Naia's 100 Miniatures Challenge Sparks Surge in Painter Participation

Hobbyist blogger Naia published a community-oriented challenge titled "100 Miniatures in a Year" on 17 February 2026, inviting painters to commit to a sustained painting cadence across 2026; an aggregator notes the post lays out the challenge rules, motivational structure, and suggested pacing and associates the content with the Community Miniatures Project by Bad Squiddo Games and YOU.

The Community Miniatures Project site, which brands itself as "A project by Bad Squiddo Games and YOU" and links to a Facebook Page, Baggy’s Cave, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Ko‑Fi, posted a feedback update authored by the handle badsquiddogames titled "Feedback Questionnaire Results" that lays out recent operational hurdles and product decisions. The post begins, "Hey all! Just as we were getting some steam with the project, the council evicted us and nearly 100 other businesses from our offices. With a month’s notice."

That eviction, the author says, created a ripple through the project schedule and production. "It totally had a domino effect on the rest of the year, and I was absolutely desperate to get a WW2 project out, which I did, and it was wicked," the post reads, using the WW2 release as an example of work completed despite disruption.

The Community Miniatures Project author also explains how the project's voting and funding mechanics contributed to a backlog. "It was always supposed to be that money happened AFTER the mini was voted for, but you were so excited we unlocked so many and voted afterwards – which, again, is still amazing and appreciated! it meant there was a lot to do and people waiting, so this new method is hopefully to be able to manage it better and hopefully have something like a mini a month, though it could be more or less depending on popularity," the post states, outlining both the cause of delays and the new target cadence.

Creative spinoffs continued during the pause, and the site documents a development on a historical piece: "Well I got so into researching Jeanne d’Arc ,that when it came to designing her pennon, I decided to commit to making a battle standard for horseback version as well and then – time to make the mini! [...]" The author frames that work as part of the project's first spinoff, writing, "This has far been forgotten, I just have only so much human bandwidth, so I had to focus on some other things for a bit. I’m happy to get her going again. [...] Our first Community Miniatures Project spinoff!"

Looking ahead, badsquiddogames signals a relaunch and outreach plan tied to the project's community role. "Because I wanted to catch up with the figures before I got more money thrown at me (woe is me), I’ve kept the project a bit on the 'down low' but once we’ve relaunched I can do a bit of a podcast tour and promote it much more widely, which will be amazing for it. You have been the beta testers, thank you! We’ve made something incredible," the post concludes, tying community nominations and votes to product discovery and future releases.

Naia's 100 Miniatures challenge plus the Community Miniatures Project's updated cadence and social channels together give painters two concrete rhythms to follow in 2026: a 100-piece yearly target published on 17 February 2026, and a publisher-led aim of "something like a mini a month" as production and promotion resume.