Rules and Judging

Competition Information & Rules

    • Mithril Brush is an “Open” competition. This means that if there are six entries that the judges vote on that reach a “Gold” level score, then there are six gold winners.

    • Each category will have Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Copper level winners.

    • The Mithril Spear winner will be chosen from one of the Gold winners.

    • The competition opens January of each year and entrants will have until December 1st of that year to finish their mini, take photos and submit their pictures

    • Entrants may enter the competition anytime during the year, as long as the entry is completed by December 1st

    • Entrants are allowed to enter into as many categories as they would like but can only enter one entry in each category

    • You may not enter a mini that has already been painted

    • The entry must be Middle Earth themed but the mini may be produced by any manufacturer, including:

      • Games Workshop

      • Davalegames

      • Medbury miniatures

      • Unreleased miniatures

      • Kzkminis

      • Others

    • When finished with your entry, please send the final pictures via email

      • You may send as many pictures as you would like, but sometimes less is better. All will be assessed by the judges

    • The $5 admission fee covers all entries if you are entering into more than one category

    • The admission fee goes to pay for the running of the website and to the funding of the various prizes and trophies that will be awarded

    • When you submit your entry (see “Entry submission”), please include a picture of the unpainted/primed mini. This must be done to ensure the competitors are not entering a piece that has already been painted

    • Personally hiring another individual/party to sculpt your mini for you then to paint for the competition is not allowed

    • Artists agree to have their entry displayed via the website if no communication is made otherwise

    • No up/down scaling of your miniatures if you are 3D printing your model

    • No use of artificial/colored lighting when taking pictures of your model

    • Basic photo editing that is allowed:

      • Alteration of exposure (how much light is entering the camera)

    • Any significant alteration of your miniature via photoshop or other editing methods will be meticulously reviewed and if any suspicion of alteration is made and a consensus is agreed between the judges, your entry will be disqualified

Judging

How many judges will there be?

  • There will be five judges (see below)

How and when will my piece be judged?

  • Judges will first go through all entries to select pieces to judge. They will then go on to judge each selection.

    • Each piece will be given a score by each judge

      • 1 = Copper

      • 2 = Bronze

      • 3 = Silver

      • 4 = Gold

    • A piece’s total score will then be added and the sum will determine where you place

      • 1-10 = Copper

      • 10-13 = Bronze

      • 14-18 = Silver

      • 19-20 = Gold

  • Judging will take place after December 1st until the end of December, which is when the announcement ceremony will take place

What is the Mithril Spear?

  • See the “Prizes and Awards” tab

What are the criteria that are used to determine a piece’s score?

  • Judges will utilize 5 pieces of criteria when evaluating a piece:

    • Difficulty

    • Creativity

    • Workmanship

    • Painting Skill

    • Presentation/Overall Effect

  • Each category will have different approximate weights that are given to these criteria. The judges will use these percentages as a guide for final determination

    • Single Miniature-Masters / Single Miniature-Standard / Monster

      • Difficulty = 5%

      • Creativity = 10%

      • Workmanship = 10%

      • Painting Skill = 70%

      • Presentation/Overall Effect = 5%

    • Diorama / Duel / Eored

      • Difficulty = 15%

      • Creativity = 10%

      • Workmanship = 30%

      • Painting Skill = 30%

      • Presentation/Overall Effect = 15%

    • Conversion

      • Difficulty = 20%

      • Creativity = 20%

      • Workmanship = 40%

      • Painting Skill = N/A

      • Presentation/Overall Effect = 20%

Credit is given to “ReaperCon” Master Series Painting Contest and the International Judging Criteria

Make it stand out.

Judges