The Archon's Challenge - a painting contest

Howdy my fellow archons

Today I begin the Archon's Challenge.

Here are the basic details of the challenge.

The challenge will last approximately one year.

The challenge consists of multiple stages. You are not required to enter all of them but you must enter at least 4.

I will be providing prizes for each stage, something small but useful such as a set of pain  tokens or destroyed vehicle templates or whatever I find interesting at the time. Since I am making these my self, I will reserve the right to adjust or alter based on time and finances available to me at the time.

The goal. The goal is to have a fully painted army at the end of the challenge. Each stage or phase is adding an additional unit to the army so there will be a fair amount of leeway in terms of what you can and can't do.

For example, when we do a troops sections, you will be free to chose warriors or wyches. Additionally, if your HQ is one who opens other options such as wracks or hellions, then those become an option as well.

I will review and critique each entry, as well as select the top entry for each stage. Once the top entry is determined, I will ask what type of prize you would like from a list of options, gather your local address info and get your entry in the mail to you.

Rule 1:  All work must be your own. We are here to show our stuff and be proud of it. I am going on the honor system here.

Rule 2: I will open a thread for every entrant to post their work. All you will have to do is post in the challenge thread to reserve your spot.

In the post please post your User ID and your entry name or title.
As soon as is possible, post 1 to 2 Work in Progress images.

Rule 3: When your entry is complete, post no more than 3 pictures in the same initial post you did your WIPs.

Rule 4: Do not comment on anyone else's entry in the Challenge forum. We can open another thread for comments where the sky is the limit ( within normal forum rules of course.   ) If a comment is posted I will remove it.

Rule 5: Each stage will last approximately  6 weeks.

I hope to have a fun and challenging competition.

The start date for the contest begins in one week Dec 10 2011 for stage 1.

FAQs
Are conversions allowed?
Yes.

Are none GW models allowed?
To keep some level of parity in the models, non GW parts maybe used in the conversions, but models must be GW to begin with. Alternatively, a completely scratch built ( Green stuff or other modeling putty) model is acceptable as well.

What happens if I enter but don't finish in time?
Aside from the sneers of derision from your fellow archons and the stigma of shame of being an utter failure, nothing. But you should check your doors and windows at night   just in case...

What if I already have a fully painted entry?
Fully painted entries are acceptable so long as you have a WIPS to go along with it.

Do I have enter every stage?
No.

Why are all the stages important?
For one, painting an entire army is a challenge, so doing it in parts makes it manageable.
Also, I am hopeful to collect some donations to the Archon's Challenge to get a real prize for the final overall winner in the contest. What that is I have not determined yet, but will be based on availability and finances. More on that later.

Sounds intriguing, not sure if I'll be able to take part in the contest due to some serious time issues atm, but if the opportunity arises I'm always interested in some kind of painting competition. And if it's one to bring progress to my DE force that's even better.

Very nice idea, GAR.

Cheers.

AWESOME idea. I have a couple of questions:
-Do you have a proposed order of challenges?
-Where in the webway are you hiding free time to make awesome prizes?
-How did you come up with such a cool idea?

I have a friend that is joining the site soon with a new army that will be all over this.

Evil Space Elves wrote:

AWESOME idea. I have a couple of questions:
-Do you have a proposed order of challenges?
-Where in the webway are you hiding free time to make awesome prizes?
-How did you come up with such a cool idea?

I have a friend that is joining the site soon with a new army that will be all over this.

Currently I am thinking of beginning with an HQ. That will ore or less set the tone for the next few entries.

The prizes will be small, but useful. A set of pain tokens is not so much and a destroyed vehicle template is relatively flat. Since it is out of my own budget, I can't really go out and buy battle forces and then mail them all over the world without some serious monetary investment. So we keep it simple.

The prizes are appropriate to the size, so hopefully they won't day weeks and weeks to get done.

I have to give credit, this was not my idea, it was Sky Serpent, but I was more than happy to run with it. I do believe in giving credit where credit is due, so hats and helmets off to the fearless leader of this fine establishment.

I'm ready to be sneered at, I'm in.

Great idea, and thanks for doing it GAR.

