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Okay, so now that multiple people are doing 7-day challenges, here's the present iteration of rules and guidelines. Please note that these challenges are fan-run and not officially endorsed by or affiliated with Reaper Miniatures. Reaper may, at their sole discretion, offer a prize when such challenges overlap with contests, but for the most part these are just for kicks and maybe some forum fame. The Basics: 1. You may use no brushes larger than Size 0. As Size 0 can vary by company and brand, the average bristle dimensions are 10mm long by 1mm wide. When selecting brushes, try to be as close to this guideline as possible. 2. You have 7 full days to complete from your posted start time (including a picture with a time stamp from a phone or computer screen is helpful to establish this) to complete the model. 3. All visible areas must be painted, and all paint must be applied with a regulation brush. 4. No drilling, filing, mold line removal or other prepwork is permitted before start time. The only preparation allowed is to dry fit your pieces to make sure the model is complete, and do any boiling and reshaping necessary to correct warpage and return the model to "factory spec". You may also clean the pieces with soap and water. 5. All pieces as included in the box set at retail must be painted. This includes, for example, the 5 adventurer figures included with Dragons Don't Share 2. (Note that this means you cannot remove any parts) 6. You must declare in your thread title that you are doing a 7-day challenge (ex: Kaladrax in 7 Days; Khanjira in 7 Days). This way your thread gets noticed as a challenge so I can watch the fun and make arrangements for the prize if you succeed. 7. Eligible models for the challenge are: Khanjira, Kaladrax Reborn, Dragons Don't Share 2, and (when available) Ma'aldrakkar. FAQ: What about inks and pigments? - Inks, washes, and pigments are treated as paint. So long as you apply them with a size 0, it's fine. Note that previously inks were not allowed, but it was easier to treat them all as paint than to codify a dozen special cases. What if I want to add custom terrain or other models as a diorama? - The challenge only covers the painting of the retail set model. In general, this is plenty of work as is. There is no prohibition against doing extra work during the 7 days, but if you can leave it until after you complete the challenge it would be best so as to ensure you finish in time. This is my strong recommendation, as any leftover time during painting can be used to help polish your paint job after completing the basic requirements. In a competition, when such is running, terrain and mods are neither penalized nor worth extra points, so serve as wasted time and are best left out until after. (Note: greenstuffing gaps counts as terrain for this purpose, you don't get any extra points for gap-filling. The challenge only covers the model as stock and the painting of it) Is it really that grueling? - Yes. The challenge is designed so that you will never have enough time to do all that you want to do and must make compromises. It is also unusually taxing physically and mentally. It is important to pace yourself and it is easy to set out too ambitiously. This is also why extraneous work is best left until afterward. It's a lot to do on a deadline and will almost certainly mess with your head a little. Do I get a prize for doing this crazy thing? - Yes. All who successfully complete the challenge will get a Not-Trophy from me. Not-Trophies may be subject to change based on availability but presently consist of a Certificate of Survival from the International Goblinhood of Painters, and a small faux-bronzed figure. There will also be a small digital title you may add to your signature to show off your feat to everyone (collect them all!) Do I have to use Reaper Liner Colours as a Basecoat? - No. Many people do in order to help mitigate wear and tear from handling because it works very well on Bones material. Unless you are sure of using a very robust paint, it's probably not a bad idea. But it is not required, only recommended. What if I find out I have missing or damaged pieces partway through? - Dry-fitting of parts is highly recommended before starting to check for errors or warping, but in the event you discover an issue while already underway you can contact Reaper for a replacement and then continue the challenge with all the bits you have. This will count as a completion. If you have duplicate parts, such as two front legs instead of a left and right, you must paint both duplicate parts (the duplicate thus standing in for the proper piece as a stunt double). This also applies to damaged parts. This prevents the need to stop the challenge to wait on a replacement. When said replacement arrives, you may complete and assemble the model for show-off purposes. This sort of scenario should be quite rare. Can I tape three 0 brushes together, or use one size 0 in each hand? - You may not modify your size 0 in any way unless said modification is subtractive. i.e. - you can cut the bristles and flatten the ferrule to make a more flat brush out of your regulation size 0. You cannot make any modification that is additive (taping multiple brushes together). You can, however, use one brush in each hand. This is not likely to work very well, however, and will probably waste time rather than save it. Can I use super glue accelerant if it is a spray? - Yes, but only if you do not otherwise use it to alter the paintable surfaces. You may only use it during assembly for its designed purpose. When assembling the model, the participant can use any sort of adhesive desired - or even none at all if it can hold together without it. This is to allow those who wish to do extra work to do so after entering their challenge, so that the model may be easily disassembled at that time. Can I modify the figures, remove parts, or give them new bases? - No, all parts included in the kit as stock must be painted. It's best to just paint it as is and do any modifications after the challenge. Done carefully, this should be achievable without major damage to painted pieces. I messed up on my paintjob and want to remove some paint. Can I? - Yes, but only if you intend to reapply paint over that area. You could not, for example, paint an area and then wipe it off with a cloth to remove paint and then use this as quick shading - the cloth would count as an outside and invalid tool used to alter the finish.

