Russian 12pdr Gun & Crew

I have been looking forward to getting started on this piece since I bought it at Partizan last year. This is a Perry miniature and comes with four crewmen. But it was only last week that I realised that in Sharp Practice guns have five crewmen…so I found an extra figure from another set to make up the numbers. I’ll worry about replacing the crew from the other gun later. The sculpts on these are outstanding and the crewmen all look suitably cold, especially the guy hugging his hands in his greatcoat. He looks thoroughly miserable and makes you realise that while the French army had a terrible time in Russia, the Russian troops weren’t much better off. There’s a good reason why campaigning in winter is a silly idea, even if it is your homeland and you are used to the weather. When the temperature drops to -20℃ everyone suffers. 

The 12pdr was the standard heavy artillery piece of the Russian army in 1812 and their crews have been described as highly professional and very well trained. At the Battle of Boridino, General Kutuzov ordered the artillery to hold their ground to the last possible moment and then fire at the enemy with canister. When artillery are about to be overrun it takes a significant amount of training and discipline to follow such orders. 

I also wanted to get a few more officers painted so here are three, including one who seems to be overcoming the cold from the bottom of a bottle. All three officers are from Wargames Foundry and are beautiful minis with plenty of character. 

  

Already on the workbench are the next unit, a fearsom-looking unit of Don Cossacks. Once again, I should stress that I haven’t painted multi-part 28mm cavalry in decades so I am approaching this unit with some trepidation. However, now that I have got started I am enjoying it. Whether they are finished by the next submission day remains to be seen. I’d rather take my time than rush these… especially with their sharp lances. I’ve drawn blood already and I’m not even half done.

Painting Together: The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

This week I am talking about the benefits of painting together to get projects finished.

Collaborative painting, whether that is sitting down with friends or taking part in a competition like the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, can boost productivity and keep the paint flowing. I have painted whole armies during previous challenges, sometimes two at a time! This year I'm tackling something new but I know that whatever I start will be finished by the end of the competition in mid-March.

 

Learning & Teaching New Rules

How do you learn a new set of rules, and more importantly how do you then teach it to a group of new players? 

You've found a great set of rules, perfect for that new project. But what is the best way to learn them? And once you have 'mastered' the rules, what is the best way to introduce them to a group of players? This week's talking point tries to address both questions.

 

Collaborative Painting: Rising to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

Painting in collaboration or competition with other wargamers is a fantastic way to boost your productivity. I'm taking part in this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and every year that I have participated my painting output has gone up. Whole armies can be completed in just three months, with the gentle support and encouragement of other wargamers.

Gallic Cavalry, Chariots & Heros

I have started preparing figures for this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge which starts in late December. In the process, I found some stuff from last year that apparently didn't get finished in time. These Gallic Chariots and Cavalry had started to be painted but were still a long way from completion.  I guess I must have decided they couldn't be completed by the end of the challenge and put them aside. I can't enter them for this year's competition (that, of course, would be cheating) so instead, I decided to pull my finger out and get them finished...a year after starting them! 

I also painted a few extra mounted Cauari (heroes) and a couple of Corionos and Uellauni (Senior and sub-Generals or "chiefs of battle.") on the larger bases. They aren't my best work but they are good enough to play with and I'm just glad to add them to my current collection of Gauls. I just need to add some labels to the rear of the bases but that will have to wait as my printer has just run out of ink! 

AHPC Update One: Calm before the Storm

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge begins in a few days and I'm in the last stages of preparation for this amazing Festival of Painting. Over 100 participants from across the globe will be taking part over three months, each working towards their own personal target.

I'm hoping to do regular updates of my own progress through the Challenge, but I know the next few months are going to be very busy indeed. So while I want to do a weekly video, in all likelihood, it'll be a little more ad-hoc than that! 

The Painting Challenge Returns

It's that time of year again when the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge puts out the call for participants. The Challenge is run by a gentleman called Curt and attracts a multinational collection of gamers who set their own personal points targets, challenging themselves to complete a body of work over the winter months. I'll be participating again this year and I have a new project as my main target for this years event. 

