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CF MINIATURE SANTA - SUMMER 2009 EDITION
CF SANTA
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Miniature Secret Santa Summer 2009 Edition!
>Miniature?
Yes, miniature. I do not refer to the size of the event, rather to the theme of the gifts being given. I would hope that we cover Warhammer, Warmachine, Hordes, Confrontation, hell, even Heroclix. I'm talking the miniatures that many of us know and love.
HOWEVER! As an experiment this year we are trying to include some P'n'P stuff into this Santa cycle. So if you prefer that type of RPG, feel free to sign up.
>Awesome! What are the rules?
Just read on below!
Names will be taken until 1st June, at which point no further names will be accepted. In the week following 1st June, names will be picked at random and assigned to individuals, one name per entrant. The name you receive will be the person you will be gifting - and the point of this event is that you are a Secret Santa, so please don't go spouting off to all and sundry. Based on miniatures preferences that your recipient will post when they register to be a part of the event, you will then be prompted buy/convert/paint/whatever you deem suitable for a gift.
You will then be able to collect or work on whatever is being sent. The deadline for your recipient to get his gift is going to be 31st August - that leaves you with plenty of time to put together whatever it is and get it sent out.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN TO START THINKING ABOUT MAYBE BUYING A GIFT BY THE TIME THE NEXT SANTA THREAD ROLLS AROUND, YOU DOZY MONGBATS. If anyone fails to provide a gift within a reasonable time (or at all), they will be summarily barred from the next event - or possibly worse. The Winter event went reasonably well and I'd like it to stay that way. Order sooner rather than later so you don't get screwed by some store/shipping/natural disasters.
As before, I will be offering an incentive:
When your recipient posts that they have received their gift, you may PM me and I will disclose the identity of your santa. This means that if you get your stuff sent out and done early, you get to know who is sending you a gift. Some of you may not want to take advantage of this option and ruin the surprise, which is completely understandable, but it may help motivate a little bit.
>What would constitute a suitable gift?
This is where we unfortunately get subjective. I'd like to think we all have the good common sense to pick good gifts in this regard. For guidelines, I'd suggest something like $10/£6 (or $15/£9-ish with shipping) as a minimum. The minimum price on the gift is there to mostly prevent someone from sending like a single arm or half a body from a miniature. If you wish to do so then by all means go as far above this minimum limit as you want, it'd be awesome to see that sort of thing on the whole. Our current record, I think, is Gabriel_Pitt who sent someone an entire fucking tyranid army. You will basically be held to the honour system (and the threat of being pointed at and beaten with internet-sticks) to ensure that the person who you are gifting does not feel cheated. By all means, send a titan to your Santee if you wish!
My recommendation is to gift based on what you're capable of. Even if you aren't that good with models, you can definitely still participate - nobody's ever said no to a boxed set, and it's a nice and simple gift. If you're good at converting? Well, I can't think of a better gift somebody could receive than a converted mini - unless you are good at painting, in which case painted gifts would be really superior.
Single miniatures are more than welcome and might actually be preferred in some senses, so long as they meet the $10/£6 minimum requirement.
Examples of what might constitute a good gift, in the venerable tradition of ODaM/CF:
Examples of what might constitute a bad gift:
Be careful though - it's no use having an amazing plan if your Santee never actually gets the gift. Don't go crazy and end up never getting anything sent.
>I live in [insert country no-one has ever heard of]. Can I participate?
ABSOLUTELY! Ideally, we would get a few people from all over - the U.S., the U.K., perhaps other parts of Europe to participate. To make sending the gifts easier, I will organise people intotwo categories to try and keep international mailing to a minimum, so that everybody can participate. This will be one category for US and Canada, with a separate category for Rest of the World.
>How do I sign up?
Entries are not considered official until I (CF SANTA) receive a PM from you containing the following:
1. Your name;
2. Your address - PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE COUNTRY SO I DON'T HAVE TO GUESS;
3. What games you collect/play/would like a gift from.
If you do not send this PM, you will not be entered into the event!