Hi, I'm WhiteWulfe, some say I'm an "insane" fox that can't pass the entrance exam, and others say I'm just nuts. Ever since finding out about the 7-Day challenges I've wanted to give them a whirl. Today, this happens. Originally I wanted to start last night, but my desk was a mess, paints were everywhere, and so I listened to rational..... goblins...? o_O who suggested that maybe I should tidy things up first, get some sleep, and THEN actually start. Good thing, because tiredness hit a lot earlier last night than I was expecting! First and foremost, for those not familiar with the rules for such challenges, the official post for them can be found over here, but it basically boils down to "paint absurdly large miniature (or set of minis), in full, in seven days.... WITH A SIZE ZERO BRUSH." Many thanks to @buglips*the*goblin for starting such delightful insanity, and several others for providing inspiration through their challenges, and awesome to follow threads. I hope mine is just as fun to read as it goes on.... ^_^;;;;;;;;;;;;; Oh, well, the terrain in Dragons Don't Share 2014 Edition (affectionately referred to as DDS2) doesn't look that big in the photos, riiiiight....? Yeaaaaah, guess again. it's a decent size. Okay, my camera isn't the biggest of them all since it is a Panasonic Lumix G85 (G80/G81 in some parts of the world) and that's "only" the Lumix 12-60mm kit lens, but still. It's BIGGER THAN THE CAMERA in pretty much all dimensions. 12 oz / 355 mL can of cola (Coca-Cola), 20 Oz mason jar, dropper bottle, and Citadel paint pot for size reference. Same thing with the Kcups - and now you know what a fox likes to drink for his coffee! Also, that's still a real 8.5" of height on the dragon's wing. Please note these photos were all dry fitting when I first got the mini, and I wanted to take a few silly pics of this and that, as well as some scale ones, since I hadn't really found any out there other than people saying it's a big mini. A quick FAQ for those who might be curious.... Are you nuts?!?!?! ...Uhm, quite possibly? Why the challenge? Because it seemed fun at the time, and hubby said it sounded like fun. Your spouse said yes?!?!?!!? Yup, he even encouraged it. Why this week in particular? Because I take Samhain / Hallowe'en off pretty much every year, and wanted something to do other than murder all the things in some random game. Why DDS2? Truth be told... At it's price point, it was the main one that appealed to me. Khanjira is tempting, sure, but it's more of a kaiju than a dragon, and dragons are awesome. Ma'al is, uhm, well.... If this goes well, and I get permission to do another, and then a third... Third ~MIGHT~ be Ma'al. We shall see. Kaladrax was an instant no due to not really being available at retail. Your spouse is seriously okay with this? See a few points back - it was partially his idea! Do you have an actual game plan? Uhm... Truthfully? Other than my theme of "LARPing Gone Wrong - Friday Night at New City"... NOPE. I do have basic colour schemes, and a plan of attack for day one though, if that counts for much. What's New City? New City Suburbs was an old hangout I used to frequent on a regular basis... When it was still downtown. Been to a few good shows there, had a lot of good times, and sadly, the old theater it was in was demolished and turned into some fancy store or restaurant or something. Suburbs became Armoury, and it died a terrible death, and sadly we no longer have a goth/punk/EpicAwesomeness bar in town. I can't say what Friday's event was actually called, so we'll call it "Triple B", and it was always full of awesomeness. Plus they had a JägerMeister tap machine, which meant I could actually get some of that delicious brown-grey gunk of amazingness. Why the playful jab at LARPing? ....In all honesty, because a co-worker has been trying for years to get me to come to various LARP events in the area (even as an NPC!), but mainly because of the simple fact that said coworker has been somewhat of a sounding board for various ideas. Oh, and of course it'll help sort of explain the whole goth raver thing going on. Do you think you'll succeed? I'm aiming for completion. Will it happen? Time shall tell if I succeed or fail, but I intend on having fun when going into this, and that's my main goal! What do you hope to learn by doing this? In all honesty? More speed painting techniques, more tabletop techniques, and arguably most importantly in my eyes the ability to go back to painting a mini and just being happy with it, instead of constantly fiddling with this and that, and taking downright forever to actually get one done. That and I want an epic dragon of doom to put on our shelves to display! ^How things looked Friday night, with the ominous wording of "SOONTM". For the record, that's an 18x12" cutting mat that the box is mostly covering... And that's just the INSERT box that you can see sticking out of the retail box... ...And so, now, that leaves us here, on Saturday morning... More or less having gotten enough sleep, or so I hope..... As a semi-old, not really all that old, but still saying would say... Pain begins... NOW. Or, in my case, let doomsday (aka the 7 day challenge) commence!

