Challenge recap and future plans

With about a week and a half gone since the end the dust is finally settling after a mad rush to the finish line. Not much has been happening on the hobby front as I've been away from home for the easter holidays and concentrated on other pastimes. Starting of slow with a Challenge recap seems in order.

For me the challenge really is a great opportunity to get stuff done as the friendly competition and peer pressure really helps with cranking out minis at a good pace. It's fun to see everyone's entries and to be honest it's probably the only time I actually set any painting goals every year. Having a certain pace that I need to follow really does help in getting things done.

This year I got around to 1096 points so fairly safely over my 1000 point goal. And all that without taking part in any bonus rounds. If you don't count the bonus points from there I think this is my personal best in points over the four editions of the Painting Challenge that I've taken part in. I had a bit of a slow start with the holidays interfering, but managed to pick up pace after that. I final rush in the end put me over the target with a few days to spare still! Pretty decent effort after all.

The numbers this year were the following:

• 28mm infantry: 51
• 28mm guns: 2
• 15mm infantry: 162
• 15mm guns: 3
• 15mm cavalry: 9
• 15mm vehicles: 10
• 6mm infantry: 95
• 6mm vehicles. 9

With this done it's back to the paint desk then. I'm not sure what I'm going to be painting next. The Saxons are definitely on the table and with the last game in our Russia 1812 campaign next weekend I'm thinking there will be a sudden motivational boost to paint even more of them. A couple of random US vehicles for Flames of War still need some paint and then it's probably time for a new FoW army as I've been playing the yanks for quite a few years already and have figures available for most Company types. Something totally different is needed and I've been thinking about Soviet heavy tanks. I actually have had some stuff on order for two months now, but knowing Battlefront it might be a year before I receive anything. 

There'll also be action on my preferred scale of 28mm as well with a Frostgrave campaign starting at our club and a renaissance themed force being put together for that. 28mm Napoleonics have been on hold for a few years now as everyone else has abandoned them at my club, but I'd really love to paint some of them as well. And I guess I really need to start painting some 40k stuff as well. I've been kitbashing 40k minis for a few years now just for fun, but haven't really painted any. Might be the time to get some done for usage in skirmish games.

And with the summer closing in the arrival of Dropfleet Commander miniatures is getting closer. The original planned date was June, but as it is a Kickstarter project I'm a bit pessimistic about the schedule. Still the shots until now have looked amazing and the gameplay seems pretty solid, so I'm pretty psyched about that as well. I have a couple of starter fleets coming in and will try to get them done as soon as they arrive.