Golden Demon Award Winners Website

Games Workshop's official Golden Demon competition has been running since 1987 (in the UK) and you can see all of the winning miniatures from all countries (!) for all categories (!!) in one place.

If you haven't seen this Golden Demon website before then you are in for quite a treat. It features nearly all of the past winners (plus 2nd and 3rd places) from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, France, Australia, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland. Which is well over 1,000 of the best miniatures you will ever see in one place and tens of thousands of hours worth of expert painting for you to take inspiration from !

The site is arranged by country and then by date within which you can browse the individual categories which (currently) are :-

• Warhammer 40k Single Miniature
• Warhammer 40k Squad
• Warhammer 40k Vehicle
• Warhammer 40k Monster
• Warhammer Fantasy Single Miniature
• Warhammer Fantasy Regiment
• Warhammer Fantasy Monster
• Duel
• Diorama
• Large Scale Model
• Lord of the Rings Single Miniature
• Young Bloods
• Open and finally
• Best of Show (Forgeworld) and greatest of all...
• the SLayer Sword winner !

I have visited this site many times and was after some more pics of Matt Parkes amazing Empire Giant attack diorama which won him the UK Slayer Sword in 2010. Then I realize, that people who aren't already aware of this website might actually appreciate it if I told them about it's existence because, strangely, I don't think it's that widely publicized !

Anyway, below is a small sample of what the site has to offer (and why I like these particular miniatures / dioramas). It's quite an awe inspiring site to visit really and is a great place to get some modeling and painting ideas. (pic above is GD Aus 2008 Large Model 2nd place - Sebastian Archer's Squig Hopper)

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click to great enlarge any of the images, they're all worth a closer look !

Italy 2009 Warhammer Monster 1st place - Matteo De Franceschi

I love this Ogre Mercenary / Adventurer. The miniature itself is 100% fantasy and reminds me of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying games I used to enjoy - when I had unmarried friends with no kids and lots of free time !

The backdrop really makes this miniature. What an unusual setting, where is he ? how did he get in there ? who's he with and who's he fighting ?

The setting has so much humour in it too. I mean who the heck paints a portrait of a dead or more likely undead Estalian (?) noble on the wall - a grieving Vampire wife maybe ? Check out his Bretonnian coat of arms / patchwork quilt-like knee patch - lol :) who sowed that on for him ? His mum :) ?

The other thing I really like about this model is that it would look great in a display case under the lights. There are lots of vibrant colours and they work well together. Sure it's a really fun fantasy miniature diorama but it's not silly over-the-top fantasy - if you know what I mean ?!

Anyway, moving on...


BTW, I'm not listing these miniatures in any particular order, they're just some of the ones that caught my eye.

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Next up - slightly disturbing Chaos weirdness... the Slaanesh Siren Song

Germany 2010 Warhammer Single Miniature 1st place - Georg Damm

This miniature really stood out for me because of the subtle use of colours and the truly exceptional application of them. On top of that you have a remarkably inventive and imaginative miniature conversion playing a deadly looking "violin" while gliding across the undead who almost look like they are arising especially for the music. Yuck ! horrible chaos stuff - but an amazing miniature and deserving winner of a 1st place.

Below you'll find a similar model but a completely and utterly different painting style and colouring...

Italy 2010 Warhammer Single Miniature 1st place - Angelo di Chello

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Next up we're off to Spain to see a couple of incredible miniatures that put the Fantasy into Warhammer Fantasy Battle ! I'm pleased I wasn't on the panel having to decide which of these was going to get 1st place.

The below 2 entries are really what it's all about for me; pure full-on fantasy wrapped up in a single no nonsense model. The miniatures are brilliant in themselves but when mounted on simple but effective bases like these and painted like they are they turn into mini works of art. I'd place the Vampire in my top 10 of best miniatures ever - but then I have been known to answer to the name Count Sigmar.

BTW, I like the fact that the artists have really used completely different styles when painting these models. It just goes to show that there's no "one size fits all" approach that you have to adopt. Just choose the painting methods to achieve the final look and feel that you want to.

Spain 2010 Warhammer Single Miniature 1st place - Albert Moretó Font

Spain 2010 Warhammer Single Miniature 2nd place - Juan Carlos Ávila Ribadas

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And now for something completely different which surprisingly didn't win 1st place ?!

France 2005 Warhammer Diorama 2nd place - Matt Cexwish

Personally, I love the creativity behind this. A Steam Tank under going repairs - a brilliant idea and very well presented. There are a load more close up pics of the intricacies of this Steam Tank diorama here.

