Duke of Bavaria 2012 report

May 12, 2012 Sea.Man 2 Comments

Nothing gives me a kick to paint like looking at some nicely painted miniatures. Last weekend I had a chance to go to the Duke of Bavaria 2012 (or Herzog von Bayern 2012) contest in Germany. It was the 12th edition and my second I were at.

The contest takes place in Ingolstadt, a beautiful old city which is known for it’s Audi factory. The whole event is in old castle called Neues Schloss where the Bavarian Army Museum is.

Another benefit is that at the same time in the castle’s courtyard during the weekend is a local fest. So after many hours of looking at miniatures it is nice to sit on the bench, have a cold beer in 1 liter glass, called “Maß”, eat a Wieswurst with local music played live.

The Duke of Bavaria 2012 contest started on Friday and lasted for 3 days. Usually most of the people come on Saturday, that is when the deadline for entering miniatures is. The results are given on the next day, so on Sunday you can pick up your entires. So in general it is a two days contest. Each painter entering in the contest has to pay €10 fee.

You really can’t feel bored there because just to watch the entries takes 1 or 2 hours. They are all gathered in one big room. There are no display cabinets so the entries are just on the shelves. So you can carefully take them and watch from really, really close from each side. Great thing about the Duke of Bavaria is that you can talk to people how did they paint something and then they just show you on the model! You can learn so much from just looking and talking to those masters of brush.

There were also some classes (including miniature painting classes), each devoted to different topics…

… and display cabinets where judges show their own great works:

Also there were many shops, where you could spend some money. Plenty to choose from – little companies or big names like Pegaso.

The Duke of Bavaria 2012 contest

The form of the contest is very open and categories give that feeling:

Junior Cup
Beginner
Standard-Class

Standard Painting
Standard Open
Standard Flats 30 mm
Standard Flats over 30 mm
Fantasy Standard Painting
Fantasy Standard Open

Master-Class

Master Painting
Master Open
Master Flats 30 mm
Master Flats over 30 mm
Fantasy Master Painting
Fantasy Master Open

Dioramas / Vignettes
Out of competition

For every category there are two classes: Master- and Standard-Class. You can enter only one for each category, i.e. Standard class Fantasy Painting and Master class Painting.

In each category you get a display place where you can put your entires that fall into this one category (the design of the display (Cloth, stairs, socket) is a freely selectable form, the standard size of the displays is approx. 30 x 30 cm). So if you have 3 single 32mm fantasy miniatures + 2 single 32mm sci-fi minis – they all go together as one entry into Master/Standard ‘Fantasy Painting’ category

Judging at Duke of Bavaria is also a bit different from what you know from other contests.

Judging System:

The judges give 0 – 4 points.

4 points mean GOLD

3 points mean SILVER

2 points mean BRONZE

1 point means RECOMMENDED

0 points mean NO AWARD

In every category there are 3 jurors, which means:

10 – 12 points GOLD

7 – 9 points SILVER

6 – 8 points BRONZE

3 – 5 points RECOMMENDED

0 – 2 points NO AWARD

So the rules are very unique and this is what makes Duke of Bavaria special. It means that there can be more than one bronze, silver or gold. The organizers motivate their decision about such formula that they don’t want painters to compete with each other – just with themselves.

There are also many special awards given from different clubs, i.e.:

best painted Bavarian soldier (award given from the museum director)
best native American miniature (from one of the judges)
best creative entry (award from Massive VooDoo monkeys)

and many, many different awards from painting clubs around Europe (Belgium, France, Italy, Czech and Germany). What orginisers could do better, would be to write about those awards before the contest, or maybe it is supposed to be that way?

Ceremony

I have never been on a ceremony that lasts almost 1,5 hour. But it is in a wonderful chamber and all the winners’ entries are shown (so you know what they get medals for).

Entries

The key part of every contest, have fun watching them!

If you would like to know more about the contest, here is the oficial web page, and to see how was it last year and what great miniatures were there, just click here.

— Sea.man

Reports

Hussar 2011 – Report from miniature painting contest

October 24, 2011 mahon Leave a comment

Hussar 2011 was recognized by most Polish painters as the most important miniature painting contest in Poland in 2011. On October 22nd we went to Warsaw, participated in the event, and managed to prepare this Hussar 2011 report for you.

For those of you who are not familiar with the event, let me explain that the contest is a successor to Slayer of Daemon, which was organized by Polish miniature painters when they learned that there will not be no Golden Demon contest in Poland anymore. After the first edition of Slayer of Daemon some changes were introduced, the connection to Games Workshop‘s event was cut off and a new name was chosen in order to add a Polish touch to the contest. And so Hussar was born.