I require this information to make sure that you won't all have to pay an arm and a leg in shipping to make sure these minis arrive safely and intact. Still, some of you may have to make the sacrifice and spend a little extra on international shipping. I will try to avoid this, but it may become necessary if I can't organize people close enough to each other.
DO NOT SEND ME A PM JUST SAYING "I'M IN".
Even if you participated in the last event, your personal information has not been kept. I also need to explain something - when your santa gets your information, they receive it in the form of THE SAME MESSAGE YOU SEND ME. I literally forward your contact information and model preferences to the person giving you your gift, so the reason to make you all jump through the hoops of filling the information out is so that I have something to supply to your Santa. I also want to make sure I have up-to-date information.
When you sign up, please put some money aside for the gift right then. If you do not have said funds, do not sign up. The overwhelming majority of excuses that we always get are from people not having enough money to actually purchase a gift for their Santee, so I want to nip this in the bud. I realize most of you won't know at the time of sign-up who you're getting or what you're going to be gifting, but it's not unreasonable to put twenty-ish dollars or fifteen-ish pounds aside for the event right at the off.
After you've sent the PM, I'd recommend you post the miniatures you collect or are interested in in this thread, as well. Too specific makes the gifting process a bit silly. List the games you wouldn't mind receiving minis from, as well as what you might already collect, so your gifter might have some starting point.
>How do you assign Santas?
Utilizing super-secret scientific method and a crack team of genetically modified English muffins, we assemble the Santa Master List™ at a classified military installation fourteen fathoms down in the general vicinity of the Marianas Trench.
As I don't have a swanky enough hat, Operation 'BUGGER ME ITS WARM 2009' will probably run using technology like this:
It's all done in one completely random shot. I don't tamper with it in any way, though I do take some requests into consideration in setting the names in the box up (location, for example - I do a separate draw for the UK).
>What do I do when I send/receive my gift?
A few suggestions for sending the gift:
* Include your name (forum name) so people have some idea of who is sending them this woundrous bounty! It really shouldn't be all that hard to just write your handle on a piece of paper and throw it in.
* Consider using Delivery Confirmation/Tracking so you can track your package and make sure it gets there.
* Check in with your recipient via PM a few days after sending to confirm receipt if you don't hear anything.
Also, some guidelines for receiving the gift:
* Let your santa know it arrived! One less thing they have to worry about.
* VERY VERY IMPORTANT: Post in the thread that the package arrived, and show off what you got!
* Take some damn pictures! Your Santa probably worked very hard on the gift, and we're all dying to see what's being exchanged.
One last final point: While lurkers are welcome to participate, I reserve the right to use discretion in ruling people out of participation. If you have absolutely zero posts or a bare minimum number and you register on the boards to try and take part in this, I probably won't let you participate. Miniatures tend to be surprisingly expensive, and I really do not want somebody to try and take advantage of this whole event to just get free shit. Santa's decision is final, no correspondence will be entered into, E & OE etc.
And if you DO try to mess around with the system, Santa will have your address. And a crew of trained hunting reindeer.
The Big List of Santas:
TheLawinator
Gabriel_Pitt
CrownAxe
J
Wildcat
Matrias
Rend
The Count of Midget Fisto
jdarksun
Ein
timspork's ghost
Dayspring
Ziac45
see317
Gahmrious
>Miniature?
Yes, miniature. I do not refer to the size of the event, rather to the theme of the gifts being given. I would hope that we cover Warhammer, Warmachine, Hordes, Confrontation, hell, even Heroclix. I'm talking the miniatures that many of us know and love.
HOWEVER! As an experiment this year we are trying to include some P'n'P stuff into this Santa cycle. So if you prefer that type of RPG, feel free to sign up.
>Awesome! What are the rules?
Just read on below!
Names will be taken until 1st June, at which point no further names will be accepted. In the week following 1st June, names will be picked at random and assigned to individuals, one name per entrant. The name you receive will be the person you will be gifting - and the point of this event is that you are a Secret Santa, so please don't go spouting off to all and sundry. Based on miniatures preferences that your recipient will post when they register to be a part of the event, you will then be prompted buy/convert/paint/whatever you deem suitable for a gift.
