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Founded in 1983 by Friedhelm Merz, the annual trade fair now known as SPIEL Essen occurs every October in Essen, Germany. The world’s largest fair for tabletop gaming, it’s long been a place for game publishers to showcase their latest games. It attracts over 200,000 souls, eager to explore and demo games from wargame, board game, and role-playing companies all over the world.
Naturally, this also makes it a great place for major events like the awarding of the Deutscher Spiele Preis and Games Workshop’s Golden Demon competition. This year, there was a new face at the fair: the Crimson Chalice, Trench Crusade’s signature painting contest.
From the company’s perspective it was a big success. If the odd “teething issue” was a learning moment for the next one, it can be little surprise given that the participant turnout for the event was about triple what they’d forecast. Nice problems to have, right?
The inaugural Crimson Chalice was deliberately designed to be a larger tent than most painting competitions tend to be, with plenty of awards to go around and a very open rules structure. No need to recap the full event as Trench Crusade has done that for you, but here are some notable entries- and the thoughts of the incredible painters who created them.
Ruben Martinez Arribas of Madrid had a very nice day at the office indeed, winning Best in Show alongside three Gold medals (Warband, Storytelling, and Large Figure). As he shared on Facebook,
“Trench Crusade has managed to create an inspiring event that focuses on the community rather than on competition. Creativity and the joy of the hobby were in the air! My advice is to delve into the lore of the trenches, and I’m sure there’ll be no turning back for you either!”
Britain’s Bruce Rose took Open Gold. “I'm still processing my performance,” he noted,
“I brought my best work and I'm proud of what I submitted. At Crimson Chalice, I managed to push for Gold in Open after being moved from single (I was naughty with base size).
“Trench Crusade is certainly cooking up something special with the Crimson Chalice and the vibes from the awards were lovely, a true celebration of people across the hobby.
“My key learnings from both [Crimson Chalice and Golden Demon]? Keep improving, striving to make better art, work on my weaknesses and trying. An ego-mad part of me always wants to be competing at the top and I'm under no illusions what that requires.”
Earlier this year, Frenchman Pierre Ribrag wasn’t feeling all that confident.
Wanted to paint some Trench Crusade for a while cause I love the mood! I tried to capture the grimdark atmosphere of the game while still keeping the sharpness and cleanliness of the 'eavy metal style I love!
Don't know if I managed but I like him 😁
Clearly Ribrag wasn’t alone, as his entry took Bronze in Single Figure!
The Silver medalist for Single Figure, Baptiste Richebé of France, had this to say:
The competition was really enjoyable and making the podium with two of my friend was an awesome touch. I would encourage everyone to take part part in the next iteration of the Crimson Chalice.
Thanks to the Judging team and the TC team!
Stockholm’s Chrisopher Chan was the Bronze winner for Large Figure, the Matagot Hag. As he shared,
My first painting of the year back in January. I painted it both for my Great Hunger warband and for a monthly painting challenge. The challenge was to paint something that fits the theme of "entropy".
Walte Wollermann of Germany’s penchant for storytelling through miniatures earned him Bronze honors at Crimson Chalice, noting:
Managed to win Bronze in the storytelling category of the Crimson Chalice painting competition with this burial scene and I am so happy about it.
Thanks for an amazing event and hope to enter something next year as well!
Another German artist, Thilo Marquardt, had this to say about his experience:
Very happy to have received a Distinguished Award and the Bronze Trophy in the Warband category at Crimson Chalice 2026! Everything felt very down to earth and community-focused. You could tell that they genuinely care about the scene and the people in it. That’s something I appreciate a lot.
And finally, Warband Silver winner Gregor Straehle was delighted to show off his medal haul, adding:
Blessed that I got to take a trophy home.
Congratulations to all, both the worthy winners as well as those who stepped up and put themselves forward for consideration! Plans are already underway for the next Crimson Chalice, which Factory Fortress has just announced will be at Adepticon next April, held in the home of this year’s World Series champs, the Milwaukee Brewers!
