Sunday, January 26, 2014

Selection of the 'Vehicle(s)' Fortnight Bonus Theme Entries

Wow, what a hectic week! As many of you know we had an superb selection of figures for the 'Vehicles' bonus round with entries ranging from wagons to canoes and from camels to spaceships. The voting was incredibly tight as well, with a half dozen participants see-sawing up the roster throughout the week - a point gained here, a gap opening there. Everything seemed to be unfolding at a measured pace winding its way to the finish. Well, until the last hour. Then all hell broke loose when the poll was deluged with several hundred votes from two specific newsgroups.  Now, while I'm delighted with the prospect of my unprepossessing painting duels have garnered some wider interest but I was soon dismayed by the violent changes these last minute votes made to the established standings. It was suspect and just didn't make any sense. (Is there such a thing as 'Poll Bombing'?)

Anyway, I decided to resolve the situation by simply using the voting numbers that I had logged about an hour before the poll closed, which was around the same time as when the hunnic voters appeared on the horizon. I think this is fair and sensible as it maintains both the spirit of the event and the voting 'trajectory' of the of the bonus round.

So, moving right along...

While the votes for first and second place were fairly comfortable, the race for third was very close indeed, with no more than 30 points separating five entries. So in this spirit I'd like to bring to attention those who were running up to 3rd.

Lord Hill's grim but poignant casualty cart leaving Waterloo,


Christopher's hauntingly beautiful Indians portaging a waterfall,


Martin's wonderfully rusted and begrimed Daimler armoured car, 


... and my quasi-festive (not) 1812 French Retreat snow sledges.



Nevertheless, Anne began to pull away during the closing weekend and so seized 3rd place with her wonderfully realized and amazingly painted Monkey-Piloted Flying Carpet (those mushrooms just kill me btw). Anne will get an additional 25 points added to her Challenge tally. This will be her second podium finish in the thematic rounds AND will give her enough points to meet her Challenge target. Congratulations Anne!



For  2nd place MichaelA created this marvellously whimsical gypsy caravan. I think many who visited the gallery loved the attention to detail he put into his entry, from the scrollwork around the doors to the cat and hedghog lounging below the axles. A wonderful piece that will give Michael 50 points to add to his roster. Well done Michael!



Finally, in first place we have an entry which, much like my previous 'Winter-as-Villain' entry, challenges the interpretation of the week's theme. In this Andrew describes his imagination itself being his 'vehicle' and as such composed a fantasy diorama depicting a brave hero duelling a monstrous spider near her webbed lair (why do we always think of spiders as being female?).  The painting is simply superb with the entire scene telling a story of derring do. Fantastic.



For his efforts Andrew will receive 75 points along with this fitting vignette from Westfalia Miniatures.  ;0)


So please join me in congratulating the winners of our latest thematic bonus round. Well done and bravo to Anne, Michael and Andrew!

23 comments:

  1. I think you did the right Curt,while its nice to get other people involved in the voting, you just can't trust some sites, we had a chat about it on facebook and couldn't believe some of the number?? But like I said you've done the right thing.
    Well done to the top 3!!!! Love the Nappies too!

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  2. Well done all. Deserved winners. Poll bombing.. Tsk..

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  3. That voting attack sounds very suspect.
    Congrats to well deserved winners.
    Cheers

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  4. Big Congrats to the top three, As well as all the other entries. Such a wide variety of Vehicles.

    I concur with Ray I think you have tackled this the right way. If the votes had come in much earlier..... that would no doubt created a different set of...... erh... erm "problems" or outcomes.

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  5. I think you did the right thing Curt. Congrats to Anne, Michael and Andrew on their top 3 placings :)

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  6. All very strange, I had looked at the poll on Sunday morning and was thrilled to see that I was in with a shout of some bonus points, by the time I next looked after supper it was a very different picture! Vast amounts of votes had been cast and I had tumbled from the rankings - The Saintly Mrs. Awdry had to deal with a very crest fallen young soldier; she even cast a vote on my behalf to cheer me up. So where did they come from Curt? I am curious to know. That said, I am very grateful for your decision and of course the extra points - thank you.

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  7. Three great looking pieces that challenge the theme well. All deserved wins and Curt, you made the correct decision regarding the votes.

    Cheers, Ross

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  8. I didn't know about the poll bombing until I got on FB and read about it., I think you did a fine job of handling the situation Curt. Congratulations to Sir Michael on his splendid entry and to Andrew for having the courage and the creativity to submit that spider.

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  9. Fantastic entries all round - well done to the finalists and to all participants!

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  10. Well done all. Michael's entry was fantastic and my clear favourite thus far. Curious to know where these last minute votes came from and who organized them.

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  11. Well I think the people that have won did some beautiful work, well deserved victories I believe.

    Out of curiosity where are the numbers gone.

    John

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  12. Well done to all, love the figures as they made me smile

    Ian

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  13. Well done to our winners, and a bigger well done to our umpire for the call on when to cut the vote off.
    Cheers
    PD

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  14. I wish I had remembered to vote. Well done to the winners, they are really exceptional pieces. I think Curt handled the situation perfectly. Ebay style point sniping in the 11th hour is bogus.

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  15. Congratulations to everyone! Especially to Andrew! even if his "vehicle" was a bit imaginative, it was still marvelously executed!

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  16. Fantastic work to all, and three very worthy winners. Incredibly difficult choosing any finalists out of the field, but Anne's, Michael's and Andrew's are each of them something very special. Well done all!

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  17. Well done all round,
    Worthy winners and great call Curt

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  18. This round, especially, was very hard to choose. Congrats to the winners - they're all splendid bits of work. I especially love Anne's flying carpet.

    Clearly, I'm going to have to step up my game if I want to place in the challenge rounds.

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  19. I look away for a couple of days and miss all the kerfuffle.

    Congrats to the winners though - well deserved I think.

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  20. A worthy podium all round. As for the voting, back in the 70s, there was a saying in Northern Ireland - "vote early, vote often". Sounds like somebody got the bots working. I was away, so didn't see the Sunday swing, but it sounds like you made the right call.

    Pip pip

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  21. So first of all congratulations to all participants! And of course my heart felt applause to the winners. It was a tough race and there were some absolutely outstanding entries which unfortunately couldn't make the race as we all know there's only space for three on the podium.
    As to the poll bomb I'd say you chose the only viable and fair solution Curt.

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  22. Well done guys. All great entries and thoroughly deserving of their place. You did the right thing on the poll Curt too.

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  23. A fantastic round and I agree with everyone else, I think you made the right call on this Curt. Something was definitely 'fishy' about the voting at the end (according to all reports, I didn't witness it in person) and you made a sensible decision.

    Loki's spider was IMHO a great interpretation of the theme and a vey well deserved winner.

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