Lead Painters' League Season 5 Rules

[Captain Blood]

Lead Adventure Forum proudly presents



LPL5 Rules


Participants

Obviously as it’s a ‘league’ we need an even number of participants, so that each round will see an equal number of matches. Due to the software used to manage the league pairings, we will no longer be able to accept any new participants after the first round.
So if you intend to take part, you MUST submit an entry in time for the first round, i.e. by 12.00 GMT on Saturday 12 March 2011.


Duration

The league will run for a total of 10 rounds, with each round taking one week of real time. The intention is that these rounds will run consecutively over a 10 week period - although we know from past experience that sometimes real life gets in the way. So don’t be too surprised if there is a hiatus of a week or two here or there!


Entries

Participants will enter pictures of their ‘teams’.

A team consists of a number of painted figures - at least five, but more if you wish. The ‘team’ must follow a common theme. For example, you might enter a cowboy posse, but not Masai led by a Silver Age Superhero or German Fallschirmjägers led by Indiana Jones. Other than that, a ‘team’ might be a ‘posse’, ‘squad’, ‘gang’, ‘group’ or even a ‘regiment’ – the sky’s pretty much the limit.

To recap - at least five figures following a single, distinct theme.
The team must represent a homogenous group - not antagonists from the same period. It's supposed to be a team.

The entry should not be an out-and-out collage of individual pictures, but primarily a ‘group shot’ of the team, in either scenic setting or against a plain backdrop, as you prefer. You may add closeups or cutaways of small aspects, like faces, equipment, etc. and / or show different angles of the same figures (front and rear view for instance). But the main focus of the image must be on ‘the team’.

You are NOT allowed to post pictures of your team elsewhere on the LAF while the team is active in the LPL. Only after that team has ceased competing.


How to enter

All entries must be emailed as jpeg attachments to lpleague3@yahoo.co.uk and must meet a previously-specified deadline - namely 12.00 GMT on the Saturday before the ensuing round opens on Sunday.

Each entry should consist of an image not exceeding 800x800 pixels. All competitors must resize their own images before submitting them. This means they can be uploaded straight into the competition pages without any work in photoshop. Your images can be smaller than this if you like - but not bigger. If you don’t know how to resize images, please ask someone before the competition gets underway.


Painting

All figures must be completely painted, and all bases must be finished. We ONLY accept pictures of finished models, ‘work in progress’ (WIP) shots are NOT allowed.


Scale

There are no scale restrictions. From 2mm to 120mm and beyond - anything goes.
Of course, the scale should be consistent within the team, although you might enter different teams in different scales, and there might be some leeway for scales within teams (for example including a larger-scale figure as a ‘giant’ in a group of otherwise smaller-scale figures - just make sure all figures follow a consistent theme).


Composition of the Team

The only thing NOT acceptable as part of a team is any type of terrain, which may only be used as a backdrop for your entry.
Other than that, you may enter any assembly of miniatures, including humans, aliens, monsters, animals, robots, vehicles, ships, aircraft, spacecraft etc., or a combination thereof - for example a team of humans and animals or of humans and a vehicle (or multiple vehicles). The ONLY stipulation being that the team must follow a consistent theme.
Note: Mounted figures (i.e. mount and rider) count as one figure for the purposes of the competition. In other words, a team of cavalry must consist of 5 or more horses and riders.


League Tables

All results will be collected in a ‘League Table’, updated after each round to show the prevailing state of the championship.


Matches

In each round, a number of matches will be held. In each match, two randomly-determined participants will face each other, the winner being determined by public vote in a Poll linked to the respective match.

Depending on the number of votes cast, participants receive League Points.


Points

There are four ways of accumulating points in the Lead Painters’ League:

1.   Points for winning, drawing or losing a match
2.   Vote bonus points – the more votes you get, the more points you get
3.   New team bonus points – get extra points for every new team you enter
4.   Theme round bonus points – get points for painting a team to a set theme


1. Points for winning, drawing or losing a match

If the difference between overall votes cast for either competitor is five or less, the match is considered a draw and both participants receive 20 points.

