I had the privilege of being asked to join the team at the ICs forums in 2014 and with that honor came the responsibility of much of the work involving the Hobby Progress Challenge. I feel that the HPC has become a valuable tool for hobbyists to find the inspiration and encouragement to put painted models on the table. This is not only a boon for the individuals who are getting their models painted, but also for the community as a whole.
When one of us can shoulder up to a table at our local store, or in our garage, or at a tournament and proudly chat with their opponent about the army we painted, that's just a great feeling. Because of the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge in 2014, dozens of hobbyists will be able to feel that pride.
First, I'd like to go into a few numbers. I know many of you have already heard these on the Podcast, but here they are, in writing, for posterity.
Please note that there is a margin of error involved here as I am not perfect and could have counted wrong here and there.
First, we have army completion stats. Some armies performed better than others and it seems people really like finishing armies that are easy to paint! Go figure. The wrench in the works, of course, are the Adepta Sororitas numbers which are largely due to the low participation. Also, Orks really aren't easy to paint, but the fun quotient is an x factor. We can also surmise by these numbers that Eldar players have no problem playing with gray plastic. Paint me surprised!
| Army | Finished with all Commitments On Time | Started | Ratio | Percent |
| Necrons | 3 | 15 | 0.2 | 20 |
| Sisters of Battle | 1 | 5 | 0.2 | 20 |
| Space Marines | 23 | 200 | 0.115 | 11 |
| Orks | 3 | 28 | 0.1071428571 | 10 |
| Tyranids | 4 | 42 | 0.09523809524 | 10 |
| Dark Eldar | 1 | 13 | 0.07692307692 | 8 |
| Tau | 2 | 26 | 0.07692307692 | 8 |
| CSM | 5 | 72 | 0.06944444444 | 7 |
| Daemons | 1 | 18 | 0.05555555556 | 6 |
| Grey Knights | 1 | 19 | 0.05263157895 | 6 |
| Imperial Guard | 1 | 26 | 0.03846153846 | 4 |
| Eldar | 1 | 36 | 0.02777777778 | 2 |
| 46 | 500 | 0.092 | 9 |
Next, we've got the stats for entries, or units painted:
| Players who posted at least one commitment | 500 |
| Players who finished a unit. | 321 |
| Finished part 1 | 98 |
| Finished both parts | 46 |
| Painted units | 1352 |
| Average retail painted | $58,136.00 |
At 1352 painted units, if you made them all into a single unit and stretched it in unit coherency, the conga line would be over half a mile long. The fact that so many people actively participated is great even if everyone didn't complete the challenge.
The Average Retail Painted assumes an average cost of about $43 per unit which seems reasonable. 60 grand may be a drop in the bucket for Games Workshop, but every little bit helps and these painted units certainly free up some room for more gray plastic/resin in peoples' workbenches.
What's more important is that I want to thank the folks who really gave it their all in lending the participants their encouragement and critical appraisal. I know there were a lot of folks posting and the entire community deserves a pat on the back for being so awesome, but the following folks truly deserve a huge pat on the back for their participation: cicero, student teacher, malahat mike, gigantor, srm, cavalier_ava, chef wulfen, bowlzee, tuatara, whitestagg, and evil space elves. We were happy to be able to send two of these community members prizes for their awesome participation.
Of course, a big thanks go out to Carl and the ICs for putting it on again and also the always-groovy KR Multicase for supplying the prize support. Congrats to Cornu Mortem and Student Teacher for both winning bags. Well-deserved, gentlemen!
So...
It has taken me far too long to get to this article and for that I apologize. Tomorrow, you may look forward to the second installment when we take a look at the first half of the Armies on Parade.
Comments
Post a Comment