The Oath Thread Season 11 - Busting the Backlog!

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Zark the Damned: Mar 9, 2013

SA Oath Thread Season 11
Welcome to the Oath Thread, a place where we can all get together and paint our stuff!

Useful Links:

Galleries

So, What�s this oathing thing about?
Simply put, each month participants will post an oath stating what they�re going to paint, and hopefully by the end of the month it�ll get done and we�ll all get to see a bunch of nifty painted minis! We�ve found it�s a great way to get motivated, regardless of whether you�re a veteran painter sitting on piles of unused plastic and metal, or a newbie just getting started with the hobby.
As we go along there are bonus monthly challenges designed to get people to experiment with new techniques or paint something you otherwise wouldn�t have gotten around to, plus a set of overall achievements which can be earned any time.

How does oathing work?
Oathing is pretty simple. You just need a digital camera (ones built into modern phones are generally fine), a place to upload your pictures (like Imgur or similar), a computer screen showing the date (more on that later) and of course your models. You�ll then make an Oath post - this should be made during the current Oath month (e.g. for May's oath, post it during May):

Set up your screen of choice to show the Current Time in American Samoa.
Lay out your chosen miniatures around / in front of the screen. Miniatures may be assembled and undercoated (including zenithal priming) but otherwise painting must not have started on them. See the FAQs below for more details.
Take a picture of the lot! Make sure the screen is clearly visible (the important parts are the Date, Time and the American Samoa title) and that the miniatures are countable (it�s fine if they are a bit out of focus so long as we can match them with your oath). If you�re oathing a lot of stuff it�s fine to take multiple pictures.
Your oath does not have to be fully assembled, so it's fine to post a pic of minis on sprue or still in their blister etc. However the minis themselves should be visible, don't just take a picture of the box they come in.
Post in this thread with your picture, the contents of your Oath and a sentence akin to �I, <username>, Oath to paint the following for <month>�. This post should be made within 3 days of the picture being taken, ideally on the same day.
Optionally, let us know the manufacturer(s) and scale(s) of the miniatures you are painting. It's not needed but it can be interesting to see trends

That�s it! You�ve now made your oath, and can start painting. Usually within a few days to a week one of the management team will notice your Oath, add it to the Spreadsheet and post to approve your Oath, but you don�t need to wait for approval to get painting.

Once you�ve finished painting your Oath, you�ll need to make a Completion post:

Take a picture of your completed miniatures. It�s fine to take multiple pictures if you�re painting a bunch of stuff or just want to show it off from several angles.
Optional: Make sure your forum name is clearly visible on the pictures - either you can include this when taking the picture (e.g. on a bit of paper or a screen in the background) or you can edit it onto the picture afterwards.
Post in this thread with your picture(s), the words �Oath Complete�, and any Achievements or Challenges you are claiming (see later). Make sure this post is made before the end of the month in American Samoa.
It�s that simple!

Earning Points
Completing oaths will earn you points! In previous seasons this meant prizes, but in this season they�re mostly for bragging rights. You can earn points in the following ways:

A successfully completed Oath will get you 3 Points.
If you have remembered to add your name to at least one of your completion pictures you get 1 point and that picture will be submitted to the gallery for judging.
If you complete the month�s Challenge you get 1 point.
For each Achievement you complete you get 1 point.
Extra points are available for impressing our celebrity Judges!

You still get credit for your completion if you miss out your name, however these pictures will not be submitted to the Gallery and therefore cannot earn bonus Judge points.

Challenges
Each month will feature one or more themed challenges. Simply paint up something to match a challenge, claim it in your completion post, and earn a bonus point! Note that in order to get this point you must state which miniatures match it - e.g. if you painted up a bunch of wizards, one of whom is throwing a fireball, you might write something like �Fire mage for the OSL challenge�. It�s best to make your claims bold so they�re easy to spot!

If a month has multiple challenge options and you complete several of them this is still only 1 point for 'completing at least one challenge'. When claiming the challenge state which option you have picked.

