Bk. II: Challenge V: Cat. A: The Departure

[Muakhah]

Hassan M'badwe, High Judge of Khadira and bearer of the Mace of Watombe, current master of Khadira while Muakhah is off conducting delicate negotiations, personally hands a letter written by Muakhah to the Khadiran courier who will ride to Kaligem and the Desert King.

The colors of the Desert King and Kaliphlim flutter in the breeze. The courier has a second steed with saddle bags and supplies for the long journey. Once the saddle bags are less weighty he will alternate mounts to avoid tiring one steed more.

A groom feeds to horses a special oatcake prepared for horses with long distance journeys ahead of them. A selection of Khadiran soldiers are also present as Khadira girds itself for the coming struggle.

The Khadiran Couriers are swift and skilled riders, trained to destroy their messages rather than let them fall into enemy hands. However, should this letter be captured you might read the following.

 

To his Majesty, Ark,Mora Raa, Lord of the Desert and Master of Kaliphlim, Blessed of Mazadar and Great Hope of the Light.

No doubt you know of the news sweeping the land, the Heir of Cedrica is found. This could mean that Historica has one King again. Perhaps this heir will prove worthy and we shall be honored to bend the knee, and perhaps not. Know now that as long as his Majesty Ark,Mora Raa holds true to his principles of Benevolence and Humility tempering Power and Strength and acts as a force for good in the eternal struggle with evil. Then Khadira shall hold its allegiance first and foremost to the true Lord of Kaliphlim, and perhaps in time, Historica.

May you be a source of good deeds.

May you tip the scales against evil.

Your Humble Servant

Muakhah of Khadira

 

 

This was my first snotwork piece and I am pleased with how it came out. I will certainly try more in the future and have a few ideas. I will try and use Hassan M'badwe as a stand in sigfig until I get Muakhah back. Muakhah's character is a bit of a philosopher/prophet/ruler inspired by Zoroaster.

Let me know what you think and any comments or criticisms. I think it is a bit flat thought the flags and weapons help slightly.

[Umbra-Manis]

Great work here, especially for your first use of snot! I like the cobblestones and the design of the rider, especially.

[Henjin_Quilones]

On the one hand, you are correct, it is a bit flat and could use a tree, bush, rock, or something to change that. On the other, the cobblestone path and overall clean lines are lovely to behold in their own right. I do think it strange that you are mixing fleshies with yellowfaces, though. I also find that all of the different colors of flags, clothing, and weaponry, Kaliphlin-appropriate though they may be on their own, jumble together and create a visual cacophony. Try simplifying the color-scheme, using just dark blue or just red, and keep all the weapons dark grey, for example, to ease the eye. In such a small footprint such considerations truly matter, though in a larger build many different colors can coexist in harmony. 

[halixon]

Nice little build. LOVING those figures!

[zoth33]

Nice little build.  I really like the path in the sand.  Your figs are great too.  The weapon on the guy holding the letter is fantastic. 

[Tezclatipoca]

Nice entry !

You are right, perhaps it is a bit flat on some areas, but it's minor and you managed to hide it a bit with your photography and with the flags. The Second picture, for example is hiding well the flatness of your very good SNOT sand. My concern will be more like Henjin's one : why did you mixed fleshies with yellowfaces ? Myself not being a fan of fleshies (although using them from time to time), I find this mix strange, but that it's just my preference.

All in all, it's a good build. Good job !

[TitusV]

Simple yet elegant. All the figs are quite nice, and I lreally like the street!  

[Slegengr]

Very nice build, Muakhah!

I really like the random and broken cobblestone path, especially that some stones are angled from the horizontal!  Your figures are really interesting and very Kaliphlin-esque!  I particularly like that ball mace with the spikes beneath.

[Muakhah]

18 hours ago, Umbra-Manis said:

Great work here, especially for your first use of snot! I like the cobblestones and the design of the rider, especially.

Thanks! Like many things in life it was the fear of failure holding me back from trying snot...but now...