I say attempted because of two reasons... First is this is the show off thread, and secondly, no official confirmation yet on the dates since @buglips*the*goblin has been occupied with other things, although a part of me suspects that @OneBoot might vouch. At least on the times WIP Thread: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/83285-whitewulfe-attemps-the-seven-day-goblin-challenge-dragons-dont-share-2014-edition/ This post may or may not be wordy, I haven't decided yet. I'm tired, I'm sore, my eyes burn, but... It. Is. DONE! At least in my eyes. A lot of things aren't as well done as I'd like, but that's what happens when you lose the equivalent of almost two full days to surprise contractors. Thankfully I had terrain to work on while they took up most of that time! Rules thread: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/69639-7-day-goblin-challenge-official-rules/ Just what is the 7-Day Goblin Challenge? Well, I summarize it as follows: Stupidly large mini, comically small brush. Right now, it's four different minis you can choose from, you can only use up to a size 0 brush, aaaaand you have all of seven days to finish it. That's it. No airbrushes, no fancy paper towel tricks, no smearing paint with your fingers (as that's a "brush" that's bigger than size 0!), no direct application of paint, no aerosol cans... You get the idea. ^_^;;; Start time: October 27th, at 09:05 MST/MDT (aka -07:00 GMT) End time: Nov 3rd, at 02:02 MST/MDT Getting all of this to fit in my mock lighting setup was an absolute pain, doubly so since I had to steal hubby's painting light to try and get even lighting across things. o_O ^Starting setup, with time displayed ^Ending setup, with time displayed. At this point, I technically had 7 hours and 3 minutes left in my seven days, and by the time I'm done writing this it'll probably be a full hour later (something about editing down over forty pictures, and that's AFTER I filtered redundant pics out of the equation o_O) In order to not make this an absolute pain to scroll through, I'll showcase key pictures, with additional detail pics being hidden behind spoiler tags. ^Obviously the main attraction is first. Additional dragon pictures: Terrain details: First hero is apparently the dwarf cleric... At least with the order I took pics! Additional pics: ^The sorceress~ Additional pics: ^The thief/rogue/sneaky one! Additional pics: The... Ranger/archer guy! Additional pics: ^And last, but not least... Sir Purple of Shiny, as more or less named by OneBoot... Well, inspired by due to purple and how shiny his armour was for quite some time... Additional pics! Now, comes the slightly... I dunno, philisophical part of it all. Would I do things differently next time? Most definitely. I'd prefer to give my heroes more time, and also make sure I have brushes that I trust well enough to do eyes. I had to pull out my 000 Reaper brush to try the eyes.... I also wouldn't wait until after 1am in the final hours of the challenge to do said eyes either. I'd also not recommend losing a good chunk of time to surprise contractors either, or at least keep painting as best one can - although that first day of surprise contractors, uhm.... Yeah, anything other than priming would have been impossible while they were doing work, the entire building was vibrating. Would I recommend this kind of thing to others? Sure, why not... If you're willing to do a reasonable amount of planning ahead of time. I'd also strongly recommend having time off while you do this, AND not being the person who cooks. Assigning cooking duties to someone else (or, y'know, having a freezer/fridge full of ready to make meals) would probably also be rather handy. If you're in a relationship, or living with others (be they roommates, or parents, or whatever), DEFINITELY make sure to talk it over with them. I'm lucky, I'm married to an enabler, and by that he's the main reason I was able to do the challenge. That and he was quite happy to work on relic quests in FF XIV:ARR while I painted Oh, and make sure you've actually GOT groceries to cook with if you are going to be the cook! Don't have to run out a few times during said challenge, DOUBLY SO if you happen to have to WALK everywhere when you do said errands. No, not even to go and get your package of big stompy robots, you silly fox! I went into this with a rather basic plan... Colours picked out for the heroes (but apparently only their capes/cloaks), and a basic colour pattern idea on the dragon. I'd recommend not winging it like I did, because it brings up some rather interesting (and annoying!) problems as you go, like how on earth you're going to make it work, and blend it all together. Will I give another one a shot? We shall see. Obviously there's recovering from this one, but most importantly is this - hubby would have to say yes again ...I'm going to go get sleep now!

