’t blonde and he doesn’t catch awesome waves dude! Believe it or not I painted his hair middlestone with the view that it would come out as a mucky blonde/white as below:

Ugluk

It was a test piece so I can try out the colouring and then go back and correct my Ugluk model who as you can see does not have completely dark hair in the films (Saruman must employ some hair stylist Orcs!).

Once the challenge is finally over I’m going to take stock of my accomplishments and do a group photo, so stay tuned.

Another Challenge Entry – The end is closing in!

That’s right kiddies the Fifth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is coming to a close and I’m frantically squeezing my submissions in.

Here we have a tank destroyer security section for Flames of War - a jeep and two M20 utility's. The M20's were easy to paint but the jeep not so much. However I really like the battlefront US jeep model and it was a joy to paint. 

I've done these as the 2nd armoured division as they were the first armoured units to hook up with the 101st on D-day. 

And so on to the second part of the submission, 3x recon jeeps. These guys are supposed to be a jeep recon patrol from the 327th glider infantry regiment of the 101st and as I've already stated I really enjoy painting jeeps! 

As I did with my airborne infantry I've painted the 101st screaming eagle badge on them however to differentiate them from their higher paid comrades I've tried to paint the stars and stripes on them, it kind of works. 

Now hopefully these guys will see the table soon as gaming buddy Ashley and I are exploring the Battlegroup system as a replacement/alternative to FoW. Also I know that ScottB is interested so I may have a couple of Batreps soon. 

The Final Bonus Round of the Challenge and Curtgeld

Bonus round - Anti-hero!

I had lots of things in mind however this one just kept calling to me from the bottom of the lead pile “paint me precious,paint me!”

How could I resist, and so here I present Smeagol.(aka Gollum).

Where would Middle Earth be without Gollum's sharp little teeth? After all the pain and hardship that the Fellowship go through, all the grief and loss and almost failing at the final hurdle its Gollum that saves the day. How perfect is he as an Antihero? You start off hating him, then pity him, then quite like him with his "master" this and "nasty fat hobbit" that. I personally think he fits the antihero mold quite nicely as he does have an altruistic side, albeit very well hidden. 

In both Frodo and Sam’s journey he begins to lose some of his “Gollum-ness” returning to an earlier version of himself before he was poisoned by the precious. Even when he reverts back to Gollum he still retains that desire to keep the ring away from Sauron instinctively recognising that it would be a very bad thing for Middle Earth should the ring be reunited with its master.

 But in the end its all for nought as he plunges to his doom clutching his precious (and chewing on a tasty snack at the same time). 

Great fun to paint, I went for a basic skintone in the end rather anything pasty or wasted looking. This is one of the better GW sculpts for the Lord of The Rings range, the pose is very dynamic and pretty much painted itself!

Curtgeld

This was going to be my antihero bonus round entry however that Gollum, he’s a tricky fellow and just pipped Saruman to the punch! 

Actually that’s not quite true, there is a selfish reason behind this being my entry fee to the challenge. I was originally going to submit a painted model of Professor Moriarty however when it came to painting him I enjoyed it so much that I actually wanted to keep him and so quickly started searching for something else to submit. 

"I am Saruman of Many Colours"

In steps Saruman number 1, I say that because I have two of this model and figured I could use him as a test piece for layering light colours. I wasn’t too worried that I’d cock it up as I am an okay painter and so wouldn’t be submitting a pile of junk to Curt, and I have to say I’m quite pleased with how he turned out. I figure I can do better when it comes to painting him again (hopefully really soon).

"Bugger, wrong robes!"

"Grima, be a dear and fetch my many coloured robes, they're in the second drawer down under my Backstreet Boys T-Shirts"

I’ve enjoyed and hated the challenge in equal measure (much like Gollum loves and hates himself!). It’s been a great way to motivate me to get some of those outstanding jobs done and as a consequence I have a pretty large Isengard force for LoTR/The Hobbit. Not only that but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the banter and camaraderie of the other participants and the sense of community amongst the bloggers taking part (or just observing). However I’m beginning to feel a little burnt out, and I only had a small target of 750 pts (unlike some of the others aiming for 3000+), so I’ll be a little relieved to have it finish and relax and play some games.

