Avalonia Tasks 1, 2, and 3

[Ailhbe]

Task One: The Army of Lesser Burren

Following Raavage's War, Ailhbe and her advisors began rebuilding Lesser Burren's army. Chief among their goals was to rebuild the Teulu, the professional soldiers sword to House d'Carraig.

Teulu Pikemen by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

Heavily armed and armored, pikemen deploy as a shield wall to screen against cavalry charges.

Teulu Light Infantry by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

Light infantry make up the bulk of Lesser Burren's melee. They're easy to deploy and good for flanking and pursuit.

Teulu Cavalry by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

Men-at-arms and knights are rare in Lesser Burren, but there are enough of them to provide some much-needed offense to the Teulu. Light cavalry is usually equipped with bow and light lance to harass enemy forces.

Teulu Archers by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

Archers and longbowmen are deployed in front of the pike wall for maximum ranged harassment of enemy formations, then move back when battle nears. They carry spears, just in case.

Lesser Burren Fyrdsmen by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

On rare occasions, a militia known as a Fyrd will be conscripted. The Fyrd consists of rangers from the shepherds and Frevlen clans, spearmen to strengthen the pike line, and crossbowmen for extra ranged support.

 

Task 2: Ailhbe's Companions

Shortly after taking up her title, Ailhbe took a trip west of Baile Oiliean to see some of the clachan villages. There, she was accompanied by her two advisors, as well as a bodyguard.

Ailhbe and her Entourage by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

Accompanying her was Master Caolan, the elderly leader of the barony's army. Though old, he still carried his warhammer with him. 

Drystan Blackstaff of the Frevlen was with her was well. Though coarse and rough-spoken, the man was well-respected by his people, and to rule the barony she'd need him on her side.

Captain Niall, her bodyguard, brought up the rear. The paranoid young soldier insisted on checking each detail of the path in case of an attack.

Task 3: The People and Lands of Lesser Burren

In the southern half of Lesser Burren are numerous hillocks, separated from each other by wide, flat valleys. The south, leeward sides of these hillocks tend to be forested, while the windward sides are stoney with little growing on them. The valley floors are a patchwork of meadows, farmland, and great expanses of dirt where nothing grows. This flat terrain is broken up in places by limestone rocks, most of which lie naturally on the ground. A few, however, stand upright in straight lines that sometimes stretch twenty or thirty rocks long; the locals call these Bryn's Tears in honor of a Frevlen deity.

Most Burreners live in small hamlets clustered on the sheltered sides of the hillocks. There, they farm wheat, barley, and root vegetables like carrots. Each hamlet, known as a clachan, consists of the dwellings of between five and ten families, a stone sheepfold or pen for chickens, and a storehouse. Occasionally, one of these clachans will have a horse, or even a cart; those who do take great pride in their wealth, and greater care not to overwork the horse or overload the cart.

Clachan Farmers by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr]

Few communities in Lesser Burren grow above the size of these clachans, for the land won't support large, centralized populations. The largest exception is Baile, Oiliean. Astride an isolated hillock called Oiliean, the town overlooks both the hills and valleys to the south and the limestone karats of the thuaidh burren to the north. 

As the only large community, many services are offered in Baile Oiliean that can't be found elsewhere in Lesser Burren. These include masonry, a wool fulling mill, and a wainwright. Most businesses are placed along a central road winding up from the town's gatehouse to Baroness d'Carraig's tower house at the top of Oiliean.

Baile Oiliean Townsfolk 1 by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

Baile Oiliean Townsfolk 2 by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

Baile Oiliean Townsfolk 3 by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

On the karst of the thuaidh burren north of Baile Oiliean, farming is all but impossible. However, the semi-nomadic Frevlen people make a living herding sheep across the land. Each group of Frevlen follows circling routes through the karst, never staying still long enough to overgraze the limited vegetation and never leaving anywhere untouched long enough for predators to forget to fear men. Only recently, with the drow raids in Lesser Burren having hurt the Frevlen more than the rest of the barony, have they left their homes in the karst to move south.