17 hours ago, Henjin_Quilones said:

On the one hand, you are correct, it is a bit flat and could use a tree, bush, rock, or something to change that. On the other, the cobblestone path and overall clean lines are lovely to behold in their own right. I do think it strange that you are mixing fleshies with yellowfaces, though. I also find that all of the different colors of flags, clothing, and weaponry, Kaliphlin-appropriate though they may be on their own, jumble together and create a visual cacophony. Try simplifying the color-scheme, using just dark blue or just red, and keep all the weapons dark grey, for example, to ease the eye. In such a small footprint such considerations truly matter, though in a larger build many different colors can coexist in harmony. 

Ah the old fleshies vs yellows debate. I'll share my thoughts on it at some point. Now I look at it again though it is clear that I put too many different soldier variants. 3 guys in the same simple uniform with similar weapons would have been better.

 

14 hours ago, Windusky said:

Nice little build. LOVING those figures!

Thanks Windusky! Just a taste of the armies Khadira is assembling.

 

14 hours ago, zoth33 said:

Nice little build.  I really like the path in the sand.  Your figs are great too.  The weapon on the guy holding the letter is fantastic. 

Thanks, The mace is one of my favorites too. Simple and effective and I think matches the character well.

10 hours ago, Faladrin said:

Nice entry !

You are right, perhaps it is a bit flat on some areas, but it's minor and you managed to hide it a bit with your photography and with the flags. The Second picture, for example is hiding well the flatness of your very good SNOT sand. My concern will be more like Henjin's one : why did you mixed fleshies with yellowfaces ? Myself not being a fan of fleshies (although using them from time to time), I find this mix strange, but that it's just my preference.

All in all, it's a good build. Good job !

Cheers, it does seem that people have a marmite approach to which to use, fleshy or yellow. I got love for them all.

 

9 hours ago, TitusV said:

Simple yet elegant. All the figs are quite nice, and I lreally like the street!  

Thanks, I am glad the cobbles turned out ok, and that I scrounged up some slightly different colors.

 

2 hours ago, Slegengr said:

Very nice build, Muakhah!

I really like the random and broken cobblestone path, especially that some stones are angled from the horizontal!  Your figures are really interesting and very Kaliphlin-esque!  I particularly like that ball mace with the spikes beneath.

Thanks Slegengr. I hope I can make something to expand on the story of the Mace of Watombe and how Hassan came to bear it.

Thanks everyone for the comments and advice.

I guess the main thing that will infuriate people in many of my builds to come is that I will mix fleshies and yellows. I see Historica as an amazingly varied land with all manner of variety. There are excellent yellow figures and with more and more movie sets there are better and better fleshies. I like the new varieties of skin tones too. My collection is predominantly yellow but I am adding others. To me it doesn't make sense to pick and choose which skin tones are acceptable in Khadira. All are welcome and I think eventually people will adjust to seeing them mixed together. (I hope)

 

Thanks again!

[Slegengr]

47 minutes ago, Muakhah said:

All are welcome and I think eventually people will adjust to seeing them mixed together. (I hope)

I personally do not mind the mixed skin tones too much.  I do think it makes the unnatural yellow stand out, but fleshies allow for more skin tone variation.  It would look particularly strange had you not included a darker skin tone as well, implying that LEGO minifigures can have different races rather than all being from one yellow-skinned race.  The fleshie/yellow mix seems to make some sense for Kaliphlin or using fleshies for particular lighter-skinned races.  It does still make the yellow stand out more strangely, though...

And I will probably personally stick with yellows.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Slegengr

[Blufiji]

This is a very nice and clean build. as others have mentioned, there could be a sand dune or a bush in there, but overall a very nice build.

[soccerkid6]

Very cool cobblestone path! The fig combos you used are really excellent too

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Khadira

[en_zoo]

really nice start! (this is your start, right? or have I missed something?)

actually, I'll have to disagree with the others on this one an back you up about the mixing of yellow and fleshies - I find really cool that you can find different skin colours in the same build and particularly in this little scene, as it really conveys the idea that important figures of different families/groups are gathering for something important. Same goes for the colours, flags and weaponry. all this, only if it actually was your intention to give this idea, indeed 

[The Maestro]

That curved path is amazing  and I love the figures, although I prefer to use either flesh or yellow I like that you combined the two, very original 

[Grover]

Nice job!  I like the cobblestone path, and the guy feeding the horse a cookie is hilarious!

[LittleJohn]

Excellent little vig, Muakhah! The curving cobblestone is fantastic, and I like the loaded horse
The flags are a nice touch too