The overriding theme of the challenge has been Lord of the Rings for me which is appropriate I guess after having moved my family to New Zealand in the past six months, and I’m looking forward to getting a big post challenge LoTR game in with challenge compatriot Scott (who’s already promised to blog the resulting game which is good as he’s much better at taking pics!).

Anyway onward and upward, I’ve just submitted my final submission for the challenge however I did for some reason think that it ended today (16th March) when I in fact it’s the 20th so I’ve still time to try and beat my target of 750pts.

Hmmm, wait and see.

Sir Terry Pratchett, renowned fantasy author, dies aged 66

Here’s a link to the BBC article.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-31858156

This is a weird one for me as I avidly devoured his books during my teens and early twenties, they formed part of my development and gave me a sense of how to look at the world with a critical eye. For me he was a person to admire, for want of a better word an everyday bloke that enjoyed satirising modern society, never one to seek the limelight of fame.

He told good stories that were more than generic fantasy comedy but a parody of the real world with real issues described in a fantastical way. I remember sitting a few years ago watching a documentary where he explored the very real issue of assisted suicide, visiting Switzerland where it is a legal option for those suffering from incurable and debilitating afflictions. It was touching and quite disturbing at the same time to watch him agonise over whether he would pursue that option, choosing to end his life at a time of his choosing. It struck a chord with me at the time as my Grandmother was suffering severely with Alzheimers, we (my brothers and I) were never that close to her in fact my family is quite a dysfunctional bunch however it was at the forefront of my mind and thus made me wonder what would I do if I were similarly afflicted.

Something to think about.

70 books

• Translated into 37 languages
• In a career spanning 44 years
• With total sales of 70 million

Batrep - Bolt Action - Hold Until Relieved

Another exploration of Bolt Action for Ashley, this time he was matched up against me and we increased the forces available to include a tank to give him an idea of how they work in the game.

I decided not to even bother with point’s values as I quite enjoy the challenge of uneven forces trying to achieve objectives. At some point I’ll have to dream up a few scenarios that have different objectives for both attacker and defender but that’s a challenge for another day.

We actually played Hold Until Relieved as it’s a nice scenario that makes both players think differently about how they use their forces. The defender (in this case Ashley) deploys two units in the centre of the board to defend an objective. The attacker then deploys at least half of their forces 18” away from the objective with the intent to capture said objective by turn 6. Both players have the option of placing forces in reserve (I plugged for getting everything on the board immediately) however the defender must assign half of their remaining force as a first wave, these guys coming on in the first turn.

The forces involved:

Ashley – Germans

1x Leutnant and NCO
3x 8 man squads with LMG and SMG
Medium Mortar with spotter
MMG team
Stug G

Me – British

1x 1^st Lieutenant
1x Forward Observer (Air)
3x 10 man rifle sections – LMG and 2x SMG
Medium Mortar
MMG team

As you can see from the lists I didn’t have any armour support however I had more firepower and some air support to attempt to take out Ash’s armour. So on to the action.

Deployment
Ash placed a rifle section and MMG on the objective in the centre of the table. As I was slightly understrength I opted to deploy my entire force and try and overwhelm Ash, capture the objective and then hold out till the end. With this in mind I placed my forces on opposites sides of the defending germans with a view to pincer/flank/squash them as quickly as possible.

Turn 1
Ashleys rifle section and MMG on the objective and went on to Ambush whilst  I moved my MMG up through the wheat field on Ash’s board edge and pushed forward with the rifle section supporting them round the church. Meanwhile my other two sections on my board edge advanced in a pincer whilemy mortar lobbed smoke(which missed).

Ash had placed his  Stug and mortar in his first wave and duly brought them on, rushing the Stug up the road tyo occupy the intersection and giving immediate support to his beleaguered units protecting the objective (my CO’s sandwiches!).
Darn, Ash had seen through my clever pincer move !

