Full Plate

Interesting story and a nice little build Good job!

Thanks! Glad you like it Thanks ME for the high praise! I agree with you and Garmadon about the angles, and I will be trying to be more conscious about that in future builds. I'm also working on upgrading my photo setup to have something more reliable. Right now I'm just photographing in direct sunlight.

Nice job! The gate looks good and imposing

Nice derelict tower!

Another great build Gideon! The cacti looks really good. Hope things go well for Falconi and his men

Very nice build! The artwork on the front of the abbey looks great, would have like a photo of the full wall there Also great use of the old castle panels. What are you using for the monk robes? Great job!

Awesome build! I really like the rockwork both in the wall and on the ground. Great job!

Wonderful greenery! Looking forward to spring, but it's still a month or two away here up north Like the shape of the tree, and that you have sections in the greenery. Looking forward to what comes next!

Very nice windmill! Don't think I've seen a windmill used for military purposes before I like the odd structure and the color scheme of the build. Great job!

A warm welcome to all the new members! Hope you will enjoy your time here in Avalonia

Very nice interior! I think you did a great job at getting that round shape for the leaves of the tree - that's not that easy. A less square base for the tree would have been nice, and maybe some plants here and there, but I understand that might be hard without screwing up the color theme. Great job overall!

Thanks Graham! If it's not easily noticeable, I guess that's good

Wow, huge scale but still with an eye for details. Great job!

Really impressive! Great job

Thanks! Sure, go for it :)

Is this meant to be put on the frontpage each week? Because I think the type of material that is appropriate depends on the audience. Is it something that should be interesting to everyone, or mainly for GoH:ers? I think the current setup with featuring recent nice builds works well for frontpage. Give people an idea of what is going on in GoH and perhaps draw in some new people. Featuring builders could also work in this format - I think it has already been done a few times. If we dig up old GoH history (which I personally would find very interesting) I'm not sure if that is suitable for frontpage, but probably depends on how it is done. I also quite like the idea of techniques and tutorials. Not sure I agree that you automatically pick all this up by just looking at builds. Whenever I go through tutorials I always learn a lot more than if I just look at a build. I think Jacob Nion raises a good point about level of ambition for this. How much is manageable? Don't want to put too big a burden on you to make something grand every week. A possible solution could be to outsource some of this to GoH members to make some content for the weekly once in a while, maybe?

Thanks Titus! That guide is one of the first things I read when started building again DC builds amazing stuff, but I wouldn't call it a dense forest as he has maybe 5 or 6 trees on a rather big base. But yeah, maybe that is the point at which things get too dense to get a good overview. Thanks! Yeah, I really love that MOC! After seeing it I actually caved and ordered some altBricks The MOC is certainly quite dense, and visibility is pretty limited, but that also opens up for those closeup detailed shots to be more interesting, as there are things you can't see in the overview photos. Maybe that is just the way it is with dense and/or big builds... Not sure how to get a camera down to take those closeup photos if the canopy was really dense, like Mirkwood dense, though. Hmm... Thanks for the input Kai! I think what you say makes a lot of sense. I guess I just hoped that I could have the cake and eat it too But yeah, I will probably experiment a bit and see what can work. Possibly with a high canopy you can get some more light in there and also open up for slightly higher angles. Thanks Exetrius! I do like relaxing Well, thankfully I added a 'maybe' so I can change my mind I would like to focus on something different, but will see what comes to mind. Maybe a new tree technique Thanks for the high praise man! Axes are not at all required. You can use 3L, 4L or 6L bars and probably lots of other pieces as well, or a mix. I used axes because they are cheap, and an axe tree is kind of ironic. The axe blade also breaks up the structure a bit with different texture which I think makes it look a bit more natural. They are slightly harder to work with than regular bars though, but it's pretty manageable. Thanks Thanks LittleJohn! Yeah, I really wanted it to stretch pretty far, but not sure if real trees do like that, but yeah, as long as it looks good Thanks! Happy you enjoyed it The water took the most time on this build actually, because it was unfamiliar territory for me. Was trying to do something similar to the water in Cesbrick's awesome Green Lake Tower Ruins, but in blue. Don't think the different depths are that noticeable though as the water area is not that big, and is broken up by the waves.

Very nice build! Some intense planning going on here Nice interior and furniture. They sure keep a tidy bookshelf!

