BoardGameGeek Golden Turtleback roundup spotlights April 2026 community-painted miniatures

The April Golden Turtleback roundup turned BoardGameGeek into a live gallery for miniatures painted during April 2026, and the prize race was decided by thumbs, not judges. That simple setup gave the month’s entries real momentum: painters had one place to show their work, while the community got a running archive of what looked strongest on the table and on screen.

The contest still carries the original Golden Turtleback name in honor of founder David Anderson, also known as turtleback, and the current handoff has been kept moving by Cerith Morgan-Jones, Murray Fish, and Lance, who helps keep the tradition running. BoardGameGeek’s record of the competition reaches back to 2009, with the first painting contest posted on March 4, 2009, and the Golden Turtle winners list preserves the long view with stats such as most first places and longest runs in the top three.

The April rules were built to keep the event open without losing its edge. Each person could enter once, but that entry could be a single miniature or a group. Contestants had to add the game their model belonged to and host the images on BoardGameGeek. The organizer also asked for the make of the miniature, the scale, and the paints used when possible, which made the thread feel less like a one-off contest and more like a reference file for the whole hobby. Entries could include up to two main images, such as front and back shots or a larger image with a detail photo, and the entrant was expected to be the artist, with reworked second-hand models eligible if the painter had done the majority of the work.

The prize structure reinforced that community-first balance. Funding started with 100 Geek Gold from tips, then split 35 percent to first place, 25 percent to second, 15 percent to third, 25 percent to encouragement awards, and 5 Geek Gold to one random thumber. The contest ended on the final day of the month, which kept April entries tightly framed and made every strong upload matter quickly.

The larger ecosystem around the roundup explains why it still matters. BoardGameGeek’s Miniature Painters Guild, created on September 2, 2010, brings together painters working on wargame, boardgame, pen-and-paper RPG, and custom 3D-printed minis, so the Golden Turtleback contest sits inside an active network rather than a solitary monthly list. Three takeaways stand out for anyone trying to make an entry land: show the model clearly from more than one angle, write down the paint and scale details, and make the entry read well at a glance, because in this contest, thumbs are the verdict.