Another two weeks and another painting contest update! The 2025 Great Pirate Paint Off has been running for 77 days now and we’ve had 256 entries so far! We have wrapped up the Commanders, Characters, Oak & Iron Ships and Terrain categories and this month we are focusing on the meat and potatoes of the contest, Blood & Plunder units. We also have the ongoing Plunder Den Terrain Flash challenge that has been extended through the end of March!
In this update we’ll highlight some of the great entries that have come over the past two weeks, and award the mid-month giveaway!
Spotlight on Blood & Plunder Units
Here are some of the unit entries we have received in March so far.
French, Dutch, English and Spanish Units from Daniel Wray
Daniel Wray is hitting all the nationalities with this set of entries!
English Units from Mike Anderson
Adding to the early unit entries submitted in February, Mike Anderson is cranking through an English force and they’re looking great!
Dutch Units from Julian Nault
Julian Nault took 1st place in People’s Choice voting for Commanders and he’s entering some killer models here in the Unit category as well! And the good news is that he’s announced he will be working up some instructional videos on his painting technique!
Cavalry and Pirates from DAvid Cecil
Cavalry seems to be making a comeback! Check out these nice entries from David Cecil. Love those cavalry models!
Spanish Corsarios by Greg Padilla and Jacob Zuvic
The Corsario models are dramatic and very Spanish and they’re getting a good bit of love in this contest as well! Check out these paint jobs by Jacob Zuvic (top) and Gregory Padilla (bottom sets). We even got some kitbashing going here!
This is just a portion of the Unit entries so far! You can see the full Unit Entry Gallery here, or check out the mega gallery of all the entries here. This gallery can be sorted by entry type, or even by nation!
Mid March Prize Drawing – Lightbox
We are giving away a lightbox this week. This will be awarded to a random entrant in the Unit category. So far we have 46 unit entries from 19 contestants.
Taking good pictures of your painted miniatures is easier said than done! It can be hard to get a good background and good lighting and a lightbox is a very helpful tool for taking good pictures of your minis. This version is easy to set up and take down and store when not in use.
And the prize goes to Kurtis Fraley!
Kurtis has been entering some really excellent work this year, including some terrain, commanders, units and even one of our first full Force entries!
Check out this full set of Native models from Kurtis.
End of March Drawing Prize – Everlasting Wet Palette
At the end of the month we will be giving away a “Everlasting Wet Palette,” an invaluable tool for improving your enjoyment and results in your hobby painting.
I’ve used several wet palettes and this is the best! Easy to take care of, and very helpful for the busy gamer who doesn’t get to sit down and paint every day, this can really up your painting game! You can find a good description and more info on this product here.
Plunder Den Terrain Flash Challenge Extended!
We were planning to award the prize for the Plunder Den Terrain Flash Challenge here at the end of February as well, but we are extending it until the end of March! Get your entries in! It’s a fun project and easy to use for your North American tables in the cold north!
The techniques you will learn following Dexter’s tutorial will serve you well in many other projects as well! Right now we only have a couple entries and we’d love to get a bunch more! Dexter is giving away some of his own handcrafted terrain as a prize! Get your entries in! You can find the entry form and all the other details here!
Final Thoughts
It’s great to see all these miniatures getting painted up! Next major contest update will be right after Adepticon and since the whole Blood & Pigment Crew will be helping out with that convention, it is possible that contest update may be a little late! But expect to see the Blood & Plunder Unit People’s Choice page up in early April.
Hope to see many of you and your beautifully painted minis at Adepticon this year. Should be a great convention!