#MFXTOP "Little Monsters" Elite Four

#MFXTOP "Little Monsters"

Here are the Elite Four which will be put into a poll via Twitter and the @ArcaneReservoir account.

In alphabetical order of twitter handle:

@andythorngate

@Beard_Minis

@PeterGordo

@Proximocoal (Jen)

Thank you to all that entered, it was hard to slim it down to just four.
Please check the blog for future themes and get cracking.

-Ben (@Psientologist)

#MFXTOP Jan'16 Winner and future themes

The Tyrant of Painting

For January 2016

@Proximocoal's Other Half Jen

with Datsue-Ba

Some beautifully impressive work here, I'm sure the quality colour scheme and free hand won over the voters with almost half of them picking this from the Elite Four.

Congratulations again to Jen and thanks to all who entered.

Moving Forwards

Starting from right now (the weekend of Feb 20th) new entries can be entered for the next theme.

Entries for this will need to be entered before March 25th.

However I have a lot of feedback saying they like to plan further ahead and would want to take part but the theme is too short notice for them.

Due to this the following will be a "MFXTOP Calendar" as such:

• February 20th - March 25th
• Little Monsters 
• (a model which has a SS cost of 5 or less)
• April 2nd - April 29th
• Agility of the Hare Easter Bunny 
• (a model which has a Wk of 6 or more)
• May 7th - June 3rd
• Could it be Magic? 
• (a model with a Ca action)
• June 11th - July 8th
• Summer Ray-GUN 
• (a model with a projectile[gun] icon)

The dates included are possibly incorrect, but give 4 weeks+ time to paint with the time gap for voting.

These dates are not set in stone but hopefully help people make some choices for what models they want to work on ahead of time.

Thanks again to everyone who has entered, voted and simply taken part.

Now go get on with those Little Monsters!

- Ben (@Psientologist)

#MFXTOP January "Henchman" Elite Four

#MFXTOP JAN16

Here are the Elite Four which will be put into a poll via Twitter and the @ArcaneReservoir account.

In alphabetical order of twitter handle:

@BigHamm3r

@Proximocoal (Jen)

@Seismic134

@Shakes1066

#MFXTOP February "Henchman" Schedule

February 

As the post describing MFXTOP and it's return is fairly large I thought best to have a quick run down explaining the timings.

You'll notice that

• Friday January 22st to Friday February 12th (Midnight UK Time): The three week period in which if you would like to enter you need to:
• Build and paint any Malifaux Henchman
• Take photo(s)
• Tweet the photo(s) @ArcaneReservoir with #MFXTOP in the post
• Please note, without the hashtag you will not be considered as I may not find it for review.
• Saturday February 13th and Sunday February 14th: I will review all the models submitted via twitter with the hashtag and pick my "Elite Four".
• Monday February 15th: The Twitter poll with the selected four (shown in alphabetical order by twitter handle) will be live and go for five days.
• Friday February 19th: The last day to get those votes in and the poll will end around midnight.
• The Winner will be visible by checking the poll but will also be announced via @ArcaneReservoir
• Also Friday February 19th: The next theme will be revealed and the process will kick off again.

• 22/1/16 - 12/2/16. Paint your Henchman and enter it
• 15/2/16 - 19/2/16. Pick your winner. 

#MFXTOP Returns

THE "TYRANTS OF PAINTING" ARE BACK!

"What is it?"

MFXTOP is a monthly Malifaux single miniature painting competition held on here and using the power of social media, more specifically Twitter, to increase the entries, encouragement and also determine a winner.

Each month a theme will be set for which type of miniature you can enter into the month’s competition.

Each month, you can make your entry by simply taking a photo of your work, logging into twitter (if you don’t have an account you are missing out) and tweeting @ArcaneReservoier with the photo and the hashtag #MFXTOP

Please check the hashtag to see other entries, give critique and encourage eachother.

After three weeks of competition entries, I (Ben Sime) will pick my top four which will go to a public vote.
More on this in a bit.

"How will you pick the four?"

Obviously one person picking the four to go through to public voting may seem unfair, bias almost and in a sense it will be, however I am going to use a judging system that everyone can read here and know what I will be looking for.