You will then be able to collect or work on whatever is being sent. The deadline for your recipient to get his gift is going to be 31st August - that leaves you with plenty of time to put together whatever it is and get it sent out.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN TO START THINKING ABOUT MAYBE BUYING A GIFT BY THE TIME THE NEXT SANTA THREAD ROLLS AROUND, YOU DOZY MONGBATS. If anyone fails to provide a gift within a reasonable time (or at all), they will be summarily barred from the next event - or possibly worse. The Winter event went reasonably well and I'd like it to stay that way. Order sooner rather than later so you don't get screwed by some store/shipping/natural disasters.
As before, I will be offering an incentive:
When your recipient posts that they have received their gift, you may PM me and I will disclose the identity of your santa. This means that if you get your stuff sent out and done early, you get to know who is sending you a gift. Some of you may not want to take advantage of this option and ruin the surprise, which is completely understandable, but it may help motivate a little bit.
>What would constitute a suitable gift?
This is where we unfortunately get subjective. I'd like to think we all have the good common sense to pick good gifts in this regard. For guidelines, I'd suggest something like $10/£6 (or $15/£9-ish with shipping) as a minimum. The minimum price on the gift is there to mostly prevent someone from sending like a single arm or half a body from a miniature. If you wish to do so then by all means go as far above this minimum limit as you want, it'd be awesome to see that sort of thing on the whole. Our current record, I think, is Gabriel_Pitt who sent someone an entire fucking tyranid army. You will basically be held to the honour system (and the threat of being pointed at and beaten with internet-sticks) to ensure that the person who you are gifting does not feel cheated. By all means, send a titan to your Santee if you wish!
My recommendation is to gift based on what you're capable of. Even if you aren't that good with models, you can definitely still participate - nobody's ever said no to a boxed set, and it's a nice and simple gift. If you're good at converting? Well, I can't think of a better gift somebody could receive than a converted mini - unless you are good at painting, in which case painted gifts would be really superior.
Single miniatures are more than welcome and might actually be preferred in some senses, so long as they meet the $10/£6 minimum requirement.
Examples of what might constitute a good gift, in the venerable tradition of ODaM/CF:
Examples of what might constitute a bad gift:
Be careful though - it's no use having an amazing plan if your Santee never actually gets the gift. Don't go crazy and end up never getting anything sent.
>I live in [insert country no-one has ever heard of]. Can I participate?
ABSOLUTELY! Ideally, we would get a few people from all over - the U.S., the U.K., perhaps other parts of Europe to participate. To make sending the gifts easier, I will organise people intotwo categories to try and keep international mailing to a minimum, so that everybody can participate. This will be one category for US and Canada, with a separate category for Rest of the World.
>How do I sign up?
Entries are not considered official until I (CF SANTA) receive a PM from you containing the following:
1. Your name;
2. Your address - PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE COUNTRY SO I DON'T HAVE TO GUESS;
3. What games you collect/play/would like a gift from.
If you do not send this PM, you will not be entered into the event!
I require this information to make sure that you won't all have to pay an arm and a leg in shipping to make sure these minis arrive safely and intact. Still, some of you may have to make the sacrifice and spend a little extra on international shipping. I will try to avoid this, but it may become necessary if I can't organize people close enough to each other.
DO NOT SEND ME A PM JUST SAYING "I'M IN".
Even if you participated in the last event, your personal information has not been kept. I also need to explain something - when your santa gets your information, they receive it in the form of THE SAME MESSAGE YOU SEND ME. I literally forward your contact information and model preferences to the person giving you your gift, so the reason to make you all jump through the hoops of filling the information out is so that I have something to supply to your Santa. I also want to make sure I have up-to-date information.
When you sign up, please put some money aside for the gift right then. If you do not have said funds, do not sign up. The overwhelming majority of excuses that we always get are from people not having enough money to actually purchase a gift for their Santee, so I want to nip this in the bud. I realize most of you won't know at the time of sign-up who you're getting or what you're going to be gifting, but it's not unreasonable to put twenty-ish dollars or fifteen-ish pounds aside for the event right at the off.
