Ropecon’s widely known miniature painting competition returns yet again! The competition has undergone many changes over the years. In 2024 an updated name, look and format. In the competition relaunched with a new name and format change, with an open format where the number of entries and awards given out per category is not limited. 

Like last year, the registration to the contest is done online ahead of the contest. Registration is done on the website pienoismallit.net as a collaboration with the site. Entering online helps everything go smoothly on the contest day and helps the competition organizers assess the need for space. It is however also possible to enter your entries at the competition area in Hall 5B until Saturday afternoon if need be. The award ceremony and collection of your entries is done on Sunday.

As in previous years, the contest is judged by a panel of judges consisting of painters with awards from both national and international competitions. In addition an award is given out to the People’s Choice, voted by all convention visitors. More information on voting practices will be updated closer to the convention.

We welcome painters of all skill levels to register and showcase their works at  the constantly growing and developing competition at Ropecon. There are special categories for beginners and less experienced painters as well and it is a wonderful opportunity to take the first steps toward competitive painting, so please join in, one and all!

The Show of Force army parade organized by Warhead will also be held once again in the miniature gallery area. Snow force showcases large miniature armies on impressive dioramas. Show of Force is again presented by War Head.

Schedule

The pre-registration is open on pienoismallit.net and will be open until entry submissions are closed.

• Competition entries can be submitted between Friday July 24th 3.00 pm – Saturday July 25th 1.00 pm.
• Please note that Saturday’s deadline has been moved up by two hours from previous years! Entries can be collected back on Sunday July  26th 12.00pm – 4.00pm.
• You can ask the judges for feedback on your entries on Sunday July 26th during a time slot dedicated for this.
• The award ceremony is on Sunday July 27th in the afternoon.

You will find the schedule and locations also in the Ropecon program guide.

Rules

Cold North Open uses the open format, in which the amount of entries and awards is not limited. This format takes into consideration the overall quality of entries in the category and the competition, all pieces deemed worthy of prizes by the judges are awarded.

Contestants may enter each category with one or more pieces. These pieces together form the contestant’s display for that category. A display doesn’t necessarily have to be a cohesive combination of models, as each piece in the display is judged individually. Every contestant will mark their own display from other contestants’ works using small sticks available at the contest area. As a loose guideline you should keep your displays between 1-5 pieces each, due to the restricted space of the contest area.

A contestant may have one display in each main category (1.-6.), not including the special categories (7-11), the restrictions of which you can find under the details for those categories.

Contestants can participate in the contest with a miniature they have painted themselves. The miniature can be anything as long as it counts as a miniature and follows the restrictions of the category to which it is submitted. Fantasy, sci-fi, historical or modern, anything goes. Your entry doesn’t have to be painted exclusively for this competition – any piece is eligible as long as it hasn’t been placed in previous Ropecon painting competitions. In accordance with the Ropecon rules, entries cannot showcase any symbols which do not align  with Ropecon’s values, or which incite hatred against marginalized groups of people without specific permission from the organizers of the event. Using AI for the production of any piece or part of the work is prohibited.

If you aren’t sure what category your miniature should be entered into, please contact us at coldtonessociety(at)gmail.com. The judges reserve the right to change the category of an entry if it appears to be entered into the wrong category.

he competition is organized by the Finnish display painters open association Cold Tones Society in collaboration with Ropecon. All the crucial information concerning the Cold Open competition will be available on Ropecon’s official channels, however, additional information and news on the competition will also be available on Cold society’s website coldtonessociety.com and social media instagram.com/coldtonessociety

Awards

Contestants are awarded commendations and bronze, silver and gold trophies. A contestant may only receive one award per category – either for the single best entry in their display or for their whole display if all of the pieces entered are deemed to be on the same level by the judges.

Additional awards include:

• The Best of Theme award (Dreams)
• The Ducal Cross for Cultural Merit, or the best trench Crusade themed work
• The People’s Choice award (general voting)
• Best of Creativity
• The Best of Show award

Like previous years, commendations will be given out to pieces with commendable merits to mark all the finalist pieces that made it past the first cut. Winning pieces will be picked from within these commended entries. The commended entry cards will be placed with the pieces on the showroom table by Sunday morning. If your piece has a commended entry card next to it on Sunday, please come to the award ceremony!

