I do think the random prize might be nice.

Regarding advertising, I think the real bottleneck is the quantity of people painting 6mm, not the breadth of advertising. I don't know, though. Perhaps more could be done somehow. Could other forums be approached more formally?

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The Apocrypha of Skaros 1.1
Rogue Trader Expedition 0.4
The Horus Heresy 0.5
Night Lords 0.1
My Trade Thread

Short of asking them to sticky the announcements? It's worth asking, but those forums with banner space probably won't be interested in loaning it out. So it all comes back to "How do we advertise with no budget?"

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SG

Ghost's Paint Blog, where everything goes that isn't something else.

Get a budget?

Alternatively, find more painting forums to pester. It might force out a lot of the general hobbyist talent, though.

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The Apocrypha of Skaros 1.1
Rogue Trader Expedition 0.4
The Horus Heresy 0.5
Night Lords 0.1
My Trade Thread

I wanted to thank everyone who entered this year. Dave and I have discussed the posibility of getting the rules translated into French and German for next year, to encourage as many of the other development groups out there to come together, and I would hope that this increases numbers a little. Beyond that, we are encountering the issue of a small (and shrinking?) player base, and therefore limited set of people actually painting Epic miniatures - not helped by the patchy availabilty and prices. The only place that I think that we could additionally advertise are painting specific web sites, rather than gaming sites. Places like CoolMiniOrNot. I think that we now have the prestige of being one of the largest (?) and longest running (?) 6mm painting competitions in the world, and we could draw on that to expand a little outside of 'Epic players' only.

To address the questions...

1. While I agree that anonymous submissions is a worthy goal, we are in the position that it is impossible to enforce. And we therefore end up with a situation where some entries are anonymous, and others are not. This is less than ideal to me, and I would rather simply do away with anonymity and level the playing field by not having anonymous entries.

2. I do think that models should be limited to a single category, however I also see how this could limit the entries further. How about a rule that says that miniatures can only be entered into a single category (and only once), except for Single Miniatures and War Engines, which can also appear in one additional Battleforce entry?

3. I am generally not in favour of dropping the model limits here, however the suggestion does seem to fall inside the standard formation size and doesn't appear to reduce the impact of a large formation of 6mm models, which was the original intention, so I would be OK with this.

4. This is a difficult decision. I agree that it currently does not represent good value for the sponsors, and the idea is to highlight their contribution to the scale and the game. I do think that making a single 'outside manufacturer' category to include all of these mini makers would be a good idea for 2012. We can then review it in light of entry numbers after the next EpiComp and take it from there.

5. In the past, we have simply put entries in heats in the order that they were received. If a person didn't want to go up against themselves, then they simple submitted their entries with gaps to break them up. My only concern with deliberately seperating out entries for the same person is that they would then be able to potentially win all the heats for a category and result in a final with only their own miniatures. If this seperation was not done, we are more likely to see a variety of entrants in the final voting, and I think that this would be preferable.

Thanks.

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https://www.cybershadow.ninja - A brief look into my twisted world, including wargames and beyond.
https://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.

Do we even need prizes? Entering to "win" is fun, but I don't see it as the only reason to get your models into the comp. Use the comp as motivation to get something new painted, horrify your friends with busty Slaanesh demons, or get a real world gut check on that CMoN mini you've been spamming votes for (I ALWAYS vote multiple tens for anything Epic)!

1. I like anon because it can lead to some great suprises. This isn't always the case, as some folks blog what they do rather than sandbag for EpiComp, but it adds to the fun. Having submissions all arrive in a single area at the same time is great.

2. Limiting a model to a single category makes good sense.

3. I think establishing some tighter limits on how many models can be present in a battleforce would be good. Setting a min/max makes the entries more relevant to each other.

4. Group them up. Maybe have separate categories for vehicles & infantry?

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WAAARGH!!
The Lost & the Dipped

In answer to a few of your questions:

* Value for money

Firstly EW was never intended to make me rich. Back in 2005 when we started I was working a lot with the EPIC community and wanted miniatures that I just couldn't get elsewhere. I know Doug of DRM felt the same. We founded our respective companies (as a sole trader until we became a limited company in February 2010) and made the models that we felt the world needed. Some models I knew wouldn't sell but I wanted for my own army (you'll note that these models all tend to come out around May when its my birthday. Every penny that EW makes goes back into new models (hence we have a packed release schedule now, times are good) as my income comes from other concerns.

The point is that EW was genuinely created for the hobby as a whole and nothing is more representative of the hobby as a whole than EPIComp. We gladly support its efforts and are very, very proud to be included.

* Promotion

We blogged, Facebooked and tweeted about EPIComp and our prize, our blog post got some serious hits alone. I think its pretty fair to expect the companies involved to assist in the promoting of EPIComp after all, we have turnover where as TacComms doesn't. Perhaps encourage more corporate sponsorship and advertising?

Promotion also works both ways. We now have photographs of five entries painted up to a top notch standard showcasing EW models. That is phenomenal, I've already blogged about the one entry whom I know the candidate and would happily blog about the others once they are revealed and with there permission.