This year’s contest was the second edition of Hussar (or third if you count the Slayer of Daemon) and the event was anxiously awaited by Polish painters. Although there are a few miniature painting competitions in Poland, Hussar remains the most important one and is the place to be for a Polish miniature painter. Not only because of the contest aspect of the event but also because of the opportunity of meeting fellow painters and spending some enjoyable time with them. But this year things changed…

Fight for the flight

Hussar has its own trophies, the Hussarettes, which are awarded to the winners. They were sculpted by Robert Kurek and represent a female warrior with hussar’s wings attached to the armor. Hussar 2011 introduced another trophy – a beautiful sabre, which was more related to the Polish martial tradition than a sword would be. But it’s not all…

Cool Mini Or Not sponsored a fantastic award to the overall winner of Hussar 2011: The winner would get a return flight ticket to the Crystal Brush miniature painting contest. Needless to say it was a generous offer, but also a great opportunity to participate in the Crystal Brush. If you don’t know about the contest, it’s enough to say that the overall winner wins $10.000 as their prize, and the next two also win some money. So it’s something to fight for…. Unfortunately for us Europeans the contest takes place in the US, so the trip is a bit too expensive for most of us to afford. But now there was a chance to get a free flight and a chance to win the big money. Now that’s some big news!

The event

Hussar 2011 took place in in Warsaw, on October 22nd. We hoped some foreign painters would show up in attempt to win the big prize, but (fortunately for the grand winner) it remained a national contest only, even though we informed many foreign painters about it. Well, maybe the next time?

The whole event was prepared by the same crew as before, with the same man being responsible for the event. Huge thanks to Janusz Rosłan for making it all possible. This guy’s enthusiasm and hard work guaranteed that miniature painters in Poland have a worthy contest to compete in.

This year the event attracted new sponsors and partners, including Games Workshop and Cool Mini Or Not. We at Chest of Colors provided our support, spread the news about the event, and offered our forum for the official discussions about the contest. We also took photos of all the entries, gave miniature painting classes, and participated in judging.

As you already know, the contest was not the only attraction offered at the event. There were sculpting classes with Robert Kurek (the author of the Hussarette) and painting classes with Camelson (who showed how to paint damage) and Ańa (about painting faces). It was fantastic to see so many people interested and involved in these classes. It was a great opportunity to improve one’s skills and to learn from some of the best sources in our country.

Those classes were not the only pastime for hobbyists present at Hussar. Warsaw Team prepared an entertaining speed painting contest, and many hobbyists chose to spend the time socializing, joking and talking about hobby matters. After all it’s one of the rare opportunities for many of us to meet the others.

Miniature painting contest

The most important part of the whole event was still the miniature painting contest – Hussar. There were four categories: Single Fantasy Model, Single Sci-Fi Model, Large Model and Diorama. The last category included not only dioramas but also units and groups of miniatures. It also put additional emphasis on story and interaction between models, not only quality of painting. After all it’s what dioramas are all about.

This time I wasn’t a judge in the contest. I couldn’t declare if I would be able to be there for sure, and didn’t want to cause any trouble with my unreliability, so I suggested that it would be excellent if Przemek Wałęga “Przemo” would become a member of the jury. He is the person who won the Slayer of Daemon and Hussar 2010 contests, so he would be the perfect choice for a judge in a miniature painting competition. I was very happy to hear he agreed, and so the judges were: Bogusz “Bohun” Stupnicki, Filip “Nameless” Marković and Przemysław “Przemo” Wałęga. Fantastic guys, who stood up to their task, and took the responsibility of judging in the competition. I can confirm how responsible job it can be, because you have to judge works of your friends and leave all sentiments behind. These guys did the job so fine, that we should all be proud of them.

It must be mentioned that Bohun would surely have a serious chance of winning in the contest and grabbing the free flight to Crystal Brush, but he didn’t change his choice and remained in the jury. It shows what kind of a person he is – true man of principles. Huge respect for this!

One complaint that was heard quite often was about the lighting. Unfortunately the lamps were placed in such a way that miniatures weren’t presented in an optimal way and many people couldn’t see the entries well. Judges had easy access to good lighting, but most visitors could only see some miniatures in dim light or even in shadows. Something to take care of in the next year. Fortunately some of the works (especially those awarded ones) were brought to the afterparty, so whoever was present there could see them from close distance and any angle.

