2nd Annual Battles Contest (updated prizes)

[JoshWedin]

Hey All,

Here are the rules for the 2nd Battles Contest:

1. Build a medieval battle scene (all figs involved must be of castle persuasion).
2. Custom pieces of any kind are more than welcome.
3. There is no minimum or maximum number of figs.
4. You may use beasts and/or mythical creatures.
5. You may not use clone bricks as this is a Lego fan site.
6. The battle scene must be a never-before-published MOC.
7. Admins are more than welcome.

Enter as often as you wish!

Battles Contest MOCpage

Judging:
Entries will be judged on the action of the figs and realism of the scenery. I want to see "alive" figs. If a fig is just standing there, he better have a really good reason! Size of horde doesn't matter, its all about posing those figs. Lastly, I am the one and only judge, there is no appeal from my court.

Contest Deadline:
The contest will end on April 5 at midnight. That gives all of you over a month to plan, build, and post (its also my birthday ). And if you don't have all the pieces you need to make the ultimate battle, try anyway. You might surprise yourself.

Contest pics:
Please keep your pics fairly small, 800x600 pixels or less. I don’t like waiting for huge pics to load.
You may post as many pics as you like but no WIP pics. Just the battle, please.
No Photo Shop pics, please. Touch up or crop if you want, but no added elements.

Prizes:
1st place: 6041 Armor Shop (with instructions, red lion flag has broken clips)
2nd place: 6034 Black Monarch’s Ghost (opened w/box, instructions and original catalog)
3rd place: 6020 Magic Shop (with instructions, but instructions have one ripped corner)


The 1st place winner will also receive the forum title "Master Tactician", donated by Anthony Sava. Many thanks to Lord Sava!

Please post questions in this thread and entries here:
http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/vie ... 4579#84579 .

Let the battles begin!
Josh

[Peppermint Pig]

1. Build a medieval battle scene (all figs involved must be of castle persuasion).

Samurai may be considered Medieval, however they are not strictly 'castle'. Are Samurai allowed?

Vikings?

Can the figs/factions use parts from other themes (orient, pirate), so long as they are used for the purposes of recreating a medieval look? Is 'castle persuasion' a reference to the spirit of the competition, or does it delimit participants to strictly castle set figures?

The image guidelines state no posting WIP's (assume this means both prior to the submission process and after an entry is affirmed), however this is not a 'publishing' issue: The rules suggest any Lego pieces may be used, with the exception of the figure requirements: I have seen unusual piece usage (rafting boat used as part of a building roof) which change their meaning when used for castle MOCs, however there may be participants who stretch the Medieval definition given that fantasy beasts are allowed. Shall participants be able to consult the Judge prior to submitting an entry, including privately shared descriptions or photographs as reference (email) in order to resolve any validation issues?

No Photo Shop pics, please. Touch up or crop if you want, but no added elements.

Does this mean we cannot use Photoshop at all to do our touch ups and crops or does 'Photo Shop pics' refer to applying gratuitous filters or cut-and-paste of image data ( Hollywood crowd cloning for epic battles, hehe. )?

Does filling the background space (non lego elements) in a photo with a flat shade or gradient (filling in a sky background) constitute a 'touch up', or would that be considered an 'added element', thus disqualifying an entry?

Thanks!

[babyjawa]

Is there a limited number of armies we can have fighting at once? I didn't see anything about it up there so I am not sure.


Thanks.

[JoshWedin]

Are Samurai allowed?Vikings?
Is 'castle persuasion' a reference to the spirit of the competition, or does it delimit participants to strictly castle set figures?
Shall participants be able to consult the Judge prior to submitting an entry, including privately shared descriptions or photographs as reference (email) in order to resolve any validation issues?

Ninja, Samurai, and Vikings are all allowed. Use any pieces and figs you want but no modern technology is allowed. For example, you may use SW figs to make castle soldiers but blasters are not allowed.

As far as editing pics goes, I have no problem with you using photoshop. But no elements can be added. As you said, no adding soldiers, etc. The adding of backgrounds hadn't occured to me but I am not going to allow it on general principles. If I allowed that, then where would I draw the line?

About WIP pics, I only want pics of the finished scene. If you want to post pics of how you built your awesome scenery, do that in a different folder (and thread). I only want to see the finished product. On that note, however, post as many pics as it takes to show all your action adequately.

Is there a limited number of armies we can have fighting at once? I didn't see anything about it up there so I am not sure.
Thanks.

No limit to armies or figs. You can have one fig in your scene or 10,000. One army (fighting itself?) or 100 different factions. But to clarify, judging will be based on how "alive" each fig looks, not on number of figs.

Thanks for all the questions,
Josh

[Peppermint Pig]

Medieval + Fantasy does have the tendency to blur the lines on technology, but I think I understand what is expected: No firearms. I'll presume cannon are also out of bounds for this particular activity.

The adding of backgrounds hadn't occured to me but I am not going to allow it on general principles. If I allowed that, then where would I draw the line?

2. Custom pieces of any kind are more than welcome.

Well, you probably could have clarified rule #2 to specify Lego, else, where would you draw the line?

