Wargames Illustrated presents The HISTORICON Painting Competition - Year Two

Here's the Public Service Announcement to let you all know that although I'm no longer working full time for Wargames Illustrated, I will be running the Painting Competition at HISTORICON 2014.

Last year was the first year that WI had been involved in the running of the event, and with the promotional and logistical support of the HMGS crew (particularly Heather Blush and the Hobby University team) we had a very successful showing, around 130 entries. For coverage of the 2013 event, check out this link here.

This year will be more of the same (or hopefully more AND MORE), with the categories remaining the same and the medals ready to be draped around the winners necks. The competition will be run on Saturday July 19, between the hours of 9am and 6pm. At the moment it is unsure whether we'll be at the Flames Of War booth in the Vendor Hall, or in the hallway near the event registration.

Entries will be accepted from 9am until 12 noon. Judging will be complete by 4pm and entries can be collected (along with any awards) from 4pm until 6pm. Please note: entries will NOT be accepted earlier than 9am on the Saturday as we have no control over the security of the cases and will not accept liability.

For a rundown on the categories (and other rules) you can check out the Wargames Illustrated website here.

In addition to the custom medals for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in each of the ten categories, we have three additional prizes:

• Best of Show - the best painted entry into the competition will win this prize.

• Best of Theme - the best painted entry that fits with the theme of the convention (2014 is Big Wars, Little Soldiers - World Wars throughout time) will be judged by the HISTORICON convention director.

• The Iron Cross - sponsored by Battlefront, this will go to the best painted Flames Of War entry, and will be judged by the Battlefront representatives at the show.

I hope to see you in Fredericksburg in a few weeks from now!

Cheers

Dave

Michael Jaques - Chasseur au Cheval

Painting Competitions... Oh My Goodness!

Ten days ago, in my capacity as US Editor of Wargames Illustrated magazine, I ran the "Wargames Illustrated Presents The Historicon Painting Competition". Thanks to all the wonderful promotion work done by many folks before the event, we had 130 entries! That's more than the Crystal Brush had in 2012 (and they were offering $13,000 in prizes). While certainly not all our entries were the same quality as the CB comp, we had plenty of lovingly crafted miniatures in our cases. So many we had to build our back-up case just 15 minutes after entries opened. It can only grow from here : )

Anyway, to take a look at the winning entries, just click HERE.

Then, last Friday, I went on down to Memphis for the North American Games Day for 2013. After some calculations and reminiscing, I worked out I've attended 39 Games Days in my 40 short years (5 in Australia, 2 in Canada, 3 in England, and 29 in the US). I've only missed to of these cool events since I've been in America (both in 2005).

This year the event promised to be a wonderful reinvention of Games Day, a re-imagining if you will.

It was much like the other 38 Games Days I've attended. Was I disappointed by that? No. In my humble opinion, if you're promoting all the various aspects of "GW Hobby" at a GW Games Day, then you're probably doing it right. Cycle out some of your older events, introduce some new ones, bring back the old ones in a few years, once they have a champion to make them fresh again. Ebb and flow, that kind of thing.

Amusingly enough, I had half a dozen GW staffers ask me what I thought of the new Games Day. I don't think they were too surprised when I expressed the opinion above.

But you all know I go to GD primarily to catch up with old friends, meet new friends, and talk all day about cool toy soldiers. That was all achieved this year, so a win in my book : )

Additionally I was lucky enough to pick up a Silver Demon for my Lamenters Contemptor Dreadnought. It was nice to get another Demon. After my drought the last few years I was starting to think I was "over the hill". 

UPDATE: HERE's a link to the photobucket of my friend Brice, who captured many of the entries on camera. 

And now, it's back to the grind ; )

Cheers
Dave

Wargames Illustrated presents the HISTORICON Painting Competition!

This is to tell/remind/point out to you that Wargames Illustrated (the wonderful magazine I work for) will be running the Painting Competition at HISTORICON 2013 (and into the future, should things go well).

That's right, Heather Blush and the wonderful team of the HMGS Hobby University have welcomed us on board to put some extra weight behind this potentially great event. We'll be taking entries at the Battlefront/Flames Of War booth in the dealer hall on the Saturday of the show (July 20), judging, awards, and collection of models will all be done on the same day.

There are quite a few formats for painting competitions out there, but we decided to stick with the simple "podium" format (three prizes per category - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd). Categories have been worked out with the help of the HMGS (Historical Miniatures Gaming Society) board to cover as many aspects of wargaming as we can (with an obviously historical bias).

Details for everything can be found HERE on our Wargames Illustrated site.

For prizes we'll be handing our custom-created medals we've had specially made for the event. As soon as I have one of the medals in my hand I'll make sure I post it for all to see.

In addition to these custom medals, we'll also be providing custom plaques for three additional prizes:

• Best of Show - the best painted entry into the competition will win this prize.
• Best of Theme - Each year Historicon has a particular theme (this year it's The American Civil War - 1863: The Year of Decision), and this prize will go to the entry that best exemplifies the theme.
• The Iron Cross - sponsored by Battlefront, this will go to the best Flames Of War entry at the competition.

I know many of you aren't likely to be at the show, but those of you who are I strongly urge you to bring along your best minis to put on display.

My goal for this first year is to get 120 entries over the 10 categories. Obviously this can only happen with your help : )

Cheers
Dave