Join Anne’s 2026 Miniature Assembly Challenge

So now that I’m back in the miniature universe, after taking a very long break, I thought it might be good to kick things off with an assembly challenge to start off the New Year.

If you’d like to join me, the rules are pretty simple. Leave a comment detailing what you want to assemble or just that you’d like to participate before the challenge ends on January 31st. Then send one or two pictures to annesimmaterium@gmail.com when you are done, by February 6, 2026.

Any model counts. It doesn’t have to be for a specific game or for a game at all. The challenge begins as soon as you read this. 🙂

Note that models you need to leave in sections to be painted and primed are acceptable and count as ‘assembled.’ I might be doing this with my Lord of Poxes.

You can join the challenge at any time before January 31st and commit to assembling one model or as many as you think that you can pull off.

My grognards, who survived the Great Purge of 2020, highly approve.

Metal models that only require minimum assembly are fine. Just make sure they are full prepped for priming by removing the flash, etc. That counts too.

You can include models you assembled in January that you didn’t list in the challenge as Stretch Goals-Bonus Content if you wish.

This is what I’m going to commit to assembling for the challenge:

  • Lord of Poxes
  • One box of Plague Marines
  • One Chaos Rhino
  • Everything in the DG “Lord of Maggots” box. That includes a Lord of Virulence, 7 plague marines, 3 terminators, a rhino, and the Tallyman.)

I hope everyone reading this has a good holiday season and is able to get in some fun hobby time.

Edit: Dave Stone is doing his Paint What You Got challenge, which runs from Dec 26th through Feb 28th. My plan is to assemble a bunch of stuff for my challenge and then paint it for his challenge!

— Anne

p.s. I was going to call it “Anne’s Assembly Appeal” because I like alliteration, but I thought that if I didn’t call it a “Challenge” people might not know what the heck I’m talking about and think that I’m trying to get someone to put my figures together for me!

p.p.s. Yes, I’m going to be putting together two rhinos. I particularly like mechanized infantry, and I think this is particularly apt for Mortarion’s 2nd Company, who really seem to like their crappy, rust bucket vehicles.

19 comments

  1. Welcome Back, Anne! – and Merry Christmas to you as well!

    I’ll start with 4 squads of ..erm, “troopers” and two commanders. We’ll see how I go after that but I’m sure I’ll have a bunch more stuff to assemble.

    I’ve also got a ton more single-piece cast PVC zombies that need serious mould-line cleanup that I need to do and have absolutely no motivation to work on. So if they count, I’ll add those in as well. 😉

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    1. Thank you, Azazel, it is good to be back. People like you have helped coax me back into the hobby because over the years I kept seeing your posts in my Inbox and would check in and see what you were up to, so miniatures were never completely out of my mind. I missed having an artistic outlet.

      For the challenge every model counts. If it is a miniature that requires assembly and/or prep work then it is fair game.

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  3. Now if I was really planning properly I could assemble stuff for your challenge in January and then paint it for Dave Stone’s Paint What You Got challenge in February!

    Unfortunately I’m not planning properly! At the moment, somewhat surprisingly, I don’t think I’ve got stuff to assemble but if that changes I’ll let you know! Good luck with the challenge for your own stuff!

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    1. Well, John, you could always scratch built something or root around in someone’s bits box and find an old flying ship, French artillery piece or something? 🙂 🙂

      That would be keen, wouldn’t it? I definitely think I’m going to hop onto Dave’s February challenge with some of the stuff I’m assembling.

      Thank you. I have high hopes that I’ll be able to get some stuff onto the paint table soon.

      Hope you are having a good holiday season so far.

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    2. Thank you, John, for reminding me about Dave’s painting challenge. I put a link to it in my post and plan on painting some stuff for it that I put together in January.

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  4. Hmmm…. I miss these little “Challenges”, welcome back. Seems as I’ve not played a game in months and having just finished assembling both the Bretonnians and Tome Kings from the new Blood Bowl box set, I would love to say a third or fourth team, but I don’t know if I’ll go much further with the game in the first quarter of 2026.
    Let’s see what January brings in terms of miniatures. Maybe a box of scale figures to flesh out a military diorama. Time will tell.

    Again, welcome back Anne!

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      1. So my plan is to build Star Wars Legion, Rebel starter set, and Imperial starter set, and get a Space Marine Mk IV tech marine, Librarian, and Saurus Astrolith Bearer put together.

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  7. Sign me up for this Anne! As it happens having cleared out my backlog of unassembled miniatures last year I retrieved a load of stuff from storage and discovered (you guessed it!) even more unassembled miniatures. I’ve set myself the goal of building six kits in January to help shift the backlog – haven’t quite decided which ones they’re going to be yet but once I do I’ll update you and you can keep me honest. Of course I also need to put the pedal to the metal on my Imperial Guard army painting challenge but sleep is for wimps and all that!

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    1. Awesome! I’m looking forward to seeing what you put together. Six kits sounds pretty ambitious. Good luck with adding to your IG forces. I’m sure they would approve of your dedication to the Cause.

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