MassEditor

A wonderful and lively scene BP, a lot of little details to appreciate here! Cool technique with the streets, and the fugitive was a great touch. I'm with Slegengr though, a full shot of the build would be sweet (if possible).

Great scene man! I particularly like the rockwork and the way it hangs over the build, gives the scene some nice depth and dimension. The weapons and other decor look great too, especially the way everything is crammed in there just like a real cave-cache would probably be. The photo with the dwarves huddled around the table looks nice too. Good work!

Enjoy the vacay in Australia LV! Just got this freebuild up for the glory of Nocturnus! Encounter at the Forgotton Monastery

Anfauglir's lieutenant, Samarkand, reached the old monastery just before dawn. Needles of light from the rising sun revealed the ruins as he approached, its crumbling walls a testament to the destruction Nocturnus had suffered for as long as anyone could remember. Abandoned many years ago, it was a perfect place to meet an old friend and an ally to the Nocturnian resistance. Fortunately the journey was uneventful, though long. Only a few small patrols evidenced the Black Spire's increasing chokehold on the Darklands, and they were easily skirted. Samarkand had ridden almost without stop to the monastery, he placed such importance on this meeting. He dismounted and left the tired animal to rest in the treeline surrounding the ruins. Pulling out his sword, Samarkand cautiously left the woods. Upon approaching the monastery a cloaked figure emerged from the entrance. The figure lifted its hood and Samarkand instantly recognized the beautiful Avalonian woman underneath. She smiled and then spoke. "You still know how to take a girl to a beautiful place. Things haven't changed a bit, have they Samarkand?" Samarkand sheathed his sword and relaxed. It had been too long since he had seen her. "If my memories still serve me well then it was you, Hexana, you chose to meet here. Of all the lands in Nocturnus, I don't think you could have picked an uglier one. These colors give me a headache!" "Oh, I forget how much you Nocturnians love your dark caves and foggy swamps, but there was little alternative. Hand soldiers are patrolling the roads, and there are few places his spies do not stalk. At least here we can enjoy some privacy." Samarkand looked away. In the distance he could see the great Rakarth Mountains, where Anfauglir's rebellion was staging against Raavage and his crony, the Covenant lord Senurhem. It was only a matter of time before their hidden redoubt was no longer safe, either. "Unfortunately, Hexana, we cannot enjoy it together for long. It is pressing that I get back to my men. I do not haste our departure, but Anfauglir parted several nights before myself to meet with Lord Vladivus and Lord Mortis of the resistance. I take grave risk leaving my men leaderless in the mountains." Senurhem returned his gaze to Hexana. "You said you found something of great importance - what do you have?" Hexana opened her side pack and revealed a piece of ragged parchment. She handed the scroll to Samarkand, who could see terrain features and a written language he could barely make out. Hexana could see he was intrigued. "It's a map, but to what I don't know. From the look in the Hand commander's eyes when I took it from him, though, I figured it was pretty important." Few things surprised Samarkand about Hexana nowadays, her past feats were so great. She had fought in almost every battle - and on almost every side - since the Revolwood wars. She even served for a time with the prestigious Shadowmere Assassin and Intelligence Guild. But Samarkand could tell instantly that the captured map was more than just the usual intelligence exploit. "How in Historica did you come across this?" "Six days ago I stumbled across a Hand patrol. At first I thought nothing of it, but then I noticed the leader - by his uniform, a full-fledged field commander. These guys usually don't leave Raavage's side, so I knew something was up. I followed the patrol and that night snuck into the tent the soldiers had set up to house their pig-commander. The idiot had a case chained to his wrist, so I figured he had something he didn't want to share. Unfortunately, his screams when I removed the chain alerted the camp and I had to leave in a hurry. My horse fled in the panic, so I had to walk here the rest of the way. I think that deserves a pat on the back, wouldn't you say?" Samarkand laughed. "Indeed, that was quite the story! I cannot say for sure, but from what Anfauglir has told me, this map appears to show the location of the artifact Raavage is looking for. This piece, it is told, would allow him to raise an army of the dead. I must show this to Anfauglir at once, he would know for sure. Hexana, if we can get to the artifact before Raavage we may have a chance in stopping him, and your name will be heralded across Historica! This coup ten-thousand soldiers could not accomplish!" Hexana stared impatiently at Samarkand. "I just pray for peace to find its way to Nocturnus and all of Historica. I tire of the soldier's life, of death and hardship. I want to live the rest of my life in tranquility - with you, Samarkand." Hexana grabbed his hand. "Do not think I have forgotten our nights together." Samarkand reached in to embrace her. They held each other for several moments before he spoke. "How could I forget the best moments of my life. When this is all over, I promise we will be together. Forever. We'll get a nice little place in the mountains, away from all these colors." Hexana laughed. "As long as you let me have that flower garden we talked about." A rustle in the nearby woods caught Samarkand’s attention. He did not hear the twang of the bow until the arrow had already found its mark. In front of him, Hexana moaned and fell into Samarkand’s arms. For a moment time slowed as Samarkand held her, oblivious to the dozens of black arrows that were now falling all around them. Quickly he picked up Hexana and began to run. Samarkand had covered only a short distance before he was struck in the leg, causing both to tumble to the ground. “Samarkand, I cannot survive this wound – you must leave me here.” The words struck Samarkand like a cold hammer. “No! You’re coming with me even if it means my death. You’re not-“ Hexana cut him off. “This map has to reach the resistance, with or without me.” Hexana coughed, and began to breathe slower. Samarkand could see the light fading from her eyes. “You made a promise that we would live together forever, once this was all over… stop Raavage, and make sure this is really over. You shall find me in the afterlife, and then you can fulfill your promise. Don’t let a lady down…” With those words, Samarkand watched the last trace of life leave Hexana’s body. Hazily he stood up, narrowly avoiding the axe swing from a Hand soldier who had neared to finish them off. More were following closely behind, and Samarkand killed nine before unsheathing his sword, his wrath was so great. Two dozen more were quickly dispatched. The second wave of soldiers witnessed the slaughter and briefly recoiled. Their hesitation allowed Samarkand to reach his horse and escape, soon leaving the pursing foot soldiers far behind. Still clutching the map in one hand, he turned and could see Hexana lying near the monastery. Samarkand saw a group of Hand soldiers approach her martyred body before he turned a corner and lost sight of her forever. Several troops were already pilfering through Hexana’s equipment when an officer wearing ornate battle armor approached. He kicked the soldiers to the side and ordered them executed on the spot. The commander reached down to pick up the empty map case and tossed it furiously to the side. Silently, he signaled a group of mounted Hand riders to follow Samarkand. Bandages on one arm betrayed a grievous wound, as if a hand had been recently removed. ------------------------------------------------------------------ A full shot of this MOC and a few other angles: ------------------------------------------------------------------ About this MOC: Greetings again! Sorry if you guys have seen some of these pics already on Flickr - I got snagged by life when I tried to get the story and other pics finished for GoH. In any case, thanks for checking it out! Feedback is of course welcome!