In space and similar themes, I can imagine people adding laser effects, which by the rules would be clearly out of bounds for a competition such as this in which people may be inclined to enhance the effects of magic or fire. I was not expecting such an allowance anyhow.

So cleanup I assume is limited to adjusting a picture by scaling, cropping, and clarity/color correction, but a photo that includes objects in the room cannot have those items erased or blurred out, however irelevant they are to the scene, as that suggests a conscious manipulation of the background 'element'.

However, there does not appear to be any restriction on a physical background... considering many will use a tablecloth or butcher paper, or some other method in order to deal with lighting and sterilization of the environment to keep the focus on the entry itself, then I could see physical backgrounds as being permitted, however that's up to the Judge...

About WIP pics, I only want pics of the finished scene. If you want to post pics of how you built your awesome scenery, do that in a different folder (and thread). I only want to see the finished product. On that note, however, post as many pics as it takes to show all your action adequately.

Understood. My question was one of case by case validity and having such issues dealt with in private, but I'll take your response to mean it's up to participants to avoid pushing the limits which the Judge has set forth.

In my experience, there is rarely a time when everyone in a contest does not have a question about the rules. Thanks for clarifying everything!

[lord azreal]

im on it i just need some pics now!

[Lord Mikal]

2. Custom pieces of any kind are more than welcome.

5. You may not use clone bricks as this is a Lego fan site.

Does that mean we have to customize our clonebrand weapons before using them? That'll really put a hamper on the realim of the scene, seeing as Lego weapons aren't very realistic, and Little armory and Red Bean weapons are pretty spendy. I understand you not wanting us to use clonebrand soldiers, but why not their weapons?

[J_Chartowich]

Josh,

I have made a scene showing CC knights battling a dragon, do there have to be other knights that battle w/the CC knights, or is the dragon OK?

Thanks!

[The dark tide]

QUOTE
''About WIP pics, I only want pics of the finished scene. If you want to post pics of how you built your awesome scenery, do that in a different folder (and thread). I only want to see the finished product. On that note, however, post as many pics as it takes to show all your action adequately.''

QUESTION???
Does that mean we cant show different pics of the battle progressing, like no moving the figures to show the progression of the battle from begining to end?

[Lord_Of_The_LEGO]

7. Admins are more than welcome.

Enter as often as you wish!

YESSSSSSSSSSS!

Time to get out my barbarian hoard and my Vikings...

[Peppermint Pig]

Does that mean we cant show different pics of the battle progressing, like no moving the figures to show the progression of the battle from begining to end?

That was going to be my next question, actually. Will we be limited to showing a single setup of the action, or will multiple action phases be allowed?

[ZIGGY!]

[/quote]Enter as often as you wish!

Does that mean that we can enter more than once?

Furthermore can we make a seige scene kind of thing with guys attacking a castle or wall?

[The dark tide]

Once again the world will be clouded in shadow and all will now fear as my orcish hoard rises again..............



REPOST OF QUESTION
I am just reposting my question to make sure it gets answered, it is vital that I get an answer on this.''Does that mean we cant show different pics of the battle progressing, like no moving the figures to show the progression of the battle from begining to end''?

[JoshWedin]

Understood. My question was one of case by case validity and having such issues dealt with in private, but I'll take your response to mean it's up to participants to avoid pushing the limits which the Judge has set forth. In my experience, there is rarely a time when everyone in a contest does not have a question about the rules. Thanks for clarifying everything!

Exactly, I don't intend be draconian. Follow the spirit of the rules and you will be okay. And you are right, I have never seen a contest where no one had any questions about the rules.

I understand you not wanting us to use clonebrand soldiers, but why not their weapons?

If you want to use clone weapons as "custom" weapons, I don't really care. However, you may be missing the point. I am concentrating on the realism in posing the figs, not in them having "realistic" weapons.

Josh,
I have made a scene showing CC knights battling a dragon, do there have to be other knights that battle w/the CC knights, or is the dragon OK?
Thanks!

Sounds fine, the rules state that beasts are fine and there is no maximum or minimum limits on figs.

QUESTION???
Does that mean we cant show different pics of the battle progressing, like no moving the figures to show the progression of the battle from begining to end?

Progressive pics are fine. I just don't want uncompleted MOC pics, they annoy me in contests.

7. Admins are more than welcome.
Enter as often as you wish!

YESSSSSSSSSSS!
Time to get out my barbarian hoard and my Vikings...

I figure you Admins get left out of some of the funniest stuff, so you should at least be allowed in the unofficial contests.

Does that mean that we can enter more than once?
Furthermore can we make a seige scene kind of thing with guys attacking a castle or wall?

Last time I checked "Enter as often as you wish" means exactly that. And you can make any kind of battle scene you desire. I am running this contest to encourage more figs in action. What kind of action is up to you!

Thanks for all the questions!
Josh

[Maedhros]

OK, we can have Asian styled battles... Does that mean that we can use firearms for them? The Chinese invented rockets and flamethrowers (sort of) many centuries before europeans even smelled gunpowder for the first time. Even the ninja (REAL ninja that is... no westernized assassins or anime heroes or something like that..) of Japan used things similar to cannons and "rifles" made by bamboo (ozhutsu, sodeteppo, nageteppo etc) long before the europeans came...