Plan B

"Plans are made to be broken"..."No plan survives contact with the enemy"..."The plans of mice and men."... Take your pick from any of these stock quotes and they could be aptly applied to the UK this Christmas. And like many families in the South East of England (and elsewhere), we are having to replan our holiday season around staying at home and not seeing family. To be fair, we already had a well established 'Plan B' in place because it was rapidly becoming quite obvious (to everyone except our Glorious Leader) that 'Plan A' was crackers! On the plus side, it means I have even more time for painting and playing games with the young Padawan.

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge started on Monday and I have been working on my first entries. I'm taking a more sedate pace this year, even though I'm likely to have more time on my hands, simply to reduce the pressure a bit (got enough of that at work!). As is traditional for me, I have kicked my AHPC campaign off with a Christmas Themed figure. I normally buy these early back in January I had purchased my 2020 Christmas figure for this year's Challenge. Unfortunately, it was the excellently sculpted Death dressed as Santa from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and I thought that was just a little too dark given the year we have had. I'll save that for when this mess is all over (so who knows when he'll see the light of day!). Instead, I have painted a Viking Father Christmas made by Foundry. 

One of the conventions of the challenge is that participants post pictures of their entries on the Challenge blog with 24hrs exclusivity before reposting on the painters own social media. I only managed to get this guy finished and posted yesterday morning, hence the reason my usual Wednesday post has been shifted to Thursday this week. I have some other entries ready for the Challenge and I'll post them here next week with a roundup of what I have completed and what is on the workbench. 

Until then I'd just like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and hope that you are keeping well and trying to make the most of a tough holiday season. 

The Calm before the Storm

This week, around the middle of December, is one of my favourite times of my gaming calendar. No, it's not anticipation of hobby related presents to come next week (although I am looking forward to that). And it also Isn't the fact that I have time off work over the Christmas break and have a string of games with friends and family arranged (some remotely, some not) over the next few weeks. What I always look forward to at this time of year is the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge which starts on the 21st December. And this week, as every year, the excitement is building and the preparation is pretty much complete so I find myself with a few days to relax, to think, to write and to enjoy the building anticipation of the competition to come. 

Swapping the Brush for a Keyboard

If I said I haven't picked up a brush in over a week I would be lying, but while I haven't 'painted' anything I have been busy priming figures ahead of the challenge start on Monday. No doubt my 'plan' for the competition will evolve over the three months it takes place - there is always something unplanned that sneaks in before the finish line appears - but for the time being everything I want to paint is ready and waiting for the starting pistol to fire. So, with a little bit of time on my hands and no painting to do just yet, I have been doing some writing instead. I have three Quarantined Wargamer scripts ready for next year, and several more at the draft stage. Counterintuitively I'm finding that without a deadline breathing down my neck I suddenly find it easy to get my ideas down on paper. I'm definitely not going to waste this flush of creativity and I hope to have several more outlines for future episodes of my silly ramblings prepared by the end of the day. 

I'm also working on several blog posts for the upcoming weeks. As I have mentioned before in one of my videos, I try to have blog posts written well in advance of the publishing date so I can stick to my schedule (today's post is a notable exception to the rule!). As I know what I want to paint in the opening days of the Challenge I have already started drafting some words to accompany the pictures I will take as each project is completed. It saves a lot of valuable painting time once the competition is underway and again, it takes away the pressure to perform and allows me to enjoy the opening days of the competition and still enjoy some much family time over the holiday. 

Winter Painting Challenge

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is due to start in a little over a week so I thought I would do a video to explain what it is, to those unfamiliar with it, and to talk about my plans for this year's event. 

If you are taking part I look forward to seeing you on the field of battle! If you are just a spectator, get yourself a comfy seat, it's going to be a spectacular event. 

