Book IV Prelude Challenge A: ”The Bard of Old Town”

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

My build for the A-category! Started strong with the base but then got in time-trouble and had to mega-rush the second part of the entire thing. Didn’t end the way I wanted at all but hey I made it before deadline 😀

[The Bard of Old Town]
Bryndon the Bard is an infamous musician, poet and entertainer in Dandelume. He is known for being blessed with the ability to put on a show for common folk and feudal court alike. With his lute, wit and voice he could captivate all; the young, the old, the poor and the rich, the strong and the weak.

He travelled around Avalonia declaring, reciting and singing great tales of infamous heroine Dand El Alume, ballads of victorious battles and the history of his hometown. But born in Old Town Dandelume, he always felt himself the most at home surrounded by all classes and races, and soldiers in the service of Duke Wifgrir. 

His favourite place to perform was therefore by the stairs in Old Town. Where the oldest walls of the city still stood, and the ornaments of yonder days lay in the street. He would stand on the stairs singing to the troops as they went onto, or came back from, the hardships of their duties. Travellers, farmhands, maids and beasts moving in tune with the sound of his lute.

The captain would stop to chat for a while, the troops applaud his recurring comedic songs, and citizens in their daily routines would throw smile and coin alike his way. His presence even sparked controversy between maidens fair watching from above the stairs.

He was as natural part of the city as the stone walls, red climbing flowers or ornamented streets. 

Edited August 31 by T-86(swebrickLUG)

[Gideon]

Lovely build, and great presentation!

I especially like how you have managed to create a variety of interesting lbg shapes, subtle but elegant and with great contrast to the figs and the red leaves.
Of course, the minifig compositions are stellar too 👍

[SimWies]

Wow  Great scene! I especially love the design of the central stairs and the arches at the bottom level! The "all light grey" scene goes really well this the dark red leaves on the trees.

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

2 hours ago, Gideon said:

Lovely build, and great presentation!

I especially like how you have managed to create a variety of interesting lbg shapes, subtle but elegant and with great contrast to the figs and the red leaves.
Of course, the minifig compositions are stellar too 👍

Thanks Jonas! As I mentioned I had to rush it a ton. So had to compromise with stuff like crenellations, a potential tower on the left etc. Turned out pretry good in the end. Glad you liked the pres and figs too! 
 

1 hour ago, SimWies said:

Wow  Great scene! I especially love the design of the central stairs and the arches at the bottom level! The "all light grey" scene goes really well this the dark red leaves on the trees.

Thanks mate! 😃Yeah I sort of had to go with this amount of lbg due to time-constraints but I feel like somewhat of a variety was achieved! 

Edited August 31 by T-86(swebrickLUG)

[Simon_S]

So cool! I really like how much structure you could bring in the walls. Some clever details and techniques! Also, the round floor on which the bard stands works very well and gives such a good focus on the minifigure! Great job! I for myself would like some more colours in there… lbg is very dominant in this build and breaking it up with some spashes of colour could be nice. 

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

9 hours ago, Simon_S said:

So cool! I really like how much structure you could bring in the walls. Some clever details and techniques! Also, the round floor on which the bard stands works very well and gives such a good focus on the minifigure! Great job! I for myself would like some more colours in there… lbg is very dominant in this build and breaking it up with some spashes of colour could be nice. 

Thanks Simon! I can totally agree with you that some splashes of colour would break it up a bit and break the dominance of lbg! 

[LordDan]

Excellent scene! The stone details such as the arches and circular floor pattern are great, and I love the feel of a busy street with carts and animals passing. The planters and red vegetation are nice touches as well. I have to agree that the scene feels overpoweringly grey though.

[Gideon]

Congratulations!
Well deserved TBB mention: https://www.brothers-brick.com/2025/09/02/an-elvish-bard-makes-merry-on-the-streets-of-dandelume/

Great to see that we are keeping up the GoH tradition of having challenge entries mentioned by TBB 😎

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

18 hours ago, LordDan said:

Excellent scene! The stone details such as the arches and circular floor pattern are great, and I love the feel of a busy street with carts and animals passing. The planters and red vegetation are nice touches as well. I have to agree that the scene feels overpoweringly grey though.

Thanks man! Yup its a lot of grey, original plan was thrown out the window due to no time and deadline closing in 😂perhaps Ill re-work it to come closer to what I hade planned out!

4 hours ago, Gideon said:

Congratulations!
Well deserved TBB mention: https://www.brothers-brick.com/2025/09/02/an-elvish-bard-makes-merry-on-the-streets-of-dandelume/

Great to see that we are keeping up the GoH tradition of having challenge entries mentioned by TBB 😎

Thanks Jonas!  Always fun being featured. Nice that they dug up older builds from GoH as well! 

[Seagull King of Vaughan]

I think that you have captured the elven architecture very well here! And as mentioned, an excellent assortment of minifigures.

[jtooker]

Awesome stonework!  Especially on the ground, including the decorative ring.  Having such a large scene frames the bard well.

[mrcp6d]

Great MOC!  Love the details in the stonework but also how they are subdued and don't take away from the minifigure focus since you did all the structure in light bley.  Definitely a fine example of how a "less is more" color approach can elevate a Lego build.  

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

5 hours ago, Seagull King of Vaughan said:

I think that you have captured the elven architecture very well here! And as mentioned, an excellent assortment of minifigures.

 

2 hours ago, jtooker said:

Awesome stonework!  Especially on the ground, including the decorative ring.  Having such a large scene frames the bard well.

 

1 hour ago, mrcp6d said:

Great MOC!  Love the details in the stonework but also how they are subdued and don't take away from the minifigure focus since you did all the structure in light bley.  Definitely a fine example of how a "less is more" color approach can elevate a Lego build.  

Thanks guys! Appreciate your comments 🙏

Edited September 2 by T-86(swebrickLUG)

[Kai NRG]

The bottom part of this build is so polished--I love that circle on the floor, and those arches are gorgeous, as is that lush dark red vine.  The rush shows up top, particularly with the very flat top of the wall.  But overall an elegant build.

[Ben S]

As others have said, I love how you’ve captured the elven aesthetics with the arches and patterns. It really gives me Grey Havens vibes.

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

On 9/3/2025 at 2:16 AM, Kai NRG said:

The bottom part of this build is so polished--I love that circle on the floor, and those arches are gorgeous, as is that lush dark red vine.  The rush shows up top, particularly with the very flat top of the wall.  But overall an elegant build.

Yup, could definitely be improved with real crenellations! Glad you liked the rest of the build 🙏

On 9/4/2025 at 7:13 PM, Ben S said:

As others have said, I love how you’ve captured the elven aesthetics with the arches and patterns. It really gives me Grey Havens vibes.

Sweet, quite the place to live up to. Appreciate you commenting!