Grover

Book IV - Chapter 1, Challenge 1: Round, Round, get a Round... Tower With the opening of the first University of Petrea satellite campus in Avalonia came the first guest expert lecture promised by the crown. Since the campus buildings were not yet finished, the classes were meeting in various halls and rooms across Albion, but the lecture was well attended. This expert was an engineer and architect who had designed numerous castles across Historica and came to share insights gained through the years. In particular, construction of round towers, particularly when used as flanking towers in a fortified structure, provided strategic advantage to the defenders. These structures were not as straightforward to build as square towers, so their construction was a point of interest. Technique This challenge will teach how to build a curved, load bearing, SNOT wall capable of producing inner, outer, or non-uniform surfaces by using sticks-on-track systems. The rules and criteria are presented at the top for ease of finding them. The technique instructions follow. Category A: Building a Round Object from.... a Square Block? The University of Petrea at Albion campus is new and under construction, but there are many aspects of University life. There are University buildings, classrooms, workshops, dormitories, areas where outdoor field classes are taught on subjects like forestry, geology, botany, etc, and the Avalonian countryside is rich with not only towers and castles but cliffs, rolling hills, farms, demihuman communities, magical creatures, areas of wondrous natural beauty... the imagination runs wild. Your task: Build a depiction of some aspect of the University in the new Avalonian satellite campus using the new curved wall technique. This can be a building, but could also be any aspect of University life: a classroom, games, social events, construction of the new campus, research being conducted by professors and students (magical and/or mundane), etc.. The curved wall can of course be a classic wall like a tower, a serpentine wall, or an interior wall of a round room, but it can also be used to make trees, curved cliff faces, and other designs. The nature of the University related build is up to you, but you must meet these 4 requirements: The build must be in Avalonia. The build must depict some part of the new Avalonian satellite campus or University life there. Your sigfig in his Avalonian hometown mailing a letter to a student on campus or a conversation of far off bards talking about the new campus won't work: the idea is to develop the Avalonian satellite campus through building some part of the new campus with collaborative story here. The new curved wall technique must be used in some significant portion of the build. It does not have to be all of the build or even the main focus of the build, but its implementation must be obvious and non trivial. It could be used to make a bunch of tree trunks for a massive forest in the background, a cliffside, a serpentine retaining wall on the campus quadrangle, etc., but having some tiny 3 stud wide corner of a room that is insignificant to the build defeats the purpose of this challenge. If you have questions, ask in this thread or PM me. A work in progress (WIP) shot must be shown at or before the halfway point (1 May 2026) in your entry thread post (see Miscellaneous below). Maximum size: Unlimited. Multiple builds are allowed to be combined to tell a story or show interwoven scenes, etc. Miscellaneous: This follows the general judging rubric with one additional stage gate requirement: This is a 4 month build with a 2 month stage gate: You MUST post a WIP shot on or before the 8 week mark (halfway point, that is to say 1 May 2026) that shows your use of the new technique. You don't have to show the entire build if you don't want but you must show the portion that uses technique in progress. Your WIP pictures will be commented on in the forums to help you improve the technique. These comments will be posted as soon as possible, hopefully within 2 weeks of the WIP shot (I say hopefully because if we get overwhelming response I may have to increase this, but 2 weeks should be enough). Because this is a teaching build, there are no points awarded for the quality at this stage (so don't worry if you are struggling, post what you have), but you MUST show the WIP (go/no go) in order to be eligible for the final prize at the end. You may show more than one WIP for extra feedback as long as one is on or before the 8 week deadline, but if you post an extra one within a week of the FINAL deadline (1 July 2026), it may not be commented on in time. Please create your final entry thread and post the WIP shot in there for comment, then post your final entry in this same thread afterword. Additionally, because this build is required to be in Avalonia and related to the University satellite campus, you cannot claim any of the Category A builds for HSS. Prizes: The entries with the highest two scores in Category A will win (respectively): 1st Place - 11373 Sauron's Helmet 2nd Place - 71829 Lloyd's Green Forest Dragon Category B: O, Romeo, Romeo... wherefrom art thou? The Queen has taken a keen interest in someone from outside Historica. Your Task: You must provide some background for Zîrâd, the merchant that the Queen has taken an interest in. What is his family background? What is his home country and/or hometown like? What is his family's business? Why and/or how is his home country's government oppressive? Does he have any interesting history? What events brought him to Historica and how did he get here? If you need inspiration, take a look back to between Book