The 2,026 Rekon Kickoff

[Quantumsurfer]

The 2,026 Rekon Kickoff
Eleventh Annual BrikWars Battle Contest

Welcome, BrikWarriors, to the dawn of a glorious new Rekonstruktion! In some places, the streets are swept clean, the fields are lush and green, the sun dappled forests are thickly boughed, and the majestic peaks stand tall and proud. The army regulars are all lined up in neat little rows, their equipment shiny and new, their uniforms starched and absent of explosive debris. Freshly painted starships sit in their docks with weapons systems fully charged while creatures and critters on planets far below scent the air for the coming danger. Because in other places, the battle has always been and always will be. Minifigs stand, blades dripping blood, in piles of corpses as lasers lance overhead and topple the last remnants of once great empires. Realities smash together and collectively reassemble. The whole BrikVerse heaves in a breath of newly minted, grade-a, fresh friggin' air as the New Year rolls in.

Participants

Those wishing to participate in the contest should submit an original battle report via a new thread in the Reports from the Field forum between January 2, 2026 and January 31, 2026, including the identifier tag [RK26] in the title.

Participants may also submit Forum or Chat Battles (also called Community Battles) via the Forum Battles forum with the same identifier tag in the title. Community Battles are judged on their merits like any other battle report, with some important considerations:

• First, any portion of a Community Battle may be submitted for judging. Entrants don't necessarily have to submit the whole thing. However, you do so at your own risk. If you submit only a turn or two cut from a larger battle for review, you risk it being judged against other whole battles. The choice is yours but be aware this could result in docked scores.
• Second, the Community Battle must be "current." To be considered current, some portion of the submission must fall within the contest's timeframe (January). This allows for incomplete, in-progress, and returning battles to be submitted. If these are submitted in their entirety, they are judged on their merit up to their completion as of January 31.

Participants may submit more than one entry. Contestants can only win one Reward, however, and only their highest scoring piece will count in this regard.

Entries may represent any BrikWars tone, style, etcetera. The BrikVerse is a wildly diverse setting and the purpose of this contest is to encourage more awesome new content. In terms of general theme, keep in mind the New Rekon and its implications. Entrants may feel free to continue older storylines in new ways but should also not feel beholden to any existing Kanon (basic common courtesy and community groundrules notwithstanding).

Judges

Judging of the entries will commence immediately following the contest, beginning February 1, 2026 and will end no later than February 8th, 2026. The final scores will be announced and formalized in this thread on February 9th, 2026.

For the 2026 Contest, the following are Judges:

• Scratch
• MadMario
• EternityofDeath

The following are Secondary Judges:

Judges will read each entry and score it based on the following categories:

• Fun -- Relating to the battle's conceptual gameplay: the inventiveness of the actions taken during the game, the tactics striven for, the general level of amusement and shenanigans, and overall "wow" factor.
• Violence-- Relating to the battle's mechanical gameplay: the clever and creative use of (rather than strict adherence to) the general rules to keep the game fast and fresh, the amount of straight up action movie carnage wrought, the general level of conflict (whether abstract or visceral).
• Presentation-- Relating to the battle's visual exhibit: the quality of the build's photography (especially the use of clean lighting and clear pictures) and the capture of the purpose and mechanics of the piece such that it is clearly and completely conveyed to the audience, the appropriate capture of the action and turmoil of the piece, the overall visual attractiveness of the playing field, the characters and armies involved in the conflict, and the action of that conflict.
• Writing-- Relating to the battle's story: quality of the writing, consistency of appropriate tone and pacing, clarity of characters and narration, general level of originality, and accessibility of emotional or cerebral engagement.

• Theme, Tiebreaker Category-- Relating to the New Year's Theme: how well the theme was represented through conscious gameplay and storytelling. The THEME this year is "RELENTLESS CHANGE." Life comes at you fast. Cultural milestones are now a dime a dozen. We live in interesting times. So to hell with it, now's the time to chuck the rules in the trash and do what you need to do. Get with the program or get run over. Please use this opportunity to reimagine, reboot, or otherwise reconfigure stories and characters, connecting them in strange new ways, if it takes your fancy.

The Judging Categories of Fun and Violence are rated on a scale of 1-10 while Presentation and Writing are judged on a scale of 1-5. The scores from each category will be added together, with the exception of Theme, for a single Judge's Total Score of between 4 and 30. Total Scores are added together to create a Final Score, which is compared to other entries to win. The Theme Score, judged on a scale from 1-10, will only be used in the event of a tie between entries. Judges are encouraged to keep an open, diverse mindset when judging entries as they are not inherently required to adhere to any particular interpretation of Kanon or individually preferred tone. In short, we all have a good general idea of what constitutes as Brikwarsy but a great many of us have some pretty different ideas about the specifics.