Frevlen Clan Shepherds by Chris Huisjen, on Flickr

[de Gothia]

Some great minifig combos! I like that you have written so much of each of the soldiers/civilians!

 

Perhaps take the photos with some better lightning? 

[Ailhbe]

Thanks! I'm working on the photography and lighting. I need to figure out a light box and stuff. 

[mccoyed]

I had problems with photography for... oh... the first two years or more after joining EB? The best way, I found, isn't a light box at all (though if you can get a big enough one...). The best thing is to make sure your pics aren't grainy/blurry as best you can and then use GIMP or Photoshop to "brighten" the image. I use GIMP for that and Photoshop for backgrounds, but I've only been using PS for the last little while. If you look at some of my older stuff, photography issues really took away from what I was making. The one thing is, proper presentation of Lego builds with these software tools is very time consuming for me. So I get it if you feel reluctant to dive into that with every build. Just take your time.

Aside from that, good stuff here. I especially like your design of the brick-built warhammer. Don't think I've seen one quite like that and it's cool.

[Ailhbe]

Thanks. I found a video for a pretty affordable DIY light box, so I'll try that for the lighting. My usual computer is in for repairs, and my backup's editing software is pretty minimal. I'm going to play around with different settings and stuff with my camera and see what works best.

[Tezclatipoca]

Nice writing for a great bunch of minifigs !

Good job.

Like others said the photography could be better.

Not a real problem as it is not so bad.

Myself, too, had issues with lighting. The best way to reduce this problem is not in a lighting box IMO (unless for smaller builds) but to use good back lighting and work on a good focus and then, a good thing is to lighten the pics afterwards with photoshop for example.

It's very useful for big buildings like castles. It is frequent my biggest MOCs don't fit in a lighting box and while you are here in the Guilds you will tend to build bigger and bigger.

Trust me.

It happened to me ?. And then the lighting box becomes useless ...

All in all it is great to see you develop your Lesser Buren county here. I really like your shepherds. Keep up the good job !

[Gideon]

Nice figures and good backstory!

Do I sense a certain Irish influence here...?  

 

The easiest way to get decent lighting is outside on a cloudy day or in the shadow.

[Ailhbe]

A mixture of Irish and Welsh, actually, but yes. I figured I could play with a couple of different influences and take what I wanted. Thanks.

[TitusV]

On 8/12/2018 at 9:19 PM, Ailhbe said:

A mixture of Irish and Welsh, actually, but yes. I figured I could play with a couple of different influences and take what I wanted. Thanks.

Everything is possible in Historica, and I really like the results. I think my favoured knights must be the Teulu Cavalry though

[Ailhbe]

Thanks. I think they turned out the best too. 

[Henjin_Quilones]

Nice looking army and townsfolk! Now you just have to build some villages and such to house everyone...

Glad to have these fine folk in Avalonia!

[Ailhbe]

Yeah, I'm working on Task 5 right now, since it seemed more focused and I had some inspiration for it. I've got the buildings I want to build picked out for Task 4, I just need to make it happen.

[soccerkid6]

Plenty of cool minifigures, that all fit together well to give a good idea of the inhabitants of Lesser Burren With some more practice and experience I'm sure your photography will improve.
Often that's the most challenging aspect of sharing LEGO builds to start with. One thing that easily helps presentation is having a smooth solid background of a single color. Some large sheets of poster board, or good sized pieces of non-wrinkled fabric can work well. Even something like a t-shirt.

I've found Ikea Tupplur Blackout roller blinds to work best for me, though those have a bit more cost associated with them.

[Grover]

Glad to have you as part of the best guild!  I am excited to read the rest of your story; I'm not sure exactly why, but I find your character really interesting.  I like all the different characters that you have come up with and the fun townsfolk.  As the others have said, figuring out photography will help improve the pictures (as pics are a large part of the build), but that will come with time.  I know that I have not fully figured out lighting yet.  Hope to see more from you!

[en_zoo]

reading this only now.. relieved to see fellow Avalonianas have nice armies ready to strike! I particularly like the idea of Fyrds being conscripted 'on rare occasions' as support militia. Also nice characters you have there as entourage of your sigfig - curious to read more about them!