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*grin* Thanks Theo... appreciate that (in more ways than one!).


Good father's day so far... got up early, painted. Watched Godzilla movies with Thing 2. Had a yummy breakfast handed to me. Took a nap, then a shower. Off to my brother-in-law's soon to celebrate the day with my wife's dad. Then home for more painting, eating and sleeping. Sounds like a perfect day!

Aaaaand done:
The Mantis Prince Cornatus

At the height of the Badab War, Sergeant Cornatus was a Mantis Warrior with massive potential, specialising in leading boarding parties against enemy vessels.
It was during one such assault that Cornatus was lost to the warp - a hull breach venting the Mantis Warrior into space as the ship he'd been on jumped.
His entrance to the Warp did not go unnoticed, a Greater Daemon of Change reaching out to touch the Marines mind. The Daemon prevented Cornatus from sleeping, from dying, all the while whispering into the depths of his subconcious.
Lost for decades within the Warp with no respite, even the mightiest Space Marine cannot last forever and eventually, he came to believe the lies fed to his mind. That his Brothers had abandoned him, betrayed him, discarded him to the warp through jealousy at his abilities, that the Emperor had forsaken him - that no one else would ever come.
Developing such hate for his former battle brothers, that when Tzeentch itself spoke to the Mantis Warrior and offered it vengeance against those who had 'wronged' him, he embraced it with open arms.
The Lord of Change reshaped his body, moulding the warriors untapped potential into a more 'suitable' form and bestowing arcane energies upon him, bestowing knowledge to the Mantis Warrior.
And so Cornatus was finally freed from the warp - after centuries, stepping onto solid ground with four legs, he looks around through compound eyes surveyng a battlefield between imperial forces and his new allies, flexes wicked blades, then leaps, wings unfolding as he takes flight, soaring downwards to collect a hapless Space Marine from the battlefield below.
Ripping out the Marines throat, the Mantis Cornatus lets out a deafening screech that all the armour here is shades of blue - not one Mantis Warrior among them.
The Mantis Prince consoled himself that at least traitors blood will be spilt this day, as he starts on his quest to destroy those he believes wronged him.

A Mastery Level 3, Winged Daemon Prince of Tzeentch in Power Armour, with Ichor Blood, the Gift of Mutation, a Spell Familiar and holding the Scrolls of Magnus. (370pts)
It's expensive, but I wanted such an impressive model to have an equally impressive stat line.



The photos really show every little error don't they, and the wings apparently slipped a little
Oh well, not really much I can do at this point.

Nicely done Ovion. Good job. I like how you kept the shoulder pads "untouched".

Amazing work Ovion! That mantis form really turned out beautifully. Thank you for making such a cool entry into the competition!

Thats really cool Ovion, love the wings.

Great job ovion. It looks awesome.

On a sour note, my entry is still lost in the void. I have turned everything upside down twice to find it, and still no luck. I have failed and will be executed with all the mantis who failed the inquisitorial squads tests. Waitin for a big loser banner.

Love it dude, a worthy sacrifice too. The wings are extraordinary, the base bad-as, and the sheer ambition of the piece just knocks my socks off.

I'm glad people like it (especially the wings - the only thoroughly unpleasant part of the entire build).

Kinda want to track down more little buildingy bits like that and paint them up - that was just plain fun, and looks great.

Finished!

Like I suspected it was quite a race to get all done but I think the final product should be worth the wait.

Hopefully this image should be super zoomy in the gallery, so don't worry if you can't see it all too well on Git's blog!



Now, some fluff is needed methinks. Making this up as I go along minus some vague ideas I had along the way.

It is the 42nd Millennium and much has changed in a relatively short space of time. Mankind is but a shadow of its former self, split up into small scattered segments and ruled by a loose alliance of bureaucrats and warlords. Still strong however, are the Adeptus Astartes, those legions that remained loyal after the Heresy developed strong bonds and as such hold considerable power over large tracts of the galaxy to this day.

New threats still keep appearing and threaten to wipe out this resistance. When it is not new alien races seeking to expand their territory, it is Mankind's own past that rises up against them. The Iron Men of ancient Terran myth were sentient robotic beings, once programmed to fight for their masters until the eventually betrayed them. It seems that the robots had been growing in strength over many hundreds of years and they now press toward Terra once more with renewed vigour, with only several legions to oppose them such as the Mantis Warriors and Thousand Sons, who happen to be directly in the path of this new heartless enemy...

There, that should do! Now, what to do with the rest of the robots I bought, hmmm.

Brilliant work guys! Such cool entries!

