20th Feb 2021: THE CHALLENGE IS NOW FULLY BOOKED!

Welcome travellers! After the success of our first expedition to the Eastern Fringe I am now pleased to announce the second expedition! This will again be led by the honourable Magos Anthropologus Erronyus Fawlty. He hopes to uncover yet more civilisations and describe more ways of living as found among the planets that have been left to their own for thousands of years. The Fringe contains a plethora of races, armies and regiments stand their own against each other without the rest of the galaxy knowing. We who are about to embark on this journey salute you!

OK a proper welcome from me too. I have set up this page to aide the good Adeptus Anthropologus in recording the progress of his journeys… or indeed our journeys in this Army Challenge.

So what is an Army Challenge I hear you ask? Well in short it is kind of like forcing yourself to go to the gym to workout for a period of time to achieve a goal you have wanted to achieve… Except in this case you are going to sweat more, feel more exhausted, and probably wont live to tell. After all painting miniatures is hard work! Gentlemen, you have my sympathies.

We all want that nice painted army, and sometimes the best way to get things done is to force some rules upon our journey… Luckily we are painting miniatures and sharing the results with a host of people, who have also been silly enough to join the journey, so that may ease the pain.

Basically, every month, in this challenge, we call upon the participants to produce around 200 pts of freshly(ish) painted Warhammer 40,000 2nd edition miniatures. Sometimes you’ll paint more, sometimes you won’t.

This is the SECOND Warhammer 40.000 2nd ed. challenge that I am hosting. You can see the first one under “Archives” in the dropdown menu above.

The idea is of course to use miniatures from 2nd edition 40k or earlier and we strongly urge you to do so. This style of miniatures is not for everyone, but if you sign up for a 2nd edition painting challenge, you probably have a soft spot for anything from monopose plastic marines to the Imperial Guard by the Perry twins and perhaps even some of the Gary Morley sculpts. That being said, of course you are free to use whatever you would like in this challenge. No one will judge you for including a cool 3rd edition model. But if you only like the newest GW plastic crack, then perhaps this is not the challenge for you.

The challenge then runs for 6 months from March. This means that the first round ends March 25th (there needs to be a few days between the end of the round and the time I post the digest). Now the mathematically inclined will insist that 6 x 200 pts equals 1200 pts. This might be correct, but in any case, the 6th month is meant as a buffer – we all know that life happens… and sometimes having a bit of a buffer to complete your goals is all that is needed

Of course even with provisions like these, some of the participants are bound to bite the dust and drop out. Don’t be alarmed though – this is completely normal.

There are many ways to stop yourself from falling. It is perfectly OK to finish more than 200 pts one month and then add it to the next month for instance.

The end goal here is to get you to a complete 1000 pts in ½ a year.
Before we all get huddled up in our piles of lead and plastic let’s go over the ground rules:

To enter the challenge one must:

1) Write a short introduction about their personal challenge: This introduction must include a 1000 pts Warhammer 40.000 2nd edition armylist made using an armybook of desire. Together with the armylist it is desirable (cool even) to include some background or motivation and even a bit about yourself if you care.

2) Take a single photo of the starting point. This is important and will go along with the armylist in the initial presentation of the project. The photo will be used again at the conclusion of the project, to show the starting point and where ever it ends up. If possible set it up nicely. The models must be visible and distinguishable. Make it a good photo – not filled with living room clutter, out of focus, and with low resolution.

3) No later than Feb 25th: Send both the introduction and the photo to 40k2ndedarmychallenge “over at” gmail.com and label the topic “Name, army, starting point”. There are 20 seats available at the table and these will be given out on a first come first serve basis. I will declare when the seats are filled, so no one submits anything in vain.

4) If you are interested in participating in the group chat, send me your facebook alias.

e.g. John Smith wants to enter his Orks in to the challenge and sends me a nice image of his models, clearly visible in their current state, before the challenge was started. He writes a nice piece about how he always wanted to be an Ork player, but never had the guts to shed the power armour back in the day, but now is the time. He then photographs his whole force, set up in units, on a nice clear background and sends me an email with both with the topic “John Smith, Orks, Starting Point”.

Each round each participant must:

1. Paint some miniatures – the rough equivalent of 200 pts
2. Take a single photo of the miniatures preferably on a white background (a piece of paper for instance) or in nice terrain. Please send just 1 photo and make it a good one: in focus, good resolution, and not filled with clutter. Preferably on a white background or as a setup in cohesive nice terrain – we are aiming at visually pleasing stuff here. 😀
3. Write about the entry – this could be anything really. You can detail why you chose this entry, any struggles/joys in painting or anything else. It is much more fun for everyone when we hear a bit about how you’re doing like this.
4. No later than the 25th of the month: Send both your writing snippit and the photo to 40k2ndedarmychallenge “over at” gmail.com and label the topic “Name, army, month”. I will have to be quite firm on these rules.

e.g. John has painted his first batch of Orks – a snake bite boar boyz mob. He writes a bit about how he always loved the way they looked in the books and had to try and paint them like that. He takes a nice photo – in focus – and on a white background and sends it to me with the topic “John Smith, Orks, March”

How it is going to run:

Once the deadline has passed I start compiling the monthly digest. The digests will be broadcast far and wide on facebook/blog and so on. Participants should feel free to blog on their own behalf as well. The first month is March, and the introductions and armylists will go online March 1st. The first compiled digest will go online April 1st.

Every month on the 1st I will post a summary of how the participants are doing, including the images, the descriptions and any links for further information.

If you are posting on Instagram or similar please use the tag #40k2ndAC.

A bit of Q&A:

The armylist:

With regards to the points values, I think we should go like Led Zeppelin and do it “loose but tight”: The armylist should be 1000 pts, but doesn’t have to adhere to the percentage requirements (we are all going to expand it inevitably).

Can I use partially painted figures?

If you have a half painted army – yes that army is eligible. It is not the starting point that is important, but rather it is the drive and motivation to finish something… whether it start from 0% done or 80%. Just remember the starting picture so people can appreciate the work you put in at the end.

What about models that are not 2nd edition?

Can I use this or that model that isn’t specifically 2nd ed. I say why not? But also – If you only have latest edition plastic GW models, maybe this challenge is a bit of barking up the wrong tree for you – to me the nostalgia is definitely part of it, and I will use 2nd ed. exclusive models. But if you feel it is worth your time participating, don’t let me decide for you. I have seen modern miniatures painted in the 2nd ed style which worked well.

Do I have to have goblin green bases?

No! There’s many ways to do this – some paint the old figures in the old style, some paint the old figures in the new style… and yet some paint new figures in the old style. Do it your way!

How many people can enter?

For this challenge we will accept 20 entries in total. This number should ensure that even if more than half of the participants drop out, there will still be something going on.