Conquest Paint-a-Character-Challenge Bremen & Bremerhaven

Hi everyone,

A few weeks ago, the Conquest Paint-a-Character Challenge started—a competition aimed at boosting motivation within the community and perhaps even attracting new players to the fantastic tabletop game Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings by Para Bellum. Now that all participants have submitted their work and the judging is complete, I’d like to take the opportunity to give you a recap of the challenge and how it unfolded.

The Idea Behind the Challenge

Previous painting competitions always focused on painting an entire regiment. This time, I wanted to specifically motivate interested individuals and newcomers. Therefore, I extended the duration of the challenge and reduced the number of required figures. This approach was especially relevant since we currently have a small First Blood group, where it's rare to need 12 figures of the same type.

In order to foster creativity with as few limits as possible, the restrictions were minimal. The figure could only be primed, and it had to be a Para Bellum figure. Whether it was an impressive leader, a mounted figure, or another character didn’t matter.

For those interested who didn’t yet have any figures or were simply looking for a particularly stylish entry into the hobby, I offered a small selection of Noble Lords in plastic, which Para Bellum provided me with at a discount as part of their Vanguard program. This offer was well-received by several participants, allowing everyone to start their projects with a base figure.

Judging

Originally, the judging panel consisted of casual painters, but the high quality of the submitted models far exceeded our expectations. To do justice to the effort and artistic skill of the participants, we decided to bring in an expert. This is where Dizzyfinger came into play—also a Vanguard, an experienced painter, and a YouTuber who has consistently impressed us with his expertise on Discord. I asked him if he would take over the judging, and he was immediately excited about the idea of supporting the Paint-a-Character Challenge. Due to his presence at the SPIEL convention in Essen, where he was running demos for Para Bellum, the judging was delayed by about a week, but it was definitely worth the wait!

Dizzyfinger took the time to thoroughly analyze the submitted models. In a special video for the competition, he shared his impressions and thoughts on each figure. He addressed both the technical details and the creative execution, providing valuable feedback.

So, if you'd like a more detailed review, feel free to check out the video (german):

Participant Ratings

I have his notes and had already typed them up neatly, but it ended up being a huge text wall with explanations of the ratings, etc. My test readers said the text wall was too much, so here are just the pictures and the scores.

Elli – Wadrün Predator ↔ 11/20

• Technical Quality: 4/5
• Creativity: 1/5
• Color Composition: 3/5
• Overall Impression: 3/5

Florian – Dweghom Raegh ↔ 10/20

• Technical Quality: 3/5
• Creativity: 2/5
• Color Composition: 3/5
• Overall Impression: 2/5

Frank – 100K Seasoned Veteran ↔ 13/20

• Technical Quality: 3/5
• Creativity: 4/5
• Color Composition: 3/5
• Overall Impression: 3/5
  
  
  
  
  

Hagen – 100K Noble Lord ↔ 13/20

• Technical Quality: 3/5
• Creativity: 4/5
• Color Composition: 3/5
• Overall Impression: 3/5
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Lars – Nords Konungyr ↔ 10/20

• Technical Quality: 3/5
• Creativity: 3/5
• Color Composition: 2/5
• Overall Impression: 2/5
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Moritz – City States Polemarch ↔ 18/20

• Technical Quality: 4/5
• Creativity: 4/5
• Color Composition: 5/5
• Overall Impression: 5/5
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Nino – OD Strategos ↔ 12/20

• Technical Quality: 2/5
• Creativity: 4/5
• Color Composition: 3/5
• Overall Impression: 3/5
  
  
  
  
  

Steffen – Wadrün Raptor Rider ↔ 10/20

• Technical Quality: 2/5
• Creativity: 3/5
• Color Composition: 3/5
• Overall Impression: 2/5
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Mateusz – 100K Noble Lord ↔ 19/20

• Technical Quality: 4/5
• Creativity: 5/5
• Color Composition: 5/5
• Overall Impression: 5/5
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Timm – Dweghom König auf Schild ↔ 12/20

• Technical Quality: 2/5
• Creativity: 5/5
• Color Composition: 2/5
• Overall Impression: 3/5
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

And the Winner Is...

Congratulations to Mateusz for his impressive 100K Noble Lord, achieving a total score of 19/20!

The winner will receive a Vanguard coupon worth €50 for the Para Bellum Wargames Shop, a fantastic incentive that might fund the next Conquest project! A huge thank you also goes out to all participants and supporters.

Best regards,

Hanna