The Countdown Begins!

Okay folks! We're now less than 12 hours away from the start of the Painting Challenge. 

I have several bags of espresso in reserve along with a shed-load of primed models ready to go under the brush. So I suggest you sort-out your paints, brushes and figures, and get ready to enjoy the next three months of hobby madness. 

See you at the startline!

Curt

Painting Challenge Q & A

I've had a few questions regarding several aspects of the Challenge, so I thought it may be helpful if I did a little Q&A for the benefit of all the participants. If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to comment or send me an email.


Q: 'How do I submit my entries? Or, Gee whiz Curt, I liked it better when I could just email them to you to take care of.'

A: Back in the early years of the Challenge (I make it sound like the Tour de France or something) the lower number of participants allowed me the time to receive each entry and post them, one-by-one, to the blog. Now, with more people participating (which I'm always delighted to see), I found it necessary to streamline the process, and have the participants submit their own entries to the blog in draft form. This makes the Challenge much easier to administrate, thereby allowing more people to participate and a bit less midnight oil being burned in my household. :)

With this process, each participant will be provided 'author' access to the Challenge Blog. (In fact those who participated last year will find that they still have access to the blog and so will not require a 'new' invitation from me.) During the next three months, once you have finished an entry and photographed it, you can log into the blog, write-up your description, upload your (resized) photos and send a notification to your Adjudicator that your draft is ready to reviewed, scored and officially published to the blog. Again, I remind all participants, please do not click the 'Publish' button and post your entries live to the blog. Let the Adjudicators take care of that for you.

I will be sending out the invitations for 'author' access within the next day or so. 

Q: 'How literal are you regarding the Theme Bonus rounds?'

A: I want the theme rounds to be as fun as possible, so I've always allowed participants to exercise a great degree of imagination in how they interpret them (A certain Blue Spider from a previous year comes to mind, ahem.). For example, this year we have a theme 'Defensive Terrain' for which I've received a lot of inquiries. Well, this theme originated from a perennial request to allow terrain entries in the main Challenge. While I would love to accommodate this, I've always been reticent as I know terrain entries would be very difficult and time-consuming to score fairly. Anyway, 'Defensive Terrain' can be any terrain feature you can dream up that is defensive in nature. For example it could be a Hittite war wagon, a humble infantryman in a foxhole or a log blockhouse from the French & Indian Wars. I leave it to your imagination.

Q: 'For the 'Nostalgia' theme it seems pretty darn subjective. Depending on the person it could really be anything.'

A: Precisely. Again, I leave it to your interpretation. I only ask that you explain why your entry makes you feel nostalgic or represents a type of nostalgia. 

Q: For the 'Nautical' theme, can I use models that are smaller than the usual 15mm limitation?

A: Yes, but if you want to submit something smaller than 1/600 it will need to be more than one model (i.e. two 1/1200 scale Napoleonic ships, three 1/2400 Dreadnaughts, something like that.)

  

Q: 'I know we each have a specific day assigned for our submissions, but I wonder if we will have like other years, where the first two weeks and the last week of the Challenge be wide open for anyone to submit on any day? 

A: Yes! Sorry, I forgot to put that in the participant package. Starting on the 20th of December and running to the 3rd of January everyone can make submissions on any day of the week. Also, running in to the close of the Challenge, from the 13th of March to the 20th, participants can submit to their hearts content.

Q: Why does Miles insist on trying to submit 'wargaming furniture'? Why does Tamsin feel the need to complete entire space fleets/armies/etc.? How many freakin' Nine Years War units can Ray possibly collect? Why do people insist on giving Curt Bob Dylan figures?

A: Lord only knows, Virginia.  I suggest you do as I do, nod, smile indulgently and don't make any quick movements...

A Toast to the Prize Sponsors of the Sixth Painting Challenge

I'm happy to announce that we have a spectacular lineup of sponsors who've generously put forward prizes for the Painting Challenge. I know I've said this many times before, prizes aren't necessary, but we all have to admit that they do add a certain sparkle to an occasion.

At the end of the Challenge we will be holding prize draws for those who've attained specific points thresholds.  There will be six thresholds, starting from 500 points and going up to 2500.

