April Goal: 1250pts of Crimson Fists

I know I said in a previous post I was going back to Deathwing, but I took out some DW termies over the weekend and wasn't feeling it. Instead, I felt inspired to work on my CF LRC and plan out a command squad. So, for the month of April, I've set a challenge to myself to paint 1250 points of Crimson Fist Marines in the 30 days of April (in the parlance of the 40k blogs, I think that's 57 points by Lone Pilgrim's method). It's ambitious considering how slow I normally paint (it took me 5 months to get my Crimson Fists to 1750!), but I think if I set the goal it'll at least encourage me to get it done! At the very least, at the end of the month, I can claim this was an elaborate April Fool's Joke on myself. Getting 1250 points done in 4 weeks! Haha!

Here's the planned list to add to my completed 1750 points list (seen here in a prior BR). I've started a few of the models already, so I've got a bit of a headstart going into April (+1 for Cheating!):

HQ- (420 points, 6 painting points)
Pedro Kantor
Command Squad:
-Veteran w/ Company Banner
-Apothecary
-Veteran w/ Storm Shield, Combi-Flamer
-Veteran w/ Powerfist
-Company Champion w/ Combat Shield, Power Weapon
Razorback w/ Hvy Bolter

Elites (220 points, 26 painting points)
6 Sternguard
Drop Pod
Drop Pod*
(*extra drop pod is to have a transport option in future games for dreads)

Fast Attack (250 points, 5 painting points)
5 Vanguard w/ Jump Packs
-Relic Blade
-Power Weapon w/ Plasma Pistol
-Power Weapon
-Plasma Pistol
-Normal

Heavy Support (360 points, 20 painting points)
Land Raider Crusader
Vindicator

It's a small list of only 17 minis and 4 vehicles (a testament to how much Space Marines elites can rack up the points!) which I know doesn't seem so ambitious, but I have multiple conversions planned for both the Command squad and the Sternguard. I want members of the Command Squad to also be able to function as Honor Guard or Vanguard squad members, so it's going to take some careful planning to make this work (and maybe magnets!). Also two of the Sternguard are going to converted from plastic marines and I've got very elaborate armor plan for the two of them. Alongside this, I want to get those objectives done by May as well. So there's a lot of work being put On The Bench!

I'm excited for this challenge as it'll get my Fists up to 3000 points (though I have 4 elites, so I'll need to figure out a new unit to squeeze into that 105 points remaining…I'm considering filling out the normal 5 man Assault Squad) and this second stage of the list will really test my skills in assembling, converting and painting in a rapid fashion!

Do you set painting goals similar to this? How do you plan your painting goals? What are your plans for painting before the Imperial Guard are released?