Wow, very nice :) Think you got the similarities down really well. Great job

Thanks Garmadon! Haha, will see what I do next build, but I put that 'maybe' in there just in case I definitely agree about the angles, and yes, part of it is due to my "setup" which is pretty much just a cut up box with white white papers taped to it If I try to take pictures from low angles the top of tall builds go over the background. I think the bigger issue is the composition of the scene though. I pretty much got this build the way I envisioned and wanted it, only that it is terrible for photo taking. The stretched out branch makes it pretty much impossible to take a good overview photo of everything. I actually think this is a general problem for builds with big/many trees. I have been wanting to build a large forest scene with thick canopy, but I don't see how it can be done and still have the ground visible. It's canopy vs. ground kind of. Not sure how to pull it off actually. Any of you seen any good examples of how one can pull off a thick forest build without sacrificing visibility? Generally I find lego forests builds I see to look pretty sparse. Found visibility to be a problem myself in my last build, Solitary Council, and that was just three trees, and with rather sparse leaves Would certainly love to hear people's thoughts on how you deal with this

Thanks! Thank you! Thanks! Glad you like it Thanks Titus! Happy you enjoy it Thanks! Glad you guys like the tree technique Thanks man! Thanks! I like green stuff Thanks! I'm trying to push the technique to see what I can do with it, but I'm starting to feel a bit like a one-trick-pony by now Thanks Kai! I think I put more effort into the water than anything else actually, experimenting with different trans colors and depths underneath. Usually try to do something new each build, and the water was the thing in this build. Glad you liked it

Nice story! Throwing scorpions looks like dangerous business

Nice intro! Those are some ruthless 'men' alright

Nice build! And good coherent feel with your previous entry. The rockwork looks very good

Escaping Home Chapter I: The Tranquil Meadow Chapter II: Old Bagshaw's Residence Chapter III: The Poacher Chapter IV: Making Camp Chapter V: Solitary Council Chapter VI: Escaping Home Chapter VII: Waylaid Chapter VIII: Archery Practice Chapter IX: Honour the Fallen Bonus Landscape: Avalonian Countryside The evening sun glistened in the waves below. The wind rustled the leaves above. Soon the sun would dip below the horizon, draping it all in gloomy shadows. But for now everything was beautiful. Averil sat down under the looming tree, took a deep breath and stared into the sunset. Just being here made her smile. She found herself imagining that this here, was all there was. Just the fading sun and breaking waves. The towering tree at her back and the delicate flowers spread out around her. This was a moment she wished would not pass. But it would. And she would have to return home. Return to a home that was not home. Return to Newquay. Averil had joined the colony of Newquay together with her brother, Leeson, and Gammy less than a month ago. It had been a reluctant but necessary decision. Averil's poaching had not been fruitful and the family was starving. At Newquay, at least they were able to fill their bellies. Leeson had been made an errand boy, and was always running all over the place doing his chores. Averil could tell that he liked it. Back home all he ever did was scrounging for food and waiting for her to return with fresh game. Here he had something to do and he was happier for it. Even Gammy had been enlisted to help in the manor's kitchen, cooking for the lord and lady and their friends. Averil frowned upon her entering service, but she too seemed happy. And Averil couldn't deny that the occasional tidbits Gammy swiped from the kitchen wasn't a welcome change to the bland stew they were usually having. Averil herself had been assigned as a fisherman at first, but as she didn't know the first thing about fishing, she was quick to display her skills with the bow, which had earned her a spot on a hunting party. There had been some suspicion as to where her mastery stemmed from, but Averil had explained that her late father, a longbowman in the King's army, had taught her since young. It was a truth with modification, but confessing to years of poaching would certainly have earned her a trip to the gallows. Her fellow hunters were good men and quick to welcome to her, showing her the tricks of the trade. She already knew most of what they showed her, but she feigned ignorance to support her own deception. Learning archery from her father was all well and good, but what reason could her father have had for teaching her hunting? Better to smile and pretend to be learning. Still, being self-taught, there were a few new things that she did not know. Understanding the territorial instincts of many of the animals here had been an eye-opener for her. And the woods around Newquay was new ground for her, as her poaching had kept her at a good distance from the colony. Most of all she had been very surprised to find that there was actually game to be found around here. The weeks before joining the colony she had found nothing during her trips to the isle, and now there was game again. Not plenty, but there was some, which was enough. It made her wish she had held off the decision to move here. If game was coming back, they could've survived by themselves. If only she had waited a few more weeks, she wouldn't have to be here. The truth was that she did not belong here. These people were good, faithful workers, building something together. All of them doing their best to make the colony successful. Even with their witless lord governing them, there was a camaraderie here that she had not expected. But still, she was different. She craved adventure, not fellowship. She did not want to have everything staked out for her. She abhorred routine and despised rules. They may make your life smoother, but they didn't let you live. And that's what Averil wanted - to live. But what good did it do to linger on that now? They were here, and even if Leeson and Gammy would have wanted to leave, they couldn't. They had committed themselves to Newquay and its doltish lord, who would certainly not let them go unless he wanted to. They were trapped. She was trapped. She longed to be back home, her real home on the mainland, but she was trapped. She looked up at the tree above her. It's branches stretched far out over the sea. Perhaps it too, longed for something? - 'I wish we could both go' she told the tree. 'But we can't. Like it or not, we are both rooted to this place.' She sighed. The last sliver of sun disappeared beyond the horizon. It was time to head back. - 'Well, back to reality' Averil said as she got up. 'Be good.' She gave the tree a quick tap and walked away. *** Ok, next build: no trees! I promise! ...maybe Thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed it! C & C always welcome