• Pure Brush Skill: If I look at the model and think I would be unlikely to pull that level of skill off, this will help a lot, the competition is primarily about painting and although other factors will make my final decision this is most important of all.
• Completeness: It's not just the model, it's the basing and also the photos are important. Getting a good picture is hard sometimes, but let's see all the angles. Also this includes how well across you got the theme, maybe you surprised me with a joke who knows?
• Originality: Now if you do paint your models to look just like the art, that is fine and if you have done so extremely well (as mentioned above) this will help. However, I like themes, I like the "rule of cool" and this can strongly influence my choice. Conversions are welcome but not necessary.
• Popularity: This really is arguably the most important choice, if your photos are getting all the Likes and lots of replies saying it's amazing I will either be in agreement or listen to the people.

The safety in the cut-off also is that if you enter a model you painted months ago, I'm likely to know or someone will tell me. If it doesn't remotely fit the theme I don't need to waste anyone's time with it. 

Finally if the miniature isn't even yours and you are claiming it is I similarly will probably find out, you cheeky git.

"So who Wins though?"

That is up to the public, well the Twitter based public following along.
Twitter Polls. You've seen them, you love them or hate them but they are a cleaner and faster way for us to set up public voting.

Sure if you have multiple twitter accounts you can semi-fix the poll but anything online can be skewed but it's only just a bit of fun so hopefully nobody wastes too much time trying to ruin it.

The poll itself will go up a few days after the cut-off date so that I can actually have a good look at all the entries and also hopefully gain more public response to the late ones.

The poll will the last 5 days and the results will be announced on Twitter and here, along with the next theme.

"Why should I even bother though?"

The idea of this competition is to be extra incentive for people to paint, try new techniques, raise their game, or even just show off.

The chance to see some fantastic work from lots of different members of the Malifaux community, get ideas, share tips and grow the scene is a wider aim too.

For now, there is no prize for the winner except the knowledge that I and the Tweeting Malifaux scene liked your work the best. In the future I may look to getting a small prize for each month but for now, baby steps.

"Alright then, what is the first theme then so I can get painting?"

Well I'm glad you asked useful subtitle person stuck in my psyche.

Cassandra, Hannah, nah* this isn't just gaming this is the best painted...

HENCHMAN

To qualify the model you paint must be a henchman, doesn't matter the faction, doesn't matter if it was in the AR podcast top 16, just have the Henchman station characteristic.

The first theme is very open but I hope this enough to ease people in.

There we go.
Good luck to everyone who enters.

- Ben (@psientologist)

*Cassandra and Hannah are actually eligible to win, in fact they are very nice models.

#MFXTOP Best of 2014 Winner

Tyrant of Painting 2014

@BigBoyBucky

Congratulations Bucky, when all the winners were pitted against each other you came out on top.

Here are the photos of what Bucky had entered into past #MFXTOP competitions to be awarded this accolade:

Thank you again to every who has entered #MFXTOP, there could only be one true Tyrant for 2014 but I am glad of everyone who put the effort in to enter.

MFXTOP's Future

Where I do not want #MFXTOP to die, I will not be posting up a new theme and for a while I will be taking a break from hosting the competition.

I love the competition and the inspiration it gives to people regardless if there are dozens of entries or only a handful. However, it's time to step back rethink some things and return even better.

I have to thank Element Games again for also helping me reward the people who have taken part and I hope they will still be there when the competition returns in the future.

-Ben (@psientologist)

#MFXTOP Best of 2014

TOP TOP

During the course of 2014 Malifaux: Tyrants of Painting awarded 10 men as winners.

1. @MarkJByrne
2. @wrkbnchwarriors
3. @gazmania
4. @shakes1066
5. @bigboybucky
6. @thatdarnsatan
7. @oathius
8. @andythorngate
9. @archonmoonson
10. @derby_malal

We did get repeat winners and many entrants were in the podium time and time again.

I thank these ten for showing off how beautiful Malifaux miniatures can be, helping inspiring, myself, each other and hopefully a large portion of the Internet.

Really though, this goes past these ten. Although they are the cream of our crop I would like to again thank each and every person who entered the competition and I hope that 2015 brings just as much beautiful work.

Your mission:

Is to search the blog for the work of these ten, check their Twitter timelines, soak in their work and what they have done for this competition.

Return by midnight(GMT) January 1st and vote who you think is the best of the best in this poll:

VOTE HERE

#MFXTOP December Winner and Final competition of 2014

#MFXTOP DECEMBER

Thanks again to Element Games as the overall winner AND best newcomer receive a voucher to spend in their store.

Who takes down the final monthly competition of 2014?:

Third Place

In at number three is @Sir_Reeves
To no one's surprise James does well in a painting competition.