Entries

There were 69 entries in the contest, which is more than in 2010. The general consensus is that the overall quality was also better than in the previous edition of Hussar. Even if the quality of the best entries is still comparable, the quality of others is better than it used to be, which is a positive sign of progress in our hobby community. It seems that there are more and more better hobbyists, or maybe at least more involved ones.

Here are all the winning entries from the competition. Pictures of those that got honorable mentions and remaining entries will follow later.

In the last days before the contest an active discussion took place both at the Chest of Colors forum and on Facebook. Many painters were sad to announce they would be unable to finish their works in time to use them for Hussar. We even joked that there should be a separate category for unfinished models, and it would be full of entries. Unfortunately this had its impact on the final results, because many good painters either decided to enter unfinished models (like Ańa) or not to enter their unfinished works at all (like Camelson, Tula or C’Tan). It’s a sad thing because everybody knew about the contest for many months already, but we know that sometimes life doesn’t allow things to follow any plans.

Fortunately for those who couldn’t see the miniatures in good lighting, better pictures of most entries have been (or will be) taken by their authors and posted to our miniature painting forum, so take a look there to see some better pictures, taken in better conditions.

Awards and winners

The Grand Prix went to Maciej “Flameon” Banasik, so we are proud to announce that a member of the Chest of Colors painting studio won the ticket to Crystal Brush for his entry in Single Fantasy Model category. He also received a beautiful sabre and two Hussarettes (bronze in Single Sci-Fi Model category and gold in Single Fantasy Model category).

It was great to see many members of our forum community awarded for their works. Let’s just mention Ańa (silver in Single Fantasy Model category, silver in Diorama category and honorable mention in Single Sci-Fi Model category), Camelson (silver in Large Model category), Czlowiek.morze (honorable mention in Single Fantasy Model category), Marta (gold in Large Model category), C’Tan (gold in Diorama category and honorable mention in Single Fantasy Model category), Kacpero (honorable mention in Diorama category), Ignis and Loler (gold in Single Sci-Fi Model category, bronze in Diorama category). Plus others that I may have forgot about now…

A special mention goes to Jaśmina, the 8-years-old girl on the photo below, who won the Junior award for her cute diorama. Well done, start at young age and keep improving, so you can compete with adult painters in a few years!

Now here’s a “family photo” of all the awarded miniature painters, plus the jury. If you haven’t been mentioned or we made an error in the list of awards, feel free to let us know so we can update the text.

There were also some special awards for winners of the speed painting competition, and a very nice thing from Janusz himself. In order to show his appreciation to the people who have been cooperating with him for the last three years that he’s been organizing miniature painting contests, he prepared special Hussarettes as a sign of his recognition and gratitude. Thank you, Janusz. You should get a similar one, and I really appreciate the one I got. Such special Hussarettes went to me, Nameless, Bohun, Przemo, and one last to Warsaw Team. Fantastic idea!

The people at Hussar

For me it was a fantastic change to be able to spend some time with other hobbyists and socialize. Usually I had to spend such events behind the display cabinets, as I was a judge there. This time I had much more time for myself because I only needed to take and prepare some photos, so I could hang around and meet some of my old friends.

It was excellent to meet people like Przemek Jeske from MaxMini, old miniature painting friends like Miłosz Brendel or Alek Witkowski, and our the people we usually only meet on the forum: Sławol, Nameless, Bohun, Przemo, Zahor, Ścibor, Mr. Denial, C’Tan, Ignis, Tula, Marta, Rakso the Slayer, Kacpero, Loler, Longer Tom, Czlowiek.morze, Flameon, Camelson, Smok, Sadziu, Hacket, and more… We rarely have an opportunity to meet them in person, so it’s awesome to have them all in one place. Most likely I won’t meet many of them for like a year…

It seems I was not the only one who enjoyed the social aspect of Hussar:

Of course some enjoyed other activities, too:

Of course it was no problem, because they knew there would be an afterparty!

Afterparty

The afterparty was organized in a special place with a very (as Janusz called it) “vintage style”. In fact it was a seniors’ club, and it shows when you watch the photos below:

We even noticed a standard of fighters for socialism there:

The afterparty was a chance to see that Nameless can be friendly….

… and that Maru’s models actually look much better than his photos seem to suggest. And just like a Polish proverb says that a shoemaker has no shoes, the camera expert doesn’t have decent photos of his own paintjobs.

