Hmmm...

Your first example is not what I would call a “story”. Your second example is...

To return to my previous example with the helicopter. If I make a base with a bit of concrete then it wouldn’t, in my mind, tell a story - it’s simply a helicopter displayed on an appropriate base. If, on the other hand, I added some ground crew working on it then it would be telling a story.

I do admit that it’s not always that simple to say. And that, in the end, it will come down to an individual’s perception of what’s going on.

I’m kinda reminded of a debate that went on regarding bases in Games Workshop’s Golden Daemon competition some time ago. At one point, some of the bases became so elaborate that they began distracting from the model itself.

I would suggest that that would be a fairly good way of separating a “story” from a “non-story”. If the base feels natural and doesn’t distract from the model then it’s simply an appropriate base. If it distracts from the model itself, drawing your attention away from the model itself and onto the peripherals, then it’s a diorama.

Interestingly enough, that would actually mark both of your examples as “non-story” since neither of them has anything distracting away from the model itself.

Oh well, nothing’s perfect...

In the end I’ll say it’s up to Scott to decide. It’s an interesting debate, but it’s his contest. And if he feels that a base with a bit of grass makes it a diorama, then so it is...