First draft painting rubric for club champs

[Jack Shrapnel]

Here is my first draft of the painting rubric (the portion filled out by the player themselves prior to day one) 

This portion has a maximum of 68 points, which should be extremely difficult to get max points on, however 30-40 points should be definitely achievable (it's the last 24 points that are the hardest). If you can think of something obvious that was forgotten I can review to see if this makes sense to be added.

I am going for a balanced weighting of all different aspects of the hobby. So just because you didn't do two-brush blending or NMM, that is only worth a few points each, so you can still get a very healthy painting score without doing EVERY possible trick in the book on your 200 ork models! 

Basically what I am most likely to really check on your army is when you select items from the advanced brushwork skills section. These are difficult, and if you checked them all off, chances are I'm examining your army fairly closely as I think I've seen someone do ALL of these on an army maybe once or twice ever. So you don't have to get MAX to win best painted. Not even close. But under the old rubric, someone could have done the extremely difficult NMM technique and get no extra points for all that extremely hard work. (as an example). 




Painting Rubric (add up all your points for the following sections) 

Initial Presentation (maximum 10 points – score EACH of these and add together

Every model in my army has paint on it (no primer or grey plastic is showing) 3

Every model in my army has at least three colours used on each model 3

My army is painted to the best of my ability and is a good representation of my painting skills 4


Display Board (maximum 8 points – take the HIGHEST number you achieved)

I do not have a display board for my army. 0

My display board is not detailed at all, is a Tupperware lid or piece of board etc. 1

My display board is fully painted and / or has flock on it 3

My display board has multiple terrain elements and/or different levels, fully painted and/or flocked 5

My display board has multiple terrain elements, different levels, fully painted, has lighting or other effects 8


Model Basing (10 points total – score EACH of these and add together)

My bases have all been painted 2

My bases have all their rims painted 2

My bases have flock or rocks or some other gradient material on them. 2

My bases all have some extra details on them (water, lava, snow, tufts, etc.) 2

My bases have all of the above features AND they integrate seamlessly into my display base 2


Conversions (10 points maximum – score EACH of these and add together)

I have done at least some minor drilling (gun barrels etc.) or cutting (battle damage) to my models. 2

I have changed some small features of my models – heads / weapons / posing 2

I have used green stuff, plasticard or other sculpting on some of my models 2

I have used LED lights or other cosmetic effects (smoke, etc.) to convert at least some models 2

I have scratch built at least one model in my army 2


Advanced Brushwork Skills: (24 points maximum – score EACH of these and add together)

I have used washes / shading with my models with a highlight colour 3

I have put at least two highlights on every model (ie: basecoat highlight AND edge highlighting) 3

I have used blending techniques (2 brush blending or airbrush) on my models 3

I have used OSL (object source lighting) on at least some of my models. 3

I have used weathering on my models 3

I have used freehand on my models (ie: banners, script, etc.) 3

I have used unit markings (brush work and/or transfers) on my models 3

I have used a non-metal metallic technique on at least some of my models 3


Miscellaneous Extras: (6 points maximum – score EACH of these and add together)

I have removed all of the mold lines from my models. 2

I have a distinct theme (matching colours, markings, etc. ) throughout my army 2

My squad leaders, heroes, leaders etc. are all easily distinguishable on the table. 2


Total Score out of a possible 68 points _______________

[coymastermikhail]

I like the sliding scale and how it fits for all armies. Previously it would be unfeasible to get full points on an army with a newer range, where conversions in every squad are less desirable than with say chaos or orks, where it is more thematic. I also like that it doesn't expect every model to have OSL or something of the like. 1 thing I would like to see is if you could score half a category. As an example, if one has done OSL on only a couple of models, it wouldn't feel right to award full points but shouldn't get 0.