The best thing about the afterparty was that most of awarded contest entries were hrought there by their authors, so peole could see every detail, watch them closely, and discuss them with others. Such an opportunity of receiving first-hand feedback from people who saw your paintjobs in the flesh is priceless. People could also talk to the judges and hear their opinions directly from them. Such a thing doesn’t happen every day, so this alone could make a good reason to attend to the contest!

Hussar 2012?

We already heard a declaration that there will be Hussar 2012. We all hope that some improvements (lighting!) will be done, and everything else will be as good as it was this time. Maybe sponsors offer as tempting awards as they did, and many painters will gather to fight for the grand prix (another return flight ticket to Crystal Brush?). We hope to see more foreign painters there, now you know what the competition is all about!

See you at Hussar 2012!

But before it’s announced officially, feel free to share your memories from Hussar 2011 and your opinions about it in your comments. Tell us if you’re going to come to the next edition of Hussar, and if you want some more photos and opinions, check the English and Polish threads on our forum.

— Mahoń

Events

Hussar 2011 – the biggest miniature painting competition in Poland

September 2, 2011 mahon 1 Comment

It was only yesterday that we published our memories from the last year’s edition of Hussar miniature painting competition, and it wasn’t without purpose. Today we proudly announce the current edition of this biggest miniature painting competition in Poland!

Hussar 2011 announced

As you could read in the report from Hussar 2010, the last year’s Hussar was considered a great event by Polish miniature painters (and even one Portuguese painter to say the truth). People wanted to meet again at the next edition of this miniature painting competition, which became the main contest for miniature painters in Poland. And so it happened – another edition of Hussar will take place on October 22!

Hussar 2011 will be organized by the Community Centre Rakowiec in Warsaw, and the person who made this event possible – Janusz “Jon” Rosłan said:

Dear Painters,
On behalf of myself, Chest of Colors and Warsaw Team I’d like to invite you to the second edition of the Polish painting competition Hussar. It will be the main event of the “Weekend with fantasy” held on 22 October 2011 in the Community Centre Rakowiec – 8 Wiślicka St., Warsaw, Poland. The main competition will be acccompanied by painting and scultping workshops and speed painting contest.
Your entries will be judged by:
Bogusz Stupnicki (Bohun),
Filip Marković (Nameless),
Przemysław Wałęga (Przemo).
Entries will be accepted between 10:00-13:00. Expected time for announcing results is 18:00. Entrance fee for the whole day (main contest and accompanying events) is 10 pln (~2.5€). After the official part of our event feel free to come to the after-party to be held in the café located with the same building.
Competition rules and other relevant information are available at the competition official website: http://www.hussar.eu, and on the Chest of Colors site and forum as well: https://chestofcolors.com.
I’d also like to use this opportunity to whole-heartedily thank all people helping me with this undertaking.
See you at “Hussar 2011”
Janusz Rosłan

At this point I would like to thank Janusz for the effort he put in giving us, miniature painting hobbyists, a competition and an event during which we can meet and enjoy our hobby together. Thank you!

Photo: Husar 2011 - biggest miniature painting competition in Poland — Hussar 2011 – Official promotional poster

Information about the competition

All the information about Hussar 2011 is available at the contest’s official website, which is hussar.eu. But for our readers’ convenience we collected the most important information and rules here.

As far as we know during the event there will be a speed painting contest (just like a year ago) and miniature painting and sculpting classes by some popular and recognized miniature painters in Poland, including our very own Ańa and our friends from the Warsaw Team, and sculpting will be taught by the author of the Hussar trophy.

Now let’s move on to the rules of the miniature painting competition:

Painting competition rules

I. General Rules

1. Submissions:

Painter can submit his works in any number of categories, though no more than 1 entry in any category.
Painters can submit their works only. Team works or submitting works on behalf of other painters will not be accepted.
It is allowed to submit own sculpts and converted entries.
All submissions need to be painted.
Compatibility with gaming rules is not required. Compatibility with rulesets will not be judged.
It is allowed to submit works comprising of models and products of different manufacturers. Models of different manufacturers may be combined to create a single submission.
Works which already took gold/silver/bronze in other competitions will not be accepted.
All entries are submitted at the submitter’s risk.
By submitting an entry painter confirms approval of the rules and certifies that submitted entries are his/her.

2. Disqualifications:

Submitting an entry breaching the rules will cause disqualification of all works of the painter.
Submitting a team work or work of other painters will cause disqualification of all works of the painter and ban for all future editions of the competition.
Disqualification can happen after the results announcement, if evidence is found.
Disqualified painter is no longer entitled to any rewards received.
Disqualification may cause changes of winners and awards.

