IX Painting Challenge is On

You know the year is gone when leaves fell from the trees, the days get noticeably shorter … and Curt’s Annual Painting Challenge is announced. Many thanks to Curt, her suffering wife Sarah and the “minions” for taking the time and effort to organise the competition every year.

This is the IXth edition and will be my fourth consecutive participation. For those not in the knowledge, this is an international and very friendly painting competition, where one basically attempts to reach (or break) a self-imposed points target, extending through the winter period. 

The atmosphere among the participants is fantastic and you feel part of a community or a fellowship in this case) although many of us haven’t ever met in person with the rest.

Every year the Challenge is branded around a specific although somewhat arcane topic, the one chosen for this edition being “Fellowship”. This is not to restrict or condition what you paint during the contest, neither in terms of themes nor scale. The fee to enter the Challenge is to paint (and send!) to Curt a model related to the theme every year.

I found the Challenge amusing and entertaining, and also helps to put some focus and concentration in some of my wargame painting projects. Over the last two years I painted a German Fallschirmjager platoon and a Napolenic Austrianarmy, both in 28mm. This year, as already mentioned in the previous post blog, I’ll be doing a British Airborne platoon with supports for Chain of Command, as weel as some additions to the Austrian Napoleonics (you never have enough Napoleonic models, isn't it?).

I have already started to prepare my models (basing, priming and assembling the plastic kits) in anticipation, as next week I’ll be undertaking a surgery to remove an herniated disc in the spine and will likely be out of action for a couple of weeks at least. The Challenge will be a very strong incentive to a speed recovery, no doubt!