Top tip, go check his twitter timeline for more goodies, plastic Leveticus most recently.

Second Place

Second place goes to @Proximocoal
I didn't forget Connor this time, thankfully as again
he has entered a beautiful model, love the dark steed.

Best Newcomer

Our newcomer @Paintedguys
snaps up the award and his Johanna is very nice,
check his blog, it's very good!

First Place

This month's winner is
@Derby_Malal
Looks like people love those Gremlins.
I would say an Easter bunny is wrong for this time of year,
however maybe people were thinking chicken > turkey.

Fantastic work on this Rooster Rider though, the beak and the pink tones being

some of the highlights of this piece.

Finally the basing is awesome and finishes this model perfectly.

@derby_malal is the Winner of #MFXTOP12 "Nightmare Before Christmas

and December's

Tyrant of Painting.

#MFXTOP 2014

The usual reminder, but don't forget each month the Winner and Best Newcomer gets a voucher for Elementgames.co.uk 

The Best Newcomer award is for whoever received the most votes and has not entered #MFXTOP before.

however...

return in the following blog where a new poll will open.

Finding the best of the best. The TOP Tyrant of Painting #MFXTopTOP ?

-Ben (@psientologist)

#MFXTOP Voting December

Happy Holidays.

This is a page of all the finals entries with the names of the entrant in one place.

Please have a good look over them all and then click the link to the poll at the bottom.

You don't have to have entered or do anything special to vote, just click that link, you get one vote, so use it wisely!

So in alphabetical order (by twitter handle):

@cdhay

_________

@derby_malal

_________

@docbungle

_________

@elessarion30

_________

@paintedguys

_________

@proximocoal

_________

@sir_reeves

_________

@talentlesspaint

_________

@Therril_83

_________

CLICK HERE TO PLACE YOUR VOTE!

#MFXTOP December Weeks 1 & 2

Ho Ho Ho and all that.

Been a little while since I've put up an update post, but this time I've managed to get on it. Go me.

Weeks 1 & 2 Entries

The earliest entrant was #M2GT double winner @Sir_Reeves

Love these models and James typically has done a wonderful job.
Love the little details, especially the arrows.

Next entry was @Elessarion30

Eless has been working on dreamer recently and you gotta love

the Day Dreams. Also is this 11/12 #MFXTOP she has entered?

Good work!

@DocBungle was next with this lovely Pathfinder.

Always rate this guy in game and I love the model if a little large.

Bear has done a great job of the man wearing... him?

Check out more with the traps over at his blog.

 Lastly for this blog was another TOP regular @Therril_83,

Quite a different colour scheme for what I've seen for McCabe and I like it.
Reminds me I better get on with mine.
Check his twitter for more updates as they come.

Sir Blogsalot

You may have noticed that at some point down the line I probably said I would do a tournament report blog for the UK GT. I mean, why wouldn't I?

Well I started but in the end I wrote a report that has appeared elsewhere.

It ended up appearing in Wyrd Chronicles 15 and I couldn't be more pleased that I got that opportunity, follow the link and download, if you haven't already you should check out other issues of Wyrd's fantastic E-zine.

While we talk about blogs, I hope everyone has enjoyed the addition of some Relic Knights action.

I will however be adding a couple of blogs soon tying up #ToMB for Marcus, the aim is for the next couple of Fridays.

Also with the new Gaining Grounds strategies I will probably be posting an initial thoughts post very soon and I have a Turf War mini blog rolling around in my head, so look out for that too.

Thanks again to everyone who has read the blog, participated in the competitions and voting.

Next year I hope to make this blog even better than it already is.

Cheers me lovers.

-Ben (@psientologist)

#MFXTOP November Winner and December Theme

#MFXTOP NOVEMBER

Thanks again to Element Games as the overall winner AND best newcomer receive a voucher to spend in their store.

Who has the loveliest facial hair?:

Third Place

In at number three is @Forestreverie
Santiago is a good choice as he has nice thick facial hair,
however what is also excellent about this is the sandy tones with the perfect red spot colour.

Second Place

Two times in a row in at second it's @Cactus_Henry
Are we seeing a Ten Thunders crew emerge slowly across #MFXTOP?
Another great entry, a lovely full mustache accompanied by a nice bald head!

