Painted miniatures breathe so much life into our favorite hobbies. It’s a staple of miniature wargames like Warhammer, sure, but D&D and even a lot of board games love painted miniatures too. They’re so immersive, and make the tabletop experience so much more fun.

Painting as a hobby can be intimidating, but even a mediocre paint job makes a big difference on the table. We want to celebrate the skilled painters that visit our shop, and we want to encourage newbies who are interested, so everyone’s games look and play better. So we’re announcing our Marilith Winter Painting Contest!

We’re inviting all of our longtime regulars, fans of the shop, or anyone else to join our holiday festivities. We’ll provide a model to the entrants, and we ask to paint their models in holiday themes! Painters are free to explore any holiday theme, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or even a general winter theme.

The Marilith illustration found on D&D Beyond and in the fifth edition Monster Manual is considered canonical, but painters are more than welcome to innovate. Limitations breed creativity, but creative freedom is important too!

We’ll have three categories for your model to compete in. The winners of each category will receive a store credit prize, which grows as the contest grows! The more people who participate, the bigger the prize pot gets. Additionally, the winner of the Shop Favorite will receive a Primaris Librarian model as well!

So how do we do this? Here’s the rules:

Time Frame: 

• Contestants will be given roughly 4 weeks to construct and paint their entry.
• Contestants should visit the shop starting on November 16th to purchase their entry ticket and receive their Marilith model.
• Contestants must bring their entry by the end of business hours on Monday, December 14 for contest entry.
• Entries will be displayed for public viewing from December 15 to December 31.
• Winners will be announced on Sunday, January 3 over social media, and will be contacted directly.

Rules for Competition:

• Entry will be $10. Contestants will receive a WizKids Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures Marilith model. The remaining $5 of the entry fee will be added to a store credit prize pool.
• Each contestant can enter one and only one entry. This entry will be considered for all three categories.
• All entries must include a provided Marilith model, and must adhere to a holiday theme or winter theme.
• Entries may include other models and constructions besides the Marilith model.
• Bases and displays can be no larger than 3 inches by 3 inches.
• Entries must be painted by the contestant. This means no commission painting or group painting.
• Categories for judging will be Public, Shop Favorite, and Best Conversion.
• Contestants can submit votes in the Best Conversion category, and can vote for any entry except their own.
• Entries will be returned to their owners after winners are announced. Entries will be available at Level One Game Shop for pickup.

Categories:

• Public: All entries will be considered in the Public category. Shop patrons can submit a vote for their favorite entry. Contestants and shop staff will not vote in this category.
• Shop Favorite: Level One staff will vote for their favorite entry.
• Best Conversion: Contestants and shop staff will vote in this category. Entries will be considered based on their conversion work. Conversion work will consist of adding or editing the posing, appearance or structure of the model, as well as creating a diorama or making a thematic base for the model.

Prizes:

• Each contestant contributes $5 to the store credit prize pool, taken from their entry fee.
• The store prize pool will be evenly divided into thirds. Each third of the prize pool will be allocated to each category.
• Winning contestants will be awarded store credit for each category they won. If there is a tie amongst winners in a category, all tied contestants will receive an equal share of that category’s allocation.
• The winner of the Shop Favorite category will also be awarded a Games Workshop Space Marines Primaris Librarian model.