This season�s monthly challenges are:

May: A flying start - Paint a model that can fly or hover, or has wings or a wing motif. The model doesn't have to have an obvious source of flight assuming they're in the act, maybe they have super powers!
June: Hello, me - Paint a pair of similar models that represent the same character. They could represent different points of their career (e.g. low level vs high level adventurer), alternate universe counterparts, or different scale versions.
July: Feeling the heat - Part of your model should be on fire or otherwise glowing. This is an ideal opportunity to bring out the OSL!
August: Swap Shop - Your model should be a conversion or feature modular parts, e.g. different guns you can equip via magnets or plugs.
September: Back to School, show your work - Post at least three work in progress pictures of your model. If you have a lot of pictures, add them to a gallery and link it.
October: Under the weather - Your model should feature weathering, e.g. rust, mud or heat staining. Alternately they could be under the effects of heavy weather such as a storm, blizzard or hurricane.
November: Can't see me - Use camoflage on your model, or some other way of hiding them like an invisibility cloak or a handy cardboard box.
December: Season's Beatings! - Feature some carnage on your model. This could be battle damage, or the gory remains of their opponent. Alternately paint up at least two figures engaged in combat with each other.
January: Days of grey - Limit your palette to various shades of a single colour to create a monochrome masterpiece. Optionally add in a single accent colour ala Sin City.
February: Wrap up warm - Paint a figure featureing heavy fur or other texture. This doesn't necessarily have to be modelled on, you could paint a fake texture such as marble.
March: Free(hand) as a bird - Add some freehand to your model. This could be something small like kill markings or a tattoo, or something extravagent like an intricate banner or heraldry.
April: Time to shine - Add something shiny to your model. This could be using chrome metallics, NMM, glossy scales, or similar.

Goals / Achievements
In addition to challenges, you can also earn Achievements to gain points. Unlike challenges, these can be earned at any time in the season. Achievements are split into two categories: Automatic and Manual. Unless otherwise stated they are all worth 1 point.

Manual Achievements
These require claiming in a similar fashion the Challenges (e.g. Claiming �Need 4 Speed for the Inquisitor). Some require a bit of extra set up or additional work - check the descriptions carefully!

Stay awhile and listen: Write a story about one or more of the figures you have painted. How did they get those scars? Why are they wielding a variety of golf clubs? What makes them get up in the morning? Post your story alongside your completed pics in addition to your claim.
Need 4 Speed: Paint up one or more of your figures in 24 hours! To do this you need a before and after picture with timestamps (use the American Samoa time as usual; your before pic can be the same as your oath picture). You�re free to post the after picture as soon as it�s ready but make sure to link to it in your completion post so it's not missed.
A faithful replica: Paint one of your miniatures to match the manufacturer�s �official� scheme. When you post your completion, include a picture of the original you�re copying. This also includes painting something to mimic a real life person or object, e.g. if you paint up a historically accurate tank or a tribute to a TV show character.
Get the Crystal: Paint up some game aids as part of your Oath. These could be objectives, status markers (like a vehicle wreck explosion), loot counters or even a customised blast template! State in your completion post what they�ll be used for (e.g. Get the Crystal: Treasure counters for Frostgrave).
Spic and Span: Tidy up your painting space. Post a before picture of the terrible mess your painting area is (this can be with your Oath in the month) and an after picture with everything neat and tidy with all your paints and tools back in their places.
The Daily Double: Paint a figure that matches the challenges from two different months other than the current month. State which challenges you�re doing in your completion post (e.g. Claiming The Daily Double for the helicopter using April and December�s challenges). Alternately if a month has multiple challenges, paint a figure (or figures) which match all of them.
Take one for the team: Paint up a group of at least four related miniatures, such as a Frostgrave Warband, a squad of Space Marines, a Guildball Team, a Dropfleet, and so on. There should be a unifying theme behind the minis such as a logo or colour scheme so they don�t just look like a bunch of random guys.
A recipe for success: Include a list of the colours and techniques you used to paint your figure. If you�ve done a fancy base, include the materials used for it. Basically anything to help other people copy your masterpiece!
Rescue Ranger: Finish painting an already-started model (could be a failed oath from a previous month). Alternately rescue a 2nd hand mini and freshen it up - in this case post a picture of the original paint job before stripping & re-undercoating.
All together now: This can only be claimed during April. Post a picture of everything you have painted for the current Oath season - you may be surprised at how much that is! Optionally, summarise what you�ve painted in the post (e.g. this season I have painted 127 infantry and 3 tanks). In the case of people who aren�t painting anything during April you can still claim this achievement by making a Season Complete post with the picture and description as above.