This is sad news to hear indeed. I haven't been around here very long, but just long enough to know GoH is losing one of its finest builders (hopefully just temporarily!). Like others have said, hopefully you'll be able to make the most of your time in the service. You are sure to see and do some enjoyable things that will stick with you the rest of your life. In any case, you'll get to play with some big and expensive toys!

Beautiful build SK, simply but elegantly done. Great job with the insignia and the wall designs. Great addition to the story, too!

Great work again, an awesome and unique take on this challenge! I was wondering how some newer entries would compete with the ChIII builds we've already seen, but this is certainly a match in my opinion. The weathered, mossy look of the statue head is expertly done. The border is quite nifty too!

Fantastic, the best entry I've seen yet! Very representative!

Cool build and story Josh, as mentioned above I really like how you incorporate your characters' stories into your challenge builds. In any case, there's some neat details to appreciate here, especially that table saw. The waterwheel looks great but I think the buckets should be turned 180 degrees? I like the snotted rocks too but they look like they could use a tad more variety with some different slopes. Anyways, nice work!

Amen to that! Sleeping is the biggest waste of time imaginable. Well, it would be if we didn't need it so much. This year I've been training myself to sleep around five hours a night and still be a functioning human being. When I do try to catch more sleep these, I just find myself lying awake in bed thinking about what I'm going to build next!

Great little scene here with some wonderful techniques! You've made an awesome contribution to GoH right out of the gate, glad to see you joined!

Awesome work Evan, there's a lot to appreciate in this build! The figs are exquisite and really capture the diversity of the Kaliphlin people - I would love to have a seat there, listening in to the various conversations and hearing more about this esoteric Nocturnian mystic! I like the tree as well as the curved seating, very nice job there. Not sure you remember but we had a short conversation a few months ago about your claimed tendency to pack more detail in a build than is perhaps necessary. If that ever really was a problem for you (personally, I'd rather see too much detail than not enough I suppose) you've certainly shed it. This build seems to have just the perfect amount of detail, color and composition. Not overly complex but not simple either. Instead, this is a very well-balanced build - the type of build in which many seem to miss their mark (often, myself included).

Wow Jorrith, excellent work! The build is top notch and the story is great - I really like the reference to refugees too. The towers are nicely done, especially set at angles like that. Thanks for the bonus shot, that is an awesome technique for getting a nice slope under the bridge. The trail sign is fantastic (I might have to borrow that...) but there is no direction to Avalonia on it? In any case, great work man!

