Golden Demon Entries

MrMagoo

New member
I see all these beautiful golden demon winning minis posted on here, and I am wondering, about how many people are entering the contest and are they all so great? Is it worth it to attend a demon just for fun?
 

TrystanGST

New member
As for the first quetsion - entries ebb and flow. One year a category will be lightly contested (sometimes as low as 5 or 6 entries), and then the next year it gets flooded as people try to enter what used to be an easy win. The exceptions are usually 40k and WFB single. Those are always pretty heavy with entries. Some are definitely better than others - not everyone is at the same level, or it'd be impossible to pick a winner!

As for the attendance question - it depends. How close are you to the location and if you will be going there for more than the painting competition. If not, probably not.
 

SkelettetS

New member
been at ukgd last year and was a bit shocked over the amount of entries i all categories, very easy to be overlooked unless you paint something really colorful. the german one has a sharper edge but 1/10 of entries or so...

of course you should enter! even if you feel a demon is far away let the target be a finalist bagde. you be surprised how they pick and chose sometimes :)
 

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
UK entries number in the 1000's for the ones I went to.
Having said that, categories vary, one year LOTR only had 50 entries.

You have to remember that in the past attendees at games days here have been between 8 -10,000 people.
If I understand correctly levels at USA and the other European events are less.
 

ten ball

Active member
Hi, of course you should enter. I have entered many, many times (including a time when a member of staff handed me back the mini and said 'forget it' !)
and got nowhere until 2 years ago. Its a kick in the guts when you don't get through to the finals but it keeps you pushing on to improve + I got some great tips / feedback from the Eavy metal team & other painters.
I dont know what level of painting you are at, here is an entry of mine from last year that got a finalist pin. Nowhere near the level of what won the slayer sword but I was happy with my progress over the year and had a great day :)

View attachment 22149
 

MAXXxxx

Well-known member
so far I attended only the 2009-2010 german Gd. There were a lot of entries, but not overwhelming. Especially in the open/diorama categories.
No, quality varies wildly. There were some that were TTQ at best (and from gduk I heard, that some people use the GD-entry to get in earlier, so they take any 3 color mini, go in the door early and 'enter' it).

is it worth to attend for fun? yes it is. I tried my best, and while still knowing that at best I'd have a chance for finalist I entered.
It was important, so you see where you are and where you need to improve. It also teaches you some humbleness in case you are a top-dog in your city (I've spoken with people who were the best in their clubs/cities but still painted below TTQ, for them an entry there is enlightening).

sadly there is no chance that I'll ever get a GD, because I'm not really fond of GW's minis anymore --> nothing to enter. Also with the exception of GoldenDemon(+painting demos held by really good painters) I found the whole gamesday highly boring and because of the marketing going on somewhat repulsive.
 

TrystanGST

New member
See - that's why I've really taken a liking to the GenCon/Adepticon/other contests.

Paint what you like, enter it, and possibly win REAL prizes. The top P3 model at GenCon took home $2500. The top model at Crystal Brush took home $10,000. Slayer Sword winner at GD takes home a cheap sword.

Oh, and did I mention that entries in the P3 contest at GenCon are judged individually? So it's entirely possible to have 3 or 4 golds - you compete against yourself, not what else is in the case. (Yes, they have a "best of show" in each category that gets the prize, but it's still awesome)
 

SkelettetS

New member
honestly, not like i fancy a cheap china sword, but i think cash prizes ruin the fun a bit. it make people way more competitive (in a imo bad way) instead of just having a relaxing cool time.
i also like the 'open' system, many/no rewards not depending on the quality of the competitiors but the quality of your work alone.
 

TrystanGST

New member
honestly, not like i fancy a cheap china sword, but i think cash prizes ruin the fun a bit. it make people way more competitive (in a imo bad way) instead of just having a relaxing cool time.
i also like the 'open' system, many/no rewards not depending on the quality of the competitiors but the quality of your work alone.
That's a fair point - it's certainly more likely to draw the really competitive folks. But then, if you track Golden Demon you see the same people winning every year anyways, so I guess not much changes.

