"Kitty Bonny"; a gift to a friend, and my first entry in the challenge

The last few competition it took me a few weeks before submitting a first entry, so I decided to break the habit by submitting something straight outta the gate. It will put me on the board and motivate me to add to this early start.

2014 was a very difficult year for me; I spent most of the year unable to walk after undergoing three knee surgeries and at one point, after a series of complications, I seriously feared I might never get to walk normally again. Although I've mostly recovered now it's in those difficult times that you get to know your real friends, and I am lucky enough to count on a few amazing ones who supported me, visited me and cheered me up through these hard times. So I decided that, for Christmas, I would do something special and individually paint for each of them a unique figure as a show of gratitude. I rarely if ever paint for someone else and the plan is to paint something which represents them or something they love.

So my first figure of the competition is a gift to one of my best friend, Emilie, a great girl with a love of cats. In fact, she even has a cartoon cat as a tattoo on her arm. The figure is from Dark Sword Miniature's "Anthropomorphic Animals range", obviously a cat, and it's an awesome sculpt full of personality. The pink details and plumes are also a wink to Emilie's favourite colour.

I named the figure "Kitty Bonny" and I cannot wait for Xmas to give it to her.

That should give me 5 pts to start the competition with panache (I posted this in both my blogs, after all a pirate is historical, but a cat pirate is definitely fantasy!)

Imrie paints Murawski

Just a quick pic of a Duchy of Warsaw figure painted by the incredibly talented David Imrie, one of my favourite miniature painter. 

Carry on...

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, the historical side

Its that time of the year, when temperature drops, snow covers the ground and we get ready for another crazy painting challenge! So as usual I decided to join the fun, along with a whopping 71 other crazies! Yes, the challenge keeps getting bigger, and this year there are a few changes. First and foremost the Challenge now gets its own blog,  and all the participants get to participate in it by writing their own entries. We also get a date in which we can post our weekly updates. In my case Tuesdays. This should help Curt manage this massive endeavor. 

So as usual I've set myself a goal slightly above what I've done in the past, this time 600 pts! The scoring is as follow for the 28mm painters :

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

I've been working hard on Oldhammer recently, but I do want to include some historical painting in the challenge. So here's the goal, on the historical side of my hobby :

• 4 gun Austrian battery, with 12 crews : 100 pts 
• 24 Canaanite Royal Guards : 120 pts 
• 12 Canaanite javelineers/skirmishers : 60 pts

Historical total : 280 pts.  

So all in all between my historical goal (280) and my fantasy goal (315) I'm short 5 pts but I have a few individual figures and surprises in mind to fill that gap. Of course, I reserve the right to change my plans without any notice! This is merely a tentative plan to help me focus.

Also, as Curt did last year, every two weeks there is a theme bonus round. These are worth 50 pts each but I do not count them in my point planning, although they will surely help me reach my goal if I can submit enough of them: 

• 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

I have an entry in mind for all the bonus round except the cold and the hot (which I may or may not participate in depending on my progress). But I'll keep my ideas secret and they will be revealed on the appropriate dates.

So the last two weeks I've done as much as I can on the prepping side, trying to be better prepared than year's past. I haven't prepped everything, but its a very good start. 

My prepping table this morning

For those interested, you can find the Fantasy side of my challenge here

And finally, I'm proud to mention that Murawski Miniatures is sponsoring the challenge this year.  And boy are the prizes worth it!