Welcome traveller! At last you have arrived at the outskirts of the Eastern Fringe. Here planets are left to their own for thousands of years, letting a plethora of races, armies and regiments stand their own against each other without the rest of the galaxy knowing. All this is about to change though, as the Adeptus Mechanicus has sent forth a Magos Anthropologus to record the many different liveries and spectacles found in this part of the galaxy.

Update 31/07/2020 – The Challenge is now live and we have the list of participants here!

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.

The idea is of course to use miniatures from 2nd edition 40k or earlier. 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. Of course you are free to use whatever you would like in this challenge. No one will judge your choice of miniatures or bases.

The challenge then runs for 6 months. 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:

Each participant must:

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

2) Take a 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.

3) No later than July 30th: Send both the introduction and the photo to 40k2ndedarmychallenge over there on gmail.com and label the topic “Name, army, starting point”. If you mislabel the topic it will bounce back.

How it is going to run:

The monthly 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 August, and the introductions and armylists will go online August 1st. The first compiled summary will go online September 1st.

The important bit:

No later than the 25th of every month the participants must send an e-mail to 40k2ndedarmychallenge over there on gmail.com with the following information:

1. Each time you must include in the topic: Name, army and month – e.g. “Dr. The Viking, Tyranids, August”. This will help the sorting and work on this end.
2. A picture (as nice as possible) of the progress of the month. The models may be placed in terrain, on a white backdrop, or even on your workbench. The set dressing is all up to you – although I also encourage going harder. 😉
3. In the addition to the picture, you must specify how the models fit within the context of the army: How many points are they, what are they, how are they armed.
4. Lastly, if the participant keeps a blog, page, or similar where the thoughts regarding the project are expanded – please provide a direct link for it.

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.

Upon completion of the challenge the following “rewards” will be given out:

Completed Months	Distinction	Description
0	AWOL	The aspirant did not get out of the booth
1-2	MIA	It started really well, but things got out of hand fast
3-4	KIA	So close to completing the campaign, but alas, the enemy was too strong.
5	Distinguished cross	5 full months completed! Well done! A 1000 pts was completed.
6	Medal of Honour	6 full months completed! Bravo! A 1000 points and then some was completed!

A bit of Q&A:

With regards to the “rules” 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).

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.

Can I use this or that model that isn’t specifically 2nd ed. I say why not? If you only have latest edition plastic GW models, maybe it is a bit of barking up the wrong tree – 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.

Is there a limit to the number of participants – no not for now. If it explodes I may have to do something about it. But I am not going to worry about that in advance.