This competition sounds like fun. I am doubtful I'll be able to participate in all stages of it, but it'll give me a nice pointer for what to paint first, as well as a good motivation to finish painting my army as a whole.

This sounds like fun.

I've got to finish my last 10 termagants for my Tyranids before I can join in. Then, I've got the dark eldar megaforce box to start in on, which should have something for each category.

Ii've been wondering how I was going to finish painting all of this. I'm in.

I'm thrilled to see so much interest.

I look at this as a personal challenge to not only do the best you can, but to keep motivated to finish your army and show it off to others!

Props to you GAR for doing some prizes for each stage.

I think I'll be joining in - my army has sat at 3 colours for a while, probably why I'm too ashamed to put pictures up yet.

My question is does everything have to painted a new. Ie can Denizen4 go hey look at my really well painted warrior squad which unbeknownst to the rest of us, he painted December 2010 or Denizen7 has a fully painted army, again unseen, that he drops in to each category of the competition.

Again, well done GAR, I'm looking forward to this, would you like it as a Global Announcement so that you can catch everyone?

This is gonna be interesting! So excited! Thanks man for doing this if u will!!!

Sky Serpent wrote:

Props to you GAR for doing some prizes for each stage.

I think I'll be joining in - my army has sat at 3 colours for a while, probably why I'm too ashamed to put pictures up yet.

My question is does everything have to painted a new. Ie can Denizen4 go hey look at my really well painted warrior squad which unbeknownst to the rest of us, he painted December 2010 or Denizen7 has a fully painted army, again unseen, that he drops in to each category of the competition.

Again, well done GAR, I'm looking forward to this, would you like it as a Global Announcement so that you can catch everyone?

Every entry does not have to be painted brand spanking new. I am more interested in getting our members motivated to paint up and finish their armies. To further that end, if you have a entry that is already done, but you have a valid Work in Progress picture, then that is good enough for me.

The prizes are as much a motivation for me as I hope they are for our budding Archons. I'm glad to do it.

A Global Announcement would be awesome! Yes please and thanks for the new sub forum!

Very cool I think this will give me the excuse I need to finish that snazzy new 250dl box of dark eldar goodies.

I have a question - where can I find my user ID that is required in the contest registry thread?

Easiest way to find id is to hover above Your user name and read last part of url adress (I use Firefox so I have preview of linked adress in right bottom corner). Or click Your user name and read last bit from URL adress.

Marquis Vaulkhere - u670
Siticus the Ancient - u494

I guess this -1 difference is result of ban (yep, we've banned one member)

Just how WIP are we after? I may need to find a new HQ as the model I'd likr to enter really just needs basing and tidying.=\

WIP progress needs to be un-painted or barely painted. Primed or not primed is what I am looking for but I am OK allowing up to 2 colors. No shading or highlighting.

I still can't figure out what my user ID is...can someone please help me!!!! I feel like a kid drowning in a ball pit...

@GAR - alright, so let's say the model is primed right...but the base of the model is already fully painted...is that still allowed??

Gunnerboy,

your user ID is u707.

if the model is primed, that is fine.

Thank you very much GAR.

Also, one more thing, the main post where everyone commented their ID, title and the model and such...are you meant to post ur pic there? Or just an entry kind of thing?

Oh dear, it looks I need to make tutorial for that one... Hope You don't mind GAR.

that works for every browser

Spoiler:

Learned it in "the computer geek" style...

If I understand correctly this is painting contest, so if my model isn't quite ready I may post WIP when I finish building it (ie. "priming" stage)?
I will give some WIPs anyway in my LOSE(r) topic...

gunnerboy1607 wrote:

Thank you very much GAR.

Also, one more thing, the main post where everyone commented their ID, title and the model and such...are you meant to post ur pic there? Or just an entry kind of thing?

Yes, this thread is for asking questions about the challenge.

The Archons Challenge HQ edition is where you make your posts and pictures.

Local_Ork wrote:

If I understand correctly this is painting contest, so if my model isn't quite ready I may post WIP when I finish building it (ie. "priming" stage)?
I will give some WIPs anyway in my LOSE(r) topic...

Thanks for the tutorial L_O!

Yes, the priming stage is what I am looking for in the WIP. A layer or two of paint is not going to ruin anything.

I basically want to ensure that your model is your own work.