Call of the Crown is an annual challenge set by the Crown of Command podcast. This is a podcast mainly dedicated to the herohammer era (4/5th edition) but they are welcoming of any warhammer fans. They also produce a fanzine that is a complete nostalgia fest if this era is your thing. The 3rd issue of this, is on the horizon (at the time of writing)!
Anyway, with that tangent satisfied, the challenge is a commitment lasting most of the year with participants putting together an army list (or multiple lists) with a minimum points requirement. There are 3 commitment tiers: Leisurely – 1000pts, Competitive – 1500pts and Fanatic – 2000pts or over. The entrants then need to complete so many points per month (100/150/200 respectively) . The aim is to motivate you to get through a pile of unpainted minis!
A full breakdown of the rules can be found on their dedicated discord or on the below WordPress blog:
With a decision to enter, it was just left to decide what to paint. There were two armies that I really wanted to make headway with this year: the Bretonnians and the Lizardmen. The Brets had been going really well but I was determined to break their back, if only as I wanted to use them in this years demo game at the club show. I’d also made good progress on the Lizards a few years back but had done nothing since. This would hopefully galvanise me into completing the bulk of them.
The one thing to note was the challenge would technically start from October but never one to add further pressure on myself, I actually wanted to finish all of this for the club show by the end of October…
We shall see how I go on that one!
So, what have I pledged?
Bretonnians
16 Questing Knight (6 GW and 10 Norba)
2 Heroes (Great Weapon & Morning Star)
King Louen Loencour
Hero on Pegasus
This pretty much represents the remaining Brets on my paint list. The only models missing are the trio of not Robin Hood, little John and friar tuck. The Fay enchantress, a damsel on foot and perhaps another character or 2.
These should be quite doable to complete before the show, if I keep to a reasonably simple scheme.
Lizardmen
Slann Mage Priest
Lord Kroak
30 Temple Guard
Salamander
3 Terradons
6 Razordons
6 Coldone riders (I have 12 but the other 6 were well on their way at the time I pledged, so felt that was cheating!).
2 heroes on cold ones
Again these make up pretty much the remains of my current Lizardmen models. I think the only other bits to do after this are 30-40 skinks and the skink special characters: Tetto Eko and the Tehanuin the prophet of Sotek. I’m banking on contrasts helping things out with the pledged models and in the case of the temple guard, drybrushing over the green they were primed with.
If I succeed with these, then that is a good chunk of my armies ‘almost’ done (in each case I tend to have a unit or some characters outstanding) and would allow me to feel confident moving onto some of my older armies (VC and Orcs come to mind).
The one small spanner that might impede this, is our clubs Blood Bowl league is starting in October and the two teams I’m considering taking (chaos dwarf and halflings) need to be painted…
The difference between 8th and 5th
Originally I created the army lists based on 8th edition warhammer, as it’s what I tend to play. As the Call of the Crown is a herohammer era challenge I decided to go back and convert the lists into the earlier edition, as I was curious on the difference. This next bit of the post is purely around points differences rather than gameplay and was done purely for my own curiosity. I’ve listed out each of the lists at the bottom of the article.
Note: With the Lizardmen, I had to make some substitutions/assumptions, as Razordons didn’t exist in 5th (so they are terradons in the comparative list) and Saurus heroes couldn’t be mounted on cold ones, so I just added the mount cost as per 8th Ed. In all lists, the character/units were given just mundane items and upgrades, no magic items (bar the special characters where they are already baked into the cost).
With the Brets, you can see that there was actually very little difference in the list cost, both in the 1.5k bracket. However this came down to the special character costing 200pts less in 5th but the knights costing more per model
The Lizards however were a different matter altogether with the 5th edition list coming in around a whopping 750pts more than the 8th list. 500pts of that was purely the difference between Lord Kroak and the Slann Mage Priest. The remaining 250pts was on the temple guard unit.
I think it’s a good representation of how much the points for things decreased between the editions to both allow bigger units and to sell more models. it’s nothing we didn’t already know but I’d never sat down and done an exercise to show it. Excluding the special character (which I seem to remember you always paid a premium for in 6th) there was also quite a points drop on the knight unit between editions. You often hear folk complaining about how 8th made you buy more models (no doubt) but this exceptionally limited test possibly indicated it might have started earlier. It is something I’m going to take away and have a look at using a wide range of units. (Just to satisfy my own curiosity).
Bret List – 8th edition (using the 6th Ed book)
King Louen Leoncour 728
Paladin: Questing Vow; great weapon; shield 88
Paladin: morning star; shield 78
Paladin: lance; shield; Royal Pegasus 116
6 Questing Knights: Musician; Standard Bearer 195
10 Questing Knights: Musician; Standard Bearer 307
1,512 points
Bret List 5th edition
King Louen Leoncour 505
Paladin: Questing Vow; great weapon; shield 87
Paladin: morning star; shield 76
Paladin: lance; shield; Royal Pegasus 121
6 Questing Knights: Musician; Standard Bearer 299
10 Questing Knights: Musician; Standard Bearer 463
1,551 points
Lizardmen 8th edition
Slann Mage-Priest: Battle Standard Bearer 325
Lord Kroak 400
Saurus Scar-Veteran: great weapon; light armour; Cold One 110
Saurus Scar-Veteran: great weapon; light armour; Cold One 110
5 Cold One Riders 150
6 Ripperdactyl Riders: Ripperdactyl Brave 250
3 Terradon Riders: Sky Leader 115
30 Temple Guard: Revered Guardian; musician; standard bearer 450
Salamander Hunting Pack 80
1,990 points
Lizardmen – 5th edition
Slann Mage-Priest: Battle Standard Bearer 600
Lord Kroak 620
Saurus Scar-Veteran: great weapon; light armour; Cold One 110
Saurus Scar-Veteran: great weapon; light armour; Cold One 110
6 Cold One Riders 150
9 Terradon Riders: Sky Leader 360
30 Temple Guard: Revered Guardian; musician; standard bearer 706
Salamander Hunting Pack 90
2746 points
backtothehammer 
Great use of the challenge to get your armies done, and hope you achieve all your targets.
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Thanks Dave. I have to say feeling pretty motivated at present!
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Brets and Lizards! We are really living convergent lives!
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😂 👌
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Sounds like a good idea! 🙂 Quite a bit to get done, so quite a demanding challenge! Here’s hoping you make good progress!
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