It’s been an incredible year of Warhammer miniatures, books, animations, and more, and there’s no better way to cap things off than a celebration of the talent you’ve displayed as a community with the Armies on Parade 2025 award ceremony.
Building and painting an entire army to a high standard is no mean feat, even as a team, and neither is creating a thematic display board to showcase them on. Hundreds of people have entered across four categories, with our staff having their own category to compete in too. The judges have worked tirelessly to choose the most thematic and impressive entries, selecting the top three of each category, and highlighting a few judges' choices as well.
The awards show streamed live on the Warhammer YouTube channel, and you can watch it below to relive the reveals. Otherwise, check out all the winning entries below.
Category: Solo Entrant
1st Place: James Taro
James presents a masterclass in painting at small scale, with every miniature jam packed with detail. Each Titan is from Legions Imperialis, and it’s easy to think that we are looking at full sized Titans with the incredible display of freehand, use of transfers, and careful blending and weathering. After multiple Golden Demon wins for the various pieces involved, it’s a triumph to see all the models together as one army.
2nd Place: Stefan Mühring
3rd Place: Mikki Hansen
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Category: Team
1st Place: Alexander Brett and Ciara Brett
Together, Alexander and Ciara have created this beautiful Waaagh! filled with a great mix of looted and converted models. Of particular note, the judges loved the saturated colours that make each model pop out cleanly from the background and the careful use of chequerboard patterns across the army.
2nd Place: Joshua Sewell and James Sewell
3rd Place: Mike McMahon and Travis Pederson
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Category: Youngbloods
1st Place: Atherley
For all of their models, Atherley has created a rich tapestry of texture that showcases a good understanding of how different materials can be represented with paint. The miniatures have a really great desaturated tone across the whole army that can be quite hard to maintain when you include so many different reds, oranges, blues, greens etc, so it’s really impressive to see here!
2nd Place: Harry
3rd Place: Felix
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Category: Armies on Terrain
1st Place: Alexis Bonnaire
Armies on Terrain is all about creating a believable world that our miniatures fit seamlessly into, and Alexis has achieved just that with a beautiful swampy display. Together, the judges love how the pinky-red palette on the miniatures distinguishes them from the green background, and the paintwork has a lovely artsy feel to it with the bold volumetric highlights and visible brushstrokes.
2nd Place: Matt Lang
3rd Place: Jonas Sanner
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Category: Staff
1st Place: Elliot Stenson
Elliot’s army of Idoneth Deepkin rising from the sea strikes an imposing image, and the miniatures have all been painted to show maximum texture, from the stippled skin of the Akhelian Allopexes to the shifting, pearlescent, shell-like surface of the howdahs. The judges really liked seeing a fresh take on painting each sea creature in the army and on each base.
2nd Place: Devdan Bouille
3rd Place: Richard Erickson
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Category: Judges’ Choice
Alongside all of the worthy winners for each category, there were a plethora of amazing entries, some of which our judges wanted to give a special mention to.
Dan: For my Judges' Choice, I've selected Tommy’s Aeldari! The army is impressively displayed, with the entire host emerging from the centre as if materialising through the webway, ready for battle. The composition conveyed in the piece is remarkable, and the painting is truly breathtaking. There is excellent use of non-metallic sections and intricate freehand work, with a strikingly unique colour scheme. And how could I not mention that Wraithknight? It's a perfect showcase of freehand skills, which Tommy has executed flawlessly!
Fletcher: Martin’s submission blew me away with the amount of detail and care he has shown in each miniature. Every element has been meticulously highlighted and is consistent across the whole army, from the homemade bases to each spear tip and helmet plume. I’m particularly in awe of the gorgeous blue and pink armour on Avalenor, a magnificent centrepiece for this collection. A standout element for me is the high level of saturation; whilst there are a wide array of rich colours, they’re not overdone, which is sometimes easy to do. Beautifully executed.
Fletcher: For Timothy's entry each miniature has been injected with contrast, especially with the bold choice to go full non-metallic metal! The red is deep and rich, with the green being a perfect complement. I particularly love the power weapons and the eye lenses – they’re just so striking! This army looks fantastic from a distance as well as up close, which can sometimes be hard to balance. One of my favourite elements of the display is actually the green lights on the terrain – you can clearly see where the brushstrokes have been placed for the OSL, and I really love the artsy feel it gives!
Adam: When I look at Armies on Parade I like to look for a balance of originality, theming, and technical skill, all of which Bartlomiej has shown in this beautiful Aeldari diorama. Everything about this piece showcases love and attention to detail while displaying Striking Scorpions in an almost tranquil setting (despite all the scorpion chainswords being waved around!).
Ed: I love the detail that Casey has brought into this Iyanden army and there are so many skills on display, with a mix of airbrush and hand-painted areas that blend together to create a really impressive army. Seeing how meticulously the chipping has all been hand-painted is testament to the amount of time and care spent on the collection. It’s the kind of army I would love to game with myself!
Ed: Tomasz has put together a stunning board and army that immediately catches the eye with strong contrast in the blends on the armour panels, and neat highlighting to back it up. There are plenty of little details across each miniature, such as lenses, squad markings, girders instead of flight stands etc., and this carries across to the banners, gates, and signs of the fortress board itself.
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That’s it for Armies on Parade 2025! Thanks to everyone who took part, even if your entry didn’t feature, we loved seeing every single one of them.