3. Judging:

Works shall be judged by jury members only.
Entries shall be judged on modelling and painting merits, creativity, originality and overall effect.
Proper workmanship is required from all honoured works. Coherency of used models and bases is required from all honoured works in Diorama category.
The first judging phase will be selection of honoured works, which will be awarded with a finalist diploma.
The second judging phase is a final, when 3 winning entries shall be selected. Winners will receive statues (gold, silver, bronze).
The third judging stage is selection of the overall winner (“Best of Show”). This entry will be awarded with a diploma and statue.
The additional award (“Junior” diploma) will be provided for the best work submitted by a painter born in 1995 or younger.
Judges’ decisions are definite, the only possible exception are changes caused by a disqualification.
Prizes may be provided by the organiser for winners and honoured painters.
Prizes may also be provided for randomly selected competitors, which were not awarded by judges.

4. Categories:

Painter shall declare which category a work is being cntered to.
Judges are entitled to move any work to another category if they find it more appropriate.
Judges are entitled to join different categories, if low number of submissions might cause poor competition level.
If any painter has more than 1 entry in any category due to judges decision (check item I.4.2 and I.4.3 above), only 1 entry shall be subject to judging as per judges’ decision. All other works are shown in a category, but are effectively not taking part in the competition.

II. Categories

1. Single model – fantasy:

This category is for fantasy models and historical models (before 1914).
Submission shall be a single model on foot in 32mm scale or smaller, size comparable to human models.
Model shall be based.
Any base shape is allowed, its size should not be bigger than 10x10cm or diameter of 10cm.

2. Single model – SF:

This category is for science-fiction models and historical (after 1914).
Submission shall be a single model on foot in 32mm scale or smaller, size comparable to human models.
Model shall be based.
Any base shape is allowed, its size should not be bigger than 10x10cm or diameter of 10cm.

3. Large model:

This category is for models in 54mm scale or bigger, size comparable to human models; war machines or vehicles including any crew.
This category is also for big models in smaller scales, if their size is comparable to models described in item 1.
Cavalry models, bikes etc. are also eligible for this category.
Busts in comparable scale shall be entered in this category.
Model shall be based.
Bases are not required for war machines and vehicles, unless there is separate crew included (e.g. cannon and crew).
Any base shape is allowed, its size should not be bigger than 20x20cm or diameter of 20cm, unless the model’s size requires a bigger base.

4. Diorama:

Work shall consist of at least 1 model on a scenic base.
This category is also for groups of models forming units.
It is allowed to mix models with different type, size and equipment to form a group of models. It is also allowed to mix models on foot with cavalry, as well as models of different manufacturers. Units need to look coherent though.
Size and shape of the scenic base are not limited anyhow.
Story presented on a diorama, integration of models with other models and with a scene, as well as interaction between models shall be subject to judging.
Units shall be placed on a base to make handling easier, no matter what formation they adapt.

III. Annex

Examples of entries legitimate for different categories:

Single model – fantasy:

Warhammer orcs
Confrontation dwarfs
Foundry pirates
Black Scorpion Miniatures cowboys.

Single model – SF:

Warhammer 40.000 space marines
Inifinity humans
Black Scorpion Miniatures US marines
Foundry Wehrmacht model.

Large model:

Warhammer 40.000 dreadnoughts
Warhammer trolls
Mantic Games cavalry
Dust Tactics mechas
Dragons
Historical models in 54mm scale or bigger.

Diorama:

Warhammer 40.000 space marines unit
Pirate band comprising models from different companies
Developed diorama with one model
Huge battle scene.

Additional information

Participants need to fill an entry form for every entry they want to enter into the competition. The form can be downloaded here but it will be available the the contest as well. But you can come with your forms already filled to speed up the judges’ work and to show how professional you are. 😉

Remember that the examples in the Annex are exactly that: examples. If you want to make sure which category will be the most suitable for your entry – just ask.

If you have any questions about the competition, check the official website first, but then most questions can be asked at our forum, because the judges and staff visit it quite frequently. The English thread about the contest is here, and if you prefer to read and write in Polish – here’s a thread in Polish. It’s better to ask than to regret misunderstanding something…

That’s it, folks. We hope to see even more participants than a year before, and hopefully – also more foreign participants. If you happen to be there – don’t be shy, come and say hi. You will see how welcoming the community of miniature painters can be.

See you at Hussar 2011!

