Painting Competition | Winner Announcement | The Risen Ancestors | September 2026
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September’s Monthly Painting Competition saw our community take on The Risen Ancestors, bringing the newly awakened Progenitors of the Sekhaton to life in all sorts of different ways.
The release offered plenty of room for interpretation, from the strange anatomy and enormous cranial structures of the Progenitors themselves to the ancient architecture and unsettling presence of the Vertebral Gate. As always, it was great to see how differently everyone approached the same collection.
The Rookie League winners were decided by community vote on Discord, while the Bestiarum Team selected the winner of the Veteran League.
Let’s take a look at this month’s winners!
Competition Results
Rookie League - Community Vote Winners
These entries were voted as this month's top 3 by the members of our community Discord server - congratulations!
Entry #1 - "My Lizardman brings all the boys to the yard" by Covenants
Our first winner Covenants built the entry around the Vertebral Gate, using its vivid green centre as the main focal point of the scene. Against the darker, weathered structure and muted tones of the surrounding miniatures, the portal immediately pulls everything together.
With the smaller Progenitor Pursuers gathered around it and the Progenitor Sovereign standing alongside, the piece has a clear sense of narrative as well. It feels less like a display of separate models and more like a moment caught just as the Gate has been brought back to life.
Entry #2 - "Jungle Progenitor" by Klar
The second winning entry by Klar really stood out for the way the Progenitor Bastion has been worked into the environment. The dark foliage and towering tree frame the miniature beautifully, while the turquoise cranium and vivid red shoulders cut through the surrounding greens and keep the creature firmly at the centre of the scene.
There’s a strong sense that it belongs there rather than simply being placed on a scenic base, which gives the whole piece a much more immersive feel.
Entry #3 - "The Thing Levelled Up" by TheUrizen
For our final winning entry, Uvemode took a much more restrained approach, leaning into the ancient, almost fossilised quality of the Progenitor Cerebrant. The warm browns and ochres suit the sculpt extremely well, especially across the huge cranial structure, while the greenish veins running through it add just enough contrast to suggest something still living beneath the surface.
The result feels suitably old, strange and unearthed, a very fitting treatment for one of the Risen Ancestors.
Bestiarum Vote - Veteran League Winner
September was an incredibly competitive month with several gorgeous entries making the final choice especially difficult. After going back and forth between a number of standout pieces, we ultimately decided to award the win to the entry that impressed us most through its ambition, storytelling and distinctive execution. This month’s Veteran League winner is grimdark_archive with "The Progenitors Diorama"!
In this diorama, the scale of the composition does a lot of the storytelling. With the Progenitor Cerebrant anchoring the scene and several Progenitor Pursuers and a Progenitor Mymidon forcing their way through around it, the diorama feels like the opening moments of something much larger. It gives the whole piece a sense of consequence that feels especially fitting for the Risen Ancestors.
The Vertebral Gate itself is where the entry becomes truly distinctive. rayningtime heavily modified and kitbashed the effect using UHU, PVA, pigment, Contrast paint and UV resin, building up a thick, glossy membrane with the appearance of tar or crude oil. The result is far more visceral than a conventional magical gateway: it looks dense, wet and almost organic, as though the Progenitors are having to physically tear their way back into the world.
That idea carries through beautifully into the emerging figures. The stretched membrane clings to their bodies before breaking into fine translucent strands, giving the whole transition a very tactile quality. Combined with the scale of the diorama, it makes the scene feel caught in the middle of an event rather than simply arranged for display.
It’s an ambitious piece with a very clear visual idea behind it, and the custom portal work gives the scene an identity that feels completely its own. A striking interpretation of the Progenitors’ return, and a very deserving Veteran League winner for September.
Congratulations, grimdark_archive!
A huge congratulations to all of this month’s winners!
The Risen Ancestors gave everyone a particularly unusual collection to work with and it was great to see how differently the community interpreted them.
The Rookie League winners each receive a digital product of their choice, while the Veteran League winner receives an STL Collection of choice, a special honorary title on our Discord server and the opportunity to paint an exclusive preview miniature before its official release.
Thank you to everyone who entered, voted and shared their work with the community this month. Seeing the same miniatures taken in completely different directions through painting, basing and storytelling continues to be one of our favourite parts of the competition.
Veteran League Entries
Rookie League Entries
If you'd like to participate in next month's competition, make sure to join our Discord server, head on over to the Monthly Competition channel and check out the rules in the pinned messages!