It's great to see so many entrants injecting a bit of humour into their offerings. BTW, this entry was named "Leonardo DiMiragliano´s Heritage!"

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Back to Italy again...

Italy 2010 Warhammer Battle Scene 2nd place - Davide Rapazzini and Carmine Giuliano

I'm not sure what's going on here, the goblin looks none too happy and the squigs even less so !  There could be trouble ahead....check out the saddle on the floor - someone's not happy !

Awesome diorama and great to see even more humour and this time a bit of mystery too. Also, this is the first time I've seen a collaborative entry by more than one modeler / painter.

The above one didn't won because the below one did - as you can see, the standard in these competitions is rather high ! It's a zombie outbreak in an Empire town - they're even crawling up from the sewers.

Italy 2010 Warhammer Battle Scene 1st place - Raffaele Du Marteau

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Australia 2007 Warhammer Regiment 2nd place - Jamie Downward

I really like this unit because it's simple, brilliantly painted and expertly based and they look like the sort of unit I would actually like to show off on the battlefield rather than in a display cabinet. I have to say though, I'd be keeping them out of harms way so I didn't have to take them off the table too soon !

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Bright and beautiful and back into the more cartoony side of fantasy battle - a very "tooled-up" Troll with his snotling mate - with a nasty attitude (I think it's a snotty, although it could be a gobbo).

I prefer the bright and bizarre models because I feel they stand out more on the battlefield. "Realistic" models look great on close inspection but I equate that kind of painting more with LoTR and sometimes it's better to be bold when it comes to painting regiment minis for use in battles.

USA Atlanta 2007 Slayer Sword ! - Todd Swanson

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Anyway folks, I think that's about it from me for now. I could go on forever but hopefully this give you a taster of what tat site has to offer. As always, let me know your thoughts...

Oh go on then, one last picture because I've featured so many "baddies" above, let's go for a noble decent fella :) ...

Australia 2008 Warhammer Large Model - Mark Carlisle

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Damn it ! Some gobbos sneaked in at the end before I pressed "post"... sorry about that.

The Goblin Diorama won the Italy 2008 Warhammer Regiment category - Fabrizio Russo

Images are © Games Workshop. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

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Strewth, I almost forgot. Below is the Slayer Sword winner that I was looking to share with you all along ! Doh...

It's a bit late now so I might have to come back with my commmentary another time, for now just enjoy the pics. Don't forget to click for a much larger close up.

United Kingdom 2010 Slayer Sword ! - Matt Parkes

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And finally, one last diorama that I just can't leave out...

I thought this one would have been unbeatable but it actually got 2nd place ?!

Italy 2010 Warhammer "Open" category 2nd place - Massimiliano Richiero

Images are © Games Workshop. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

Amazing Fantasy Diorama - Pirate Cove !

I stumbled across this tour-de-force in modeling, painting and diorama design on
Facebook (by Michel Zeller) last night.

Thankfully Michel was kind enough to grant me permission to showcase some of his superb miniature and modeling photos from his http://www.michdioramas.com website.

Before I go on I should first of all apologize for the lack of posts here recently (you can skip the next paragraphs in italics if you're not interested !)

I treat this blog a bit differently to my others, I just post here when I see or read something inspiring, I don't post like an automaton - I kind of need to feel "in the mood". For anyone interested here's how I treat my other blogs:-

I always post news esp. Games Workshop news that I think readers will be interested in on the Battle Reporter blog and anything related to fantasy gaming like new models / miniatures, scenery and related fantasy games and Fantasy Battle fan projects.

I post Battle Reports as often as I can raise the motivation to do it (or feel like reading a new one). It's not always easy finding new and good reports and it's quite an effort to copy them across to the 7th edition and 8th edition Warhammer battle report blogs.

Regarding my Nautican Army blogs well, err... don't ask and I won't lie to you :) I've been a bit lacking in inspiration although I do still plan to update the current list to 8th edition rules and I have some photos of new miniatures to share on the army design notes site. I'm not sure when I'll do this, probably after my next Nautican battle which always gets me a bit more "pysched" up about the army - just add yourself to the followers and you'll see the updates as they come in.

Anyway, back to this awesome Pirate diorama... I love it !

I should quickly say that I have no commercial connection with Michel (although he is a Facebook friend). I'm not advertising his site for him for any reward I just think it's well worth a visit if you're interested in diorama modeling because he has stacks and stacks of photos there showing dioramas that he's selling and how he went about constructing them. Michel works with various scale models and it's not all fantasy related, there are also Ancients and WWII dioramas and some of them are awesome !

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I'll let the pics below speak for themselves, except...