Reports

Hussar 2010 report

September 1, 2011 mahon Leave a comment

Poland didn’t have luck for Golden Demons. After two editions Games Workshop decided to announce that there would be no more Golden Demon competitions in Poland. But as our national anthem says “Poland has not perished, so long as we live” – Polish hobbyists didn’t give up there and organized their own miniature painting competition!

Slayer of Daemon

The first replacement for the cancelled Golden Demon was Slayer of Daemon, held in Warsaw in 2009. The event turned out to be pretty successful despite lack of support from such a major force that Games Workshop is. But we, the hobbyists, wanted to make it even better, even more separated from its Golden Demon roots and even more Polish. To make it the biggest miniature painting competition in Poland.

This way the Hussar was born.

Hussar

The next edition of the competition wasn’t named Slayer of Daemon again, but something more related to Polish tradition was chosen for the name. Inspired brainstorming resulted in choosing Hussar for the name of the competition. Also a new trophy was designed and sculpted for the contest. It depicted a female warrior in plate armor, with hussar’s wings on her back. It was a nice change from the previous trophy depicting a dwarven slayer.

The first edition of Hussar took place on October 23rd, 2010 in Warsaw. The competition was a part of a larger fantasy-related event with some gaming, music concerts, painting classes and other attractions.

The competition

Despite the number of participants was lower than a year before, the overall quality of entries was much higher. This fact was noticed and confirmed by most people who came to see the miniatures entered in the contest. The big surprise and breakthrtough for us was seeing a foreign painter – Pandadosmares – who came to Warsaw from Portugal to enter the competition. It’s not common for a new competition to attract foreign participants, unless the rank of this event is as high as Golden Demon’s to justify the effort. This makes Pandadosmares’ visit even more surprising and hopefully inspiring for other painters who might come to Hussar in 2011.

The categories were more relaxed than they areat Golden Demons. The idea was to depart from the concept of a competition tied to one manufacturer and limited to his products. We wanted Hussar to be more of an open miniature painting competition, and it seems we achieved our goal, as the contest and its rules inspired quite a few other Polish contests and their rules.

The winners

Enough talking about the categories! Here you can see the winning painted miniatures from the competition:

Photo: Hussar 2010 Report - Grand Prix — Grand Prix winning entry by Przemo

Photo: Hussar 2010 Report - Best Junior — Best Junior award winning entry by Wojto

Judging and results

Judging was done in the same way as during Polish Golden Demons and Slayer of Daemon: First the judges made the first cut, with those entries that made it becoming finalists. Then every finalist was checked with great attention and winners were chosen.

Then the Grand Prix was given to one of the winners of all categories, and an additional Best Junior award was given to the author of the best entry chosen from all entries by painters younger than 16. It was different than at Golden Demons, where there is a separate category for youngbloods. There was no such category at Hussar, so the Best Junior still had to compete with other adult painters.

Just like in 2009, the first edition of Hussar was won by Przemo and his excellent diorama depicting kids facing a cyclops. The Best Junior award went to Wojto, who not only won that trophy, but also won silver in the Diorama/Unit category. So this young painter was not only better than other young painters, but also better than most adult painters in his category. He lost only to… Przemo, the winner of the Grand Prix. Of course he might not fare that well in a single model category, but in dioramas he came up second.

Other attractions

As I wrote already, the contest was not the only feature of the whole event. There was a nice and fun speed painting competition organized by Warsaw Team guys, who managed to give people something to do while the judges were examining miniatures entered into the contest.

There were also painting classes that used a camera and a large screen that allowed people to see everything in detail even if they didn’t manage to sit next to the people who ran the classes. Unfortunately there were some technical glitches and imperfections which reduced usefulness of the video presentation, but for the first attempt it was good already.

After the contest

After the awards ceremony we went to a bar nearby to spend a few hours talking, joking, and showing miniatures which weren’t entered in the competition. It was a fantastic chance to spend some time with our friends who share the same hobby. Pandadosmares remained with us and served fantastic tremoços – one of the memories which will always come to our mind when talking about the first Hussar. The afterparty was not big but very friendly.

When we returned home we were very happy to see that the general reception of the contest was so positive!
People congratulated the staff on good organization of the event, people thanked for the painting classes, commented on higher quality of entries (compared to 2009), liked the nice trophies, and wanted to see the event organized again in 2011.

So be it!

And the voice of the people was heard and Hussar 2011 will be organized. We will announce it very soon and you will be able to learn much more about it.
But if you happened to be present at Hussar 2010, why don’t you leave a comment below to encourage new people to come to Warsaw for the next edition of the biggest Polish miniature painting contest!

