I competed in my first show this weekend. It was a lot of fun, but it left me with some questions about how judging is set up in America, and how it compares with say, Europe.
I came away with a 2nd place finish in my armor category, so I was happy with that, especially for my first time out. But another guy had some fabulous entries in the soft-topped vehicles category in a desert warfare setting. There were multiple figures included that looked impeccable, as did the terrain, both the ground itself and the vegetation. But he did not even place, whereas the blue ribbon went to a little recce jeep that had no figures or terrain and was simply mounted on a small piece of granite.
To my understanding of judging, the jeep was examined based on its technical merit and was found to be superior to the other guy’s truck. The figures were not judged, the groundwork was not judged, nor were the scope of work nor even the creativity or imagination that went in to making such a scene. It came down to the modeling basics applied to the construction and finish of the vehicles only. If one wanted all the “extras” to be judged, one would have to enter into the diorama category, but here the work would have to have a strong narrative or storyline, which it didn’t.
Now to the European contest: one of the sites I look at is Luftwaffe in Scale, http://www.rlm.at/start_e.htm, which features great photos of all the models from the larger shows in Europe. I noticed that almost all of the entries featured outstanding groundwork and included figures and accessories. I looked at their rules and see that they have two classes (hobby and master, based on points or prior wins) and several categories (out-of-the-box, surface-improved, converted, scratch-built, vignettes and dioramas). As compared to IPMS, it is the Vignettes category that seems to be lacking here in the US, the middle place between a simple model and a full-blown diorama with multiple vehicles and figures. Based on what I see of the European entries, the vignette category is either very popular, or else the inclusion of groundwork and figures is just expected over there, judged or not.
Personally, I want to build my own models with figures and groundwork, as I believe that provides both a scale and a context that is missing from a simple vehicle on top of a wooden plaque. I think spectators appreciate that. But I realize that it will not be judged for those aspects, good or bad. Do I have this correct? I wonder about other modellers thoughts on this, particularly those who have judged here or who have competed in other counties. Thanks!