I also like how you have cleverly sidestepped the debate between the traditional brush folks (like me) and the airbrush crowd (like anyone with sense)

[Jack Shrapnel]

if you've done OSL on a few models.. you get full points for that category.... all you have to do is "some".... not all

Also if you're good with a brush or an airbrush good for you. I just want you to be proud of your work. I don't care what tool you use. I use both. (haven't met someone yet who solely uses airbrush - even the instructor of our class used both in the airbrushing class itself!)

given each category is at most 3 points (display board by definition is just taking your "best" choice) I want someone to get rewarded if their characters have some OSL on it. these little things add up. If you have three characters with OSL good for you, you earned those three points. If you painted all 200 orks with OSL, you obviously have alot of time on your hands... but you still get three points. The quibbling over a point or two has caused me untold grief for the past nine years, and personally I'm done with it. This is simple and you score it. If I then ask you to show me your OSL you can easily then just point to it. 

In addition to this, there's ANOTHER big chunk of points that are awarded for getting 1st/2nd/3rd for the day... so everyone will get points no matter what slot your in (so getting chipmunked one game will NOT screw up your standings) on a sliding scale so if you're voted by each of your opponents as the best painted for the day, it WILL give you a boost.

painting will be worth 98 points.... sports will be worth up to 30 (but this method is almost impossible to get a tie)... battle is 90 / game. Why is painting worth less percentage wise than in previous years? Because I've learnt my damn lesson on this one. Best painted shouldn't automatically guarantee best overall!

overall will be battle + paint + sports
general will be just pure battle score
painting will be just paint score
sportsmanship will be just sports score

[voodoo]

I like it! It covers just about every base possible.

[Jack Shrapnel]

well I may have missed something here or there, but hopefully it covers 90% of the cool stuff you guys all do, as I want to give you credit for all your hard work.

Plus there's an additional up to 30 points given by your opponents through the end of day rankings. Covers the "that is just so damn cool" factor

[Frosty the Pirate]

As someone whose painting is clearly the weakest link in this hobby, rather than try to offer advice, I'm simply going to "score myself" using it and some of the most recent models I've painted to see where I fall.

I'd consider myself a novice painter at best despite years in the hobby over-all. Until very recently I've never really cared about painting beyond the minimum to get my models on the table. I've recently been learning how to layer-up, use washes and glazes, and how to highlight with drybushing. I've tried a few advanced techniques before like wet-blending but I lack the brush-skills to execute most advanced techniques well.

Let's see how I score!

Initial Presentation - 10 - Getting 3 colours on isn't hard for me, and while I want to be a better painter, that comes with time and I am just not there yet. But that doesn't impair me in this category.

Display Board - 5 - Here's where my model-railroading experience from the time before I discovered 40k comes in, I'm excellent at making terrain and have a pretty good eye for creating realistic terrain. However I lack the more advanced skills that come with adding lighting, water-effects and other such techniques required to get full points here.

Basing - 8 or 10 - Similar to above, my terrain abilities come in handy here. I've recently been creating desert terrain that has a strong multi-colour sand effect, with rocks, debris, and special extras like skulls and bodies that have been added, drybrushed and washed/shaded to create a nice effect. I'm unsure if "seamlessly" means I have to "lock" my bases INTO my display board here to remove the raised effect the bases cause. But they definitely match well.

Conversions - 2 or 4 - With many of the models I've recently built/painted being Primaris marines, my conversions score is quite low here, while I'm a decent modeller, I'm not capable of scratch building a whole model out of putty, or creating effects like smoke, but I can kitbash lots of various pieces and stuff together well to create interest. I've managed some pose changes, weapon swaps, and drilled bolter barrels, but nothing extreme.

Advanced Brushwork - 3, in future 9 - As I mentioned previously I'm using shading + drybrushed highlights (in a highlight colour) to score 3 points here, I _PLAN_ on adding Space Wolves Pack Markings via some basic freehand to in addition to transfer sheets to create unit/pack markings, which would increase my score to 9, however many of these other techniques are beyond my current abilities.

