Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge: Pregame

The stars aligned this year and I'm finally able to participate in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. The challenge runs from December 20 to March 20, and participants score points for painting up figures during that timeframe. There are prizes for those who manage to hit various point thresholds, duels between various challengers and thematic bonus rounds, but it's primarily a fun diversion for the miniature painting community to help motivate each other in getting our figures painted up.  I've been an observer for the last 4 or 5 challenges, but a variety of work and life situations always prevented me from signing up. This year I finally get to take a shot at it.

Here's what I'm hoping to finish during the challenge:

• Fireforge Medieval Foot x48 (240 points)
• Gripping Beast Arab Foot x40 (200 points)
• Fireforge Cavalry x12 (120 points)
• Rogue Trader era GW figures x20 (100 points)
• Ancient Spanish Foot x16 (80 points)
• Ancient Numidian Elephants x2 (30 points?? They're pretty beefy)

That's a total of about 770 points, and represents half of my lead pile. Since this is my first year I'm aiming for only 400 points, but I hope to exceed that and polish off all of these figures. I'm looking forward to the contest, but I'd love to hear any tips from "old hands" who've racked up points in previous years.

Star Wars Armada

The new Mon Calamari MC-80, a luxury liner converted for war.
It makes up for a weak hull with powerful shields

Looking over my blog I see I haven't been posting very much, which is odd because I've been playing a ton of miniature games over the last few months. Most of my games have been of Star Wars Armada. Check out a report on my most recent game after the jump.

Making Terrain Boards Part 6: Grass and Vegetation

I was tempted to leave my terrain boards in their barren, desert-like state, but eventually forged on and added grass, shrubs and vegetation. Check out my technique after the jump.

Holiday Miniature and Game Sales! Black Friday 2015

It's time for the annual round up of holiday sales starting on Black Friday. Tons of board games, war games, miniatures, and hobby tools for the discerning die-roller in your house. Plus, there's a new Star Wars movie coming out in a month, which means there's a bulk freighter's worth of associated game and hobby gifts that will likely bleed over into the wish list of your tabletop gaming geek. Let's get started after the jump!

Making Terrain Boards Part 5: Dirt and Stone

Yet another in my ongoing terrain board construction series. In this session I add some dirt and stone and the terrain boards begin to take on something resembling their final state. Join me after the jump for the details.

Star Wars Armada: Painting Rebel Starfighters

I've been playing a lot of Star Wars Armada lately.  Easy to learn, enough decisions each round to keep interesting, local opponents and c'mon, "STAR WARS", have made it my go to game this summer. The paint jobs on the capital ships look good enough for play, but the bare plastic fighters were driving me nuts each time I got them on the table. I finally found some time over the long weekend to rectify that. Painting tips and pics of my first batch of Rebel starfighters after the jump.

Making Terrain Boards Part 4: Building Hills

I spent some more time on my terrain boards, adding hills and mapping out some roads. It took some time to get everything juuuuuust right. See my progress after the jump.