[ENTRY] Soldier’s Armory

[eldiano]

This is my last entry, I think I learned from my mistakes but following the spirit of the 2015 Pirates Imperial line up, this is the Soldier’s Armory that can combine with the Soldier’s Inn and Soldier’s Outpost. This adds another pass through Outpost and adds a few piers. 

In Theory this is the last defense that stands between the open ocean and El Dorado Fortress.  The pirates did manage to snuck in through the only opening though!

My building techniques came from studying how Soldiers Inn and Soldier’s outpost were built and combined techniques and bricks used, this set went through at least 4 variants with different outcomes but I liked this one best. 

The Second floor contains a copy of the letter that the pirate in Eldorado was trying to steal. The first floor has a small office for the Governor of this island. The gimmick of this set it is well stocked up in sables, muskets and pistols and some cannons.  There’s no Jail because the imperials use the one from the soldier’s inn, the outpost contains the treasure. 

I wasn’t trying to do some extensive AFOL set, I just wanted to create a new set compatible with the 2015 as in LEGO was continuing the line with a second wave, I figured LEGO would allow expansions between sets.  

The other sets in the background as just for ambience. (The Black seas barracuda is still shipwrecked in it’s bay, the creator 3 in 1 ship hasn’t been made yet due to the lack of gold(that will be plenty after raiding Eldorado))

A look a the proposed but not identical figures:

Small pier

Docking Pier

Guard Tower

Accesible Armory with stand 

Back Side

Armory

Side View

Origin of the Letter

Checkpoint Desk

The set Minus the boats:

Different ways of putting this together:

All sets combined:

Aerial:

This set is nothing fancy but the possibilities are endless just like your imagination. 

Believe me I went with different ways to make this set, even extending it back with a ladder and secondary pier, but the Eldorado Fortress inspired to just leave the last configuration on, I hope you enjoy this and Thanks! 

[Eggyslav]

Why do you enter the competition if you already have Eldorado Fortress? You want to win a second one?

[Horation]

A good fort-if a little drab

Theme

This part is done well, I see few play features, however, so I'd recommend something along the lines of a removable wall, a hiding spot, maybe a larger boat for the pirates to attack with? Also, there are too many minifigs per part for this to be an official set, remove a soldier and a pirate and it'll be more believable. I do commend the use of a modular fort style-it's very fitting for that wave of set.

Build

This part is done well, the colours work well for that period of time, there are ladders and spots to hold guns, and there are tons of details (especially the interior, which is excellent!). I will however point out a flaw which appears in the official sets : the whole thing lacks life, don't get me wrong, that's not unrealistic, but it is weird, as the only bit of light colour (other than white) is the little bit of green on those palm trees, if you want to increase the accuracy of your designs, add a colourful ship, or some more light green foliage, you'd need not use many parts, but It'd look great.

[iragm]

I like the crab hiding out under the arch, a fun little detail!

It's incredibly cool how modular this is, it allows your design to be displayed many different ways and is a great touch.  In the original line, there were just the two sets that could be connected, and only in a single configuration, right?  This offers so many more possibilities, and all in a single set without too many pieces.

I understand that you're working in the design language of the 2015 pirates, but this kind of limits you in terms of color (as Horation mentioned) and in palm tree design.  Actually, all of the negatives I can think of -- light green for the leaves, lack of bright colors, the dark gray roofs, are elements from the original sets.  And if you changed any of those, it wouldn't feel at home.  If I had a recommendation, it would be to move to a more modern building style -- you've clearly got the creativity and talent, just imagine what you could do following the design language of the new Eldorado!

[eldiano]

11 hours ago, Eggyslav said:

Why do you enter the competition if you already have Eldorado Fortress? You want to win a second one?

Compared to the other entries here I really feel like I have no chance in winning but the worst possible outcome is not trying at least. Either way the rules mention El dorado or something of equivalent value deemed appropriate by The Lego Group so it doesn't have to be another El Dorado. Plus, to show solidarity in the brand and support any pirates sets in hope of more official sets in the future. Either way I want to purchase another El Dorado set in the future for a mini expansion of some sorts, I tried going the Pick a brick route but was pricy. 