Misc Extras - 6 - I actually pickup all these points thanks to recently realizing to take the time to learn how to remove all my mould lines so that shade/washes and drybushing go better over the model without weird places picking up either. My characters/heroes are really easy to pick out thanks to special weapons/poses/extra-bits and a unified colour theme makes this force feel like cohesive battle brothers.

TOTAL: 34 Current, hopefully closer to 44 in future as I continue to learn more advanced techniques.

Honestly, I'm a little surprised I scored that high, Under the old paint scoring system My best work ever was a 17 out of 40, so I actually feel really good that I wouldn't be completely out of the running based on my paint score. (which was pretty much always the case previously)

Hopefully that helps in some way to help figure out if some areas are a bit too gentle or too rough.

[raceygaming]

If it helps for people who are familiar with my Orks and Tau I did a quick scoring

Orks

Initial Presentation 10/10
Display 5/8 (missing lighting and additional effects)
Basing 8/10 (do not fit in seamlessly)
Convert 6/10 (no scratch builds or lights)
Advanced 12/24 (no NMM, OSL, weathering or blending)
Misc 6/6

Total 47/68


TAU

Initial Presentation 10/10
Display 5/8 (missing lighting and additional effects)
Basing 6/10 (do not fit in seamlessly, no water or other affects)
Convert 4/10 (no scratch builds or lights, no green stuff/kitbash)
Advanced 12/24 (no NMM, OSL, weathering or blending)
Misc 6/6

Total 43/68


This is super helpful, as I know what I need to work on if I want to score some more points. Looking for a scratch build, and adding some weathering effect. For those of you who know me I'm definitely not one of the top 1/3 of painters in the community but his shows you can still get a solid score if you put in some time.
Good luck all, hoping to see some great stuff this year

[voodoo]

I thought I’d try scoring my Thousand Sons as I consider them my "benchmark" army I measure all of my other armies against in terms of hobby skill/technique.

Initial Presentation: 10/10
Display Board: 5/8 (Though questionable as an 8/8 because I put elements on my board that light up, but the board itself doesn’t have integrated lights)
Model Basing: 10/10
Conversions: 8/10 (no scratch build)
Advanced Brushwork Skills: 21/24 (no NMM)
Miscellaneous Extras: 6/6

Total: 60-63/68
I’ve won best painted with this army multiple times, and had scored 40/40 the previous Rubric every time I brought it out and it’s still not a max point army by the new rubric. Like Jordan said, it’s a good indicator of what to look for if you want to cherry pick a few more points from the system and will give you a really good benchmark on which to base your hobby score.

[brujonation]

I like it. I'm going to use this to guide me thru my painting process. it's a good benchmark with achievable goals lol.

[Jack Shrapnel]

While I was working through this, I actually thought about Matt's, Lukas', Bruno's and Dylan's armies for things I've seen that are over the top great... as well as other armies, like Jordan's orks for example, for a more hoard army and trying to ensure that they could still post up decent scores.

My daemons army, which is one of my best painted armies, cannot score crazy high on this scale. Assuming I make a display board (which I would if I was playing) my best painted army, that I'm super proud of, scores around the high 40's. So scoring in the 40's I feel is a very well painted army... scoring in the 50's is very hard and should only be a handful of armies that can do it... 60+ you probably max scored the old system.

[Khalai]

Can we stop calling it a painting rubric and call it a hobby or army presentation rubric? I know I voiced this before, and I think we agreed.

I REALLY like the rubric, but to me it really reinforces calling it "Best Army" or the like, because adding it up, a minimum of 34 points (more than half) are not dependant on painting.

[Jack Shrapnel]

Army presentation? is that better?

[Khalai]

I like

[trantos01]

Hmm, crashing on the conversions and advanced brushwork skills (most I tend to do for the grunt troops is a wash etc) for the most part though I do remove mold lines that I can see when assembling stuff.

The problem is that to many people, Necron HQs don't stand out that much.  Maybe I should give the guys some banner poles or something?

[kaelon]

I remember seeing a bribe score last year at club champs, I may be mistaken but I have scotch "wink" "wink"