Gabe

Welcome back TUB and Carson! Bummer about the car accident though. I assume you guys are ok and weren't injured? Yep, congrats on your first GoH moc Behemoth! First of many we hope! Ah, i'm glad that the little list i put together is proving helpful, that's very gratifying. Keep in mind though that i wrote it quickly and without too much reflection, so it's by no means an exhaustive guide. Since it's more of a reference for general castle/landscaping/fantasy building, if it does get stickyed it probably belongs in the History forum, perhaps with a link from the GoH new member's thread. (Also, some of the information might be duplicated in DC's awesome "building a medieval village" sticky) I don't mind the chatter as long as it's getting advice, asking opinions on ideas and stuff, i would consider that on topic, although personally i would try to bring more fully formed ideas to the table, rather than asking advice for every step of something that's being fleshed out. Personally, i am still chugging along on my Sultan's Gate freebuild, with some time taken out for building something for the "Mount up!" challenge. (nearly done with that now) Time will be a bit of an issue this month though, as i have a couple of other project deadlines looming, as well as getting a new job! It's all good, but the SG freebuild might be as much as a month away from completion atm. Drow are dark elves that principly live underground in Nocturnus, although drow tunnels extend into Avalonia territory as well -the previous challenge saw participants fighting a drow invasion of Avalonia. They are militarily aligned with The Black Spire faction in Nocturnus. (For more info on The Black Spire, see challenge I )

Huzzah, good to see you are in the mood for moccing (moc'ing? moc-ing?) Behemoth! Nice start too, the FP works well. I thought those ore elements were meant to be bushes as well, but i guess that's the power of suggestion due to having the larger bush in the foreground. A couple of notes about composition - you have a very cinematic shot here, with the top and bottom of the moc cropped out - this is fine, but it does tend to draw attention to the empty wings of the image. I find that if you are going for this kind of immersive feel, it can look better if you try to fill the entire image with brick. I totes understand that you are working with part restriction here, it's just something to keep in mind for the future. Also, FP can be a powerful compositional tool, but if you have the FP part physically connected to the fore/middleground section, it can restrict the number of angles you can take your shots from. Something i like to do is separate them so that i can move the FP section around, allowing me greater flexibility when it comes to photography. If you are keen to improve your building skills, you might want to check out The University of Petraea's Doctorate of Historica program - you can claim credits for this build in the thread if you are interested. Again, good to see you underway in GoH!

That is just creepy cool, Jorrith, great beastie! I'm with TUB tho, this thing is gonna give me nightmares.

What a beauty, Yooha! I really like the curling function, very clever. The sandstorm pic is great too.

What a great beast Lord Dan! Really like the shaping on this, it looks very natural. The only thing that looks a bit odd is the rider sitting so far down, almost like he is driving the wolf like a car. But everything else is spot on - the banner is a cool addition as well.

Great entry Legoman, love the FP especially, it works really well. Those eyes are cool/creepy too!

Unusual mount! I was wondering if someone was going to use the googly mixel eyes. They look good here, although i thought moles were virtually blind anyway?

Sweet build Gunman! Love the shaping on the head, and the parts usage for the trunk is genius. I agree with what's been said about the back legs, straight down would look better. I also think the body looks a stud or two too long between the legs as well. But this is a great looking entry regardless!

Nice work on this Carson! I like the posing of the rustwing in flight, and the lovely base.

Great work for a first brick-built beast Tomsche! The levers for the hair on the legs is an interesting solution. I did get a bit confused where the eyes were for a bit... in the first pic they look like they are in the middle of the 2x2 dish, but in the front on shot they look like they are the trans-blue studs on top of the head. I assume it is actually the latter? It looks more cute and cartoon-like that way, whereas eyes on the side of the head make it look more fierce and menancing.

Hey Behemoth, while i think it's cool that you are asking all these questions and are really interested in making your mocs the best they can be, there is a lot to be said for just jumping right in and having a good old fashioned bash, ready or not! Or maybe it's just me that's impatient to see your character introduction post. Anyway, don't worry if your first mocs here aren't perfect, we all start off small and build on what we've done before. Being a beginner is a great place to be, there is no expectation and you can just play around. Everyone here wants to help and be encouraging, so don't worry too much about being "professional looking" or whatever, it's all good! Just as an example, here is one of my first adult mocs that i made nearly 4 years ago to the day, when my collection was a mere 800 parts or so. Far from being embarrassed by it, i remember it fondly and marvel at the difference between it and the stuff i build now. Please don't pass up the chance to build something as amazingly rainbow blok-tastic as this by over planning your first builds, it's an experience i highly recommend!

Ahhh... 2 weeks, can i handle the suspense?? Safe travels Ska, we'll be waiting with bated breath to hear about the rest of the battle when you return.

