Jan Bartscht from Southampton
sent in a very witty entry, inspired from one of his recent battles.

“I was playing as the Turks invading Palermo. I had
never used Nafftun in a city battle but thought they might be of use. I was
slowly grinding my way through the city but the large presence of enemy
bodyguard units was taking a heavy toll on my forces. I was slowly but surely
having my army hacked to pieces. In a last ditch effort, I snuck the Nafftun
along the walls and had them rain fiery death on the units below them. Caught between
my forces and flaming pain the enemy forces quickly began to run away but not
before one of the deadly pots hit the general, burning him to ashes. I was
thoroughly enjoying the battle and took a screenshot of the cut scene showing
the general’s rather dramatic death (flaming naptha to the face…!).

It was so dramatic I thought I had to use it for the
competition. Thinking of March reminded me of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and
the way he ignored the warnings of his death “beware the Ides of March”
until it was too late for him to save himself. In the same way I imagined some
old hag warning the Sicilian general to be careful in this battle, but him not
taking any notice until, again, it was too late. I used Photoshop to add the
text and thought I would frame the situation with a bit of humour (as it would
otherwise be a bit depressing) by having the exchange between the general and
his squire. The point of the picture is for fun but I think it also reminds us
that we must be careful in our actions as we never quite know what will happen
next.”

This month’s winner also made an
appearance during January’s Calendar Competition, and has returned in March to
win the prize. Titled “War Blossom”, the winning entry comes from
Arturo Torres Landa of San Diego, California.

“In the making of this image I
tried to symbolize two principal concepts. First the season’s fact, the
beginning of spring, as you correctly said, represented by the flowers emerging
from the ground. But at the same time, the flowers don’t represent only the
natural phenomenon. The color of the flowers wasn’t a random decision. They are
red, because they are the remnant, the remembrance, of old battles fought in
that battlefield. Red flowers, dyed by fallen knights, blossoming again and
being swiftly erased by the sword of the defeater. All this happening in March,
the month of Mars, ancient god of war. It’s a cyclical idea just like spring,
like the blossom of wars. As you may see, its little abstract concept that I
wanted to put together (hoping I’ve achieved it ) in a drawing.

About the making, well, first I draw the
main figure, the knight, with a common drawing pencil and colored it with
pastel chalks in paper. I followed the same process with the field, flowers and
sky. Once all were drawn, it took just a minute to scan the whole image,
digitalize it and put on it some effects, like the dust, some clouds and grass,
with Adobe Photoshop. And that’s all!”