Tuesday 11 August 2015

Another duel on the horizon


My hobby life seems to revolve around a series of annual events. The trip to Canberra for Cancon and the large game around the end of the year come to mind. Amongst these regular traditions is the challenge that is known as Duelling Paintbrushes. This has been going on in various forms since 2011 (the year I started this blog). Anyway, it's back again. Or rather, it will be in October.
The focus of the challenge this time shall be Kings of War. The game seems to be taking off a bit at the club, and it feels like a far more logical choice than Warhammer (as has always been my focus in the past). Owen has laid down the rules on his blog, Terrain for Hippos.

Put simply, the goal is to paint a Horde and all its attached units - 4 Troops, 1 Character, 1 Monster and 1 War Engine. If you're dealing entirely in infantry for the Horde and Troops, it all adds up to 83 models. And all this needs to be done in October.

It's ambitious, although it might be a bit more achievable if it's done intelligently (a Horde could be as few as 6 models if you focus on Large Infantry like Ogres). I've not always achieved my targets in previous iterations of the challenge, so I'm not too bothered about jumping in and seeing how it all ends up.

I haven't given my specific plans a lot of thought yet, but I suspect I am going to focus on Dwarfs. Looking at Kings of War lists, I have discovered that my fairly substantial painted Warhammer Dwarf army doesn't translate as well as I would like into the other game. In reality something between 6,000-8,000 points shrinks to around 2,500. I don't really have the options I need in terms of unit sizes, and unlike some of the other armies (like Kingdoms of Men or Elves), KoW introduces a number of new options for which I have no direct equivalent (such as Brock Riders and Golems). So I haven't laid out proper plans yet, but my Dwarfs seem like a good target for this particular effort.

Drew has already declared his intention to join the challenge again, but it is open to anyone who wishes to participate, provided they can adhere to the few rules Owen has laid out. There is still a month and a half to plan it. Plenty of time! Join us if you dare...

5 comments:

  1. Hi Greg,

    It just shows I focused too much on the gaming part if after a few years in Australia this is the first time I hear about this event! I will not be able to participate in it this year but I really like the idea and who knows, maybe I will use it as a motivation for painting along with "Hobby Masters".

    Looking forward to some updates on the painting progress and very curious what you are going to pick for it!

    Cheers!

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  2. Ha! I actually read the rules on the Hippos blog and I see you don't have to go anywhere to participate. Hm, now with my slow pace of painting it might be a real challenge. I also already painted 1 unit of reavers that can be potentially used so would need to come up with a new idea.

    At the same time I don't want to rush it. Hm, hm. I will definitely think about it :D

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    1. You have nothing to lose by signing up!

      Good to see, Greg!

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