Events, Reports

Grey Seer 2011 – miniature painting competition report

August 16, 2011 mahon 7 Comments

We’re back from Grey Seer and must admit we had a terrific time there! The event is still pretty new but it already managed to make Gorzów an important city for every miniature painter in Poland, and hopefully also for foreign painters in the next editions.

Grey Seer – miniature painting competition

On August 13th we went to Gorzów Wielkopolski to participate in Grey Seer – a miniature painting competition being a part of Polish Team Championship in Warhammer Fantasy Battle. It was only the second edition of the painting contest, so we were prepared that something could go wrong and that the staff could be unable to arrange everyting right. So we were willing to forgive them some shortcomings, but fortunately our tolerant moods proved to be unnecessary.

The first edition of Grey Seer was not very popular among painters, and many entries were entered by gamers who participated in the Championship. This year many popular painters declared they would be coming to the event, which showed that the contest managed to earn its place in Polish miniature painting community. Obviously painters were satisfied with the first edition and either decided to return for the next edition or even recommend it to others. This year only a few entries came from gamers, and most entries came from miniature painters. Does this advent a change in profile of this competition?

Arrival

We (I, Ańa and Kacpero) arrived shortly before the noon and immediately met our friends from Warsaw. We recognized Camelson (and congratulated him on his success at the German Golden Demon), Smok, Edwin, Mr. Denial and Przemo. Maybe there were more of them but these are the ones that come to my mind now. A moment later we were greeted by Sławol, who organized the whole event. Then we went to say hi to the rest of people who were already there, including Gildor, KeraM, Bizon, Szary and Nameless. Most entries were already there so I immediately started to take photos of entered miniatures for the puropose of this report, while Kacpero and Sławol took care of all the people submitting new models for the competition.

Later we went to see the gaming tournament and it was pretty impressive. There were like 180 players playing Warhammer Fantasy, and some of them entered their miniatures for the contest. They received special card placeholders to stand in for the miniatures they submitted, so they could continue their games in the tournament.

Categories and entries

There were five categories: Fantasy single model, SciFi single model, Large model, Diorama or Unit, Open. There was also an additional prize for the best junior. The nice thing was that there were not only diplommas and trophy plates/badges but also models and bases for the winners. Not that it wouldn’t be good without them, but they surely were a nice touch and I know that the winners really appreciated them.

Eventually we received like 40 entries. Of course it’s not the same number that you can see on an important competition like Golden Demon, but compared to other Polish miniature painting contests the number was really satisfactory and larger than a year ago. Bearing in mind that it was only the second edition of the contest and the first was not really popular in the miniature painting (not: gaming) community, receiving this number of entries was a very nice surprise. There was also one historical model: Sahariana, that you will be able to see on a photo later.

In comparison to the previous year’s edition, this time the overall quality was much higher, which was confirmed by both the participants and the judges. It was nice to see that the entries attracted attention of gamers who had a break between their battles. The only problem at this stage was the lack of protection for miniatures (glass cases, cabinets, or at least glass screens), which had one advantage: people could see the painted miniatures better, but at the cost of increased risk of damage to the entries.
Fortunately no disaster took placeplace and models survived the competition undamaged.

Judging and winners

Judging was done in two stages: the first cut which separated the finalist from the rest, and the finals during which the winners were chosen. Then the best junior painter was chosen and the grand prix was assigned to one of the winners of all categories. As you will be able to see in a moment, some of the entries were really impressive and it wouldn’t be a shame to enter them even at large international contests.

Here are photos of all the winning entries:

And here are the remaining entries:

Painting classes

During the competition painters could participate in miniature painting classes run by Ańa, Camelson and Przemo. Przemo explained his take on color theory, Camelson showed how he paints (focusing on painting skin) and Ańa made a presentation about painting and designing freehands. She used a computer to provide additional examples and demonstrations. It was a great chance to meet experienced painters, learn from them and ask them questions.

The atmosphere at the event was fantastic. I am very envious that others managed to spend more time together when we were judging, but it doesn’t mean we didn’t have a good time. Man, we did! And we even managed to sneak to the back of the school in which the event was held, to taste some delicious food served there by a little barbecue crew. Thanks guys!