However, for example - the GenCon contest I entered in (not the P3 one, which was it's own deal) was really light on entries. Most of the categories only had 8-12 entries, and prizes were awarded 1-3 or even 1-4. Yeah, it wasn't the big cash, but Corvus Belli was awarding as yet unreleased product, R.R. Martin was giving away signed Game of Thrones stuff, and just for entering I got a set of Mantic Archer Command elves. So I am happier with what I did there, than I was the time I entered GD. Even if I did get a finalist pin at GD.
 

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have to be honest, you can have a lot of fun at Gamesday/Golden Deamon, hell I went for 15 years and I've picked up 25 finalist awards and had a lot of fun meeting and talking to people, BUT since the bloom us definitely off the GW rose, as far as I'm concerned, I'm getting more pleasure at "Open" meetings and competitions.
Yeah less teenage fanboi funk as well.
 

Chrispy

Active member
The only time I went (and this is back when the CMON community was waaaay small) I of course knew who was going but I had no idea who any of these people were. I had run into Marike Reimer who had gotten me a commission job at Undefeated and we had chatted on the forums and chat bar, but only afterwords did I recognize the name to the face. Because I am a nerd, I also got a prize at the trivia contest.. I still have that white stuff, though it's probably no that good anymore. No idea what it's like and I really can;t go to any because of crap reasons, but I think if it's in your budget at least check out one. CMON should really make buttons so we can identify others' screen names with real life faces.
 

dogfacedboy uk1

New member
been at ukgd last year and was a bit shocked over the amount of entries i all categories, very easy to be overlooked unless you paint something really colorful. the german one has a sharper edge but 1/10 of entries or so...

of course you should enter! even if you feel a demon is far away let the target be a finalist bagde. you be surprised how they pick and chose sometimes :)

YELLOW for the win!!!!!

UK GD was great for looking at everyones entries and all the design studio greens, 3 ups, the illustrators, the guys sculpting and looking at some of the awesome battlefields. I enjoyed it, but being more into the art side there definately needs to be some new and interesting special reason for attending each one. What this special something is, would be down to GW to rack their brains on. I think they need to think outside of the "GW" box to be honest. That wont probably happen though.



dfb
 

MrMagoo

New member
of course you should enter! even if you feel a demon is far away let the target be a finalist bagde. you be surprised how they pick and chose sometimes :)
I think that is the way I will approach the golden demon. To be a finalist would put me in a great mood for a week! I don't know if I will ever be able to make it to Gamesday, but I will certainly bring a model if I do! Thanks for your help everyone
 

RuneBrush

New member
There is quite a portion down to luck in Golden Demon too. Don't get there late else you risk your entry being put onto one of the top shelves and judges only being able to see the underside of the entry! However that could still happen if the cabinets are filling up quickly. :p
 

TrystanGST

New member
I think that is the way I will approach the golden demon. To be a finalist would put me in a great mood for a week! I don't know if I will ever be able to make it to Gamesday, but I will certainly bring a model if I do! Thanks for your help everyone
That's good advice. I've entered GD once. And it was, as luck would have it, from the same category the Slayer Sword winner came from. So you know the competition was stiff. Getting a finalist pin was a great feeling. It sits next to the mini in my display case.
 

Bailey03

Well-known member
Nothing wrong with attending a GD for fun. But keep in mind there are a lot of other painting competitions out there that also have some really great quality entries. I don't know where you are located so its hard to suggest a specific competition to look for. I know of a bunch in the US that run on the "open" system. That means each entry is judged on it's own merit so you're competing against a gold/silver/bronze standard instead of against the other entries. If your work merits a gold medal it gets one regardless of how many other entries also earn one. In my opinion that sort of show is more fun as everyone walks away with something. Plus you aren't limited to painting what GW sells. I can give you a list of the shows in the US I know about if you'd like (the MFCA show in Philadelphia draws some great talent from Europe each year, there are also shows in Chicago, NY, Atlanta, LA, etc). If you're in Europe or Asia I'm not as familiar with shows over there (though Euro militaire is coming up next month and that's a good place to start).
 
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