The Covenant category winner is Carl Woodrow

Supreme Commander Rho ‘Barutamee’s colour scheme is used to beautiful, eye-catching effect in this piece by Carl. Strikingly intense colours making use of a wide range of tonal values, with subtly layered paint blending, and carefully-placed lighting effects, made this model instantly *pop* as our Spartan Team Members poured over the contest entries. Every subtle detail spoke of care and deliberate attention, from the organic tissues of the mouth to the realistic marble plinth, paving the way for this entry to claim the top result in the Covenant category.

It was a close run with this piece by Charles Yang only just being beat to first place by Carl’s bust. We loved the choice of colours and the way they make Rho look even more dangerous! A fabulous Runner Up.

The UNSC Category winner is Chris Smith

This rendition of UNSC Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth takes the “sculptural portrait bust” presentation of the model and runs with it, making it appear as if skilfully carved entirely from marble. The marble itself is highly considered, taking account of mineral colour variations, fissures, cracks, and with details of a size and boldness that make the figure appear large in the context of its scale. Finished off with a complimentary bronze plaque, the complete cohesive effect brought the eyes of our Spartan Team Members to this entry, for which they’ve awarded it the top result in the UNSC category.

Simon Bianchi’s more traditional paint job appealed to the Spartan team because of the ‘lived in face’. It was felt that Simon’s piece caught the feel of a man stretched to his limit as the Covenant attacked the fortress planet of Reach. If it hadn’t been for Chris Smith’s unique entry Simon’s entry would have took first place. Again, a fantastic Runner Up.

Our 10 Runner up Prizes of a Halo Goody Bag go to:
Emmanuel Rios, Matthew Doran, Josh Le Cheminant, Charles Yang, Christine Child, Simon Bianchi, Christian Blanche, Jeff Venancio, Rick Warnecke and Sam Lewin.

On behalf of the entire team at Spartan Games, we would like to congratulate every painter who submitted an entry for our Halo: Fleet Battles Fleet Commander bust painting competition. It’s abundantly clear that you share our great enthusiasm for Halo and the amazing hobby of miniature painting. We were truly impressed with the quality and creativity of the works you’ve shared with us! As a team we looked thoroughly at each submission, poured and deliberated, pondered and discussed at length. Choosing a top winner is never easy, as all of us found elements of each model that piqued our aesthetic interests. Throughout the entries, we’ve seen superb custom colour schemes, beautiful freehand details on clothing and armour, subtle and realistic flesh tones, painted-on environment lighting, light-emitting effects, non-metallic metals (NMM), demi-metallic metals, realistic marbling, and advanced blending techniques. These techniques, which require skill and effort to attain and to use effectively, have not passed our notice, and so we would like each of our entrants to know that we think you’ve done a *stunning* job, and we eagerly welcome and anticipate your participation in future contests.

Very Best to All of You,
The Spartan Games Team