Threshold I = 500 points

Threshold II = 750 points

Threshold III = 1000 points

Threshold IV = 1500 points

Threshold V = 2000 points

Threshold VI = 2500 points

With this system we can provide a bit more fun than simply giving out prizes to the top-scoring painters, as we recognize that  not everyone has the time, speed or stamina to churn out figures at the pace of those maniacal brush jockeys who seemingly never eat nor sleep.

So, without further ado, in alphabetical order, this year's Challenge sponsors are:

Barrage Miniatures

Barrage Miniatures specializes in very high quality, exquisitely detailed vehicles, buildings and warmats. I had the pleasure to visit Alf's workshop in Madrid last year and can attest to his near maniacal attention to detail and customer service. In addition to his generous prize offerings Alf is also giving a 10% discount to all Challengers who order from his store during the event (please contact me to get the discount code). Thank you very much Alf!


Comic Readers

Comic Readers is our local game store here in Regina. Dana and Chad are wonderful pair of guys who do a great job supporting the local gaming community.

Deep-Cut Studios

Deep-Cut Studio is an artisan studio specializing in manufacturing miniature and RPG games accessories. They mainly focus on miniature games mats for various wargames. Deep-Cut collaborates with companies looking to outsource their manufacturing and/or handling the distribution of their products. They provide a wide array of services: graphic design, drawings, manufacturing, packaging and shipping the goods to the customer's doorstep. I have several of their mats and can attest to their quality and excellent customer service.

Diplomatist Books

The stock at Edwin King's wonderful online bookshop Diplomatist Books is always worth a thoughtful perusal. You'll find titles on Military & Naval History, Archaeology, Early History and Exploration. Check out Edwin's Facebook page to keep up with his goings on.

Dragon's Den Games

Just 250km up the road from Regina is Saskatoon's Dragon's Den Games (it seems nuts but this is a relatively short distance in the Canadian prairies). Darren has been a long-time supporter of the Challenge and I'm delighted that he has once again offered to provide some lucky Challenger a gift certificate. Cheers Darren!

Fife & Drum / Minden Miniatures

Jim Purky's Fife & Drum Miniatures, whose wonderful 30mm figures focus on the American War of Independence, was awarded 'Best Historical Miniatures Range of 2011' by the Miniatures Page. Jim also has the excellent Minden Miniatures range, which focuses on the armies of the Seven Years War. Both ranges are sculpted by the very talented Richard Ansell.

Murawski Miniatures

Murawski Miniatures was created to fill a niche for Napoleonic figure collectors who wanted a comprehensive range that depicted troops from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw as they were dressed and equipped in the 1812-1814 period. The “look” of the figures is very much that of “in the field” rather than parade ground (ideal for the Peninsular, 1813 campaigns etc) . Their figures have been designed with Czapska chords, plumes etc.

Orinoco Miniatures

A labour of love from fellow Challenger Mark Griffin, Orinoco Miniatures features a wonderful range of 28mm castings depicting the South American Wars of Independence (1810-1830) and the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay (1932-1935).

 

SG2 Creations

Byron's SG2 Creations is a Canadian-based studio specializing in MDF terrain, figure storage and acrylic game markers. He continues to develop ranges of buildings for 28mm Sci-Fi, 15mm Stalingrad  and another in 20mm for the WWII campaigns in Italy.


Warbases 

Martin and Diane Murray of 'Warbases' return this year to provide a gift certificate to some lucky individual from their excellent shop. 


Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

Fellow Challenger Guy Bowers, editor of 'Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy', has kindly offered a 1 year subscription as a prize to some lucky winner. Thanks very much Guy, much appreciated!

Westfalia Miniatures

Kawe's Westfalia Miniatures combines the talents of Niels Rullkoetter, Paul Hicks, Ebob, Frank Germershaus and Bill Thornhill to build 28mm miniatures and 1/56 equipment that they always wanted for their own collections. Their research comes from Michael Bartling and many others.


Westwind Productions

The good folks over at Westwind Productions contacted me about being a prize sponsor after our own Challenger JonathanO gave us a shout-out. Thanks very much to both Westwind and Jonathan!

Again, a HUGE thank you to all our prize sponsors for  their very generous support of the Painting Challenge. 

Administrative Note: I sent out the Painting Challenge packages to everyone a few days ago, BUT if I inadvertently missed someone in amongst the flap and flurry please drop me a note and I'll get it sorted.

Next up: A short Q&A regarding this year's Painting Challenge.