This past December there was a big call for an escalation league in the Maryland 30K facebook page. Every year people get excited to try the ‘new year, new army’ approach so we decided to give a venue for interested hobbyist to make monthly commitments to paint and play with their new force (or an addition to an existing army). The rules were straightforward. Every month you post a 500 point pledge of what you want to paint and post an update once it is painted. You also try to get a game in with someone using your current pledge level, and we had monthly game days to give another venue to play. You earn points for completing a monthly pledge, playing with that pledge and for attending the monthly game night.
Interest was pretty strong this year. Over 25 members of the Maryland 30K took the plunge and began work in earnest. We ran the league from 1 Jan – 14 April. Players were given 6 weeks for their first 500 points for the month of January, and 4 weeks each for the February and March pledge. I think giving 6 weeks up front encouraged people to stick with it. Everyone was encouraged to post progress pics whenever they liked to help provide motivation for other participants.
Of the 25 members who started out, only 4 or 5 completed their full pledge. Bad ratio you say? I am inclined to think that if people painted one model, one unit or one pledge level they have still made hobby progress. Life happens, and sometimes we do not get to spend as much time on a hobby as we would like. My goal was not to shame people for not completing a pledge, simply to offer a venue to show your progress. Even if you only planned a pledge / paint scheme or built some models, you are still a step closer to finishing your personal goals!
I highly recommend doing something similar with your gaming group. Whether it is just you and a friend or a large gaming group, you can find satisfaction in building, painting and playing with new models on the board. Being able to encourage each other and help motivate each other when you start to flag is a great way to make positive progress.
Below you will see examples of completed pledges. Taken as a whole, I am happy to have thousands more points of painted models in the Maryland 30K scene 🙂
For my part, I finished 1500 points of Word Bearers!
Adam knocked out multiple armies during this time, completing both Ultramarines and Iron Hands! The man is a machine that cannot be slowed down!
Zach knocked out 1500 points of Thousand Sons, and we were able to play our 1,000 point lists against each other…Psychic SHENANIGANS!
Shawn completed 1500 points of Alpha Legion.
Robert (of Remembrancer’s Retreat) completed 1,000 points of mechanicum, which I got to play against during one of the Richmond events.
Evan finished 1,000 points of Ravenguard, which I played against with my Word Bearers.
Matt knocked out 1,000 points of Solar Auxilia, which is an impressive feat in of itself.
One Andrew finished 1,000 points of Salamanders.
The other Andrew completed 500 points of Emperor’s Children
Blake finished 1,000 points of Cobra themed militia…Awesome right!?
Kris completed 500 points of beautiful Blood Angels.
Phil did 500 points of Iron Hands
Duncan completed some militia (missing some pictures, sorry!)
The Remebrancer’s Retreats very own Will completed Valdor. He looks pretty all by himself 😉
Finally, Roxy did up some Iron Hands!
I hope you enjoyed seeing everyone’s work, I know I enjoyed seeing all the progress. Until next time. -Ryan
