Impulse purchase definitely isn’t the right word here, but I certainly don’t think I have progressed from seeing something to buying it quite as quickly as when the kickstarter went live for Compendium: Volume 1. Produced by The Miniatures Compendium and launched on kickstarter back in March 2021, it is clear from start to finish that this is a labour of love. This mighty tome collects Golden Demon winners from over the past 30 years with additional commentary and even works in progress photos.

For those of you that don’t follow The Miniatures Compendium on their instagram, for years it has been an incredible archive of past and present Golden Demon winners, with every person they follow being a Golden Demon winning artist. This volume is a culmination of nearly 4 years of work, covering 94 miniatures from 54 different artists all presented in a gorgeous 320-page hardback volume with additional art by Orniris Terensi.

Going all the way back to 1988, it is super interesting to see how painting styles have evolved and improved as the hobby has grown and its quite a nice trip down memory lane seeing winners that I was able to see back when I went to GamesDay. Each entry is presented over several pages, with brand new high res photography to really capture every detail and every angle of the model that you don’t normally see on websites like Demon Winner or Golden Demon. The incredible resolution and detail in the images also works to make the entries feel so much more attainable - these images are the closest I am going to get to actually holding them in my hands, to the point where you can start to see the brush strokes and how the overall finish is constructed.

Many of the miniatures also have an excellent commentary from the artist themselves about the process and story behind the models. Since so many of the entries are often heavily converted its hard to know where us mere mortals could even start by creating such incredible pieces, but understanding the thought process, often alongside an image of the unpainted model further helps to show how skilled a sculptor these people are, and what materials were used. A particular favourite of mine is seeing Iago Pineda’s 2003 Youngbloods entry followed by his 2004 Slayer Sword winning entry (At the age of 15!) and the process behind how his styles improved and changed over the intervening year.

Of course, my absolute highlight is the pictures of Roman Lappat’s The Last Light diorama that won the 2013 German Slayer Sword. I fell in love with this piece when I saw it on the Massive Voodoo blog nearly 8 years ago, and hands down has to be the greatest Slayer Sword winner of all time. It is all in all a great trip down memory lane to see models that I remember reading about in White Dwarf and online. However, it is a bit annoying that the only place that says the year, category and position is in the contents, so I keep needing to flick back and forth to get all the information about the entries as I’m looking. But to be honest it’s really the miniatures themselves that we care about.

Going all the way up to the most recent Golden Demon competitions in 2019 (hopefully, with a new one soon), I think like many people, the fact that this book is titled “Volume 1” hopefully hints that more are on the way. The kickstarter pledges are still being fulfilled but it looks like this should be completed by the end of November. I’ll admit it is quite cool as a kickstarter backer to have my name listed in the back, and particularly flattering that several people messaged me on Instagram thinking my name was there because I had previously won. Unfortunately, I don’t know if additional copies will be available at a later date. I certainly hope so, and if it is then you really must get a copy - even my flatmate and friends who aren’t Warhammer-savvy have had a flick through and marvelled at some of the incredible work on display.

Seeing all the high-res pictures makes me want to re-do the images for of my last Golden Demon entry - the 2013 Youngbloods which I did actually get a finalists pin for. However, I think the model is in one of my cases back in Lincolnshire, so perhaps a task for another time.

But who knows, if there is a volume 2 then I think its a pretty good aspiration to one day be included in these pages, and I think I’ve come a pretty long way in the 8 years since.

View Comments