Surprizes

Neuroshima Tactics miniatures are actually much better than we expected. Guys, you really have to do something with the way you’re trying to present and sell your miniatures. It can be done so much better. On our forum we constantly thought the miniatures are no good, but it’s not true. We saw one of them in person and it was much better than we could ever expect. So Neuroshima Tactics miniatures are not bad, just terribly presented.
Fantasy single model winner (Wurzag) was painted by KeraM, who’s only 14 years old. Guys, you will really need to try harder if he continues to improve at the speed he did so far. Not long before he was less than a mediocre painter, and now he’s not only beating adult painters in a normal painting competition (not a “youngbloods” category) but also becomes the best of all awarded junior painters I’ve seen so far on all Polish contest. Keep it up, KeraM, and don’t stop improving. You will soon give older painters a sweat if you keep entering such good works in miniature painting competitions.

Awards ceremony

The grand prix went to Ańa for her fantastic group of Tzeentch characters. We’ll try to provide official photos of these models which still haven’t received studio photos, but believe me, each of these models could easily be a serious entry (and possibly a winner) as a single model, and here we received four of them. It was really well deserved win here, which gave Ańa this nice trophy:

Now here are photos of all the winners and finalists:

Afterparty

When the award ceremony was over, we helped Sławol clean the hall in which the competition took place. We talked and laughed a lot, and the painters exchanged honest and in-depth comments about their works. It was a fantastic chance to see the works of others and to get some first-hand feedback on your painting from some of the best miniature painters in Poland. The discussions continued later during the walk that we took to the restaurant in which we had our afterparty. We found Gorzów a very nice city, and will surely try to return there to spend some more time sightseeing.

The afterparty was very entertaining and relaxing. We spent the evening in a Turkish restaurant, eating delicious food and drinking, talking and joking with our friends. Our friend Irkuck joined us during the party even though he wasn’t present at the competition. He was responsible for those nice trophies that were awarded to all winners, and everybody liked the trophies. My personal favorite was the one which went to the best junior painter, as it had a nice steampunk or post-apocalyptic feel.

The man behind it all

I must say that Sławol amazed us all with his ability to organize such a great event. He organized the painting contest almost single-handedly, and the only problem I could see was the lack of protection for entries. On the other hand there much more positive aspects of his work: great coordination, arranging sponsors, announcing the event in the internet, preparing the awards, participation in judging, arranging perfect place and equipment for the painting classes, booking the place for the afterparty, and much more. He was our host there in Gorzów, too, and he did his job really well. He even managed to give certificates of gratitude to everyone who helped him. Huge thank you, Sławol!

Could anything be improved? Sure. There could be more painters and more entries. But with so well prepared second edition of the contest and so satisfied participants, there will surely be the next edition and even more people will participate. There could be awards for random participants – it always encourages more people to enter, even if only because they hope to win the random award. There could be some kind of protection for entries. Not necessarily closed glass cabinets, but at least PVC screens to stand before the entries and visitors. Fortunately this time nothing bad happened, but you can never be sure. Additionally, there could be some foreign painters participating in the contest…

Going international?

But can I have your attention for one more short moment? Thanks!
I was told that in 2012 the European Team Championship is to be organized in Gorzów! It’s going to be a huge event, with players from whole Europe playing Warhammer. It’s a great opportunity to come there and enter the miniature painting competition. So maybe you could come to Poland in the next year? I can wholeheartedly recommend coming to the Grey Seer contest. Even if it’s not a huge competition, it’s a very friendly and interesting event.

And what are your thoughts on this event? So who’s coming to the next edition in 2012? Who’s still thinking? What are the pros and cons? What are your doubts? Don’t be shy and come to Grey Seer 2012! 🙂

If you noticed any mistake in this report, if you are (or know) the author of some unsigned works here – just leave a comment and we will amend the text. Thanks for reading!

— Mahoń

The Duke of Bavaria 2012 contest

Judging System:

Ceremony

Entries

Fight for the flight

The event

Miniature painting contest

Entries

Awards and winners

The people at Hussar

Afterparty

Hussar 2012?

Hussar 2011 announced

Information about the competition

Painting competition rules

I. General Rules

1. Submissions:

2. Disqualifications:

3. Judging:

4. Categories:

II. Categories

1. Single model – fantasy:

2. Single model – SF:

3. Large model:

4. Diorama:

III. Annex

Single model – fantasy:

Single model – SF:

Large model:

Diorama:

Additional information

Slayer of Daemon

Hussar

The competition

The winners

Judging and results

Other attractions

After the contest

So be it!

Grey Seer – miniature painting competition

Arrival

Categories and entries

Judging and winners

Painting classes

Surprizes

Awards ceremony

Afterparty

The man behind it all

Going international?

Miniature Painting Service and More!