Beautiful work V, I knew you'd have a superb entry for this category. The beard and winged parts of the statue's helm are very well done.

Fantastic build again, the way the tower and tree blend together is just superb. I love how the door and window are inserted into the truck, and the colors used are just exquisite. Pure eye candy!

Wow Cesar, once again an absolutely stunning build... I'm just about speechless here... The amount of dedication and detail you put in your builds is very impressive! You are making an awesome contribution here!

Beautiful scene Kabel, this is certainly a great looking build and the photography is superb. I love how the orange tree, the red roof and the tan building with blue accents blends to give such a nice palatte of color.

Nice work Mccoyed, this is a nicely detailed and unique build.

A beautiful build Jakorin and some great details here, this is top-notch. Entertaining story too!

Nice little scene, the work you did with the tree limbs is great!

Fantastic work, very innovative!

Wonderful stuff Ecc/Kabel, I will really have to take some time to thoroughly view and appreciate this series of builds! Amazing! I would like to pick the side of men for this challenge.

I think SNOT is definitely the best way to go, like you did with the diagonal 1x8 reddish brown tile. My main suggestion would be to match the rest of the timbered sections (the corners and bottom edge where the cheese slopes are now) with that 1x8 tile. For the corners, using tiles and 1x1 stud bricks seems to be the standard and very nice looking method, like here: This corner is done using the two 1x1 plates + one 1x1 stud brick + two 1x1 plates + one 1x1 stud brick method. (I'm at work now but I could post you a pic of this method later, if that equation is as clear as mud ). Thanks Mccoyed! To clarify my suggestion on the photography, I suppose the main point is that there's no overall shot of the MOC. The first one is close, but we're missing some of the bottom part and we're only seeing one side of the build. The rule of thumb is that the overall MOC photo should show at least three sides of the MOC (usually two sides and the top). So, at first impression it doesn't look like your MOC has an overall photo, which leads me to believe this is a "story build" (I apologize if that's not the correct term or your intention with this MOC, but I'm talking about builds like some of peggyjbd's or my most recent Lagash Ur MOC, which has story photos but no photo of the full MOC, since it's just a giant facade and showing the whole thing would take away from the presentation). In that case, when you're doing a "story build," I think its best to leave out as much of the white background as possible. Build your own backgrounds as peggyjbd has so that the scene is as immersive as possible. For instance, I think the action photos you posted would have really benefited from a brick-built background. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, especially if you're shooting with a short depth of field. Maybe just a stone wall or some simple store fronts. Again, those don't take much to do, since these facades don't have be any thicker than a row of bricks (and who cares what it looks like on the other side, since no one but you will ever see it!). Whatever you can do to reduce the amount of white background will end up enhancing the immersion of your story photos/builds. That being said, these two types of MOCs - the full MOC ala builders like Vitroleum, and the story builds (perhaps cinematic is a better term?) like those by peggyjbd - are of course not incompatible. A lot of it depends just on how you shoot the MOC. As an example, I offer another of my Lagash Ur MOCs. You'll see that the story photos show a Lego background, but I also included a full photo of the MOC at the end of the post to show this was in fact a complete build. I hope this rant makes sense man! Clearer than mud I hope!

Great little scene! The lighting on the first photo looks perfect for the end of that scene, with the last light falling on the door.

Man, since discovering GoH I tend to forget this forum exists over here... I really need to keep an eye over here! Anyways, great build man, one of your best for sure I think. A lot of little details here with some good techniques. The off-angle wall looks good and gives some nice dimension to the build. Booth roof sections are nice too (I would like to see the smaller, lower roof overhang further, and maybe with only one row of dark brown on the sides of the roof border.) Also, the figs are great as is the fighting scenes! I like the timbering as well but it could be stepped up a notch. Studs and tiles are great for the corners and make those sections match the depth of the other timbered parts (plus it's an easy and part-efficient technique). I wouldn't extend the corners out from the rest of the house either. Two more things - and this is something I constantly forget or screw up, so please don't mind the hypocrisy - but I think pictures of a MOC should go really only two ways: For story shots or a facade-type build (like a few of the recent builds by peggyjdb's builds), it's good to show little to no background, if at all possible, to really make the scene immersive. But, for an overall photo, get the whole build in the shot with plenty of background to really make it pop (like Kai suggested in my Swamp Outpost build). A distant but full-profile shot of the build (usually at a corner angle, showing two sides and the top of the MOC) will let viewers see the whole thing and make them want even more to look at the smaller, close up shots to spy all the details. Finally, I like putting bits of the story at the top of the topic, with pictures further below. Keeps the suspense up! In any case, this is still a nice build. Each one of your builds seems more detailed and expertly crafted than the previous, so I'm always looking forward to what you post next!