NiceMarmot

Here's a WIP shot of an MOC I'm building right now. (Mobile phone photo, so the quality isn't that good) It's the west gate to the city of Messahmuk, which was heavily damaged in elemental attacks and is now being repaired. I'm going to add more vegetation, and a crane up on the wall to help with rebuilding. I'm also going to add a procession of troops heading out to reinforce Queenscross. mmuk.east.gate.wip Any suggestions/criticism/feedback? I'll probably try to expand on the guys next to the wall who are working on repairing the stonework. Maybe put a little forge in there or something, and maybe a cart or two. Maybe a downed tree or two would add to the general look of destruction. I'm probably also going to try to make the top of the gate and wall look a bit more destroyed. The gate and wall are purposefully rather plain, as it is an ancient gate, built before ornamentation was the architectural fashion. I'm not sure whether to add another baseplate to right of the front one to fill it out into a square (where the camels and stacked plates are). It might look better, but I don't really have anything to put there except sandscaping and vegetation. What do you all think?

Really, really awesome gabe, definitely worth best-in-show! And great to have you back!

550? Wow. I can probably muster 300 or so, across various factions. The newly edited picture looks really good. GIMP is a great tool, but it does take a bit of playing around with it to figure out how to use it effectively. I've been using it on and off for years and I'm still discovering new and better ways of doing things. (The key to GIMP: layers, do everything in separate layers.) Take a look at my old map-making tutorial way back in the GoH forum for some insights into using GIMP. It's more geared towards mapmaking, but some of it might apply to photoediting also. And now that you've erased the background, you might want to try putting in some different backgrounds for various effects. I especially like the Render filters (notably the Render > Solid Noise one); they can easily be used to create cloud and sky effects. Usually I'll use the Solid Noise render filter to create the clouds, and then use Colorize to change the color. Try playing with different X and Y values on the Solid Noise filter to get clouds that are more horizontal than vertical. You should very easily be able to create a dark, omnious sky background for your battle! Petera -- We are sending troops from Messahmuk to help defend Queenscross. [Pictures to follow, probably over the weekend] If they don't make it in time, they will fall back to Petraea to defend the capital. - Gex

Good idea. Maybe I'll just put a patch of red plates on the ground, surrounded by black scorch marks! Yup, that used to be Victor.

Oh my! That's impressive! Wow. Fantastic job on this one! Hard to photograph a scene that big, isn't it? Good job getting the sheets up all around it. Maybe pick one picture you really like and try to erase (or blur) the sheets background in it? No criticism of this one really; it looks great. Perhaps the ground/sand could have used a bit more texture (via some tan plates), but you probably just wanted to get it done at that point. And that would have made it harder to position all of Valsharess' troops. Glad to hear the walls held. Are there any pictures of the battle really in progress? I looked on Flickr and didn't see any. Like some real fighting, or the moment when Valsharess was captured? You've been talking-the-talk for quite a while, nice to see that you can walk-the-walk too!

I haven't started yet. Don't even really have any ideas or designs yet. Unfortunately have to clean up the LEGO tomorrow, as we're having a party at our house on Saturday. Did get a chance to help my son build his new Ninjago Golden Dragon set though

Lots of interesting piece usage, and wild colors too. Cobalt Vale looks to be quite an unusual place. Can't wait to visit.

Nice work. Wouldn't it be great to get some of those pieces in colors like that?

Me likes. Nice wall technique, and the top of the wall is nicely done too.

Hah! That's great! Really good landscaping/sandscaping by the way, and the stairs are nicely done too. So are the trees and the house for that matter. Looking forward to the continuation of this story. Sounds like the milk dish is in your court, CBB!

It's quite a contest between Balthasar and Dr Rod -- they are both very high quality Nocturnians!

You do. It's the part of your body that you sit on. Or at least, that's what EB's profanity filter calls it. And we actually do have some. Some lame classmates of my son actually gave us Megablocks for his birthday instead of LEGO. Ugh. My son said: "These Megablocks have the worst instructions ever!"

It's the shitty beer, makes the tongue loose. No, there didn't used to be nearly this much smack-talk. I think people are sensing an imminent lifting of the ban on inter-guild battle MOCs, and are riling things up in anticipation of that. Either that or Revolword is kicking everyone's megablocks and they're turning on each other in frustration. I enjoy the smack-talk, but at some point it becomes tiresome. Glad I was away for the past four days, so now I can just quickly skim this thread... What I really want to know is if Avalonia is so great, what are you all doing about kicking Victor's butt? Huh? Show us what you got

The Citadel? Cedrica Rock? King's Keep?

We will immediately send forces north from the coast on the Petraea road to help. Unfortunately, they may not arrive in Queenscross in time, but certainly can be in Petraea before Revolword's army. We can probably spare a few ships to head to Mpya Stedor, as things in the Muk-Muk Valley have been quiet recently. There have been reports of marauders near the Dune Sea; we'll see if we can deal with them on the way to Petraea. Pics to follow hopefully.

That is quite a good looking army there. Love all those helmets! Did you BrickLink them? And what's that piece around their necks? It looks familiar, but I can't place it.

Where is the challenge / prelude post in which Revolword seizes the High King? I searched and searched but can't find it anywhere. Maybe I'm clueless, but I've read the challenge thread several times and can't find it. I'm talking about the part of the story where he seizes the High King and harasses the courtiers and (I think) executes the HK's son who tried to protect him. I've found the part where Revolword finds out about the secret entrance to the palace, and then seizes the steward, but don't see anything after that. Did it get wiped out in one of the EB crashes? EDIT: Nevermind. It appears that I am confusing the Historica story with SOT's Rise of the Mage! So the last news we really know is that Revolword is in the palace, and plotting to capture the High King, but hasn't yet done so, right?

Yes! Excellent news! Welcome back! May your fur never get matted down, and may your full moon transformations always be smooth and painless.

Very nicely done. Exactly the kind of thing I should be working on, rather than trying to produce some huge, perfectly detailed MOC. Just crank 'em out!

Been checking out the Friends forum a bit too much? Good thing I read that tonight instead of in the morning, otherwise there'd be coffee all over the place! If that post isn't worth giving you a sly title, I don't know what is. Perhaps "Hand Tower Master"? "Master of the Rising Hand Tower"? Or worse?

How about in the first MOC, we throw such a huge party that Revolword joins in the fun, loses his magical staff and helm while playing strip beer pong, admits the whole takeover was just a ploy to get girls, and then passes out in a cauldron of punch?

I posted this picture a long time ago; probably over a year ago: Castle Army That was about 162 or so. It's grown since then; I'd expect it is over 200 now. Annoy us at your own risk! Me too. Most of my army is currently occupied in a battle MOC which I hope to eventually finish. Unfortunately, I'm having to use four 32x32 baseplates, and it's taking a while to build the landscaping and stuff; it's about half done. Actually, I just haven't really spent much time on it. If you're in the US, you should just buy the chess set and keep the lion knights; you need someone for the dragon knights to battle, right? It's $50, and about 23 are usable for armies, so that's just $2.17 per person. Or you can sometimes buy them on BL for around $2 or slightly less (without a shield). Or you can buy them by the part and assemble them. Usually the torsos can be had for about $0.85, legs for $0.26, and heads for under $0.25. A sword or spear adds another $0.10-0.15. The helmets are a bit pricey; usually the cheapest are just under $0.40. So that's around $2 right there. The shields are expensive though; if you want shields for everyone, you're probably better off buying the chess set. I think Victor Revolword beat you to it!

No, Historica is about the size of Texas.

Nope, Doctor Evil (from the Austin Powers movies)

The daffodils are for a garnish when they eat you