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Hi guys... back!

Ork Big Mek Buzzgob and his grot henchmen examine a recently captured imperial refinery transfer point.
"Weez gunna tap inta dem pipes 'n draw off some a da juces fer da boyz. If'n we duz it right da humies won't know wez doin' it. Hah!"

Gorgeous Gits! You say you have the high-level ones too?

Good looking set up Gits. The pipes look amazing, as does Buzzgob and his grots.

Loving the scene Git, Kudos!

That really does look stunning GIts, a first class job on that! You may have convinced me to make an armorcast purchase, it really is lovely stuff.

@dstein: Some, I've got the gizmos that shift from the low pipes to the high ones, and about 5 of the long (high) pipe sections but no extra high supports. That'll have to be a later purchase. I do have some of the low (wall) pipe sections. Ordered some new pieces for that but they haven't shown up yet. Been a while, perhaps I should contact Armorcast.

@Snrub: Thanks mate. Can't take credit for Buzzgob or most of the grots... had Iffy do them for me. She does great work.

@Selv: Thanks, though it would be a bit nicer that just the standard light box pic.

@J-paint: I couldn't agree more. It's too bad some of the pieces appear to be discontinued... but, I think you can still get most of it.

I agree, you've done a really nice job on that. It looks great!

Next up... graven's long awaited GMS trade! (finally... sorry mate)

Huzzah! Thought I was going to have to blacklist you there mate.

Nicely done.. you have a lot of good pieces of terrain now!

Announcing the First (annual?) Mantis Maker Challenge!

That's right. I've decided to sponsor an actual P&M competition. The subject? (of course) The Mantis Warriors!


The rules...

1. Entries must NOT be started before the issuance of this challenge (May, 14th). Build progress must be shown on either this blog or your own (with a message and link left on this blog so people can follow along, cheer you on, spy on you, etc.). Take a picture of your disassociated bits before assembly if you can. You don't need to post every step here... just pre-build, build and final paint. Of course if you want to add the intermediate steps, that's fine.
2. Final photos must be submitted to me (on this blog) by no later than Midnight PST June 15th.
3. All work should be done by the entrant alone.
4. The subject of the piece MUST be the Mantis Warrior chapter, however the form of the piece is entirely up to each entrant.
5. Full judging criteria are published below, in general however... pieces will be judged on build quality and creativity, painting technique and impact, basing and adherence to theme. There will also be a decent pile of points sent aside for things like humor, Wow factor, thinking outside the box, etc. Stretch your legs a bit people... time to add to your P&M toolkit!
6. Your "vision" of the Mantis Warriors and mine DO NOT have to coincide. Do whatever moves you.
7. You may submit a short paragraph explaining your work, but it is only to provide context, the back-story or to point out new techniques you've tried. You won't be judged on the quality of the narrative. However you may gain points in other categories because of it!


The prize...
As I'm not exactly flush at the moment, I'm afraid big value prizes are not possible. BUT... I'll be making 3 trophies to send to the top three finishers. My idea is to make each one based on something iconic for the Mantis Warriors. They'll be little things based on models that I'll construct myself... but their size will not diminish the quality of effort that the winners would have put forth! That... and I'll do my best to direct lots of traffic to your blog. One of the few advantages a behemoth like this has is a lot of eyeballs... I'd be delighted to point them in the direction of the contest winners.


Judges
Small panel. Here are the judging criteria. Might change slightly but here's how I see it. Judges will be given leeway to express themselves however, this is only a guide... but it does detail what I look for in a piece.

Build (100 pts)
- quality of build (i.e. neatness) (20 pts)
- adherence to theme (20 pts)
- conversions/kitbashing (30 pts)
- pose (30 pts)

Painting (100 pts)
- neatness (25 pts)
- use of advanced techniques (25 pts)
- overall effect (50 pts)

Basing (50 pts)
- theme/appropriateness to figure (10 pts)
- build/customization (10 pts)
- painting (10 pts)
- overall effect with figure (20 pts)

There will be 20-30 extra points for the judges to use at their discretion for "the unexpected", humor, etc., i.e. whatever floats their boat.