It's Oh so Quiet

I was going to write a post entitled Calm before the Storm about how I don't have much to blog about at the moment but am non-the-less busy preparing for the Painting Challenge... and then I realised I'd done exactly that a couple of years ago before Challenge VII. It seems this phenomenon is not a one off and probably proceeds every Challenge. I am quite busy, buying, prepping, cleaning and tidying my desk and generally getting ready for the starting pistol to fire next week. I'm having fun though, because the weeks preceding the Winter Challenge always tend to be filled with buying models and materials and receiving lots of fun parcels in the post.

One thing I have been particularly enjoying is tinkering with my planning for the challenge. For the last three events I have been using a spreadsheet to record everything I do for the competition. I'm able to keep track of planned projects and ideas here as well as recording the points I score as I go along. All very boring for those that aren't into such admin geekery, but it keeps me happy. And just to add to my slice of spreadsheet heaven I have now been sent the amazing Tome of MathMagics; the shared spreadsheet used by the competitions judges (of which I am one this year) to record the points they are giving out. So now I can go into the AHPC with not one but two spreadsheets to keep me happy...bliss.

Post Challenge Analysis

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge ended last week and its taken just a few days for me to miss it. For three months my hobby activity has been highly focused and productive and now its over there is a big void in my life. Don't get me wrong I wasn't painting feverishly every day, I wasn't turning out massive units of exquisite 28mm figures, and while I was very happy with my thirteen hundred points it was nothing compared to the top five painters. I'm sure I'm not alone in being a serious procrastinator for 9 months of the year. The beauty of the Challenge is that the constant (but overwhelmingly positive) pressure of a timetable and deadlines has kept me on-track and feeling very satisfied.

With the Challenge over its time for a little introspection and analysis (cos I'm a bit anal in that way). I record and plan extensively during the Challenge and this means I have a lot of useful data collected to analyse my work over the last three months. So here it is; My Painting Challenge in five charts.

Progress Chart - I leapt ahead of my weekly target at an early stage and was able to maintain and extend this 'lead' throughout the Challenge. I owe a lot to a very patient wife who game me plenty of space to indulge my hobby. It's also true that going part time at work has meant I have had more free time to paint and blog over the winter. 

Points by Period - Not surprisingly it was my Anglo Zulu War project that accounted for the bulk of the points I earned this year. However I also earned a significant 14.8% from Fantasy figures, mostly during the Bonus rounds. 

Points by Scale - Equally unsurprising is the fact that I earned most of my points from 6mm figures. At just half a point per figure that means to earn big points you need to churn out big number and this is where 'Thousands' of Zulu's came into their own. Don't get me wrong, I agree with the scoring system set up by Curt but I think it will be a long time before we see a top three podium place being occupied by a 6mm painter.

Points by Type of Entry - I'm always tempted to skip the Bonus rounds to focus just on my given project, but when 22.6% of the points earned come from these rounds its hard not to want to take part. And by the end of the Challenge I have a load more display models to find a home for...I'll have to buy a new display case soon. My existing arrangements are already crammed full and I'll be hard pressed to find space for this years contribution. 

Challenge Expenditure - This year I decided that I would keep a closer eye on what I spent, directly connected to the Challenge. I start buying models almost as soon as the competition ends so some of this expenditure dates back to April last year, although the bulk of the outlay took part immediately before and during the event. In total I spent £657.06 with the majority on figures. The surprise for me was how much I spent on consumables at £269.62. However it has to be said I didn't use up everything so some of this will continue to supply my hobby activities for months to come. 

Right, with that bit of naval-gazing over its time to get back to the important job of preparing for the next Painting Challenge in just 9 months time. Salute is just a few weeks away and this will be my first opportunity to start buying the models I need for the next bout of winter painting madness. 

Painting Challenge 8 - Body of Work

The 8th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has now come to an end and 76 painters have put down their brushes and no doubt taken a deep sigh of satisfaction and relief. This was my fourth time taking part and this time around I set myself an ambitious target of 1000 points; a big ask when painting mostly 6mm figures. Well I blew my target out of the water and achieved a personal best that I never would have thought possible just a few months ago. My final tally came to 1307 points which I am very VERY pleased with. And here's a picture of everything that I completed during the Challenge.