If the difference between votes is six or more, the participant who received more votes is considered the winner and receives 30 points, whereas his opponent, the loser receives 10 points.

However, since it isn´t a knock-out system, losing a round will NOT mean you have to leave the league, just a drop in the league table! If you put on a good show in the following rounds, you may still claw your way back to the top.


2. Vote Bonus Points

In addition to points allocated for winning, drawing or losing, participants also receive ‘vote bonus points’ dependent on the number of votes cast for their entry in any given round.
For this, the total number of votes cast for the participant is divided by 10, the result being the number of vote bonus points the participant receives, ranging from 0 (9 votes or less) to a maximum of 15 (150 votes or more).


3. ‘New Team’ Bonus Points and Replacement Teams

You do NOT have to enter a new team in every new Round, but you are ALLOWED to do so.
You may compete with a single team for the whole season: even if a team should lose a match, it will NOT be dismissed from the competition. Note however, that you receive 10 bonus points for every NEWLY-PAINTED (PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED) team you enter.

Again, bonus points will be scored for newly-painted teams - which means previously unpublished ones. In other words, groups of figures which have not been shown before, either here or on other internet forums. You can enter ‘old’ teams if you like - but if they’ve been pictured online or in print before - no bonus points.
Please tell me when you send your entry if it’s a ‘new’ team or an ‘old’ one.

In round one, bonus points will NOT be earned for entering a new team in the league because everyone is entering a new team into the start of the League - even if some of those teams were not 'newly painted'.
From Round Two onward, bonus points will be awarded for entering a new team which is newly painted (or previously unpublished)
 
Please also clearly state the name of your team / entry. Please try not to make the titles of teams too long. They all have to be typed in by hand as each match is set up. And there is only a certain field size available for the title of each match. Do me a favour and keep the titles short as you can please  

It’s perfectly acceptable to use one team for the whole season, although that’s not really in the spirit of the league.
Participants may enter new teams between rounds, but NOT during a round.


Withdrawals

Once you've entered a team and the competition is running, withdrawal from the league part-way through is not permitted. If you decide you no longer want to take an active part (by entering new teams, for instance), that's entirely your decision. But your most recently entered team will still carry on being matched in any remaining rounds of the league. Alternatively, you can nominate one of your earlier teams to see out the rest of the competition.
What you can't do, is demand to end your participation altogether.
(Well, you can demand it, but it won't happen  )


4. Theme Bonus Rounds

Rounds 1, 5 and 10 will be ‘theme bonus rounds’, in which participants may enter teams that follow a previously-determined theme. If they meet the theme, they will be awarded a bonus of "x" points.

For LPL5 we have taken up what seemed to be some of the more popular suggestions made by LAF members in the thread here: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=18831.0


Round 1 bonus theme: Civilians and bystanders

Pretty straightforward - for round 1, LPL5, paint a team of five or more non-combatant civilians or bystanders, and gain 10 bonus points.
The subject can be historical, pseudo-historical, fantasy, sci-fi or imaginary – whatever you like. But they must be unarmed civilians.


Round 5 bonus theme: Africa

Again, pretty straightforward. Anything African, from Ancient Egypt or Numidia, all the way through to the Afrika Korps, Mogadishu and everything in between - including subjects like Zulus, Boers, colonial forces and so on.
I do appreciate this is tough on pure sci-fi and fantasy enthusiasts - but them’s the breaks. In previous LPLs, we’ve had plenty of non-historical bonus round themes (zombies, VSF etc) which I’ve had to grit my teeth and paint!    
So…
Paint a team of five or more miniatures with a plausible African connection, and gain 10 bonus points.
Paint a team of five or more miniatures with a plausible African connection and include a second team of five or more miniatures portraying their opponents, and gain 20 bonus points.


Round 10, grand finale bonus theme: Scenes (or teams) from famous movies!

