@Kuanor : You’ve got a point for sure. But it also depends on how we run future competitions. For instance, let’s say the hybrid test works out, for sake of thought experiment.
This frees up the yearly contest slot usually scheduled for art contests, by making art fine to enter in the usual Artisan’s Contests. Whether or not one would like to do it regularly such as once per year, or just whenever one feels like it, we could then run more of an oddball AC every now and then: Such as writing your own CD boardgame, or other themes outside the miniature scope.
The regular hybrid Artisan Contest themes could also continue to explore something different every now and then, including flora and fauna, civilian scenes, baggage trains and other things normally outside the default scope of army collections. All such theme scould do with both modelling/terrain building, and art.
I’m all ears for ideas for future Artisan Contest themes, so any and all suggestions are welcome. Here is a list of all previous ones, for reference. I started running contests in 2014 with AC XV (15) and onward. People might be able to tell that I’ve got a soft spot for niche stuff, for doing something out of the ordinary and explore new nooks and crannies.
One thing I’ve found through the years, is that broad themes tend to work out fine. It allows people who just want to do something already planned for their army to enter, and the Chaos Dwarf niche is especially well endowed with plenty of members who will think outside the box and bring an exotic take on any theme. The net result tend to be that more people will enter, and we still get to see a lot of clever out of the box stuff.
Of course, if hybrid ACs don’t work out, then we drop them and see to it that art & crafts get their due share of dedicated contests, and the same goes for both good and feasible out of the box proposals as well. Know that I’ve always been a lover of niche stuff, but it’s best for the community if most themes are broad and useful for people’s painted miniature collections.
Cheers