Henjin_Quilones

The idea is great, and the execution of the race scene itself is excellently composed. However, I think it struggles visually from too many colors and overall flatness. Of course, a racetrack would be flat, but I think there could be more built up around the track, especially in the back. And the greys and tans and dark orange mixed in everywhere jumbles everything together a bit and makes it look too busy. Trying to keep them separated more distinctly could help sharpen the presentation. My favorite detail is the tree in the back right corner with the whip-vines.

Looks pretty good for a WIP! I love the stonework in the columns of the house. The earth colors are nice and unique, too.

Nice all-LEGO scene! It is a bit flat for my liking, but that's understandable given the constraints. The faces of the people in the stands is the highlight to me.

A nicely clean build, and the colors are sharp! Some of the gaps could be smoother, but I like the build. Perhaps a slightly lower camera angle, or perhaps a camera position a bit further a way, would help with the odd distortion of proportions of the building. But it still looks good.

So nice, LJ! I love the all-LEGO scene, and the composition of the alley. It is considerably more ramshackle than I am used to seeing from a Snyder Bros. creation, but I really like it! The rough textures, the uneven pavement, the leaning buildings, and the cast shadows, all contribute to an excellent build. The framing wall and arch works quite well, too, limiting the view. I just wish I knew more about the plot!

This is a great build, ZG! I love the textures, especially around the water. On the buildings, I think mixing things up a bit would be better, as all of them have the same basic pattern repeated in different colors. The colors are really nice though, and very appropriate to the location. A well-deserved winner!

We don't drink, let alone brew, cheap domestic beer in Avalonia; we only make and drink the fancy craft stuff. This must be an import from Kaliphlin...

Well, yes, unless you don't think you deserve to win the matchup. The ideal would be for lots of Avalonians, not just those with a character entered, to vote, thus negating to some degree the personal bias. I like to think of it like democratic elections: surely a politician going to vote does not vote for his or her opponents, but casts a ballot for him- or herself, right? So why not here?

Thanks, dG! The hair looked like clods or clumps of soil, so I went with it. Thanks! The dark background helps with the atmosphere, as well as a single source of light. Thanks! The hair may not be a perfect choice, but I thought it worked pretty well for turned earth. He had to finish some day. I think I saw something similar on Flickr a while back for the harness, and went with it. I did some research on medieval plows, and this is the best approximation of a heavy plow I could make, with a horse collar (I learned that an ox collar would choke a horse, so they had to develop something new, and it looks pretty close to this, in my opinion). You have to squint a bit to get past the fact that they are hair... The horse collar is a tire flipped inside-out. Thanks for the comments! I'm glad you like the combination of the greens. As I recall, it was not so much the black base that was the issue, but that the black base had a detail (a 1x1 pearl grey pyramid) on it that detracted from its clean appearance. This is the sixth or seventh time I've used a base like this (I did it for all of my dragons, and I think one other as well), and I've always liked the effect. I stole the idea from @Legofin2012 a while back. If Cinnatus becomes king, he will do everything that a good king would do, since that would be his duty. He would not run back to his field all the time, since that would no longer be his duty. It is not that he just wants to be a farmer, but that he has no great ambition for glory and honor, and is content working the land that is his as a Lord of Avalonia, not playing politics all the time in Albion like so many others. He is interested only in doing his duty. His story is inspired by Cincinnatus, a Roman hero, as well as by George Washington, the hero of the American Revolutionary War and the first president of the USA, who has been called the American Cincinnatus.

@Faladrin and @kahir88, you did it perfectly! Though for future voters, there is no reason that you have to give reasons for your votes, unless you want to. If you just want to type four names, that works. If you want to give an explanation to try to avoid any possible hard feelings, you can do that too.

Well, technically I guess it is the second round, since you both won the first round by default. But we'll vote now anyways, since why wait? The rest is just matching them and voting, until the final round.

Get over to the Game of Thrones mini-challenge post and cast your votes! This is for ALL Avalonians, not just those who built.