The best work is selected from the works, which have been awarded gold, but it is always a single miniature and not the complete presentation.

The most creative work can be selected from among the works, which have been awarded gold, but it can also be selected from outside that group. Although the central determiner is creativity, it is still a painting competition, not just an idea competition. Because of this, other judging criteria than creativity, as well as the impressiveness as a whole affect the choice.

Like previous years, honorable mentions mark the 1.qualification round in one way or other merited works. All winners will be selected from among these finalists. Honorable mentions will be placed next to the selected presentations by Sunday morning. If you see a honorable mention card next to your presentation, please come to the award ceremony, because you may be one of the winners!

Categories

Judging

The contest has a panel of judges, who evaluate all the entries. The panel of jThe contest has a panel of judges, who evaluate all the entries. The panel of judges consists of experienced painters with several awards from both national and international competitions. 

The judge’s panel is led by the head judge, whose responsibilities include: choosing the judges panel, ensuring the consistency of the judging (between categories and in relation with previous years), overseeing that rules are followed, and moving works, to ensure that judging follows the values of the competition, as well as ensuring that the judging process runs smoothly. In 2026 the head judge is Erkka Marttio.

Contestants have the possibility of asking the judges for feedback on their entries during a dedicated time slot on Sunday. The panel of judges in 2026 consists of:

Erkka Marttio, head judge
instagram.com/marttio_miniatureart

Otto Puomio
instagram.com/hoshodeminis

Eetu Tarkamo
instagram.com/tarkamos_mini_workshop

Any possible guest judges will be published later.

Judging criteria

The judges will select the winners with mutual decision based on critical visual inspection and discussion. The most important criteria is the intention of the work and how successfully it has been achieved (intent, proposal, execution) and the overall impressiveness of the work, which consists of several aspects (overall impact).

Each submitted contest work will be judged as a separate entity, so mastering only one area of the workpiece does not guarantee victory. Any specific painting style is not expected or consciously preferred. The judging can never be fully objective in and of itself, but the judges will do their best to evaluate the contest works from as many points of view and as fairly as possible, striving to disregard their own preferences.

Because the judging is not based on a mathematical rating system, instead it is based on the discussion of the judges and the visual appraisal of the works, there will not be any recorded points for the participating works.

The judges will at the very least take the following details into consideration:

Paint application and technique
Each part of the work has been painted meticulously and purposefully from every side and there is no texture visible in disturbing amounts in the layers of the paint itself. There is no noticeable carelessness in various painted sections’ outlines in the miniature. the purposefulness of visual brush strokes and the purposefulness of the level of shine of the work.

Use of Color
Color placement, harmony, purposeful utilization of color dimensions in the work (valor, chroma, shade), the readability of the work.

Light
Placement of light used in the work, interpretation of volumes and representation.

The physical composition of the work
The visual hierarchy of the work and the distribution of the visual weight of the work, the relationship of different elements of the work with each other, the dynamism and readability of the work. The miniature and all th base elements work as a consistent, seamless whole that direct to two main elements of the work.

Ambience
The base of the work, the atmosphere, representation of weather, the successful integration of the figure into the whole work.

Originality
Creativity, visual impressiveness, risk taking, distinctiveness. The work presents some form of new idea, or other original idea.

Storytelling
The work includes elements of storytelling. An interesting story can be clear and direct, but it can also have room for interpretation. Storytelling is evaluated in all categories, but it’s meaning is emphasized in dioramas. If you wish that the focus of judging is in the storytelling, then enter your work pinto the diorama category.

Presentation and finishing touches: The presentation of the figure is done with care.The whole work is polished with care, not just the main object. FThe marks of print support and other sculpt marks, or marks that do not belong to the base, are not visible. Any conversions are realized in a high quality way, so that they are discreet. For example the surfaces of the plinth are even, clean and painted or varnished neatly. In other words the signs of the work process have been cleaned up or covered up carefully, which offers a polished, finalized look. The miniature has been assembled well and the parts are attached securely. The surfaces of the miniature and the plinth are smooth and evenly painted and varnished. The work is as finished  as can be. Any mess caused by the work process have been cleaned upor carefully hidden. The judges will do their best to appraise the presentation to see if coarser or rougher brush strokes and paint finish is a conscious stylistic choice or not. In this part of the judging, the category does not play the central part, but can tip the scales in favor of the more stylishly finished presentation.