Turn 2
We traded fire and caused a few pins, the Stug turning out to be a bit of a pain. I tried to move a section within range to assault with some tank grenades but I couldn’t make it past the large walled enclosure!
Then Ash fluffed his orders test for the section guarding the objective, quite dramatically as he Fubar’d the roll and they subsequently ran away from the Sandwiches and straight towards my waiting rifle section. Woohoo!

Then disaster struck, as in the confusion of battle the orders from my CO of  “shoot the blasted Hun” were interpreted by George the slightly myopic and deaf NCO as “quick,you’d better run” and they promptly failed their orders test in the same way and ran screaming from the panicked Jerry squad. Hmm poetic justice me thinks for my gloating at Ash’s failed roll.
Turn 3
Ashley quickly pushed his Stug forwards down the road towards my observer and mortar, blocking all lines of sight and pummelling them both with HE and machine gun fire. I tried to bring up my units from Ash’s board edge to threaten the objective (my MMG and a rifle section) however this was scuppered when Ash brought his reserves on directly behind them and opened fire pretty much obliterating them in the process. The only highlight for me was that the germans trying to defend the objective failed their orders test and continued to hide!
Turn 4
Argh no air support his turn, this meaning that the damn Stug continued to block the road, I moved a rifle section round it and tried to assault but as it had moved it was tricky to cause any damage. I lobbed some more smoke, Ash moved a section onto the objective, pummelled my troops some more and I shuffled around trying to come up with a new plan.

Turn 5
Well Ash is firmly sat on the objective, I’ve lost a rifle section and the rest of my squads look a little worse for wear and there’s very little I can do to win so we call it there.

Summary
Good game by Ashley, my weaker force was really up against it however I think with better deployment and a few more lucky rolls I could have won the game. I would definitely be whittled down to the bare minimum however the aim was to hold the objective not kill all units, so long as I had an active unit claiming the objective at the end I would have won. As it was I didn’t cause enough damage to Ashley’s force to make it viable.

Oh and sorry about the photo’s below, I really need to figure out a better way to take in game pictures!

"C'mon chaps, Jerry can't see us through these high walls"

Rumble, rumble - the Stug arrives on the scene

"See,I told you fella's, that silly tank can't see nuthin!"

"I say old chap, do you mind awfully getting out of the way, I'm trying to call in an air strike don't you know"

"Where the bloody hell are you going? Jerry is that way!"

  

"What did I tell you fella's, Jerry can't see a thing, we've even got a smoke barrage!"

"Err Sarge, can this tank see us through the smoke?"
"Boll*@ks"

Challenge entry - Dwarven Pirates, Uruk Hai and more Sung Chinese

It's been a few weeks since I last a managed to post anything for the challenge, I have been painting but I've been a bit preoccupied with a new job, trying to buy a house and still getting to grips with the change in culture after we moved to New Zealand.
Anyway enough with the excuses, first up this was supposed to be my entry to the comedic bonus round, just a tad late I know but I was just too tired to get the darn thing posted in time, so i just posted it as a regular entry. Why did I think this suitable for inclusion in the comedic round, well because these five marauder miniatures dwarves, circa 1989 (I think ), are from the heyday of fun poses and bright colours, when fantasy wargaming had a sense of humour.

I acquired these second hand and stripped them down but never actually did anything with them. Then after painting up one of them as a pirate when we arrived in NZ (for variety as I'd been buried in Lord of the Rings) I got the urge to dig them out and get a small pirate company completed.










Just a shame I was slack and didn't get em completed in time.
Next is the obligatory Lord of the Rings Uruk Hai, eleven of the angry looking chappies. These guys have been the theme for my painting challenge and hopefully by the end of the challenge I'll be able to have a very large game against ScottB with all the models I've painted during.


I managed to convert an Uruk captain, a few spare bits lying around, the application of a sharp knife and voila!


And finally some more Sung Chinese painted up for a fledgling Tsurannuanni force, this time five Shinzawai archers in their trademark blue. As the leading house of the Blue Wheel party it makes sense that they're in blue, we'll just have to see how long it takes me to paint up a few more houses and get a few Kingdom forces to pit them against.