The 2,024 Rekon Kickoff

[Quantumsurfer]

The 2,024 Rekon Kickoff
Ninth 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 12, 2024 and February 12, 2024 February 29th, 2024, including the identifier tag [RK24] in the title.

Participants may also submit Forum or Chat Battles via the Forum Battles forum with the same identifier tag in the title, provided that those entries are begun and ended within the contest's timeframe. Incomplete Forum or Chat battles may still be considered for judging at the request of the Entrant but it should be kept in mind that the judges may dock the report points in any category for being incomplete.

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 13, 2024 March 1st, 2024, and will end no later than February 19, 2024 March 8th, 2024. The final scores will be announced and formalized in this thread on February 20, 2024 March 9th, 2024.

For the 2024 Contest, the following are Judges:

• Lunchboxninja
• Scratch
• aoffan23

The following are Secondary Judges:

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

• Fun -- Relating to the 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 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).
• Photography-- Quality of the build's photography, the use of clean lighting and clear pictures, the capture of the purpose of the piece such that it is clearly 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-- Overall 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.

• TIEBREAKER CATEGORY--Story-- Every battle tells a story, even if it's a simple one. This tiebreaker category is used to judge the overall quality of that story or concept and how well it was conveyed through the combination of the report's general gameplay, photography, and writing. Secondarily, judges may wish to use this category to judge how well the theme of the New Year was pushed by the story the report told. The THEME this year is "RESISTANCE." Fight oppression. Win. Please use this opportunity to reimagine, reboot, or otherwise reconfigure stories and characters, connecting them in strange new ways, if it takes your fancy.

Each Judging Category is rated on a scale from 1-10, except Fun, which is rated on a scale from 1-20. The scores from each category will be added together, with the exception of Story, for a single Judge's Total Score of between 4 and 50. Total Scores are added together to create a Final Score, which is compared to other entries to win. The Story Score 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.

Rewards

The 1st Place Winner will become our BrikWars Monarch of 2,024, 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, become the new year's Royal Court and earn the Courtier custom badge.

When you win Monarch of the Year, you get to issue decrees throughout your Domain (the BrikWars Community) as you see fit until a new Monarch is crowned. You have the duration of the contest to issue a final decree (see below) as a kind of transition of power thing, one last chance to do your thing (unless you win again). Issuing Decrees and participating in the contest is not mutually exclusive. Your Decrees don't have to pertain to any particular contest but if they do, any anorak behavior will see you dethroned and beheaded on the guillotine of public opinion. Your Courtiers, if you have any, are your lackeys. Use them to great effect. As Monarch, you should just try to come up with fun, ossum stuff throughout the year and during the Rekon Transition Time. After all, by winning this contest, you've inspired us all, so you're clearly very suited to the job.





Previous Monarchs and Royal Courtiers

The previous year's Monarch has the transition period of the contest's duration to issue any last minute ridiculous decrees.

• 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

Previous Contests

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


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


2024 Entries and Final Scores

[Quantumsurfer]

In an effort to avoid Rekon 2022's fate, I'm extending the deadline for this contest until Feb 29th. I recognize this will completely overlap the Figbarf and judging will extend overtop of the Blarney, but I can't imagine this will cause any real problems.

January 2024 has been a weirdly busy month for almost everyone I've encountered, so I hope this extension allows for at least a few entries.

[MadMario]

Thanks, Quantum. This motivates me to put something together in time. Yeah, 2024 hit hard right at the start, but we shall keep our chins up.

[Mr. President]

I second the thank you, Quantum. I'm one of the weirdly busy January people, but I have an idea and I'm not letting it get away!

[bertinator]

We had a forum battle running since December and I'll happily compete in this contest with the second half of the report.

Here is my submission for the 2,024 Rekon Kickoff;


Speeder Dreams and Fleebnork Nightmares - Part 2/2

First, here you'll find the storyline leading up to the battle.

A quick summary of Turns 1, 2 and 3:
The SpaceCops are pushing into the starbase as hard as they can, but they appear to be on their own. The IMA is more interested in bunkering down and gathering loot, while the Iriorians have decided to betray the SpaceCops and open fire from behind. On the other side of the base, the Skion have taken heavy losses in battling the technobandits, but they stand victorious. Elyana has been freed from her cell and must now decide what to do for the rest of the battle. Sir Bragallots droids and Bertinators' Studlanders advance along their own routes and have managed to largely stay out of conflict until now. Meanwhile, MadMario has plans on his own.

Here's the turns that are eligible for judging in RK24:

• Turn 4
• Turn 5
• Finale

Judges, I think you could best post your scores as a reply to the finale-post. I've added the RK24 tag.

Enjoy!

[Quantumsurfer]

The contest has ended. Judges, please commence judging.

[Quantumsurfer]

2024 Entries and Final Scores

• Speeder Dreams and Fleebnork Nightmares - Finale by bertinator, 130
• The Fate of the Commonwealth by MadMario, 127

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

Well done and congratulations. This contest was extended by a month to allow extra time for entries but sadly we did not see many manifest. The hope going forward is that Rekon gets an infusion next year. So long as there are a couple few entries, the contest will hobble along, of course, because I firmly believe that even only two entries is wholly worth the ordeal. Only two entries this year but both were big hitters. Not only did they come close in scores but they had a tie in their Story category, a testament to the abilities of their creators. Cheers. Here's looking forward to the battles they inspire in the coming days.


The 2,024 Rekon Kickoff Winner and our Monarch of BR 2,024



bertinator
For the Forum Battle "Speeder Dreams and Fleebnork Nightmares - Finale"

and the Royal Court

• Bragallot
• Dienekes22
• MadMario
• Nervyr
• Quantumsurfer

[MadMario]

Congrats Bertinator, and thanks Quantum for hosting another great contest.