Best,
Gits
(oh, feel free to re-post or direct others here. The more the merrier!)



Confirmed Entrants (i.e. have submitted their pre-build pictures)
Medium of Death - pre-build, build
inmygravenimage - pre-build, build, final
Yellowbeard - pre-build, build, final
Snrub - pre-build, build, final
BLACKHAND - pre-build, build
GiraffeX - pre-build, build, final
Raatcharch - pre-build, build
Hive Fleet Lazarus - pre-build, build, final
Matt.Kingsley - pre-build, build, final
Know No Pear - pre-build, build
Theophony - pre-build, build, final entry lost in the warp! :(
SelvaggioSaky - pre-build, build, final
Ovion - pre-build, build, final
Nerdfest09 - pre-build, build, final
Solar_lion - pre-build, build, final
Ice Angel & Steve- pre-build, build, final
Commander Cain - (bitch, bitch, bitch) pre-build, build, final

Oh Gits..... You know i cant turn down a P&M competition! I'm certainly up for it!

Maybe you can make a terminator tearing the head off of one...

 whalemusic360 wrote:
Maybe you can make a terminator tearing the head off of one...

Not exactly what I had in mind... *BUT* I'd allow it, as long as the Mantis Warrior was all there (if in pieces).

Sold! Time to mantis warrior something up

Are chaotic Mantis warriors allowed?

Needs to be a Mantis Warrior... that's all. Your interpretation can vary as you like. I'll be squashing no one's creativity.

Curse you gits... I'm in. Deadline?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sorry. Shoulda read the op properly.

Sweet as Gits. I'll have to raid my brothers old collection of chaos marines and see what parts i can pilfer.

Kudos to you Gits, I might try and get in on this if I can. To show my support at least. Funny enough, I woke up today and mused over starting some kind of competition, jumped on Dakka and boom, great minds think alike they say.

Question: is Three weeks enough time, or would 4 be better?

I kind of thought 3 weeks for the comp and then a week for judging so the whole thing can wrap up in a month... but if people think that 3 weeks is a little tight, I can add a week with no problem.


Thanks to everyone who's expressing interest. When you throw something like this out there you're never quite sure how it'll be received. Hopefully, the criteria are open enough that most folks should be able to come up with something that inspires them & is fun to do (which is really the whole point).

I would say 4 seems more reasonable. But I do have an idea, and this contest'll tide me over to the next one

Count me in Gits! unless you want me to return the judging favor? either way I'm keen to be involved mate! :-)

Ordering Bitz (if needed) could easily take up to 2 weeks.
Debating if I have the bitz / minis to do this... would mean reading up on Mantis Warriors a bit more and actually thinking of something!

Just some clarifications … ( cause I hate confusion )

1. Any MW variation is acceptable. Is this limited to figures? Dreads? , Vehicle? Diorama ? full display table? Just to be clear!
2. Do we send the figure to you?

4 weeks would be better i think. That extra week gives some beathing room for those, like ovion, who might need to order supplies and what not.

OK, 4 weeks. No problem. I'll change the OP.

@Nerdy: I'd be honored if you'd compete, though you'd make a great judge.

@SL: anything goes, no you keep your work. The point of the comp is to get more Mantis Warriors out there, in the wide world. To raise Mantis Warrior awareness world-wide. I'll be contacting Bono and Bob Gheldoff to see if they want to get involved. Maybe do a concert or telethon or something.

I'm sorry, Gits, I love you, but I'm not painting my latest project in Mantis Warrior colors.

That's a great idea Git!

Don't know if I can get something done though... Let You know as soon as I can

ohgod 366pages.... xD
Bloody Hell: Anyone want to give me a crash course in Mantis Warriors?
(Have many fallen to Chaos?)