If you are new to this stuff, your parts inventory is small and you are looking to expand, i would recommend prioritising the following: 1. Buy more plate than brick. Whenever i break down a moc, i always find i have more plate to sort than anything else! 2. Smaller parts are used more often than larger parts, especially for parts intensive techniques, such as using SNOT bricks and tiles to simulate brickwork on a wall etc. Buy more smaller parts accordingly. 3. Baseplates are optional, especially when you are just starting out, as you will most likely begin building smaller than 32 x 32 studs anyway. I find baseplates most useful for large layouts, which you want to break down into modules for ease of transport. 4. Landscaping plays a large part in castle and fantasy building, and can really make or break a moc. For that reason, i would recommend stocking up on natural colours. Affordable natural colours are the bleys (new greys), tan and dark tan, nougat, blue, brown, lime, white and black. Slightly pricier are colours like green (yeah i know), dark orange, sand green, dark green, sand blue and dark brown. Trans colours can go either way - for instance, trans-clear1x2 plates are cheap and i highly recommend getting a few hundred if you can. Light trans-blue cheese are a bit pricier, and trans-clear 1x1 brick with studs all sides even more so (last time i looked anyways). 5. Don't pass up Duplo, large panels and rainbow bricks if you can get a lot on the cheap - they are super useful for substructures. Ditto long technic beams. 6. Everyone develops thier own "go to"parts for thier own style of building. This is something that you develop naturally, and often happens because you can't find the parts you really want and are forced to improvise. Personally, i favour using combinations of slopes, wedge plates, hinges, ball joints and bar/clips to achieve organic shapes in my mocs, and so i tend to look out for those sorts of parts. 7. When thinking about how much of a part to order, i recommend over-ordering instead of under-ordering. Many techniques are parts intensive, and it's a crummy feeling to order a bunch of parts for a moc only to find yourself a handful short. With those general points out of the way, these are parts i highly recommend you stock up on: 1x1 plates in bleys, tan, dark tan, light blue, green, brown, blue, black, white, trans-clear. 1x2 plates in same as above, plus sand green, olive and dark orange too if you can get some. 1x3, 1x4 plates in same as 1x1. 2x2 corners, 2x2 and 2x3 plates in same as 1x1 2x4 plates in same as 1x1 plus dark green, sand green, sand blue, olive and dark orange if you can find them. 1x1 round plates in bleys, white, black, tan, brown, pearl gold, trans-clear and light trans-blue. 1x1 tiles in bleys, white, black, tan and brown. 1x2 tiles in bleys, brown, dark brown, tan, dark tan, blue and light and dark trans-blue. 1x1 and 1x2 brick in bleys, tan, dark tan, nougat green, blue, light blue, dark green, sand green and blue. Olive and dark orange only if you can afford it! 1x2 and 1x4 log bricks in brown, dark brown, tan, dark tan, bleys and nougat. 1x2 "brick bricks" in bleys nougat and dark tan. 1x1 headlight bricks in bleys, tan and brown. 1x1 SNOT bricks in bleys, tan and black. (dark orange if yr feeling rich) 1x2 and 1x4 SNOT bricks in bleys and nougat 1x1 SNOT bricks with studs 2 sides in brown 1x1 SNOT bricks with studs all sides in whatever colours. Slopes! All kinds, but i like the 1x2 slopes that are one, two and three bricks high, respectively for rockwork. Don't forget inverted slopes too. Stock up on bleys, tans and browns. Wedge plates! Go nuts. Greens, browns, tans and bleys and white are what you want. Often great for introducing contour in groundwork so the ground level doesn't look so flat or have a "minecraft" look about it. I like the 2x3, 2x4, 3x3, 4x4 and 3x6 shapes the most, but check out all of them. Just remember, some of the older wing peices don't have notches on the sides so you can't use them for layering. Ball joints! I really like the new mixel ball joints, you can use them to do some sweet shaping. I'm also partial to the large pin style clicky ball joints. (what is their name? I usually just call them mecha hinges, although i've used them most for trees!) Hinges, both the horizonal and the vertical styles, modified plates with clips and bars, brackets, rails etc, you get the deal. Arches! I almost forgot. The 1x4 quarter arch (4bricks high) is useful in both the bottom half of the circle and the top. They are cheap in the browns, and useful for tree branches and roots if you are building large studs up trees. Also, look out for the new half gothic arches and the PoP arches - the last one is really good for Kali architecture. Foliage! Ok, this is going to hurt if you are paying BL prices - foliage is not cheap. If you have Pick-a-brick you could score some i guess, or if you are part of a LUG you might be able to get some through them. Otherwise, yeah. Stalk grass is ok and bamboo leaves aren't too bad either, but the 3x4 and 6x5 leaves can be a pain to amass, as can the palm leaves. Good luck! Anyway, i've run out of steam now, although i'm sure i've forgotten a bunch of useful parts that ppl consider essential. If anyone wants to add thier fav/go to parts to the list to help the new members out, i'm sure they would appreciate it! ps. But in the end, all this aside, Kabel is essentially right... it doesn't really matter how much you have, it's what you do with it that counts. So get building already!