LeeH body of Work  - AHPC VIII

Smashing my target! 

What we have here are mostly Baccus 6mm figures and the beginnings of two armies for the Anglo Zulu War of 1879. I say beginning because I reckon I'm less then half way through my Zulu's and I still have a lot of British units still to paint, and that's just so I can recreate the Battle of Isandlwana. Talking of which here's a quick picture of the battle with the forces I have completed so far. 

Isandlewana, January 1979

And a more detailed look at the British Units I completed over the last three months.

24th Foot Marching

24th Foot in Line

24th Foot in Skirmish

Artillery and Gatling Guns

Imperial Mounted Infantry

Bell Tents

Cattle

Ox Waggons

All the British I have completed thus far

Not forgetting the Zulu Army... It looks like a lot but these represent just 14,000 warriors and there were somewhere in the region of 21,000 at the Battle of Isandlwana.

iNgobamakhosi Regiment

iMubbe and Isanqu

Nokenke

umCijo

umHlanga

Zulu Commanders

Riflemen / Skirmishers

And the whole Impi as it stands right now

I always enjoy the Bonus rounds, even if the categories sometimes give me a headache. This year I was able to take part in all the Bonus rounds and here's what I came up with.

Flight

BFG

Musician

Childhood

Monstrous

This just leaves the extra's I did as regular entries.

Jingle Bells!

Bromhead

Looking Forward

I'm rally happy with my output this year. My own target of 1000 points was a real challenge for me and one I thought I would struggle to achieve. I owe my success in no small part to a very understanding wife who has given me plenty of space to get on with my painting. Of course the payoff fer her is that I have promised to get some home decorating done now so I'll be swapping my brushes for something a little larger in the next few weeks. The break from painting 6mm figures will no doubt give my eyesight a rest!

Calm before the Storm

Sorry the blog has gone a bit quite for a while, but its not because I haven't been busy. Like many of my fellow wargame bloggers I am entering this years Analogue Painting Challenge. Preparation has been underway for some time and the net result is that although I seem to have been very busy for weeks, I haven't got a lot to show for it.

Prep work is nearly finished, at lest on the models I have at the moment. I've already broken my first rule of (this years) challenge which was to get through it without recourse to points from the bonus rounds... but the siren call of some of the categories was just too much to resist. And if I didn't enter the 'Armour' round I couldn't legitimately call myself a tread-head any more!

More models are en route to Castello del Hadley and I have what passes for a strategy (it'll probably go to pot in week one, but I live in hope). I have also put together a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress and measure it against last years performance and against my target for this year. Either I have too much time on my hands or (my preferred explanation) I have been inspired by the statistical antics of fellow challengers like MilesR. His stats are a wonder to behold.

My Phalangites now all have very sharp pikes in their hands. I have also increased the number being painted from four to five bases of 48 figures per base....that's 240 opportunities for me to puncture my fingers! Painting this lot will take a lot of patience and quite a bit of care but hopefully they will look awesome when they are finished. The only minor problem I have encountered is that I have run out of the spray primer I like for my 6mm figures. I use a brown primer which I find works really well as it means if I miss something on a model it looks like I did it on purpose! Brown also makes it a little easier to see the details than using a black primer. The brown I like was English Uniform from Bolt Action, but as far as I can see its no longer available and I need to find a similar alternative.

Hopefully all this prep will be finished by the end of the weekend and that will give me a couple of weeks to finish off some terrain projects before the Challenge starts in earnest. 

Pre Challenge Prep

A Macadonian Pike Phalanx

Over the last week I have been making a start on my preparation for this years Analogue Painting Challenge. I want to go into the competition as ready as possible this time around and that means getting as much of the cleaning and base coating done as possible before things kick off in December. This time I have a clear plan of what I want to achieve and for me its not really about the points but the outcome...i.e. two complete armies for two different periods. 