The bracket with the live contenders on it: For this round, we can decide between: @Faladrin (Lady Walaheria of Falahuas) vs. @derEselausErgste (Sir Alan FitzAlan, Earl, Baron, etc...) @Henjin_Quilones (Lord Cinnatus) vs. @dalle (Lady Majastina) @Grover (Lady Penelope Brightleaf) vs. @TheLordOfBricks (Lord Halgreld of Eldford) @en_zoo (Half-elf King and Queen) vs. @kahir88 (Sir Ardo Ungar) Waiting to know their competition: @The Last of Nergoue (Sir Sarrath) @de Gothia (Lord de Gothia) @Servertijd (Lord Wilfred Sigurd of Oxenfurt) If I missed one, let me know. We had some nice entries here! To determine the winner, reply in this thread with your votes in each match-up. This is for Avalonians only, so let's not see any Varlyrian hackers trying to influence anything here! All Avalonians, not just those who built something, can and should vote. Everyone in Avalonia's voice matters here. The voting is public, so that there is no secrecy and anyone can tally up the votes to see who won. If your entry loses, don't feel bad: you contributed to the kingdom nobly and will have a place among the new monarch's Council of Advisers. Please record your vote by Friday, March 8th. You can choose the winning entries for any reason: build quality, build presentation, the accompanying story, the name of the candidate, how good looking the candidate is, anything. And you can vote for your entry if you entered. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post them here, too, and I will address them as I am able.

The build-submission portion of the contest is now finished. I'll get something posted a bit later for voting.

Cinnatus | Henjin_Quilones | Avalonia Of Dragons and Druids, Ch. 3: The Kitchen of Druidham | Henjin_Quilones | Avalonia King of Avalonia Final Entry: Wilfred Sigurd | Henjin_Quilones | Avalonia

A long story and a tall tower! Nicely done. I'm glad you had the different levels to tell all of the different parts of the story. There's no reason you couldn't have re-posed the figs if you had wanted to, by the way, but this worked, too. The tower is well-laid out, and you did a remarkably efficient job of utilizing interior space, filling it without over filling it, allowing it to still be visible for the shots you wanted. The top of the tower with the blood and hair is the best, in my opinion. My main criticism is that the official narrative is that the Druids died out long ago, but they have nonetheless been resurrected by countless builders over the years, including myself (Henjin is the head of the Druidi Order, which is an order of Druids, but not necessarily the only order of Druids) and @Zilmrud (see here), so it seems strange to claim that Penelope is the heir to the Druids in a big sense, entitling her to all of Avalonia. That said, if she were somehow descended from the ruling family of the ancient Druids (an explanation for her existence would have to be made at some point - thousands-of-years-dead people don't suddenly have babies, not even Druids), she could have a perfectly viable claim to the throne to compete against other equally viable claims to the throne. A very solid entry and a compellingly written tale. Good work!

Awesome! I'm glad someone did a multi-level build to get multiple scenes. Before I settled on my final idea, I thought about doing something like this, or else a build with two sides to give two different scenes. In the rules I think I said that you could build unlimited height, so it's really too bad you stopped at just two levels... Nice job with the fig posing and the sense of action conveyed here. It sets the scene well, in both scenes. I like the foliage of the first, as the flowers and bushes look nice, though I think I would have preferred a green color (either dark green or maybe bright green like the bush) rather than the dark red, as it adds just a bit too much color to the small scene. That, and the trunk is oddly large. The lower level is great with the feel of narrow streets and the darkness of night, though perhaps a slightly wider opening would have worked better, and maybe the wall on the right angled so that we could see it, adding to the implied depth. That being said, this is pretty terrific and a well-executed build for the challenge.

Officially about 10.5 hours left to post stuff, though if it is a bit late it will still count. If in doubt, post it anyways!

The Royal Cartographer's Guild of Albion is pleased to announce the following updates in status of settlements: Mophet in Kaliphlin is now officially a City. Khadira in Kaliphlin, Kashgar in Varlyrio, and Helenia in Avalonia are now all Villages. Congrats to @adde51, @Muakhah, @narbilu, and @mlongworth for your new recognition!