Oh gosh, so theoretically she could get patched up and re-enter the fray? I didn't realise that. I didn't know how strong you guys had made her, but yeah, i figured it must have been a big crit to take her out with one hit like that. Kinda cool to know that it happens i guess, although very unlucky for poor Phrixelle. ps. I hope you guys don't think i'm criticising Scarst's tactics in my previous censure of the archers btw, just indulging in a little light roleplay, trying to enter into the spirit of the event!

Great sense of action in this vig mccoyed! The cart design is sweet too.

Nice story and vignette! The first shot is a winner for sure - very nicely composed.

Sweet build Simon, the horns and shape of the head are spot on! The posing is great too, although i feel like the stick legs are a touch spindley. (But legs are haaard, so i totes get it as a solution ) Congrats on being frontpaged!

Wow Ecc, that teaser shot looks amazing! And way the border is only one corner makes it look like it is a module of a larger layout, is that right? This build will be much anticipated for sure!

Thanks, glad you like it! I'll try to post regular updates as it progresses. Btw, i think you mentioned obsidian weapons? Don't know if anyone in GoH has predominantly used them, but there's certainly nothing stopping you! Uhh, yeah, but there's useful chat that adds something to the thread, and then there's social chatter about how close you are to making an arbitary number of posts etc. We aim for quality over quantity here, so please, think before you hit that post button! If you are talking to one other member only, PM them directly. If your post isn't of interest to many of the Kaliphlin members, then perhaps hold your fire. Yeah i know the line gets a bit blurred sometimes, but i submit that if your post is a single line of off-topic text, then perhaps the thread isn't the best place for it. I'm not saying don't contribute btw, just try to keep it relevant and interesting. I will never understand why they retired the goat mold... it's such a beauty. Maybe it's a bit like the colour palette, where they only have a certain number of active colours, and new ones displace the old? ps. Yay, the battle thread continues! Sad to see my general knocked out, but that's the way the cookie crumbles i guess.

Those foolish archers! Their lack of discipline will not go unpunished... if they survive, they will be cleaning the new recruit's latrines for a whole year before they are worthy to even touch their bows again. I shall have to speak to Nammuat as well about the pressures of command, although i dare say she had her hands full keeping those jokers alive. Well, Phrixelle is a no die character, so she'll survive one way or another, but it's sad to see her go so early in the battle. Hopefully her mercs and infantry can extract some payback. Looks like Paulos had a close shave too. I'm looking forward to seeing that elephant in action!

So... anyone else here endlessly refreshing the battle topic hoping for updates, or is it just me? It's my first time participating in one of ska's huge battles, so i'm really keen to see how it all plays out. (Plus i'm hoping to see my units in action, naturally! )

Thanks Robuko, Torgar, Lego3364 and Lord Vlad, glad you like my progress so far! My partner made me put that in... she is a little obsessed with goats. I should've put the mountain climber on there too!

Nice to see the Mpya Stedor sections together DM, looks great! Sadly i'm not going to get my Sultan's Gate build done in time for the 31st July deadline, but i'll keep chipping away at it as a freebuild. Still planning to make the lift, along with some other stuff which i've been mulling over the last couple of days. Not much to see on the WIP yet, but you might have noticed that i'm trying out Torgar's sweet slanted rock technique on the cliff face. C&c welcome of course!

Great build Damaximus! The interiors are very cool, especially the naval room. I'm sure that i'm just biding my time listening to the history lecture until i can get a go on the wargames table... Great to see so many named characters visiting btw! Love the mosaic, though i reckon the background colour would pop more if it were a brighter colour than dark grey. (Did you consider tan or gold?) The wall maps are a cool idea too. UoP+1 for both credits.

Gosh, so much activity! Welcome Aranethon and Behemoth! Gosh, you are aiming high! Good to see. All this talk of rivalry sounds interesting, especially naval rivalry. As DM says, you might want put a good distance between your city and both Berigora and Mpya Stedor, they are both already well established naval powers with extensive trade interests. I look forward to seeing some of your Byzantine-inspired city! Ooooooo! Is this mystery island related to the spies that have infiltrated both armies in the Withers Wood battle by any chance? Or you could establish an empire in Mitgardia, which is 99% empty boasting! (Just kidding, northern friends! You like this kind of joshing, right? ) My understanding of the Rakath ranges is that whilst it is not heavily populated, there are quite a few pockets of towns, settlements and fortresses that dot the region, especially in the south and on the coast. Besides the Nestlands and Mpya Stedor, i know DragonsandFlagons fortress is down there somewhere, as is the mountain mummies ancestral lands. I also plan to place Zaid Parsel's (a new tertiary character of mine) fortress down there somewhere in the future as well. North of Qarkyr, there are a couple of coastal settlements who's names escape me, as well as the headquarters of the Rakath Assasians, although only a very few know the location of that for sure. Although technically that was actually a giant sea turtle that had an enchantment placed on it, which was broken when the crystal in it's belly was stolen. (I feel quite sad that i never finished that story...) Yeah, sad but true.. Although i guess most of us have had a hiatus from GoH at some stage or another, so hopefully they will return. Depends on what you want to build! Pick a place and just jump right in, that's my advice.