By far the hardest part of this process has been the building of the pike Phalanxes. I bought 'open handed' models meaning the pikes are not cast with the pike. Instead these must be added manually and in my case I have opted to use 25mm dressmakers pins as these are just about the right size. Of course adding them one by one seemed far easier (and less painful) in my head than in reality! 

I'll glue these figure strips onto wooden mounts like all my other models to make painting them easier. I can see this construction job will take some time to complete but better now than during the challenge itself. I know that I am going to have even less time for painting this year than I did last year so setting myself realistic targets will be essential to keep things moving. But I also recognize that the Analogue Challenge is a massive motivator and my output during the three months of the competition will be several times more than my regular snails pace. 

Some of my Challenge models ready for primer. This represents about two thirds of the total, the rest (including the pike units) have yet to be mounted. 

I quite enjoy this stage of the process because its the first time I get to really look at the models in detail. I'm already considering how to paint them, what colours to use and what I need to research. I have started a new project notebook - something I do with every new period - just for the Challenge. This already has details of the army lists I am working on, a calendar and a work timetable. Later (when they are published) I'll record the points available, details of special rules and the bonus rounds. Then I'll be adding painting notes and pictures for each of the units in an attempt to be as ready as possible before I even break out the brushes.

I'm also working out how many points I'm likely to earn by painting all these figures and I have come to a startling conclusion...Its not enough! I need more models!! When I told my wife she just looked at me for several seconds, quietly shook her head and wandered off muttered something under her breath. I'm not sure she thinks I am operating on the same planet as the rest of the human race... and of course, she 's probably right. 

Preparing for the Winter offensive

Not a lot of painting has been done at BLMA HQ recently. Four units of Gauls are sitting on my desk and have been for a couple of weeks. I started them but haven't had the time (or the energy) to continue...I will slap on some extra paint this week and I'm sure once I restart things will move along. However before I do this I decided to distract myself buying some more miniatures! Its OK, I've not completely lost my mind, I have a plan....

My recent purchases are phase one of my Winter Offensive (meaning the Analogue Challenge Winter Challenge). This year I want to go into the challenge prepared and with a proper plan of attack. I know that as usual time will be limited - possibly more so than last year - so the more I can do before the challenge starts the better. We can prep and undercoat our mini's before the Challenge begins, we just can't start painting them. Some of the figures I have in mind will need a LOT of prep beforehand and if I can this done before I start all the better to hit my target. 

So what is my plan and what have I bought? I'm determined to skip the bonus rounds not because I don't enjoy them - I always enjoy seeing the submissions of fellow challengers - but I find them too much of a distraction from the task of completing models I will actually game with. Instead I am going into this years Challenge with three armies to paint for both my WWII North Africa project and for my growing collection of ancient farces for use with the To The Strongest rules. 

North Africa - I am planning on painting British and Italian tank companies for Operation Compass (General Wavells 1940 offensive against the Italians in western Egypt and Libya). Initially I planned on buying these from GHQ as the quality of their micro-armour is outstanding, unfortunately the price is too. My order would have topped off over £150 and that gave me pause for thought. So I checked out the ranges offered by H&R and was able to buy the same force for the princely sum of £27. Needless to say the miser in me went for the cheaper option! 

Pyrric Army - The other models I have bought are an extension of my ancients collection. I have decided to give my Polybian Romans someone else to fight, aside from the Carthaginian's. I have long wanted to paint some units of Macedonian Phalangitai and in the end I opted to build an army around this objective. So I will be starting a Pyrric army in the early part of the period I have been working on. I have made more work for myself though as I have chosen to buy pikemen with 'open hands' and will use clipped dressmaking pins for the pikes. This is a lot of prep work (prep and undercoating can be completed before the challenge starts) and I have no idea how hard this may be or how long it will take, hence my desire to buy the models now, three months before the Painting Challenge starts.

I must be crazy, but I'm quite excited by all this expenditure. Clearly happiness is a growing lead mountain!