So I'm looking at doing one of @buglips*the*goblin's seven day challenges (Dragons Don't Share - 2014 to be precise), and one of the main topics that keeps coming up is brushes, specifically ones I won't mind putting some wear and tear on, or even destroying. For those unfamiliar with such a challenge, here's some more info... Official 7-Day Goblin Challenge Rules Thread Awww, it doesn't automatically do the thing anymore, where it does the nice and neat and tidy box of doom. Anyways. The biggest thing I'm looking for is some brushes that will be legal (size 0 max, with a guideline of 1mm diameter, and no more than 10mm in length for the brush), since my main "scratch" and "priming" brushes are probably too big (Citadel starter brushes I happened to have lying around. One is clearly way too big, and the other is probably too shot to be reliable for a challenge).... And are hopefully relatively inexpensive as well as last a decent time through the rough behaviour that will more than likely be happening while I am painting such a large miniature, in such a short amount of time. Additionally, I do live in Canada, but have no problems purchasing internationally, it's just a case of us having a not as good Amazon (and the US Amazon doesn't always ship up to Canada). Thanks in advance for any suggestions or tips on durable, yet inexpensive brushes!

OneBoot and I will be kicking off this latest 7-day challenge on August 1st, 2017 and it will run for a full year until August 1st, 2018. This is to give participants time to arrange for a 7-day block of time to work on the piece, as it will likely need every minute! This will be the first 7-Day challenge to have a contest component for best completed entry, which will have a prize. My understanding is that Reaper will provide a gift certificate ($50 was the amount discussed) for the ultimate winner. (As I am running the contest, I am of course not eligible for the prize) Any additional information updates will be posted here. As with all 7-Day Goblin Challenges, this will adhere to the Goblin Challenge Rules here: Note that extra terrain work/basing outside of what is included with the piece is not judged as part of the finished process, so it will not count towards making your finished piece the prettiest. Only the finished work of the basic model (all of what is included at retail) is considered, so budget your time and efforts appropriately. Make sure you read the official challenge rules and stick by them so that you don't wind up accidentally disqualified. For this one, filling gaps and cleaning mold lines will count towards the finished piece. (Other normal challenges they don't since they don't compete with each other for prizes, that is just for this particular contest)

This thread will serve as an index of all the Work in Progress and Show-off threads created by participants in this glorious madness. Don't post your entries here! Please make your own threads, then make a post here with links to them. Thread for Official Entries is here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/76081-maal-drakar-7-day-challenge-official-entries-no-chatter/ The Challenge will begin on August 1st 2017, and will be open for submission of completed entries until midnight CST on August 1st 2018. For further information, please see this thread. Please familiarize yourself with the Official Rules BEFORE you start your Challenge! We don't want to have to disqualify anyone's hard work! Official Rules: Link to FAQ: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/69639-7-day-goblin-challenge-official-rules/ Now, forth, and fear no dragon! Arise! Arise, Painters of Ma'al Drakar! Paints shall be shaken! Brushes shall be splintered! A glorious day... A Seven day... Ere the deadline rises!!!