Pretty Spectacular CC! That diorama shows a great narrative! (well, along with the *actual* narrative of course)

Good god Ovion that looks wicked! love the wings and the fact you left the shoulder pads! that is just a brilliant model dude! so cool....

Wow, some great entries in here...

IceAngel's Diorama really is original !!

The concept of that one (by Hive Fleet Lazarus) also appeals to me, really digs in the "shades of grey" of WH40k's grimdark universe

I also especially like the Raptor bitz used on that one, by Giraffex. They really blend in nicely with a loyalist Marine !

Congrats on all those entries !! Too bad I didn't have the time to join the fun....

Good job CC. Very nice weathering and the muzzle flash and exploding robot look good.

Yeah - good job Cain.
The picture layout' a bit... interesting, but the contents nice.

So, the challenge is now closed?
12 entries, and some fierce competition there to be sure!

Yes, though I did send out a PM to the last three contestants giving them one last opportunity to make a submission. I've only heard back from one, but don't think we'll be getting any more entries. The judges have a week, which also gives me time to make the trophies and my wife to bake the cookies.

All of the entries can be easily accessed from the links at the bottom of the contest OP, which can be easily accessed from the link in my sig. Please check them out, vote and comment.

Voted on most of them !

I've done my due diligence and have voted on all the images I can, awesome entries one and all. I hope to have my pieces for my "spirit" of the contest entry soonish.

Yarp.
I've voted on at least 1 picture for each final entry as far as I know.

Good job mates!

I sent out final instructions to the judges. I'm pretty sure none of them will speak to me again after this!

Yeah, I've voted on the 'front' image of each entry.
And yeah - it's going to be close I think!

Some really great work here. I will deffinately have to compete next time.

I shall do my part and vote

Regardless of who wins .. good Job one and all!

Honestly think I'd like tho see my scoring by your criteria... I'm ok with the judges remaining anon. It would be nice to see what they thought I did well and what I could inmprove on. Not sure I've ever got that percise detail scoring.

I agree with Solar_lion, I would like to see some precise scoring

Good luck to everyone, I'll be voting on the pics once I'm back at a computer.

Aye, same. I'd love to see what I can improve on!

And, yes, good luck everyone! May the best Mantis win!

I voted every time there was an entry, I did my duty on that
Great miniatures/diorama entered this comp and I'm very grateful I did.
It was interesting to paint something new after a lot of orkz.

Good luck everybody

P.S.: Precise scoring would be awesome if possible.

I don't know whose entry I like the most! All have something really cool about them it's just deciding which is the coolest that is the problem.

The creativity is what really gets me though. No entry is anything like another one, makes me think you should definitely do this comp again next year Gits!

Oh, I seem to be getting a few complaints about my crappy picture taking. I can take just a plain bog standard one to be judged instead if you want?

 Commander Cain wrote:
I don't know whose entry I like the most! All have something really cool about them it's just deciding which is the coolest that is the problem.

The creativity is what really gets me though. No entry is anything like another one, makes me think you should definitely do this comp again next year Gits!

Oh, I seem to be getting a few complaints about my crappy picture taking. I can take just a plain bog standard one to be judged instead if you want?

I second this...
Though I'd need to one-up the Mantis Prince...
Mantis Titan maybe?
A Chaos Warhound could be great fun to do!
Though I might need more than 4 weeks. Maybe 6.
I'll start saving up Sprue, card and millput for the next one!

Also, it's not crappy picture taking - the pictures are actually fine, it's just a wierd layout with lots of white-space is all.
Maybe with some vector-art or some sort of BG image?

And of course, I also want to know exactly what I did right and wrong for mine - anonymous or not, don't worry about offending me.

No doubt the next mantis warrior challenge will be to see who can assemble the whole mantis warrior chapter the quickest. For you see this is a very subtle plot by Gitsplitta to get every collecting his favourite chapter so that one day soon mantis warriors will rule the world. *insert evil laugh*

Hmmmm.... perhaps I didn't make myself clear.

The judges are encouraged to use my scoring rubric, but it's not mandatory, thus I can't guarantee that all of the sub-headings will be filled out for each of you. That being said, I have asked the judges to give me a score for each category (build, paint, base & bonus) which I'll total up for your final score. I've also asked them to make some specific critiques of each piece in writing. I will be sharing the numerical scores with everyone, the critiques will be sent from me via PM to each entrant, probably along with some comments of my own on your effort. So you may not get all the numbers that you want, but each of you should get something much more valuable... specific commentary on your work from each of the judges and myself. But, you'll get it in private. What you do with that information once it's in your inbox is your business.


I'll do this again next year to be sure. Well, at least if there seems to be enough interest for a second go-round. It's been delightful from my perspective. - Gits