Automatic Achievements
These are granted automatically upon the completion of the stated goals. You don�t need to claim them as the magic of our Spreadsheet does it automatically!

Getting Started: Complete your first Oath.
Apprentice: Complete your third Oath.
Journeyman: Complete your sixth Oath.
Expert: Complete your ninth Oath.
Master: Complete all twelve Oaths this season!

The Gallery & Judging
Each month�s pictures will be entered into the Gallery for that month.
Only pictures with your name on them will be submitted to the gallery. Additionally, WIP shots and initial Oath pictures will be excluded, what should end up here are the final pics of your oathed miniatures.
The gallery will then be submitted to our panel of celebrity judges who will award bonus points to their favourite 3 oaths (3 points for 1st place, 2 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd), plus an additional point to the one they feel best exemplifies the monthly challenge (this can be one of the above).
Once again we are invoking the Bachtere Clause - anyone who receives 1st or 2nd place in a month can only earn a maximum of 3rd place in the next month from that Judge. This has no effect on the �Best Challenge� points.
Unlike previous seasons, Judges are allowed to participate in Oathing. However they may not choose their own oaths when performing judgement!
This season's judges are Dr. Gargunza, Brock Samsonite and Electric Hobo

Competitions
From time to time Goons may post their own competitions in the Oath thread - usually these will be extra challenges or require painting specific types of model. These competitions are entirely separate to the main Challenges and Achievements and don�t affect your points, although it may be there�s an overlap between them anyway.
It is up to the individual Goons running the competitions to specify the rules and requirements of their competition along with any prizes, although we do ask that at least a month�s notice is given before any such competition is started.

Other Important Info & FAQs
Terrain
Pieces of Terrain may be oathed, pretty much everything that applies to miniatures also applies here.

Bases
As not all miniatures and gaming systems use bases, they are an optional part of the Oath. If you wish to make a fancy base your Oath, that�s fine so long as you state this! Otherwise it�s fine to use pre-painted bases, or even no bases at all, so long as the miniature that will be going on the base is fine.

Coloured Primers
It is fine to use a coloured primer (e.g. red) when submitting your Oath pictures. What�s not OK is pre-shading using an ink wash or similar, with the exception of basic Zenithal priming and shading.

What happens if I fail an Oath?
Not much, you won�t get any points for that month and won�t go into the Gallery. It�s possible that someone could feel bothered enough by this to buy you an Oathbreaker avatar but it�s pretty rare unless you make a habit of it!

Can I make more than one Oath in a month?
Yes, it�s perfectly fine to do this so long as you follow the same rules as the initial Oath. They are usually labelled as �Oath Additions�. However, you need to make sure that all your oaths get completed and are included in a single Completion post, otherwise it counts as failure!

I forgot to post my Oath picture before starting to paint!
We understand that sometimes life gets in the way and people will get distracted between taking pics and posting their Oath. If you have a valid (date stamped, unpainted) �before� picture it�s OK to post it outside of the 3 day window. However, participants who abuse this leniency frequently may have their Oaths rejected, especially towards the end of the month (i.e. don�t take the picture at the start of the month, then post it just before your completion at the end of the month once you�ve done the painting! This is against the spirit of Oathing and will not be looked upon favourably).

Assembly Oaths
While the oath thread is largely about painting your backlog, this year we are allowing Assembly Oaths for model kits e.g. Gunpla and the like. Oath the unassembled figure, preferably still on sprue or in a sealed box, and add pictures of the finished thing in your completion post.