9 hours ago, Horation said:

A good fort-if a little drab

Theme

This part is done well, I see few play features, however, so I'd recommend something along the lines of a removable wall, a hiding spot, maybe a larger boat for the pirates to attack with? Also, there are too many minifigs per part for this to be an official set, remove a soldier and a pirate and it'll be more believable. I do commend the use of a modular fort style-it's very fitting for that wave of set.

Build

This part is done well, the colours work well for that period of time, there are ladders and spots to hold guns, and there are tons of details (especially the interior, which is excellent!). I will however point out a flaw which appears in the official sets : the whole thing lacks life, don't get me wrong, that's not unrealistic, but it is weird, as the only bit of light colour (other than white) is the little bit of green on those palm trees, if you want to increase the accuracy of your designs, add a colourful ship, or some more light green foliage, you'd need not use many parts, but It'd look great.

Hi, My inspiration for the ships was due to the fact of how much disappointment I have face with LEGO with similar expectations, we wanted a bigger medium ship but we just got row boats, also the jist of this set is that the only entry points are "row boat" sized to keep the galeons from full on destroying the fort. Henry Morgan did the same with the second siege of Portobelo by flanking the Spanish fleet, hiding their big ships around the bay and literally destroying their defenses with foot soldiers, hence my inspiration for this set! A full on attack to portobelo by ship would had been averted had the spanish seen the ship arrive at the bay. 

I understand this set lacks colors and life, but I was trying to keep faith of the original sets, which I can see why it didn't pick up that much interested when they were released. I will focus on adding more foliage and green to them though, I can redo the floating piers and add more rocks and spots for sea life to thrive! 

7 hours ago, iragm said:

I like the crab hiding out under the arch, a fun little detail!

It's incredibly cool how modular this is, it allows your design to be displayed many different ways and is a great touch.  In the original line, there were just the two sets that could be connected, and only in a single configuration, right?  This offers so many more possibilities, and all in a single set without too many pieces.

I understand that you're working in the design language of the 2015 pirates, but this kind of limits you in terms of color (as Horation mentioned) and in palm tree design.  Actually, all of the negatives I can think of -- light green for the leaves, lack of bright colors, the dark gray roofs, are elements from the original sets.  And if you changed any of those, it wouldn't feel at home.  If I had a recommendation, it would be to move to a more modern building style -- you've clearly got the creativity and talent, just imagine what you could do following the design language of the new Eldorado!

That's correct, the original was just two sets and one configuration for the imperial soldiers and the pirates. Although they are really cool in person they infused weird building techniques and play features that don't hold up really well to this day. I wanted to keep them under the 89.99 retail price and more than anything think of how lego likes to focus on simple designs. 

I bought a ton of white/grey/green/dark red bricks just to be able to modify this building to my whim, I originally had a different layout for this, but I ended up liking this more than I envisioned, i'm so old school that I hand drew some designs hahaha, ldd is time consuming, i like ordering the parts and just building them from scratch in person I guess.  

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by eldiano

[CollinsAnimationStudio]

Wow, I own the 2015 wave of sets and these fit in just perfectly!

[Mister Phes]

On 7/20/2023 at 5:15 PM, eldiano said:

I think I learned from my mistakes but following the spirit of the 2015 Pirates Imperial line up, this is the Soldier’s Armory that can combine with the Soldier’s Inn and Soldier’s Outpost. This adds another pass through Outpost and adds a few piers. 

And you've captured that spirit quite well!

However, from a presentation perspective, there is a lot of distractions in the background.  And I don't mean "distraction" is a negative way because it's good to see the creation within the context of existing LEGO Pirate sets.

But it would be nice to see the creation all by itself, with a plain white or neutral background.

[Mazin]

I see a lot of hard work and planning here, but as with many contests presentation is quite important on the path to success, and all that background blurs the whole impression in my own opinion, especialy on that first photo and that first pic is usualy the most important of them all, as most people tend not to scroll down the whole thing.

So, as we've seen plenty of simple designs in this event that win a lot of pints thanx to their presentation, this one is in the category of those that could loose attention because of the ways it's presented. 

