Warhammer Community has started showing the finalists from Golden Demon 2026 at SPIEL Essen, and some of the entries that didn't take home a medal are just as jaw-dropping as the winners. Here are our favourites, category by category. For the medal winners and Maxime Penaud's Slayer Sword, see our full Golden Demon 2026 SPIEL Essen winners list.

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Published November 3, 2026. Warhammer Community says more finalists are coming, so we'll add our picks as they're revealed.

Related: Golden Demon 2026 SPIEL Essen Winners: Slayer Sword and Every Winner in Pictures · Battle Report: Ultramarines vs T'au, Calgar and Ten Terminators Deep Strike Into Their Home Zone

What is a Golden Demon finalist?

Every category at Golden Demon has a shortlist of finalists, the best entries out of hundreds. Judges then award gold, silver and bronze from that list. Being a finalist at all puts a painter among the best in the world that year, so these are worth a close look even without a medal.

Duel

The Duel category is all about two models locked in a fight, and this year's finalists went wild with it.

A Blood Bowl minotaur grabbing a green frog-like player out of the air on a pitch base with the word GOTCHA
Jeremy Strub's "Gotcha": a minotaur snatching a player mid-leap, Blood Bowl pitch line and all. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community
A Nurgle warrior with tentacles bursting from his belly grabbing a leaping duardin in a brass diving helmet, on a rock base with sea spray
Jonathan de Vos: a duardin in a diving helmet leaping at a tentacled Nurgle warrior. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community
A blue Space Marine Terminator with a flaming sword facing a winged purple Tyranid diving from above
Elias Alonso: a Terminator stands his ground against a winged Tyranid. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community
A grey-blue Space Marine with a chainsword charging a red and black Tyranid perched on ruins and pipes on a sandy base
Dean Lecoq: a Space Marine charging a Tyranid over ruined pipework. Lecoq was also a finalist in Single Miniature. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community
A white and purple armoured champion with a sword facing an Ork racing at him on a flaming rocket bike
Simon Sikora: a champion braces for an Ork speed freak on a rocket bike. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community
Two giant gargants wrestling, one smashing the other into a broken wooden fence
Martin Collier: two gargants mid-brawl, with incredible skin painting. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community

Necromunda

Five Necromunda squat prospector miniatures in grey and red armour lined up on a black display plinth
David Roberts: a full squat gang in grey and red. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community

Warhammer 40,000: Large Model or Vehicle

An Ork with a cleaver riding a blue squig with huge teeth, framed by rusted curved metal
Lukas Zaba: an Ork riding a snarling blue squig. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community
A bright green Aeldari grav-tank hovering over a desert base with rocks and cacti
Hendarion: an Aeldari grav-tank in vivid green over the desert. Hendarion also made the Unit or Kill Team final with a squad of red Aeldari Warp Spiders. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community

Warhammer 40,000: Unit or Kill Team (Marneus Calgar)

Marneus Calgar, Lord Macragge and Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, in Terminator armour at the centre of his Ultramarines honour guard with a huge banner, on a marble base inscribed with the names of Ultramar worlds
Théo Lamury: MARNEUS CALGAR, Lord Macragge, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, standing in his Terminator armour at the heart of his honour guard, the banner of Macragge raised behind him and the worlds of Ultramar carved into the steps beneath his feet. As Ultramarines players ourselves, this is our favourite piece of the whole show. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community
A mob of Ork warriors with axes, choppas and checkered banners charging across a red rock base
Enric Mikkelsen: an Ork mob charging across red rock. Mikkelsen was also a Single Miniature finalist. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community

Warhammer 40,000: Single Miniature

A black-armoured Space Marine with a jump pack, feathered pauldrons and lightning claws standing on a crashed green vehicle
Dimosthenis Xylas: a jump-pack Space Marine with lightning claws on a crashed wreck. Photo: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community

Other Single Miniature finalists include Charles Dabel, Dean Lecoq and Enric Mikkelsen. Arnau Lazaro, Marc Masclans Abelló and Vincent Nguyen, also on the finalist list, went on to win medals; you'll find their pieces in our winners article.

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Feeling inspired?

If these make you want to pick up a brush, start with our guide to Warhammer Tone Pro paints, a magnifying lamp for the fine details, and our Warhammer start-here page.

My take

The finalist lists are where you see how deep the talent pool really is. Some of these, like Collier's wrestling gargants and Lamury's glorious Marneus Calgar, could have medalled in another year. If you paint, study the bases: almost every finalist tells a story with the ground the models stand on.

WIZY Blog is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Games Workshop. All photos belong to Games Workshop and the painters.

Sources

  1. Warhammer Community warhammer-community.com
  2. Warhammer Community: Golden Demon 2026 winners revealed at SPIEL Essen warhammer-community.com

Written by the WIZY creator

A lifelong gamer and Warhammer painter from Calgary, Canada, and the maker of the Crusade Journal and the WIZY RPG game. I write about games, hardware, Warhammer and crypto in plain English, and I check every fact against its source.