Judges may enter the contest as Participants (see above) but may not judge their own entries. Instead, the Secondary Judge will take their place in the scoring of those particular pieces.


Rekon Rekap

As a special Community Event, the Rekon Rekap is held each year in tandem with the Kickoff. The Rekap is an opportunity for the community as a whole to celebrate the spectacles of the previous year that they enjoyed the most and include our builders, gamers, and storytellers who didn't get a chance to contribute to the contests within their time frames.

The Rekap occurs during the Judging Period of the Kickoff. During that time, any BrikWarrior may submit any battle report, forum battle, or chat battle to the Contest Manager via this thread or the Discord. Those submissions are gathered into a large Poll, likely posted in the Discord, and everyone is free to cast their vote for their favorite.

Winners of previous contests are not eligible for Rekap submission or reward.


Rewards

The 1st Place Winner will become our BrikWars Monarch of 2,026, join the ranks of BrikWars Royalty, and gain full on bragging rights. They will also earn a unique custom badge, which will be pinned to the winning post and generally used however the winner sees fit (such as its inclusion into their forum signature).

BrikWarriors who aid the Monarch in seizing power, such as by participating in a forum or chat battle, earn the Courtier custom badge and join the Royal Court.

The BrikWarrior who wins the Rekap earns the Knight custom badge and joins the Royal Court.





Previous Monarchs, Royal Courtiers, and Knights

Together, the Monarch, their Courtiers, and their Knight form the year's Royal Court.

• Silent-sigfig, 2016
  • bann154
  • Valiant
  • Kastrenzo
  • mgb519

• Colette, 2017
  • Scratch
  • Quantumsurfer
  • Kommander Ken
  • Silvadream

• Colette, 2018
  • Quantumsurfer
  • Lawmaster
  • Scratch
• Bookwyrm, 2019
  
  
• MadMario, 2020
  
  
• Gorvoslov, 2021
  
  
• No Winner, 2022
  
  
• bertinator, 2023
  • Cyberman
  • BrickWarrior
  • Mr. President
  • Vyron
  • Dienekes22
• bertinator, 2024
  • Bragallot
  • Dienekes22
  • MadMario
  • Nervyr
  • Quantumsurfer
• Nerv, 2025
  • EternityofDeath
  • ThePhoenix
  • Quantumsurfer
  • Vomarsk
  • Arkbrik (Knight of the Realm)

Previous Contests

2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |


Enjoy the Kickoff and the New Year! Happy BrikWarring and, as always, Have Fun.


2026 Entries and Final Scores

[Quantumsurfer]

Please Note: Changes have been made to this year's contest in order to bring it more in line with the spirit of the community and in the hope of helping to revitalize interest in it.

• The rules surrounding Forum and Chat Battles (also called Community Battles) have been clarified and expanded. More battle submissions are eligible for entry now.
• The Judging Categories have been rewritten to bring them more in line with the form presented in other contests. Photography has been renamed to Presentation. Scoring has also changed. The first two categories (and the tiebreaker category) are rated normally on a scale from 1-10. Presentation and Writing are rated on a lower 1-5 scale. This is in keeping with Photography becoming Presentation and being rated 1-5 in other contests. Writing has been decentralized and now serves as a complimentary category to Presentation. The Tiebreaker category used to be Story. This has been changed to Theme. Story is already included in various ways through the other categories. Theme is an optional addition.
• Clarified that past winners of any battle report or battle report adjacent contests are not eligible for submission into the Rekap.
• The Badges have received another small facelift. Predatory Adobe was already sucking me dry with their BS subscription service but this past year they really jumped the shark. I moved to Affinity. I had to fix the workfile cause, you know, the two programs do things differently even if you save your .psd with broad compatibility. That meant recreating half of each badge. Personally, I'm going to consider this in the realm of happy accidents because I think the new badges are a little cleaner and more legible.

[Quantumsurfer]

Judges, please commence judging.

[Quantumsurfer]

2026 Entries and Final Scores

• City of Fire by Nerv, 70, Theme 20
• Of Demons and Stargods by Vomarsk, 70, Theme 22
• Loot-a-Palooza Finale by bertinator, 78
• Let The Bodies Hit The Ice by Sir Sporktimus, 75

Thanks to all participants for your entries into this year's Kickoff.

Well done and congratulations. A solid continuation of interest from last year. I think opening up the submission guidelines was a good choice but the data is neutral so that remains to be seen. Honorable mention to Sir Sporktimus for a very close second. Very creative presentations this year. Here's looking forward to the battles they inspire in the coming days.


The 2,026 Rekon Kickoff Winner and our Monarch of BR 2,026



bertinator
For the Forum Battle "Loot-a-Palooza Finale"

and the Royal Court

• Dienekes
• Nervyr
• Quantumsurfer
• MadMario
• Bragallot

and the Knight of the Realm



Dienekes
For the Forum Battle "Amidst the Ashes"