Quick Site Update
Plenty more Trench Crusade to get to, so I’ll keep this one brief. As I discussed at length on Black Library Weekly this past Monday, I will be looking to turn on site monetization as early as next week. That’s entirely because Substack offers us writers more features to sites that have it enabled- but all articles will continue to be free. Nothing is changing!
Look at it like a “tip jar.” Always appreciated, never expected, and hopefully tucked away in some inobtrusive corner of the virtual countertop.
Also, as a head’s up if you’re on Facebook we have a page there now too. Come say hello!
Miniature of the Week
What, did you think I was gonna put one of the unit models up after devoting the column to the extraordinary work of the Crimson Chalice? Mama didn’t raise no fool.
…let’s just say that firing at a mine is probably a bad idea.
Beyond the incredible, rust-and-weather look of the official image above, these are simple builds but wonderfully wicked-looking. Plus, I always have a soft sport for that unsung hero of the tabletop: terrain.
Don’t worry, I’ll have something more intricate to look at next week, when I don’t have such a tough act to follow!
ICYMI
Here’s what’s been going on this week for Trench Crusade content!
Trench Crusade Official
The weekly lore drops are back! Graham McNeill’s words and Artem Demura’s art teamed up this week to being us a look at the Sword of God, that lost but legendary bombard of the Iron Sultanate.
While Operation Leviathan saw the introduction of several weekly columns, now that it’s over many of them will be put into storage until (presumably) the next global campaign. That doesn’t mean, though, that we won’t continue to enjoy regular content, and this week Magnus Laursen’s First Strike column returned with a look at the Trench Pilgrims. A series aimed at beginners looking to build their first warband, a new installment has been dropping every other month1.
Peter Hairston’s Mentioned in Despatches series found its origin in Operation Leviathan, but he enjoyed it so much that it’s going to be a regular series. This week’s piece looked at extraordinary tabletop visualizations of the Dragon Hunt scenario!
Finally, the Arena Challenge came to an end this week. Here two teams representing Factory Fortress, The Baron of Dice, The Army Painter, Trench Titans, and Army Painter’s Factory Team compete in an escalation campaign of building and painting Trench Crusade miniatures.
Wargame Content Sites
Tabletop Battles has a Trench Crusade article each week, with this week’s feature being a Warband Focus on the Black Klismos of Envy.
Meanwhile, Wargamer’s editor Mollie Russell took in a Trench Crusade demo at Spiel Essen, and walked away tremendously impressed with how approachable the game is. “I may be a wargaming beginner,” she gushed, “but I'm ready to prostrate myself in worship at Trench Crusade's altar. It has that holy trinity I talked about: sick art, enticing storyelling, and rules that scream elegance.”
Community Content
The Saints & Sevens podcast picked up where it left off with its deep dive into the Court of the Seven Headed Serpent, dropping Part Two this week. (Part one is here).
The Trench Scribe podcast also took the opportunity to dive headfirst into the October Rules Review, looking at the changes to the Court as well as the rules review format overall.
Over at Grimdark Fantasy, it’s all about the Black Grail this week! “Trench Crusade's Version of Nurgle's Plague is DISGUSTING!”
Over at the Trench Crusade subreddit, u/SnooDoggos9469 has been keeping track of developer comments, keeping a running timeline of what lies ahead. Thank you for your service, u/SnooDoggos9469!
Coming Attractions
Here’s a list of the known upcoming physical releases from Trench Crusade based on the available preorder information we have.
This section will be updated weekly in this column, with new or updated info presented in boldface.
Trench Crusade Rulebook (hardcover, 11/30)
That’s it for this week, see you again in seven days’ time!
Laursen previously covered the Heretic Legions last August and the Principality of New Antioch in June. Dedicated beginner-facing content is often overlooked by game properties, so I’m always thrilled to see them when they exist.