Now this is slightly tricky because one person’s definition of a famous movie may not be the same as the next person’s.
So to be clear, by ‘a famous movie’, we mean a movie which a majority of LAFers would have seen, heard of, or come across. You’re just going to have to play by the spirit of the rules on this one.
If you submit a team and claim it represents a well-known scene or group from a movie which neither The Prof or I have heard of, then you won’t get the bonus points. The Moderators’ decision is final.
I’m sure everyone understands what is intended by this theme, so please try to paint an entry which lives up to the theme, rather than trying to find ways around it!
  
Paint a team of five or more miniatures representing a recognisable scene or group from a famous movie, and gain 10 bonus points.
Paint a team of five or more miniatures representing a recognisable scene or group from a famous movie, and include a second team of five or more miniatures portraying their opponents, and gain 20 bonus points.
Paint a team of five or more miniatures representing a recognisable scene or group from a famous movie, include a second team portraying their opponents, and include a vehicle, large animal, creature, or piece of scenery specific to that movie*, and gain 30 bonus points.

* Note this is an exception to the usual rule that terrain cannot count as part of an entry, only serve as a backdrop. For the purposes of bonus points in round 10, a recognisable piece of scenery specific to the movie concerned will qualify for the extra bonus points.


The Championship Title

After the final round of the league (round 10), the winner will be the participant who collected the greatest number of League Points. Should two participants have scored an equal number of League Points, we´ll hold ‘paint-offs’ - but probably, this will not be necessary.

The first three places will be awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze status and will receive a special notation to their LAF account and post info.


Timings, Registration and Deadlines

In a change to previous LPLs, each of the 10 rounds of matches will generally commence on Sunday afternoon / evening (or exceptionally on the following Monday morning). It really depends on the time I have available between all sorts of other stuff. But I’m afraid it’s not possible to commit that it will always be at the same time every Sunday night or Monday morning. If it has to be earlier in the day on Sunday, then it will have to be.

The first round of the first season will start on Sunday March 13th, 2011.

Entries to any round must be received by 12.00 GMT on the Saturday before the next round opens on Sunday / Monday.

Which means that you have until 12.00 GMT on Saturday 12 March 2011, to get your round 1 entry in at lpleague3@yahoo.co.uk


Please don’t submit entries before Sunday 27 February as I will not be checking the mailbox before that date and you won’t get an acknowledgement.


Entry Deadlines and Round Durations for the Season Four will be:

Round 1  Saturday March 12
Round 2  Saturday March 19
Round 3  Saturday March 26
Round 4  Saturday April 2
Round 5  Saturday April 9
Round 6  Saturday April  16  
Round 7  Saturday April 23
Round 8  Saturday April 30
Round 9  Saturday May 7
Round 10 Saturday May 14


Please also note that if life, work and other commitments get in the way, it's possible that once the competition is up and running, there may be one or two interruptions to the smooth flow of the rounds - which may delay subsequent rounds by a week or two. I'll try to avoid this, but it may become necessary.
But hopefully not. We’ll see…  

PLEASE USE THIS RULES THREAD ONLY FOR QUESTIONS OR CLARIFICATIONS ON THE RULES.
FOR GENERAL COMMENT ON LPL5, PLEASE USE THE GENERAL LPL5 THREAD http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=25906.0
Thanks.
 

[OSHIROmodels]

All good stuff and I like the bonus rounds, interesting subjects and should get the grey cells working.

One question though, this years LPL is number 5 but the e-mail is number three? I'm assuming this is intentional.

cheers

James

[gamer Mac]

Sounds good.
Like most of the bonus rounds.
I will need to think about it though.
Not 100% sure whether to do it this year or not

[Mancha]

Well, I'm definately in.  My goal is ten fresh entries, although they'll probably be pretty darn straightforward.  I have two out of the three bonus rounds figured out--one of them meshed perfectly with an entry I was planning anyway--but that movie round actually has me stymied.  I might have to spend time that should have been spent painting, watching movies instead.  

Thanks to Alex, Captain Blood and Ray Rivers for making it happen.  

Captain, may I suggest that you lock the other announcement thread, so we can concentrate our discussion in only one thread.

[Froggy the Great]

Do vehicles count as one of the five figures, or do they count as terrain?

