Why Did an Ultraman Win the Slayer Sword? Spiel Essen 2026 Break Down

This was great Andy - thanks for taking the time to do this!

When Maxime first posted this on Instagram, my immediate thought was, "Yup, that's a sword." There were so many incredible entries, and plenty that genuinely made me go "WOW!" But that's almost expected at this level of competition. What stood out to me about this particular miniature was just how incredibly cohesive it was. Everything seemed to work together so effortlessly, from the composition to the overall execution. I completely agree that there's no such thing as a flawless or perfect miniature. But to my eyes, on that particular day, this one came the closest. Of course, that's entirely subjective, but it's what made this piece so special to me.

Excellent video; really love the breakdown and reflection (no pun intended) on the details, the process, how both Maxime and Marc might've approached each aspect.

Super interesting video, loved it! On the question side, can you help me understand why there is no orange from the base in the metal ultramarine symbols at the end of the leather tassels? Ps: thank you so much for taking the time to give feedback on my entry when you were in the Artist Opus booth!

Loved this mate! Really interesting to see how he got the colours to interact and produce some really interesting bounce lights and reflections. Really top tier!

Really appreciate this, super interesting

It feels a shame to have such an insightful video locked away behind a paywall. I’d highly consider sharing this to the wider YouTube audience.

Hi Andy, I really enjoyed this video, and I think that it's an important part of the teaching that you could include more often if it's something you enjoy doing. It's very helpful to get the insights and evaluation of a much more experienced painter as this can really help us to think about how to look at our models in greater depth, and from different perspectives. It's also interesting to get a better understanding of the judging decisions at that high level, which is helpful for anyone wanting to enter mini painting competitions of any kind. And it's great for anyone who is not able to attend to get detailed feedback on the minis from someone who has actually seen them in the flesh and knows what they're talking about. Cheers!

Thanks for getting this out so quickly, very interesting!