But then again, if a reviewer is focused he/she will find ways to judge it properly. 

My favorite part of Your project, and i do think it absolutely stands out, is this sicrular tower! Briliant. Glad that You came up with this idea, and happy You've managed to construct one sucesfuly. I think that it could use a rotating cannon tho.

As for minifigs, i'd give a tricorn hat to that officer to make him more distinctive, and offering different kinds of clothing in lego sets is always a plus. But its up to You. I acutally like the guy.

The same i'd switch that blue pirate into someone with different colors, to differentiate him from those army guys, right now he looks like a militia ;) 

Honestly, there's a lot of blue in here. Even the boat is blue, and it screams to me that it should be red to bring more color diversity ;)

About the structure. I think that the lower part of it could use some more life. You've mentioned that it it's about simplicity in here and that possibilities of playing with it are endless, and i agree, little boys or big boys will always find ways to enjoy it, but then again every lego set, especially a quite big lego set, should be a stand alone. So maybe there could be some upgrades. I see that there's plenty of weapon racks, and this is a good idea, but they could be moved to different areas to make them more visible, as right now they are kinda hidden.

I'd say adding a cage with a pirate skeleton would be a nice touch somewhere on the left side could be a nice touch, to scare any possible invaders.

If a skeleton cage would be too big, then maybe a small crane, or a podium for a book to record every vessel trying to enter that location could be a nice bonus.

Also, as with most seaside lego sets, the problem is water. It looks fine for someone with imagination, but it could use bigger baseplates with crystal blue water rather than dark shade that You went for.  

[MstrOfPppts]

A very nice design and very fitting to the 2015 pirates theme. It looks like an official set! And the sketches are also a nice touch.

But as with your other entry I find your presentation quite troublesome. Too many distracting objects in the background instead of a nice plain backdrop. Also the images are quite large and in a strange aspect ratio. Can't even fit the whole landscape images on my full HD screen ...

[Aanchir]

Awesome to see something in the 2015 style! You did an amazing job taking the modular approach from those sets and pushing it even further with one big model made up of four sections that can be re-arranged freely. It's especially awesome seeing the sketches and part lists you used to plan your design!

I love the furniture and accessories you've put inside the rooms of the armory, especially the writing desk — very nicely detailed, but still in keeping with the 2015 sets' kid-friendly building level. The guard tower also has a cool and unique composition with the stone stairs on either side, differentiating it nicely from the Soldiers' Fort and Soldiers' Outpost.

If I could make one suggestion, it's that I think the weapon racks would feel more realistic if the clips were all facing the front rather than facing in three different directions. I also am not sure whether it totally makes sense to have three identical weapon racks. It might be more interesting if you replaced one of these with a chest, crate, or pallet of spare cannonballs, since currently I don't see any obvious places for cannonballs to be stored.

Also, while these four modules can already be combined in a number of interesting ways (and even more if you combine them with the Soldiers' Fort and Soldiers' Outpost), I can't help wondering whether it could be possible to include clips or handles in the front or back of any of your modules. If you did that, it could potentially allow for L-shaped, U-shaped, or T-shaped forts, in addition to ones where the modules are all in one long row. Just something to think about!

Great work overall! I don't know how popular this will be in the contest, since I figure a lot of voters might be biased towards entries built in either a more high-detail style or a more "retro" 80s/90s inspired style. But I can tell that you put lots of care and attention into every detail. And I have a strong feeling that if this had been a set in 2015, it would have been a pretty popular one (though I'm sure the complaints about getting multiple imperial buildings but no imperial ship would have been just as loud, if not louder)! So regardless, I'm glad you took the time to come up with this delightful taste of "what could have been" and enter it in the contest.

[durazno33]

On 7/28/2023 at 4:55 PM, CollinsAnimationStudio said:

Wow, I own the 2015 wave of sets and these fit in just perfectly!

I agree. It would be a great addition to that wave.

My only suggestions might be to add a couple crates of cargo or food stuffs and have the pirate not wearing blue so that we know he isn't with the bluecoats. Maybe green pants and green bandana.