What have I done?!

So I finally succumbed to the Internet Sensation. No, not Peter Spiller, but blogging.

I've signed up for the 3rd Annual "Duelling Paintbrushes" which is a competition that is run at my own (not so local) Hampton Games Club. The purpose of the competition is to paint a full 1000 point army of any force of your choosing. We have moved the competition, which last year ran in November, to October so that we can use the armies we put together for the upcoming Warhammer World Series, which is happening mid November.

Duelling Paintbrushes really seemed like a good idea at the time, given since the new High Elf book came out, I've been really keen to paint up a Chrace themed army in their national colours. What I didn't really think on, was the fact that I'm a really slow painter. Oh well, the good news is, that if I fail to get everything done in time I already have most of the minis painted for the list that I have put together for the event, they just aren't in the appropriate colours.

The overall plan for this new endeavour of High Elves is to eventually paint up a tournament sized force and beyond that could hopefully be good enough to sit on display. Although I have quite a big collection of painted High Elves already most of those are either not painted by me, are Archers or White Lions, or are very ugly given they are the first models I painted when I first got back into the hobby a few years ago. I've set myself this task as a long term goal to build a collection that is both great to look at and is painted in the colours set out by the Heraldry and Uniform High Elf book. My previous army has been painted in a Blue and White colour scheme, but I think a more eclectic scheme where each unit is painted in their national/unit colours could work really well. So what that means is I plan to paint the Core (apart from Reavers and any Seaguard) and WLs in Chrace colours, and then each other unit according to their place of origin.

I've got my work cut out for me because Hobby Fiend Greg Johnson of Hoodling's Hole fame (http://hoodlinghole.blogspot.com.au/) is painting up the Dark Elf force which is going to be opposed to mine. I've always been astounded by both the volume of minis that he gets painted and also the quality that he produces so quickly. I guess part of my motivation for signing up for DP is that I can set some really good habits to get painting to both be more consistent and also better overall.

So my plan for the month of October goes a little something like this;
Due to my work schedule I'm able to start painting at 6am Mondays and Wednesdays and can essentially paint undisturbed until 9:30ish. This gives me 7 hours in addition to weekends to get some work done. I also have rather long lunch breaks on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so at a pinch I may be able to get another couple of hours in there, although I don't know how practical it is.

I'm going to start with the core and the Prince and BSB, as I already have (not painted by me) Bolt Throwers, WLs and a Mage in Chrace colours. So any of these that I can get done are a bonus. I would of course post the list for you, but that will have to wait until the new Dark Elf book comes out, because of the nature of Warhammer World Series, we need to ensure the lists balance out.

At this stage I've been assembling whatever I have on hand for the force, which at this stage is my Chrace Cav Prince and some Silver Helms, which I'm using WL heads for. I've been really happy with how they're turned out so far. Hopefully once I work out how to upload photos I can put some up for your perusal. Feedback is always welcome.