I would assume that a bike, for example, would count as a horse, but what about a car?

[gamer Mac]

Froggy from above

Composition of the Team

The only thing NOT acceptable as part of a team is any type of terrain, which may only be used as a backdrop for your entry.
Other than that, you may enter any assembly of miniatures, including humans, aliens, monsters, animals, robots, vehicles, ships, aircraft, spacecraft etc., or a combination thereof - for example a team of humans and animals or of humans and a vehicle (or multiple vehicles). The ONLY stipulation being that the team must follow a consistent theme.
Note: Mounted figures (i.e. mount and rider) count as one figure for the purposes of the competition. In other words, a team of cavalry must consist of 5 or more horses and riders.

This bit might explain
of humans and a vehicle (or multiple vehicles). The ONLY stipulation being that the team must follow a consistent theme.

[Blackwolf]

I'm looking forward to this,thanks Capt.,Prof and Ray 

[Andy0476]

Already a big thank you to the organising holy trinity Prof/Cap/Ray!

I really like the stipulation on the constructive comments. This will keep the lesser gifted painters (like me) motivated to keep sending in new entries and thus learn new things. If the LPL will be half as much fun as last edition it will already be a succes!

Good bonusrounds too. The film round will see fantastic entries, with all the creative minds here! Looking forward too it!

[Wirelizard]

I'll definitely be in! I love all three bonus round ideas, and I have enough of a backlog of unpainted and painted-but-never-seen stuff to take me though most of the LPL!

I've even got a batch of Pulp Figures civvies just leaving the painting table (finally!) that'll do perfectly for the 1st round bonus. Excellent!

[Captain Blood]

One question though, this years LPL is number 5 but the e-mail is number three? I'm assuming this is intentional.

I was wondering who was going to be first to spot that. Well done Pike 
It's the mailbox I used for entries in LPL3 - there didn't seem much point opening another email account just for the sake of a digit 

Do vehicles count as one of the five figures, or do they count as terrain?
I would assume that a bike, for example, would count as a horse, but what about a car?

'Single rideable' things like bikes and horses with a rider on board count as one figure.
Vehicles (cars, vans, trucks, wagons, etc) can count as separate team members.
You are also free to include vehicles and so on as part of any scenic setting or backdrop of course.

Captain, may I suggest that you lock the other announcement thread, so we can concentrate our discussion in only one thread.

Thanks Jason, I understand why you've suggested that, but my intention was that specific queries about the rules should be added to this thread, and general chit-chat about the season in general be added to the other, so for the time being I'll leave them both open. But I will add something to that effect to each of the threads.

[Hammers]

Thanks Jason, I understand why you've suggested that, but my intention was that specific queries about the rules should be added to this thread, and general chit-chat about the season in general be added to the other, so for the time being I'll leave them both open.

Good move.

[Remgain]

OK!

This time I'm in too.

Marco

[Ray Rivers]

Well... I will give it my best shot boys to do the sums correctly but be advised that math was never one of my strengths.   

So I advise everyone to calculate their scores after each round and if you see any problem with the totals, let me know immediately and I will do a double check.

Also....

Regarding vehicles... if I remember correctly, while a vehicle may count as a member of the team, I do believe it was ruled in the past, that a rider on the vehicle did not.  Kinda like a cavalryman.  So if you have a M113 with a machine gunner in a turret, that is ONE member of the team and not two.

But I shall, of course, allow the good Captain to weigh in here so that things are perfectly clear.

Anyway, good luck to all, and looking forward to another Great Show!   

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Regarding vehicles... if I remember correctly, while a vehicle may count as a member of the team, I do believe it was ruled in the past, that a rider on the vehicle did not.  Kinda like a cavalryman.  So if you have a M113 with a machine gunner in a turret, that is ONE member of the team and not two.

Yes, how Ray says, a vehicle counts as a member. The driver not. A second driver (third, fourth,...) would count ( as long it's not just a head sticking out from a gap).

[Faber]

wonderful!
I think I will join the competition.
Damn, I have to start...NOW! 
Faber