In the 31^st Millennium, there is only plastic…

Here it is, our quarterly issue-themed contest.  Seeing as how Issue 6 revolves around a Pre-Heresy theme, we decided why not have a contest in the same vein?  However, when most people think “Pre-Heresy” they think Primarchs and the original 18 Legions, but there is so much more…

Rules: Create a model that would be found in the 31^st Millennium. This could be a Pre-Heresy Space Marine, an alien race that was expunged during the Great Crusade, or whatever your creative mind can come up with! You must convert, paint and create a short piece of fluff that describes what/who your creation is and their place in the 31^st Millennium. This is a very open competition and is only restricted to the Pre-Heresy time-period.

Judging: The competition will be judged as follows:

Conversion (20 points) – Judges will be looking for creativity, posing and originality. This is the most important part of the competition so it is wise to include a picture of the unpainted model as well so it is easier to tell the amount of work you put into it (which a spiffy paint job can cover up).

Painting (10 points) – Pretty self explanatory, judges will look for good (and appropriate) paintjobs! By appropriate we mean if you paint your Pre-Heresy Blood Angel Blue with Pink shoulder pads, don’t expect many points.

Prizes: Thanks to Matt at miniwargaming.com for donating gift certificates to their awesome store!

Amounts will be $50 for first place, $25 for second and $10 for third!

So how do you enter?  Simple.  Send us an email at theastromag@gmail.com with “contest” in the subject line by midnight October 5th.  All you need to include is a short (2-5 sentences) summary of what your entry is and how it pertains to the 31st Millennium and some pictures showing your model before it was painted and after.  If you would like to include a list of bitz used or whatever, feel free.  It will probably help the judges figure out how converted it actually is so it wouldn’t hurt!  The three winners will be featured in Issue 6 of the mag and all entries will be featured on the blog.  The prizes are pretty awesome, so it’s worth a shot!
Good luck everyone, and I look forward to your entries!

In First place with the Lamachand Sonic Tank Formation, Teh_Frm4terer!
In Second place with the Necron Tomb Stalker, Farskit!
In Third place with the Eldar Storm Serpent, Akenseth from The Path of the Exodite!

Congratulations guys, all very well deserved! Now you probably want to know what you won, huh?

Teh_Frm4terer will receive a $50 voucher to a 40k store of his choice, an Epic Warlord Titan, and will be included in Issue 5 of the Astro Mag!
Farskit will receive a $35 voucher to a 40k store of his choice and inclusion in Issue 5 of the Astro Mag!
Akenseth will be included in Issue 5 of the Astro Mag!
Read the rest of this entry »

Only one week left to get your entries in for the May Datasheet competition!  Follow this link for details.  The entries are looking good so far, so please keep them coming!

-Kevin

Finally, I can release the details for the Datasheet competition!
To keep it simple, here’s how it breaks down:
Download the .doc or .jpeg (the Word document file will be much easier for you to create the Datasheet, though) available a little further down this post, on the right under “Supplements” or, if you hold your cursor over “Astro Mag Database” you can click the Supplements tab there.  At any rate, they’re all the same file.
Next, you just create your datasheet (limit is three per person)! But Kevin, what does that entail?  Well, my panel of judges will be grading them using this rubric:

Points Effectiveness - is the model/unit overpriced, underpriced or just right?
Rules – Do the rules make the unit overpowered, underpowered, etc?
Fluff – Is the fluff well thought out and interesting (and true to the 40k universe!)?
Originality – Does this look like something we’ve seen before or is it a brand-spanking-new-knock-your-socks-off model/unit?

There will also be bonus points which you DO NOT have to do to qualify, but it may give your entry a little extra boost to the top!

Picture Quality (self explanitory.  Can be artwork, a picture of an unpainted model, a picture of a painted model, whatever)
Apocalyptic (When you think “Apocalypse” will people think of your entry?)

So if you have any questions with regard to that just post up a comment here or email me at theastromag@gmail.com

Now when you are finished with your entry, email it to me at theastromag@gmail.com and just put [datasheet] followed by the name of your sheet (makes organization easier for me) in the subject line.  The deadline for this competition is May 31st so you have a little over one month to complete it.

Prizes:
1st, 2nd and 3rd place will be included in Issue 5 of the Astro Mag due out in July.  On top of that, the top three will receive prizes based on how many donations we get.  We REALLY want to give away a Stormlord or Stompa kit so if you would like this as a prize, just click the Donations tab at the top and throw a dollar or two our way.  Every bit helps (and every cent will be pumped back into prizes for you guys!)  Every little bit helps us get closer to giving you the coolest prizes ever, so any amount goes!

On top of that, EVERY entry will be compiled into a single downloadable .pdf!

Again, if you have any questions just post a comment here or email me at theastromag@gmail.com.

Let the competition begin!

-Kevin

Here is an example Dataheet by Captain Castus of Astronomican