Age of Mitgardia - Barracks Phase 3 - Vegrsala

[mccoyed]

Builder's note:

To some, this may not seem to be a barracks in strict terms. Arnarvhall is based more substantially on Norse culture/mythology than most other Mitgardian groups or builds. In that sense, a Mead Hall counts as a barracks as it would be the place that warriors and freemen would gather with their Jarl to vote, plan raids, receive gifts of treasure or arms, etc. Vegrsala, the seat of power in Arnarvhall, is such a place.

I channeled SK and Ecc a lot for this build. All credit to them for introducing many of the techniques and elements that define the Norse-inspired style of Mitgardia. Please forgive the photography. My set up is not great for builds this size so I did the best with what I have. I am really proud of this build, anyway, and it's the biggest I've done for GoH to date!

Oh and this also marks the completion of my entries to Age of Mitgardia's military section!

It's been a year since the fateful day when Alva first picked up her father's axe. Here, at the seat of power in Arnarvhall and gathering place of all the warriors who owe fealty to Jarl Asbjorn, the completion of Alva's training is celebrated in the Old Way.

The winter is again receding, with spring promising new life for the growing things and new responsibilities for Alva Tyrnsdottir.

Not everyone can join the merriment in the Hall, however. One of the young wives must exercise the hounds.

The local dwarves of the Woody Hills, long-time allies of Arnarvhall, supply the mead from their apiaries. Though unaligned with their troublemaking cousins to the East, they still don't like elves much and take an opportunity to cut across the path of a wounded elven messenger.

The Path leading up to the Hall's entrance is busy with incoming warriors and well-wishers.

A little behind the scenes shot. Some of the roof panels are removable.

The interior of Vegrsala.

A turkey is roasted on the spit, while windows are opened to let fresh air into the hall.

Alva is not Arnarvhall's first shieldmaiden. In honor of her, however, two women were selected to stand guard on the Hall armory. One is a bit distracted by the handsome men and the romantic notes of the skald's lute.

This day may be prouder for Asbjorn, who has championed Alva's training, than it is for her own father. He smiles beneath his great red beard as he hands her the arm-ring that signifies her full bond to him, to the Jarldom, and her status in the clan.

Beneath the High Seat, a bearded Mad Marginn happily beats his shield to signal his protege's triumph.

And though dark days lay before her, for Alva today is a good day.

Edited November 24, 2014 by mccoyed

[Slegengr]

Great build, Mccoyed!

There are many nice details to note: fig posing, snow effect and landscaping, varying log walls, interior and exterior, and more! My favorite detail is the use of rubber bands around the round studs to make the crossing design. The yellow and green on the floor is great, especially around the chairs on the raised end of the hall. The slight offset of additional height on the raised platform looks great! The Norse influence on this build is quite evident and excellently done.

Brick on, Mccoyed!

[SarahJoy]

Brilliant build, both inside and out. I particularly like the Norse entryway, and the rubber bands as decor are quite clever.

[MKJoshA]

You have reason to be proud of this build, it is amazing! Great work on detailing, fig combos, and fig posing. I really like the monument stone you have outside the hall and the unique turkey spit. The water flowing out the crack in the bottom of the build is really going the extra mile. You have shown incredible improvement in such a short time. Keep up the great work!

[Lord Vladivus]

Wow this is awesome! Great work, there's so many brilliant details- I like the interior the most, but things like the dwarves interrupting the wounds elf are great!

[Kai NRG]

As others have said, the Norse element here is definitely visible, great work on that! The curve of the roof is really great, as is the interior, and the entrance area as well!

[-Carson Haupt-]

This is nice! I love the wall details and the roof!

[vitreolum]

Excellent build, love the roof and the interior.

[kabel]

A very nice build and an awesome visualisation of Mitgardia. There are actually many things I like quite a bit, but the application of the snow on the roof is one of the things I like best about this. The interiour is pretty amazing too!

[IenjoyLego89]

Great build :) so much going on, the Norse style is shown very well in the design :)

[Alfadas]

Wow, very nice! All those details are just amazing! Really like the wolfhead and green/yellow everywhere! Great work.

[mccoyed]

Great build, Mccoyed!

There are many nice details to note: fig posing, snow effect and landscaping, varying log walls, interior and exterior, and more! My favorite detail is the use of rubber bands around the round studs to make the crossing design. The yellow and green on the floor is great, especially around the chairs on the raised end of the hall. The slight offset of additional height on the raised platform looks great! The Norse influence on this build is quite evident and excellently done.

Brick on, Mccoyed!