First Place

This month's winner is
@ArchonMoonson
Now well technically not hair, this Waldgeist definitely has the tree-
person equivalent to facial hair.
Expected it may have fallen into Decembeard more than Movember
but it is hard to tell when lacking a nose or mouth

On a serious note, Martin has done a fantastic job of a fantastic model, 

the grey tone of the wood with the pale mushrooms gives the model a creepy feel

while the basing is interesting and a little brighter but does not detract from the model.

@ArchonMoonson is the Winner of #MFXTOP11 "Movember"

and November's

Tyrant of Painting.

#MFXTOP Month 12

The usual reminder, but don't forget each month the Winner and Best Newcomer gets a voucher for Elementgames.co.uk 

The Best Newcomer award is for whoever received the most votes and has not entered #MFXTOP before.

December's Theme

Is...

"The Nightmare (Rush) Before Christmas, or more precisely the 23rd"

It's a mouthful of a title but I am still running a December competition it just will have less time given to it than usual.

Participants have just over two weeks to paint anything they would like for Malifaux for this competition.

I do have a reason outside of having a break for this theme, all I will say is if you have or haven't entered before this is your time to shine as this will not be the last competition of 2014 but will be the last one you can paint specifically for...

and that is all I will say for now.

If you have any other questions, contact me on twitter where I'll be tweeting rubbish constantly.

Head over to Element Games with new crews, new bits and even new terrain there are plenty of things to get yourself or even eachother for Christmas.

Listen to Malifools, hopefully episode 100 (one hundred I know can you believe it?) will be out and it's a big 'un, with the line up of myself, UK no.1 Joel Henry and fan favourite Matt Spooner.

Lastly, visit the Wyrd forums, there are lots of tournaments already being planned for next year September's Curse 2015 has a date of 27/9/15 so write that down.
However also drag yourself down for Isle of Faux, get on the May Feng reserves list and generally keep your eyes peeled for #SMP events and more from the other wonderful TOs.

-Ben (@psientologist)

#MFXTOP November Voting

Movember.

This is a page of all the finals entries with the names of the entrant in one place.

Please have a good look over them all and then click the link to the poll at the bottom.

Apologies for no weekly updates or little comments by me. I am super thankful for everyone who still entered even with less support than I would usually aim to give.

You don't have to have entered or do anything special to vote, just click that link, you get one vote, so use it wisely!

So in alphabetical order (by twitter handle):

@ArchonMoonson

_________

@cactus_henry

_________

@elessarion30

_________

@forestreveries

_________

@proximocoal

_________

CLICK HERE TO PLACE YOUR VOTE!

#MFXTOP October Winner and November Theme

#MFXTOP OCTOBER

Thanks again to Element Games as the overall winner AND best newcomer receive a voucher to spend in their store.

Let's see who gave us the biggest spook:

Third Place

A newcomer to #MFXTOP in the shape of @Marifaux
If you haven't checked out Maria's painting before you should,
excellent work and always with a cool theme.
The LED in the Nothing Beast is just perfect and is pretty creepy.

Second Place

Another newcomer, I see a pattern emerging.
This time it's @Cactus_Henry
Yin is absolutely gross and truly terrifying model. Henry has managed,
not only a spooky face but picking each organ out to gruesome, realistic level. Yuk!

Best Newcomer

and...

First Place

This month's winner is
@AndyThorngate
The original Master of Terrifying, it's Seamus.
And what a Seamus! Andy's work on clothes, hair and that face,
each bit better than the last culminating in a fantastic paint job
on this classic sculpt.

Extra points for top choice in colour palette and for having Seamus a ginger.

King of the Newcomers this month. I love it.

@AndyThorngate is the Winner of #MFXTOP10 "Terrifying"

and October's

Tyrant of Painting.

#MFXTOP Month 11

The usual reminder, but don't forget each month the Winner and Best Newcomer gets a voucher for Elementgames.co.uk 

The Best Newcomer award is for whoever received the most votes and has not entered #MFXTOP before.

November's Theme

What else could it be but...

"Movember"

Now usually this would mean, Paint any model which has a moustache.
Well that is all the rules are, however have some fun with it if you like.
Don't get me?
Hopefully I can give you a clue with some crappy handy MSPaint work.

If you have any other questions, contact me on twitter where I'll be tweeting rubbish constantly.

As always head over to Element Games and don't forget to listen to Malifools and Fools Daily and lastly...

...if you want to come down south for a tournament next year, check out this link here and get on that interest list.
We hope to make it even bigger and better than the (what seemed) successful September's Curse.

-Ben (@psientologist)