The Slayer Sword, the top prize in miniature painting, goes to Maxime Penaud for Marneus Calgar, the Ultramarines Chapter Master himself, in Terminator armour, and he looks like he walked out of a painting. The European leg of Golden Demon 2026 was judged at SPIEL Essen in Germany, and Warhammer Community has revealed every winner. Here they all are, category by category. Tap any picture to see it full screen.
Last updated October 26, 2026. Thanks to a reader on r/Ultramarines for pointing out it's Marneus Calgar, not just "a Terminator."
The Slayer Sword: Maxime Penaud
Penaud's Calgar first took gold in Warhammer 40,000 Single Miniature, then beat every other gold winner to the Slayer Sword. You can tell it's Calgar from the Gauntlets of Ultramar, the two huge power fists with built-in bolters. Look at the blue armour: the highlights are so smooth it almost looks like real metal, and the face with its bionic eye has more character than most full dioramas. The glowing orange base with a dead alien at his feet finishes it off.
The big story: Kuan Tien Tung's four medals
One name keeps coming up on the list. Kuan Tien Tung won four medals: gold in The Old World, gold in Necromunda, silver in Age of Sigmar Large Model and silver in the Open. Winning one Golden Demon is a life goal for most painters. Four in different games is ridiculous.
Other painters with more than one medal:
- Lucas Pina: gold in the Open, silver in Middle-earth
- Nikolas Rubens Mortensen: gold in Blood Bowl, silver in Epic Scale
- Angelo Di Chello: gold in Diorama, bronze in Age of Sigmar Large Model
- Baptiste Richebé: gold in 40K Unit or Kill Team, silver in The Old World
- Vincent Nguyen: bronze in Epic Scale and bronze in the Open
- Ross McCusker: bronze in 40K Unit or Kill Team and bronze in Blood Bowl
Warhammer 40,000
Single Miniature
Unit or Kill Team
Large Model or Vehicle
Warhammer Age of Sigmar
Single Miniature
Unit, Warcry or Underworlds Warband
Large Model or War Machine
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy
Warhammer: The Old World
Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game
Blood Bowl
Necromunda
Epic Scale
Diorama
Duel
Youngbloods
The Open Competition
All pictures: Warhammer Community / Games Workshop. The full announcement has more photos of the winning models.
My take
I'd give the sword to Penaud too. A lot of Golden Demon winners win with giant dioramas, so it's great to see a single model, Calgar himself, take it on pure painting skill. But my personal favourite is Arnau Lazaro's Ents: the bark alone must have taken weeks. And Kuan Tien Tung with four medals across four different games is just showing off at this point. Which one would you have picked for the Slayer Sword?
Sources
- Warhammer Community: Golden Demon 2026 winners revealed at SPIEL Essen warhammer-community.com
Written by the WIZY creator
An independent builder on Monad, working on the WIZY project and the WIZY RPG game. I write about crypto in plain English and about the games I care about, and I check every fact against its source.