Thanks! I borrowed that rubber band technique from some really cool How to Train Your Dragon builds. The architectural style was too exaggerated and cartoonish for my purposes, but I loved the rubber band thing. I only wish my green ones were a better shade. In some of these pics, they look blue! I'm glad the Norse design paid off as I did a lot of research on the construction of mead halls (as best we know now) as well as looked at tons of concept art and screenshots from games, movies, comics, etc.

Brilliant build, both inside and out. I particularly like the Norse entryway, and the rubber bands as decor are quite clever.

Thanks SarahJoy. Can't take credit for the rubber bands, but I like to think I did it well!

You have reason to be proud of this build, it is amazing! Great work on detailing, fig combos, and fig posing. I really like the monument stone you have outside the hall and the unique turkey spit. The water flowing out the crack in the bottom of the build is really going the extra mile. You have shown incredible improvement in such a short time. Keep up the great work!

It took almost four weeks to complete and is probably the most overthought build I've done. The technically more complex Dwarf Statue Head I made was a breeze by comparison. I've been trying to do those runestones in my Arnarvhall builds and to do them slightly differently each time.

Thanks for the general compliment about my improvement. I feel like I'm never quite where I want to be and that drives me to keep bricking on, as Slegengr would say. Sometime in the next year or so, I'd like to make some dramatic improvements to my photography setup. Maybe adding one more lamp would help for now but I'm usually pretty unsatisfied with how my bigger, overview pictures turn out. I think this build really isn't done justice by the pics, especially compared to others like SK, Gideon, Gunman, Ecc, Kabel, etc who often get such beautiful and clear photos of huge builds.

I sorta rambled on there haha.

Wow this is awesome! Great work, there's so many brilliant details- I like the interior the most, but things like the dwarves interrupting the wounds elf are great!

Haha yeah. I wanted to reflect a little of what's going on with the tensions in my own way. Arnarvhall is so far out on the west coast of Mitgardia that it's largely insulated from what's going on. That doesn't mean elves and dwarves get along all the time! And who knows, maybe that messenger is bringing word of something involving the dwarven aggression?

As others have said, the Norse element here is definitely visible, great work on that! The curve of the roof is really great, as is the interior, and the entrance area as well!

Thanks Kai!

This is nice! I love the wall details and the roof!

Thanks Carson!

Excellent build, love the roof and the interior.

Thanks Vitreolum!

A very nice build and an awesome visualisation of Mitgardia. There are actually many things I like quite a bit, but the application of the snow on the roof is one of the things I like best about this. The interiour is pretty amazing too!

Thanks, Kabel. The snow and ice is owed largely to the way SK does it. The roof style in general, with the irregular plating to imitate rough material is something I think he does really well. Not sure if that's an old technique or not but I like it quite a bit.

Great build :) so much going on, the Norse style is shown very well in the design :)

Thanks!

Wow, very nice! All those details are just amazing! Really like the wolfhead and green/yellow everywhere! Great work.

Thanks Alfadas! I was hoping someone would mention the wolf head :D

[MassEditor]

Really sweet job here mccoyed, the building has some fantastic details and gives a great Nordic vibe. The roof, snow, and steps in particular are highlights here. And those support sections with the Mitgard colors. Entertaining story, too. It's the interior, however, that steals the show for me. The wolf's head and what you did there with the rubber bands is awesome, really great touches that further enhance the Mitgardian in this build. Very lively and colorful. I have to ask, is that lute from LEGO or aftermarket?

My only point of criticism would be the doors into the mead hall. From outside they look great but the faux interior side just doesn't match the effort you put into the rest of the build. Perhaps a brick-built door would have looked a little better. Small nitpick in an otherwise lively and well-done scene!

[mccoyed]

Really sweet job here mccoyed, the building has some fantastic details and gives a great Nordic vibe. The roof, snow, and steps in particular are highlights here. And those support sections with the Mitgard colors. Entertaining story, too. It's the interior, however, that steals the show for me. The wolf's head and what you did there with the rubber bands is awesome, really great touches that further enhance the Mitgardian in this build. Very lively and colorful. I have to ask, is that lute from LEGO or aftermarket?

My only point of criticism would be the doors into the mead hall. From outside they look great but the faux interior side just doesn't match the effort you put into the rest of the build. Perhaps a brick-built door would have looked a little better. Small nitpick in an otherwise lively and well-done scene!

\

Thanks ME. Glad you liked it so much! The lute is from Brick Warriors as are a few other pieces shown here, including the "Viking Axes" and the armor/helmet display near the Jarl's chair. The armlet and shoulderpiece worn by the warrior near the tree at the entrance as well as the elf's crutch also come from BW.