Showing off my freshly painted goblin 7 day challenge Ma'al drakar. This challenge was not what I was expecting. I thought that attempting a miniature of this size in a short time span would stress me out, but apparently I'm weird because this has been the most relaxing week I've had in a while.

So just a little thing that I finished on Monday. WIP thread is here if you missed it: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/76415-guindyloo-vs-maal-drakar-in-7-days/&page=1 These are just some of the pictures that I took after I finished when I was half dead. If you want to see something specific, let me know and I can take some more. Most likely, I will be working on this some more post challenge, so I wanted to get a show off up before I change too much....if that's a thing that I do.

I have decided to do this as my first attempt at one of the goblin challenges.This is also my first time doing a WIP thread. I am hoping I can get Ma'al drakar done around work, though I do have a three day weekend which should help. My starting time. Off to sling some paint. Official Rules:

For those of you unfamiliar with Goblin Painting Challenges, started by our very own @buglips*the*goblin, here is a link to the Kaladrax thread that started it all: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/51269-kaladrax-in-seven-days-buglips-is-crazy-wip . For this Challenge, I will be painting up Ma'al Drakar in 7 days, using no brushes larger than a size 0. The rules are posted below: I will be starting my Challenge at 1:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time on August 2nd 2017 (link here). EDIT: If you want to skip all of the talky stuff, here's the link to my completion picture. EDIT: And here's the link to the final entry pictures. Let the insanity begin!!! Huzzah! --OneBoot :D

Home from work, dogs fed,chickens fed - ready to go. I think. I have the next 3 days off work so hoping to get lots of time to paint.

It begins! This is my fourth beastalicious BIG THING, so I am now officially a Grizzled Veteran. Now once again I take the field to vanquish something huge with my heroic, and teeny tiny, brush. Who will win? The plucky goblin, or the Terrible Tyrant of Terror? (I bet he's nice when you get to know him) My timestamp, to log my recklessness (and possible eternal shame) into The Record:

Laaaaaadies and Geeeeeeeeeentlemen!!! Welcome to the Epic 7-day Challenge Khanjira battle: OneBoot vs. Buglips! OneBoot issued the Challenge! Buglips accepted! They will be following the standard rules! (Rules reposted here for clarity) 1. You may use no brushes larger than Size 0. As Size 0 can vary by company and brand, the average bristle dimensions are 10mm long by 1mm wide. When selecting brushes, try to be as close to this guideline as possible. 2. You have 7 full days to complete from your posted start time (including a picture with a time stamp from a phone or computer screen is helpful to establish this) to complete the model. 3. All visible areas must be painted, and all paint must be applied with a regulation brush. 4. No drilling, filing, mold line removal or other prepwork is permitted before start time. The only preparation allowed is to dry fit your pieces to make sure the model is complete, and do any boiling and reshaping necessary to correct warpage and return the model to "factory spec". You may also clean the pieces with soap and water. 5. All pieces as included in the box set at retail must be painted. This includes, for example, the 5 adventurer figures included with Dragons Don't Share 2. The official start time for this competition is 4:00 PM Pacific time on Wednesday the 27th Alrighty, let's get ready to RUUUUUUUUMBLLLLLLLE!! Huzzah! --OneBoot :D