Zark the Damned fucked around with this message at 20:15 on May 16, 2021

# ¿ May 2, 2020 17:41

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 20, 2024 23:46

Zark the Damned: Mar 9, 2013

I, Zark the Damned, Oath the following for May:

1 Spooky Executioner, GW, 28mm
1 Hippogriff, GW, 28mm
1 Griffon, Reaper, 28mm

Going for Rescue Rangers on the Hippogriff. Doesn't show up too well in the pic but it's already been painted a brown/bronze scheme from when I got it eBay many moons ago.

# ¿ May 3, 2020 19:44

Zark the Damned: Mar 9, 2013

Safety Factor posted:

Hello friends, please click the link below and consider participating in my little charity event. We're all bored in lockdown right now so I thought we might be able to channel that into something a little more productive. I will be donating money to a food bank for every model completed in the next couple of months. All you have to do to participate is post pictures of your models though other options will be available for those who'd like to do more. It is somewhat focused on 28mm stuff, but there are other categories available and if your models aren't represented, just let me know and we can work something out.

Full details in the thread, click the banner below to find out more:

I hope it's alright if I bust in here with this too. Y'all are already oathing models, may as well post them in my thread too and get a donation to charity as a bonus.

This is amazing of you, I'm totally fine with you poaching oathers

# ¿ May 8, 2020 14:22

Zark the Damned: Mar 9, 2013

Wondermoose posted:

I, Wondermoose, oath for the month of May, 2020:

1x Venomcrawler (GW)
1x Chaos Space Marine w/ Autocannon (GW)
1x Chaos Space Marine w/ Plasma Gun (GW)

with a rebel yell she QQd posted:

Oath Addition: I, with a rebel yell she QQd, Oath to paint this Bretonnian Knight (GW) - after converting it slightly - for May!

Cat Face Joe posted:

I, Cat Face Joe, oath the following for May:

Securitate, 28mm, Corvus Belli and one weird fat little dragon I found in the bargain bin.

moths posted:

I, moths, oath for May this Gazelle helicopter:

Galaspar posted:

For May I, Galaspar, oath Cthulhu by RNEstudio, a mage of unknown origin, and a scenic base

Ashcans posted:

I, Ashcans, oath a GW Sisters of Battle Eleanor for May

Brock Samsonite posted:

I, Brock Sampsonite, Oath 20 MERCS Recon corp security

Lord Hypnostache posted:

I fell off the oath train for a few seasons, but I think I'm ready to get back to painting regularly

I, Lord Hypnostache, oath one Gargoyle, 28mm Reaper Bones

Duct Tape posted:

This is really awesome of you, thanks for putting that together!

I, Duct Tape, oath for May: four Skaven Plague Monks and the 23 models of a Gellerpox Infected Kill Team (1 Vulgar Thrice-Cursed, 3 Nightmare Hulks, 4 Sludge-Grubs, 4 Cursemites, 4 Glitchlings, 4 Eyestinger Swarms, and 3 Vox-Shamblers).

LazyAngel posted:

I, LazyAngel, oath for May an Anaconda Pilot, from Infinity by Corvus Belli

Basically just a colour test for the rest of the TAG

ape!!! posted:

I ape!!! oath for May my remaining Wild West Exodus minis:
2 hex beasts (zenithal primed in flesh tone)
1 hexalith
1 Garratt Morden

Adding this bust of Arold the Mendacious as well:

Ugleb posted:

New season, what may be the penultimate push on the big box of Hellboy.

I Ugleb, hereby oath for the month of May;
Kriegaffe
Saint Leonard's Wurm
Baba Yaga
Ualac
Hecate
Iron Shoes
Ilsa Von Haupstein
Karl Ruprecht Kronen
Un Mensch

All for Hellboy the boardgame by Mantic Games. (Some names are probably misspelled)

Zark the Damned posted:

I, Zark the Damned, Oath the following for May:

1 Spooky Executioner, GW, 28mm
1 Hippogriff, GW, 28mm
1 Griffon, Reaper, 28mm

Going for Rescue Rangers on the Hippogriff. Doesn't show up too well in the pic but it's already been painted a brown/bronze scheme from when I got it eBay many moons ago.

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

I, Grizzled Patriarch, Oath for the month of May:

1 Mirliton / Grenadier Beholder (1984)