After you've sent the PM, I'd recommend you post the miniatures you collect or are interested in in this thread, as well. Too specific makes the gifting process a bit silly. List the games you wouldn't mind receiving minis from, as well as what you might already collect, so your gifter might have some starting point.
>How do you assign Santas?
Utilizing super-secret scientific method and a crack team of genetically modified English muffins, we assemble the Santa Master List™ at a classified military installation fourteen fathoms down in the general vicinity of the Marianas Trench.
As I don't have a swanky enough hat, Operation 'BUGGER ME ITS WARM 2009' will probably run using technology like this:
It's all done in one completely random shot. I don't tamper with it in any way, though I do take some requests into consideration in setting the names in the box up (location, for example - I do a separate draw for the UK).
>What do I do when I send/receive my gift?
A few suggestions for sending the gift:
* Include your name (forum name) so people have some idea of who is sending them this woundrous bounty! It really shouldn't be all that hard to just write your handle on a piece of paper and throw it in.
* Consider using Delivery Confirmation/Tracking so you can track your package and make sure it gets there.
* Check in with your recipient via PM a few days after sending to confirm receipt if you don't hear anything.
Also, some guidelines for receiving the gift:
* Let your santa know it arrived! One less thing they have to worry about.
* VERY VERY IMPORTANT: Post in the thread that the package arrived, and show off what you got!
* Take some damn pictures! Your Santa probably worked very hard on the gift, and we're all dying to see what's being exchanged.
One last final point: While lurkers are welcome to participate, I reserve the right to use discretion in ruling people out of participation. If you have absolutely zero posts or a bare minimum number and you register on the boards to try and take part in this, I probably won't let you participate. Miniatures tend to be surprisingly expensive, and I really do not want somebody to try and take advantage of this whole event to just get free shit. Santa's decision is final, no correspondence will be entered into, E & OE etc.
And if you DO try to mess around with the system, Santa will have your address. And a crew of trained hunting reindeer.
The Big List of Santas:
TheLawinator
Gabriel_Pitt
CrownAxe
J
Wildcat
Matrias
Rend
The Count of Midget Fisto
jdarksun
Ein
timspork's ghost
Dayspring
Ziac45
see317
Gahmrious
CF SANTA on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
Azulan Saul Tigh
i say 10
I'm already asking for IG stuff, but I wanted that before new stuff was announced.
This is awesome:
A pack of trees, on the other hand, is not awesome.
We would really like more participants, though.
I'm in, by the way.
I can supply craploads of pictures if anyone needs color schemes but I'd be happy with stuff even if it's painted differently. ("Hey look, another regiment has shown up to help!":P) If you do paint them up diffrent don't be suprised if I work them into my regimental's history.
Yes I am insane.
Also, my painting skills are pretty so-so, would just an unopened couple of blisters be ok? Or, alternatively, I have plenty of well painted minis sitting around that I bought, but they wouldnt be the newest sculpts.
The obvious exception being when they received nothing, which would understandably piss a person off but is rare enough that Secret Santas are still held.
You'd be surprised, actually, though it doesn't happen often.
Thank you very much for taking an interest! We do however tend to prefer that people are established members here, with either several months' membership of the boards or a hundred or so posts under their belt. However, Secret Santa comes twice a year, so I would encourage you to get posting and sign up for the next winter edition!
Though I did get a good reaction to my stabby fort of Skaven-nes which I made to go with a unit of Skaven :P
Edit: And it was a blast to make!
Oh hell yes. I'd love some of that new stuff painted up. The good thing about terrain is that it doesn't have to be color matched to anything the person already has. Otherwise any terrain that's Guard themed (Wrecked tanks or stuff that could be used at objectives) would be beyond cool.
Would have signed up sooner, but wasn't sure if I'd have the spare cash to send a suitable amount of awesome.
Turns out, I do.
PM inbound CF Santa.
Santa's helpers will be distributing PMs tomorrow, Tuesday 2nd June, to those parties who are participating.
Here's an idea for me. If you files off the symbols, a FW Tau Manta would make a nice dropship for my Guard.
Also, I don't have your problem, gahmrious. I'm waiting on the money, as opposed to trying not to spend it.