Impressive that you got so much into a small footprint! I am glad to see someone did something a bit more elaborate for the challenge, maximizing the available space to create an illusion of a much larger build. The texture you have here is also top-notch on the stone section. It looks great, and that comes from me, a vocal critic of your previous style! This is clean while still being detailed and textured, without appearing dilapidated and un-maintained. The half-plate and half-stud offsets, combined with some 1x2 plates with rail and the odd closed stud, is just great. I think it might be my favorite texture I have seen in LEGO in a long time. I don't like the tudor section as much, but it still looks nice and gets the job done. Don't forget to post it in the HSS thread if you have not done so already.

The wood paneling looks great, and I am particularly in love with the columns. The 1x1 brown tile turned like that looks perfect as a decorative element. The crown as a candle holder is also quite nice. My only complaint is that the top has exposed studs, when the rest of the build is so clean. A layer of tiles up there would have made it just ever so slightly sharper. But a great build nonetheless! I'm both glad and sad to see your build, though, since I'm up against you in the bracket - glad that you participated, sad that you built something that looks so good!

My entry:

Cinnatus An entry to the Game of Thrones: Avalonia minichallenge When Artorious Rex arrived in Avalonia nearly 10 years ago, brave men rode by his side in a thundering wall, known as the Flight of Dragons. They drove away the forces of darkness from the realm and restored peace and order that had not been seen for centuries. Those mounted warriors became Lords of Avalonia, friends of the king, and guardians of peace and justice across the land. One of those men, by the name of Cinnatus, shied away from the prestige and the glory; he humbly accepted his lordship and his grant of land, since they were the will of the king, and then went to his new territory and began to work it as a simple farmer. He placed his armor and sword in his attic, and hitched his mighty warhorse to a heavy plow to break the soil. And then the elemental monsters came, and the sword of Cinnatus was needed once more. He heeded the call of Artorious Rex and came to the defense of the realm, leading an army of men to victory in engagement after engagement. The elementals were defeated, and Cinnatus returned home to finish plowing his fields. But the Drow soon rose up, posing a threat to the surface-dwellers; the High Lords called upon him in the absence of King Artorious, and once again Cinnatus answered the summons. The Drow were defeated by Cinnatus and his army, and Cinnatus returned home to harvest his crops. But then Lord Raavage attempted to spread his darkness over all the lands, and the heroes of Avalonia were needed to repel the blackness; at the Battle of Green Leaf Pass, the Drow forces were once again defeated by the Flight of Dragons galloping up the green slopes. And then again on the plains of Nocturnus, Cinnatus proved a pivotal role in driving back the Black Spire and raising Queen Ylspeth to the throne to once again unite the four guilds. Finally Cinnatus returned to his humble estate and hitched Badius, his brown stallion, back to the plow, his duty to the land once more discharged. The tenants tending his other fields were glad to see him return, as they knew they would always be listened to and respected, as no other landlord ever had treated them better, like real people. Cinnatus worked alongside them daily, never seeking to seem better than they. He judged fairly when asked, intervened when needed, and was always just in his decisions. Then word came that the Council of Lords wished to anoint a new king to take the place of the vanished Artorious, and the people of Cinnatus' lands begged him to consider taking on the role. Cinnatus refused. But then other lords, like Henjin Quilones of Druidham, visited and begged the same thing, asking him to do it as a duty to the people of Avalonia. And so finally, moved by a sense of duty, of obligation to the land and people, Cinnatus decided to venture to Albion to be considered for the vacant throne. But first he finished plowing his field.

We can build in them and score points for the Guilds like anyone else, but we can't win prizes. Rogue built something for Varlyrio, as I recall. These days I don't have the time I once did, especially with all the effort put into the prelude builds, so I haven't been getting anything built for the challenges.

It's not that there can't be or even shouldn't be multiple colors of foliage, but that it looks too busy from an aesthetic perspective when you have that many colors in a small vignette. Less is more in such a situation, in my experience.