I can see your point about the doors. I should have seen if there was any way to fix the back of them as I really like those lego Stockade doors. That doesn't mean you're not right about how they look from behind, though. When I added them, I wasn't 100% sure how I'd be positioning them for the final build and overlooked this! I may be doing a few story scenes in this build before it gets recycled, so I will probably be closing them and may fix the issue then.

[Jakorin Swiftsword]

Excellent exterior, beautiful interior, stellar landscaping....Yep, its a great MOC!

[soccerkid6]

When you first posted that you were building a Norse styled building I was quite interested to see it. This is better and bigger than what I had been imagining. It's easy to see you put a lot of thought and time into this build. I like the T layout and how the hall is situated on a rock outcropping giving it some height over the terrain. The stairs/path at the right end look great The fig activity outside is excellent, great to see those new husky molds being used for Mitgardia. The smoke billowing out looks very natural, you mixed the colors nicely.

As cool as the exterior is, I agree with ME, that the interior is what steals the show. That rubberband design works extremely well here as does the cooking fire

I also really like the chair designs on the raised dais

Getting good pictures of larger builds is always challenging, lighting seems to become even more of an issue and getting the backdrop situated can be a pain. A dull blue or grey background can often be useful when the builds are snowy. I use GIMP to sharpen up my pictures, which is super easy and makes a quite noticeable difference. If you'd like some more information on that, send me a PM.

Overall, I think this is my favorite build from you yet. Keep up the good work, and keep pushing yourself to improve

[mccoyed]

Excellent exterior, beautiful interior, stellar landscaping....Yep, its a great MOC!

Thanks Jakorin!

When you first posted that you were building a Norse styled building I was quite interested to see it. This is better and bigger than what I had been imagining. It's easy to see you put a lot of thought and time into this build. I like the T layout and how the hall is situated on a rock outcropping giving it some height over the terrain. The stairs/path at the right end look great The fig activity outside is excellent, great to see those new husky molds being used for Mitgardia. The smoke billowing out looks very natural, you mixed the colors nicely.

As cool as the exterior is, I agree with ME, that the interior is what steals the show. That rubberband design works extremely well here as does the cooking fire

I also really like the chair designs on the raised dais

Getting good pictures of larger builds is always challenging, lighting seems to become even more of an issue and getting the backdrop situated can be a pain. A dull blue or grey background can often be useful when the builds are snowy. I use GIMP to sharpen up my pictures, which is super easy and makes a quite noticeable difference. If you'd like some more information on that, send me a PM.

Overall, I think this is my favorite build from you yet. Keep up the good work, and keep pushing yourself to improve

Appreciate these compliments, SK, especially because your work is a major inspiration for this build (and a few of my other ones, let's be honest). I have to give my brother credit too, for the smoke, because he is the one that pointed out that it didn't look right the way I had it before, with a less random color pattern. I had dark then light then white in grades which he said made it harder to tell what it was.

I thought about using GIMP but not sure how much it would have improved things as I think lighting isn't all of the problem. These pictures turned out clearer than I expected, though I don't think the overview of the exterior of this build really does it justice. I don't have a backdrop sheet large enough to cover it, except for that wrinkly white crap which I can't iron straight no matter what I try. I've even tried Gideon's use of a rollscreen but with little luck finding one that didn't bounce off too much light.

But I'll shoot you a PM about it and see what kind of tips you can offer. I've looked at some tutorials and gotten a few tips here and there but it's always good to get a refresher.

[mrcp6d]

rubberband design

I was wondering what those were made from!

This is a fantastic build mccoyed, you captured what I think of as a longhouse perfectly here and then filled it with details inside and out. Great work!

[LordDan]

Nice build!!! The exterior is great, but what really cought my eye was the interior, with all the colors and action going on. The Norse influence was great! i also thought it was neat that you showed the water pooling out of the underground stream in the back!

[de Gothia]

Now this is one big and beautiful moc! So great to see the interior! The amount of details and the minifig posings is breath taking! Bravo!!

[mccoyed]

I was wondering what those were made from!

This is a fantastic build mccoyed, you captured what I think of as a longhouse perfectly here and then filled it with details inside and out. Great work!

Thanks mrcp6d! That's a great compliment.

Nice build!!! The exterior is great, but what really cought my eye was the interior, with all the colors and action going on. The Norse influence was great! i also thought it was neat that you showed the water pooling out of the underground stream in the back!

Thanks LordDan. Initially I wanted the water thing to be a bigger part of the build but I gravitated away from that as I went on. Kind of glad about that because it may have been too distracting otherwise.

Now this is one big and beautiful moc! So great to see the interior! The amount of details and the minifig posings is breath taking! Bravo!!

Thanks DG. That's a mighty compliment coming from an accomplished builder like yourself!

[Spader]

Very nice build! Your hall looks very Mitgardian.