A new step

 For the last five years, I have been taking part in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This is a friendly painting "competion", organized by my Canadian friend Curt, in which miniature painters and wargamers from all over the globe come together online during the winter months to paint and show their miniatures. Each participant sets himself (or herself, occasionally) a points target to reach, and each miniature or model has a certain points value. Whenever a particpant has completed something, he writes a blog post with some photos to show his work and gather the points. It is not a real competition, but simply a way to meet likeminded enthusiasts, share our passion for the hobby, and get some painting done.

I always very much enjoy participating, and this year I decided to try keeping my painting mojo flowing by continuing documenting my painting through a blog. So here is the first instalment of my painting journey throughout the year. I do not plan to bind myself to a regular schedule, nor am I certain that I will continue this experiment forever, but I see this blog as a convenient way to record what I painted and how I painted it. I am not a very good painter, nor am I a fast one, so we will have to see where we go with this!

One of the firm rules of the Challenge is that you should paint any figures you submit from start to finish during the Challenge. However, I still had some models in varying stages of completion on my painting desk when the Challenge began. So, after the Challenge had finished, I decided to finish these first.

First up are some 28mm early WWI French infantry. I have been slowly putting together a small force for the Blood and Valor rules by Firelock games, and this is my second section of French infantry, and the command squad. They are Wargames Foundry miniatures, and I like them a lot. I mainly used Contrast paints, Leviadon Blue for the coats and Blood Angels Red for the trousers, and finished with a wash of "Marine Juice", an equal mix of Agrax Earthshade, Reikland Flesh and medium.

In Challenge terms, these are 16x 28mm foot @ 5 points = 80 points.