...check out the arrangement of miniatures in relation to one another, the action - it really looks like a story is being played out - the fantastic attention to detail in the terrain (the waves are superb), the miniatures and the paint colour selection. Truly brilliant. You can find more finished diorama and "work in progress" pics here.

(click to greatly enlarge the pics in a new window)

Photos used with Michel Zeller's permission. Thanks very much Michel.

Amazing High Elf General Miniature

More incredible painting by Jose, not a Warhammer Fantasy miniature but certainly an example that you can use for inspiration.

I'm going to let these pics speak for themselves (I often say that and then add loads of my own comments !)

Anyway, even though this is a 54mm model it still makes me want to pull out my paint brushes and call in sick for the day - although I am suffering from err... "painters block" at the moment.

The miniature is called Ithramir and on first inspection it looks very much like it's by the same sculptors (Andrea Miniatures) who made Varathar, the Dark Elf General / Lord. However, in actual fact it isn't - much to my surprise. This is a "Green" painted brilliantly by JMPN (Jose) (coolminiornot.com nickname) and sculpted by someone named Freeman. The miniature won a Golden Demon - personally, I'd give it some kind of lifetime "beat this is you can" award !

This guy has definitely seen some hard combat. He clearly maintains that High Elf royalty-like nobility but check out the slightly faded, dusty barding and cloak and the less than shimmering armour. This guy looks like a veteran of many battles to me and, frankly, not to be messed with by anyone less than Malekith !  If I was riding into a fantasy battle I'd like this guy by my side or Gandalf !

Note also, the attention to fine detail on the base - the foliage looks real, not modeled.

Miniature photos used with Jose's very kind permission. Thanks very much Jose.

Fantasy Painting Masterclass - Dark Elves (Druchii)

Amazing Dark Elf fantasy miniature sculpt and masterful artwork from JMPN

I found another amazing paint brush magician on coolminiornot, his nickname is JMPN (Jose) and he is one hell of a painter (in fact, he rates 5th on cool mini !!!).

Jose has very kindly granted me permission to show off some of his awesome modelling and brushwork skills. He's working on a new website right now so I cannot share a link with you (until it's finished) but you can find him on coolminiornot if you'd like to tell him how great his work is.

To start with, I chose one of his most highly rated miniatures to share with you, a Dark Elf Lord. This miniature is so good it almost looks like a computer generated image for a film. Actually, it looks better than that and I'd love to see it in combat with it's High Elf counterpart.

The miniature is 54mm scale and a lot more "life-like" for it. I guess it's not completely fair to compare it with Warhammer miniatures which are all (in the modern era) 28mm (in the old 1980's era 25mm) but when you check out the pics you'll see why I was keen to post them here.

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A Dark Elf General on Cold One

Let's get straight to the point, this model is utterly brilliant. The scale comparison between mounted and mount, the elf's posture and the realistic "feel" make this miniature next to perfect. On top of that the incredible painting, colour selection, textures, armour, shading and attention to detail (check out the snow on the cloak and the saliva dripping from the Cold One's lower jaw) make this one of the best miniatures I have ever seen (the base alone is outstanding !)

Enough said, just enjoy the pics. This model rates as 10/10 without a doubt in my mind.

I'd like to show more pics but these are all there are (click on them for a close up).

Apparently, this miniature now belongs to a private collector. Here's what Jose has to say about it:-

"One of the idea for this character it's the diferent's materials. For me, the elves are magical creatures, so I try to represent different materials in weapons and armor, looking for a combination of metals (sword, ornaments ...) and magical stone (obsidian, etc ...) to the armor.


This figure has win diferents awards, including Best of show and best of painter, but probably the greatest award was able to make more time with this work and enjoy this great work."

If the private collector brought this along to a Warhammer battle I would have to let him use it (as my miniatures cringed in badly painted self-conscious embarrassment !). Let's face it, this could be Malekith on a very angry giant Cold One or Carnosaur (strength 7, toughness 7 with 7 attacks !).

Although, if my opponent didn't cost the unit at well over 1,000 points I wouldn't be inviting him back for another game - unless he was prepared to play "winners takes all miniatures" :D

This miniature is named Varathar and is from Andrea Miniatures, a very top notch fantasy miniature outfit.

Painting "Fantasy Quality" Miniatures

Study other people's Warhammer Battle models to help you paint "Fantasy" into your minis.

I have had real trouble in the past injecting that elusive Fantasy feel into my miniatures. Some miniatures make it a lot easier than others because they already look the part but I have struggled in the past to make some of my models really look like they occupy the Warhammer world. My minis tend to come out looking somewhat rough and errr... ruddy. It's not always easy to emphasize the detail or make them look fantastical and, for want of a better word, "real".

