Once again we’re hitting the final week of the month, so once again it’s time to announce the next month’s Community Painting Challenge.

And once again, it’s to complete (remember – complete – you don’t need to start-to-finish anything in the one month) a “unit” of some description.

As with the last time we did this, the objective is simply to complete a group of models that fit together thematically. This could be a squad or a unit. It could be a gang or a team (Kill-Team, Bloodbowl Team, Guildball Team). It could be a retinue or a bodyguard – with or without their leader. It could be a tank platoon or a trio of Dreadnoughts or a trio of Ninjas. It can be wargame models, boardgame figures, models that fit into a diorama – just use common sense and context and it should be pretty obvious.

I think a minimum of three models for a “unit” is fair enough. Even though Space Marine Veterans can legally be a pair, or heroes and monsters in many games can be distinct “units”, let’s still go with trios+

However, this month is a dual-challenge month, so people are welcome to take part in one or the other or both. More on that below.

As always, the biggest distinction between these challenges and many others 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 this month, last month, or six months ago – or you’ve got stuff that you’ve been chipping away at for six months – or, indeed – 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 to get this stuff completed.

Now, about that second challenge (if you hadn’t already guessed from the post title) – Since this coming month is also October, the traditional Pun is Orctober/Orktober, which even GW is on board with this year. Regardless of their choices, I’m also happy to include Orktober as a secondary challenge for this month. Simply paint some Orcs/Orks/Uruks/Goblins/Half-Orcs/etc or Wargs/wolves/dire wolves/boars – with or without riders (or chariots), or some Orks hardware like Walkers, Kans, Trukks. Or Trolls/Troggoths. You get the idea by now. Something Orc or Ork-related. Maybe even Diggas qualify. Why not?

I don’t know how well I’ll go, but at the very least, I’ve got some Squig Herders, some Savage Orcs and a trio of Killa Kans all needing to be completed. Any of those I manage to get done will get me something for the Unit-ed October Challenge as well as Orktober. I like doubling up, so let’s see how well I can do!

(Frankly, if I could get them done this month, they’d be Neglected Models!)

And if you really aren’t interested in Orcs, you could always do some green models as a pretend tribute! 😉

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 October! 😉

There’s also no special criteria as to who can or cannot participate. If you’d like to participate, then you can. Simples.