With a week left of February and (at least) three paint challenges running concurrently (Fembruary, Squaduary, and Neglected Model February), I thought it time to flag my paint challenge plans for next month. I’m calling it “Squad: March!” in the fine tradition of NCOs and officers bellowing at their charges on the parade ground.
The objective, fine reader, is simply to complete a squad or unit. Now, I’m being a little more specific than on some previous challenges – we’re looking at troops of some kind here. Not 40k’s narrow and specific definition of troops versus elites versus fast attach, etc – but a unit containing at least three members. So no Dreadnoughts or Heroes or Greater Daemons or Tanks this time.
Of course, I’ll happily allow exceptions, so if you’re the sort that thinks big, and you want to complete a Zug of Panzers, or a Maniple of Battle-Automata, or a Contemptor Talon, then sure – go for it!
Probably the biggest distinction between this challenge and ones like Squaduary are that I only care about you completing these units. It’s not a “start-to-finish” challenge set during a single month, so regardless of whether you just missed out on finishing that squad during Squaduary, or you’ve got stuff that you’ve been chipping away at for six months, or if you’ve got units that have been shelved for months or even years, feel free to dig them out and join in.
Similarly, if you want to go start-to-finish, then feel free to go right ahead. If you have a squad of five figures and two are complete while the other three are bare plastic or metal, that’s fine too. It’s about completing units. The challenge is designed to easily fit into your (and my) painting schedule and be flexible enough to encompass quite a lot, and hopefully just act as a bit of an impetus or inspiration for people.
Since this March Painting challenge is a “minor” one, like February’s – I won’t be posting updates over the month on it. I’ll likely do a round-up of all the participants I’m aware of just after the end of the month, though. If anyone is wondering why this comes on the heels of Squaduary, it’s because I had planned on doing squads in March before I knew Squaduary was a thing, and I ain’t changing my plans.
That’s pretty much it. If you might be interested, you’ve got a week for thinking about it before the challenge starts – though if you’re keen there’s also no reason you can’t be working on your models. Because it’s only about completing models in March! 😉
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Cool – gives me another reason to finish my not-Eschers, and maybe some more Eru-Kin. I’m getting in an early proposal for a ‘No Challenge April’ 🙂
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Too late, I’m afraid! April is an assembly month, May is Neglected Model, June is Squad/Unit, and July is earmarked for another Centrepiece model. It’s all there in legally-binding blogpost!
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Certainly good in terms of giving one some advanced notice for planning stuff out. 🙂
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Hopefully they don’t require too much planning – the idea is that they’ll be easy to fit into whatever you were doing anyway, with the exception of the July challenge, at least!
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I really like those cloaked riders!
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Thank you, Cupcakes! They’re from Lord of the Rings.
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I’m certain I’ll be participating; lots of squads I can work on, just have to figure out by the end of the month which one I want to do. Perhaps get my miserably neglected cultists up to a legal-sized minimum squad, and then put together another box of plaguebearers and a box of bloodletters for April.
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Yeah, I did a simple count of units I have sitting around near the painting desk or in the tubs I keep near-adjacent, and came up with over 10 squads that need to be finished. No chance of getting them all done in March, but if I can get rid of a few of them I’ll be pretty pleased with the outcome.
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I really like challenges that allow and encourage finishing off WiP rather than starting from scratch. So many of the things I want the motivation of a hobby challenge to help me with, I’m halfway done with, and they aren’t eligible for many of them. I’m going to be doing a bunch of foot-slogging Daemonettes for this one, maybe as many as 20 if I can get my batch-painting groove on.
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Same here, Westrider. Most of the ones I put up this year are going to be either “neglected model” or “finish unit” ones, with “major” challenges quarterly for Easter/April (build), July (hero/centrepiece), September (build) and then Decembuary (centrepiece).
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Haha I had a feeling you’d be throwing up (not literally) another challenge. I plan on painting my new BannaRoff Light Infantry into anyway so I guess I’m in haha. We need a a conversion challenge one month me thinks.
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Oh yea, that’s a good one. I have one I need to redo and some more on their way. Which I *could* potentially finish this year!
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What are you needing to redo with more on the way? Squads?
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No, it’s some conversions.
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I’ve got my challenges planned out for the year, and they’re pretty much mostly aimed at helping to motivate people to finish stuff, though there are two “build” months where you could definitely stick in some ambitious conversions – April/Easter and September.
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Hmm, I think this would actually provide even more incentive to finish the Hereticus warband my “Fembruary” Interrogator belongs to — I’ve been blazing through those long neglected models, but I still have two proper members and two familiars/servo-skulls to go, so that would work, right?
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Sounds perfect to me!
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Ok, I’m in. I will probably do a platoon of 3-4 squads of F.R.O.G. infantry with some recon, etc. Between 30-40 figures from the late 1990’s from the Critter Commandos defunct line!
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Never let it be said that you don’t set yourself some bloody ambitious goals, Mark! Sounds great!
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