NagoyaHammer 2013: Competition ideas

[Primarch]

The painting contest for 2012 had some very nice entries in it and I like the idea of having the event be about other parts of the hobby than just the gaming side of things. There has already been a long debate over the speed painting competition that was proposed and I think it is a great idea.

I have also been toying with a couple of other thoughts as well. First off was to make the painting contest more of a 'paint the models for the event, not you army' kind of thing. Whilst the entries this year were great, a lot of them were a part of someone's force and not a model they did for the event. Now, of course not everyone has time to paint a display piece, but with a lot of notice I don't see why it would be a problem. So, to encourage people I thought that maybe we could have a theme to the painting contest this time around, with the winner being chosen by the participants at the event as to which one best fits the theme.

Linked in with this, is an issue I have at the moment with terrain. Both myself and Badruck have boxes and boxes of terrain and it takes up a lot of space and can be difficult to get to and from the events. I was thinking to have a terrain contest at NH2013 as well. Each person who wants to enter produces a piece of terrain, whether made from household goods or a purchased and constructed kit, and brings it to the event. One table (or more???) is then filled with terrain entered by the participants. The terrain contest would have the same theme as the painting contest.

Of course, there would be prizes for the winners of both categories.

So what do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?
Do you have any suggestions for a theme? (Try to keep things fairly general)

[kojibear]

I like the ideas I wonder if in addition to those there could be a fluff writing contest in some form or other?

Have to start my imagination working on some terrain ideas

[me_in_japan]

Interesting. I havent thought through the the potential pitfalls, but my gut says its a good idea. I particularly like the idea of themed painting, and encouraging people to paint outside of their army (or even outside of their game system. Infinity and Helldorado are good examples of systems with lovely minis, but which nobody around here plays, but there's also stuff like FoW, Malifaux, Warmahordes, and so on, which some play but not all.) I reckon everybody has a mini or two that theyve seen online and thought "oooh, there's lovely, but......nah, I'd never use it in my army. I'll just leave it this time."

So, I say "aye" to the themed painty compo. We'd need to make sure that whatever theme we choose is doable with minis from any system, but I reckon it'd be doable with some thought.

As for terrain, maaaaaaaybe. Theming it would be a necessity, but yeah, could be doable.

Possible themes for single minis:

Hero!
Death from above (or possiblt below...)
Fear
D'oh!


There are also things like "last stand", or "the reckoning" but that kinda necessitates some kind of adversary, which moves the whole shebang into diorama territory, which I think could put some folks off.

alternatively, you could go with arty themes

e.g.
blue

or

use only 4 pots of paint to paint your mini

[Admiral-Badruck]

Themes are always a good idea.

Prehaps Badab war.

[me_in_japan]

@badruck - badad war would be fine if it was an all space marine contest, but I think Prim wants people to enter minis from any game system, but painted to a particular theme. Certainly, I dont think setting one particular mini type as a them would excite people. I know it wouldnt do much for me, anyway.

[Admiral-Badruck]

Fine Kastorel-Novem


Or something with space elves in it.

[me_in_japan]

Something not specific to 40k would be better. I think Prim wants people to bring a mini which is not part of their army. - one which is painted only for this painting competition.

So, it needs to be something not specific to a given game system. Something like

"the horror of war"

would be fine.

Something like

"for the Emperor!" or "The fires of Menoth" or "Soulstone mining"

would be no good, as it's specific to one system.

Basically, we need a theme where you could enter a space marine, an eldar, an empire halberdier, an orc shaman, a cryxian bonejack, a trollblood pyg burrower, a panzer tank, a regiment of Black Watch Highlanders or a Hasslefree angry street yoof.

[Admiral-Badruck]

Not to argue for the sake of it. But I really think it should be about 40k something

[Primarch]

I was thinking more along the lines of:
"Urban War"
"Jungle"
or something very open, which would inspire people.
Whilst it would be very cool if everyone brought along a marine painted in the chapter colours of a different force from the Badab War, that is just what I would consider cool. For non-marine fanboys (wierd folk that they are ), it might not be that appealing.
By having a fairly open theme then people are free to enter whatever mini they like from whichever system/maker they fancy.

There's nothing to stop you doing a Badab War marine though, so long as it fits the theme.

[me_in_japan]

Not to argue for the sake of it. But I really think it should be about 40k something

Not everyone likes 40k best. Nagoyahammer is not exclusively a 40k event, and nor should it be. I think that the more we limit what minis people can enter, the less people will be inspired to try something new. Personally (and it is purely my opinion, not saying anybody should listen to it), I would like to see minis chosen and painted because people think they look cool, with absolutely no understanding of how they play or what theyre supposed to represent, fluff-wise. In fact, I'd go so far as to stipulate that folks should enter a mini from a system they dont play, but I appreciate that might not suit some folks.

*edit* the trouble with "urban war" or "jungle" is that it puts the emphasis on what you paint, rather than how you paint it (or base it.) Jungle, for example, would be good for catachan IG, nids, or lizardmen, but would look a bit odd for Valhallans, Khador, or any kinda shiny-future setting (infinity, fr example). Sure, you could paint anything and slap it on a jungle base, but some minis would defo be favoured over others. Likewise, "urban" could cause problems for a lot of fantasy minis. Depends on what you want in the compo, of course. tis, of course, up to you