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Blame it on our sea.man a.k.a. czlowiek.morze! It was his idea to start this whole Miniature of the Month event and to make it a monthly regular attraction for our miniature painting community. But it would be unfair to pretend we don’t enjoy it…

Now we’re stepping out and inviting you to join the fun!
But let me explain to you what the whole thing is all about…

How it all started

It was in August 2011 that czlowiek.morze proposed a nice pastime for our miniature painting forum members: He would collect all the new paintjobs presented on the forum by its members during the previous month, and we would vote for one of them.

We collect all the new paintjobs presented on the forum by its members during the previous month and vote for the favorite one.

Initially we played with the idea of choosing our favorite miniature of all, including the ones we found elsewhere, like on CoolMiniOrNot or other internet galleries or forums, but eventually we decided to limit it to the works created and posted by our forum members. Also it was them who was allowed to vote for their favorite. Of course comments would be encouraged, because they would explain why one chose a particular miniature.

The first edition featured miniatures posted in July, and then we kept voting for the next few months. We were very curious how different results would be achieved if voting was open to public. We knew they would be different, and so we wanted to see the difference. This is how we reached the point where we are now:

After tinkering with technical issues, we’re ready for the first public voting for the Miniature of the Month here! Why don’t you join the fun and post your vote and comment? 🙂

Miniature of the Month – rules

As you can see, the rules are very few:

You can only vote for one miniature. Choose the one which deserves to be the miniature of the month in your opinion. You can choose one of the miniatures collected by the coordinator, sea.man. He collects the miniatures posted by the members of our miniature painting community on our forum and creates a list of candidates to the title. In case there is more than one work from the same person, sea.man chooses one of them, but if the author prefers to enter a different one – it suffices to contact sea.man (czlowiek.morze) on our forum and he will make the adjustment.

We don’t say the voting is for “the best painted miniature of the month” because it doesn’t have to be the best painted one. It just has to be the one that in your opinion deserves the title the most of them all.

Bear in mind we don’t say the voting is for “the best painted miniature of the month” because it doesn’t have to be the best painted one. It just has to be the one that in your opinion deserves the title the most of them all. Maybe because it’s the best paintjob, maybe because the overall effect is so impressive despite some technical shortcomings, maybe because the author did something revolutionary for him, or maybe because the painter made the largest progress of them all during that month.

It’s really up to you, as long as you believe your voting is fair and can explain it. That is why commenting is an important part of the whole fun. Those words of explanation are not only showing the reasons for which you chose that particular model, but often also are a great encouragement and motivation to the author of the model of your choice. So please be so kind to write those few words and explain your choice. It’s not required but always appreciated!

When the voting is over, the winner is announced and receives an award: a honorary badge (or a medal to be more precise) displayed in their profile on our forum. Even if it’s not much, it allows others to see that the person won such a poll already. And well, it’s shiny 😀

UPDATE: Starting with miniature of February 2012 the rules have been changed. Please check the information about the changes to know what changed.

Wanna join?

If you would like to participate to the fullest, why don’t you post your works on our miniature painting forum? The whole event is coordinated by sea.man (czlowiek.morze), who will surely notice your works and submit them to the poll for that month. And before your works can be voted for, you can take a look at the miniatures posted to our forum in December.

There were 25 painters who posted new works to the Chest of Colors forum. Here you can see the painted miniatures they posted in December 2011:

If you are a member of our miniature painting community and visit our forum, you may be familiar with most of these painters. You surely have your opinion which miniature deserves the title of the Miniature of the Month for December 2011 the most. And if you don’t, why don’t you spend some time on the forum, getting to know the people there and watching their works. And we hope you’re going to leave your vote in the poll below.

Voting has ended.

We will allow the poll to run a bit longer than we did before, because we are publishing it a bit later, too. We give you two weeks for voting, which means the poll will be closed on February 5th, 2012.

We hope that it’s enough time for you to submit your votes and to leave some comments for our readers and for the authors of entered works. And maybe we will see your works in the poll for January 2012? The next editions will still be coordinated by czlowiek.morze (sea.man), so if you have any questions or suggestions regarding our event – feel free to share them on the forum or in the comments below. Thank you!

So it is all for now. Enjoy the pictures and choose wisely. 🙂

Results

UPDATE: The winner for December 2011 is Flameon. Congratulations!

Events

5th Chest of Colors Miniature Exchange announced

November 6, 2011 CofC Admin Leave a comment

Miniature Exchanges became a kind of tradition here at Chest of Colors. The idea behind them is painting miniatures for randomly chosen participants of the exchange, which means: everybody receives a nice surprise.

Now we’re starting our 5th Miniature Exchange and you still have a few days to join!

The story so far

If you haven’t participated in any of our Miniature Exchanges yet, you might like to read a bit about them, or browse the galleries of miniatures exchanged by the participants of previous 4 editions of Chest of Colors Miniature Exchange. You can find the galleries here:

Here we go again!

Now another exition of our Miniature Exchange is just starting. Thanks to Nameless you can read the rules of the current Miniature Exchange and discuss it in this thread on our miniature painting forum, or if you prefer reading in Polish – here is a Polish version of the thread. These topics are also the right place to ask all your questions regarding this event.

So what are you waiting for? Go check the information and if you meet the requirements – join the fun 🙂

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: https://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!