* Combined category

I'm totally up for this if it helps out the companies who got less submissions, the only problem will be in allocation of prizes. Would we all contribute cash to a central pot? It would be considerably more awkward to offer a voucher if the voucher was valid for all four companies. I prefer offering credit because it boosts sales. Perhaps offer a non financial prize? The winner gets to design his own unit for.example? (as long as it doesn't breach IP rules).



To summarize, I am chuffed with the results of the EPIComp, I had a blimming good time monitoring it and do not feel short changed at all. I'm gagging to support it again next year.

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Tom Webb
Author Page: http://www.newtonwebb.com
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A nice Epicomp picture should be interesting, it may be published in many members blogs/boards to promote the epicomp

Maybe a logo and an advertising pack? It would give us corporate sponsors someone thing to add to our marketing and help promote it.

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Tom Webb
Author Page: http://www.newtonwebb.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/thewebb
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You corporate guys should also be allowed to post the pics on your site if you like to show what your mini's won and what place maybe? Give an example of how amazing your stuff can look in the right hands.

I love you.

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Tom Webb
Author Page: http://www.newtonwebb.com
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a little OT

ever thought of doing up some calenders or posters promoting the awesomeness of the winners entries?

1) I agree that it isn't working properly, as there's only very few truly anonymous submissions, while the reast is fairly easily recognizable. I'm fine eaither way, but it does seem like an unnecessary rule IMO.
With regards to the posting (and I'm beating a dead horse here) it is true that continuous posting of images rather than doing it in one go means that some of the earlier postings become "old news". However a lot of the entries had already been posted elsewhere, so I am not really sure if this is a valid argument any more. I would like to point out that the continuous posting does increase visibility. I know a few years back I would check every time a new post had been made in the EpiComp section and be reminded that we were getting closer to the deadline. This year I almost forgot to vote, and even had to look around for a while because the EpiComp forum had been moved. Of course banners and similar advertising will ensure the same top-of-mind-effect, but I'd be lying if I said that seeing early submissons didn't also spark a certain sense of competitiveness.

2) Could be done. Not really important to me. The only issue as I see it is to ensure that the same model doesn't win two categories (ie. battleforce and Single Model), but simply having the rule that no entrant can win more than one prize would solve that.

3) A certain number of models is needed I think. The currrent ammount is fine, however it could be worded more clearly: A simple 4-16 models (numbers are arbitrary) would comply better with the old KISS rule.
I think it is a shame that the Eldar entry got disqualified. Some flexibility would have been nice, as the quality of that entry was so high, that it would have been a serious contender for first place. "It's a league game Smokey", but honestly: IIMO if an entry doesn't qualify for Battleforce simply move it to Single Model or War Engine, specifying which model should be judged. With so relatively few entries to choose from, I think any disqualifications should be avoided if at all possible. After all the competition is about having fun and displaying cool models.

4) Merging the other manufacturers into one category might be a good idea. Sorting out the prices may be a differnt kettle of fish though.


But all in all it was a great competition with some absolutely stunning entries yet again! Thanks for keeping it going!

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Sofa General

Nobody expects the Inquisition!!!
http://theepiclounge.wordpress.com/

Thanks for your kind words, Tom. One of the reasons that EpiComp was expanded to include additional manufacturers was to mutually support the people that keep the scale and hobby alive, and to strengthen links with this forum. I do feel that the inclusion of a general 'other makers' category should be the default, perhaps with a prize drawn in the same way as the Epic categories and so offering support to manufacturers with no commitment on their part. If any individual manufacturer wanted to designate a seperate category for themselves and provide prize support then they would be welcome to do so. This would place the decision in the hands of the manufacturers, and still support those in a general category. This general category doesn't even need to be specified in advance.

This would mean that we would have a '6mm science fiction single unit' category (for example) where people could enter GZG, DRM, or any 6mm science fiction miniature, with all miniatures in an entry from the same manufacturer, and with a single prize provided as normal.

If EW wanted their own category then they would provide a prize and EW miniatures would be pulled out to form their own category, before the competition starts. We could also stipulate that all entry pictures are agreed by the submitter to be used by the manufacturer for promotion.

Warmaster, you do make a good point about the build-up of posting entries to a thread, and this has come up in the past.

The question of a calendar or other promotional result has been raised. It's a great idea, and I would love for this to become a reality. However, the legality of producing a calendar with GW copyright miniatures is a minefield and probably beyond the ability and scope of the competition.

This was the 9th annual EpiComp, and it remains one of the highlights to my year. I am very proud and grateful for the suppor that it receives, and the invaluable organisation of it's custodians and heads. I would like to see it grow and gain more strength and the recognition that I think that it - and the painters - deserve.

_________________
https://www.cybershadow.ninja - A brief look into my twisted world, including wargames and beyond.
https://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.

A pdf calender would be fine, as would some nice wallpapers.

In 9 years, there have been plenty of Non-GW entries. Perhaps get authorisation from Doug and Pete to use the pictures of DRM and Command Horizon miniatures? I am totally cool with you using pictures of Exodus Wars miniatures.

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Tom Webb
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