I stumbled across Alexi's miniatures a couple of weeks ago and she has kindly granted me permission to display some of her awesome pics in my gallery blog. Alexi ranks as the 13th best Fantasy Miniature Artist on coolminiornot (Alexi_Z) out of thousands of painters and you will see why below.

Alexi's ability at making models look like they really exist in a fantasy world is second to none. Her vibrant colouring, shading, lighting and freehand skills are virtually peerless and she is one of the finest miniature painters in the world. Her metal work is particularly impressive, check out the High Elf Dragon Princes and Caradryan.

Here are some examples that show off Alexi's skill at turning fantasy into reality.

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High Elf miniatures Masterclass
(I'm using these pictures for painting inspiration, I hope they inspire you too).

  finally, with the perfect musical backing (if you turn your volume on)...



More of Alexi's miniatures to come in future posts, involving fire and lava effects, bringing the magic to life in sorcerers and other "wizards" and the most realistically painted WFB miniature I have ever seen.

Expert Miniature Dioramas - A Masterclass Gallery !

Some of the best painted WFB Empire Miniatures you will ever see, all arranged into an amazing showcase diorama.

If you have seen a better diorama featuring Warhammer Empire miniatures I'd like to know where ! This is my favourite Warhammer Fantasy Battle diorama and here's why:-

1) The presentation, the terrain, the detail.
2) The miniatures.
3) The "story".
4) The monkey !

Firstly, this Empire unit looks quite battle hardened and experienced. I like the way that the musician and standard bearer both sport mustaches (a badge of rank) and the marksman a beard (only allowed for Sergeants in some forces). The handgunner on the far right is balding and grey, he has an eye patch / bandage and rotting teeth and, even though I don't think he's leading this outfit,*  I bet they listen to his hard won advice.

* he has a golden stripe on his leggings so I could be wrong !

These guys look like a cohesive unit, most of them share the skull unit motif somewhere about their person and they have a consistent "feel". Their uniforms are similarly coloured but some of them differ slightly suggesting (to me) that these guys have been around a while and the unit members are veterans. I imagine these guys to be no-nonsense, uncompromising "get the job done" soldiers.

The marksman is clearly lining up his shot and it looks like an important one because the banner bearer is staring intently, the musician is piping while focused in the direction of the target and the veteran on the right is clenching his fist urging his marksman to get a clean kill (they're probably aiming at a Vampire Lord if my experience fighting against Empire is anything to go by).

All of this is part of the story and it's really been brought to life by the way the miniatures have been presented. Check out the "powder monkey" his face almost looks human and he's either drunk or he's getting a bit of a fright - I wonder what this unit is up against ? It seems to me that these guys are taking a small window of opportunity to get in a shot from the top of a small ridge over looking the enemy.

Amazingly, these are all individual models and yet they fit in seamlessly with the terrain and that's what sets this diorama apart for me - the setting. Frankly, the terrain looks real, it doesn't look modeled at all. The boulders, exposed roots, autumnal leaves, moss, grass and tree trunk all look perfect and that's what really attracts me to this diorama.

This is a master piece. There's more detail I haven't mentioned (just check the pics and click to enlarge them in a new window). The banner itself is a work of art - I wouldn't mind betting that these guys are called the Death Jesters.

Well, that's more than enough from me. Let your eyes do the talking and take some inspiration from what you see. A lot of love has gone into this diorama and it deserves a lot of credit for it (there are a lot more images of this diorama on the Chest of Colors website)

There will be more from the ChestOfColors.com gallery in future. I'm also going to try to contact some of the Golden Demon award winners to ask for permission to show some of their photos. Firstly, I have a particular Russian painter in mind, another lady in fact.

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All of the images are from Ana the owner of the Chest of Colors website and have been used with  their kind permission (all rights reserved by Chest of Colors) and many thanks to Ana and Mahon - the painter and site owner.

Ana, is clearly one of the finest modeler / painters in the world and she ranks in the top 20 out of thousands of miniature painters on coolminiornot and has been awarded several Golden Demon awards, including gold !

Note: see the Warhammer Fantasy Battle gallery at Chest of Colors for higher resolution photos.

Chest of Colors boasts thousands of miniature pics, a forum, blogs, mini auctions and tutorials. You can find Ana's miniatures on eBay by performing an advanced search by seller id "chestofcolors". 
Ana will paint for commission and can be contacted through webmaster@chestofcolors.com

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PS. I am not affiliated with Chest of Colors or any other miniature / terrain modelers on this site, I just enjoy talking about their accomplishments.