Okay! I now have the paints I will require, as well as the superglue and the brushes!! On Tuesday morning I will be starting my own Kaladrax Reborn challenge! The rules I shall be following are the standard. 1: No brushes will be used that are larger than a standard size 0. Also no airbrushing or finger painting is permitted!! 2: I will have seven days from my posted start time to finish the work. This will be established with a photo showing date and time on my computer screen. 3: All parts of the miniature will be fully painted. Again, all paint will be applied using a brush no larger than a size 0. 4: No prep work will be done to the miniature before the start time beyond washing, dry-fitting, and possibly boiling to correct warpage. 5: All items that come in the retail box must be painted. In this case it is all of Kaladrax and his base. I think that is the full rules for a Kaladrax challenge! My starting pic will also have images of the brushes I will use. Oh, one last thing.. My Kaladrax will NOT be painted as a Dracolich/Ravener.. I plan on making him a Wyrmwraith, as I have not seen anyone do him as one yet. :) Ok, pre-game chatter will be more than welcome!!

Yep, it is time. The players are getting awfully close to the point in my game where Kaly will be necessary. Minor spoilers for Paizo's Wrath of the Righteous adventure path: So general color scheme for an undead silver dragon: Warm, dirty bone colors for the bones, blues for the squishy bits on the body, blue/silver for the wing membranes, dirty, scorched, broken stones for the base. The roolz: Added link to official rules: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/69639-7-day-goblin-challenge-official-rules/#entry1396460 1. Brushes should be size 0 or no bigger than 1 mm round and 10 mm long. They must only start this size and may be clipped, crushed, and otherwise mutilated during the course of the challenge. 2. The challenge shall run for 7 consecutive days or 168 consecutive hours. 3. The only prep work allowed before the timer is boiling and washing of the model. All alteration and assembly will be done after the timer starts. 4. The challenge will begin with a post of Kaly along with a clock showing the local date and time. The timer runs out at the same time 7 days later. The preparations: Cleaned model The brushes with handy measuring device The paints (at least the starting ones. The idea is to reduce the time I spend digging for that one bottle I think I need) Pictures added.

I painted Kaladrax in 7 days using only Size 0 brushes, and found to my great astonishment that I actually enjoyed it a lot, despite how gruelingly difficult it was. So, I've decided to do it all over again, this time with Khanjira! BUT...I thought I'd shake things up a bit. Y'see, I realized that buglips, the one who started this whole thing, has yet to paint up HIS Khanjira. Given that Khanjira is part of his Challenge and all, I rather think it's time that happened. So, with that said.... Buglips! *dramatic pointing pose* I'm officially challenging you to a 7-day Goblin Challenge Khanjira paint-off!!! *pulls off a dainty little kitty gauntlet and throws to the ground in front of her with a tiny (piff)* Er...that was a lot more impressive in my head. So, what do you say? Care to cross brushes in an epic duel to determine the fate of the universe? Or are yeh...bloo? EDIT: The Challenge has been accepted! It has been decided that 4:00 PM Pacific time on Wednesday the 27th will be the official start time. ******************* HERE IS THE LINK TO THE OFFICIAL WIP THREAD: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/70023-were-both-crazy-oneboot-and-buglips-paint-khanjira-in-7-days-wip-thread/?p=1409582 ******************* Huzzah! --OneBoot :D