II and III at the Safe Haven challenge and its entry thread. This smaller build must also use the curved wall technique taught above but can take place anywhere. A WIP shot of the technique in question is not required for this category, but encouraged, and will enjoy comments for build improvement. Maximum size: 256 contiguous studs area with reasonable overhang. Miscellaneous: The winner's story isn't necessarily exclusive canon, since other suggested storylines could be complimentary or combined, but the winner's story is guaranteed to be included. Prize: The entry with the highest score in Category B will win: 40478 Mini Disney castle DEADLINE Both Categories: 1 July 2026 (anywhere in the world). Once it is no longer 1 July 2026 anywhere in the world, the challenge is closed. The WIP deadline for the Category A halfway point stage gate is 1 May 2026, anywhere in the world. General Rules One entry per category per person No clone brands (Megablocks, KREO, etc) allowed, but 3rd party (or your own custom waterslide decals, prints etc.) fig parts and accessories (Brickarms, Citizen Brick, etc.) are acceptable. Custom non-Lego elements similar to what Lego provides (cloth capes and sails, string etc.) are allowed. The same person cannot win both categories, although you can enter both. Guild leadership is ineligible for prizes (since leadership judges the entries!). This contest is open to all members of the Guilds of Historica who have posted a picture of their sigfig and declared for a guild before the halfway point (1 May 2026) Your Eurobricks account must have been created prior to 1 March 2026. All entries should be posted in their own topic, with the title of: "Book IV Prelude Challenge: Category X: Name of your build". Please also post a link to your topic here. Prizes may be substituted with Lego gift cards of an equivalent value if postage is exorbitant. Post questions in the thread below and they will be answered: here for rules questions, below under the technique section for questions on the technique. Questions Q: Does my sigfig have to appear in this build? A: No. If you want to include your sigfig or others, go ahead. If not, there is no requirement. Q: Is this contest open to all Guild members, not just Avalonia? A: YES! This challenge is set in Avalonia, and we are planning one challenge per guild setting (plus a few others not guild specific) so you get to build in all the guilds if you participate in all the challenges. Curved Wall Technique For years I wanted to make good looking round towers and had tried one technique after another. Some looked good but were fragile, some sturdy but looked bad, and others used rare parts making them cost prohibitive. Eventually, I found a technique and modified it, the optimization of which is the class below. The idea behind this curved wall came from someone in Innovalug, whose page I can no longer access, so sadly I cannot link to the original. It was posted prior to the release of the 1x2 round plates, and was achieved primarily with 2x2 tiles. I wish I could point everyone to it, so if anyone knows the originator, PM me and I'll try and get links to their work. The genius behind this technique is that it utilizes standard Lego distances: The thickness of a brick being equal to the distance from the top of a stud on a plate to the bottom of a plate connected to it one brick above (see picture below for this to make sense). In this way, a flexible, movable, friction-fit SNOT connection is made. I modified this technique to use 1x2 tiles and plates, expanded size, applied it to interior curves, built levels and various openings for windows and doors, and modified it for the 1x2 rounded plates when they became available, which enhanced stability and ease of sliding the components around. With this in mind for an idea of where we are going, let's take a look at the components. The Basics The most basic form of this technique is to hold a SNOT 'stick' between two flexible tracks. Multiple sticks can form a wall and closing the tracks can make a ring that can be turned into a cylinder, but the most basic is just the sticks and tracks. The Track The track is 5 plates tall. Technically, 4 plates and one tile since you need a flat top. Depending on your collection, this can be achieved in multiple ways. The most basic is a layer of 1x1 round plates and 1x2 plates, followed by an overlapping layer of 1x1 cylinders and 1x2 bricks, followed by a final overlapping layer of 1x1 round tiles and 1x2 tiles. I use coordinated colors below for illustration, but since this won't be seen, you can use a rainbow of whatever you have (see update below just before the examples). When I make a long track, I tend to do portions assembly line style. + The advantages to this are that no special pieces are needed and any color combination can be used since it is hidden in the finished product. That being said, I try to avoid super bright colors (the new fluorescent yellow and the oranges come to mind) since they have the best chance to show through with bright lighting if there is an unintended crack or deviation in the build. - The disadvantages are that this track is a little more fragile, and thus a bit more difficult to move sticks around on since the corners of the 1x2 bricks and plates are not rounded. That being said, once the sticks are set the build has the same rigidity, so if you don't have the rounded plates at your disposal and are patient, this will work for you and most Lego collections have these common elements. If you don't have access to the round plates and still need more rigidity than the brick and plate track can afford, you can also use alternating 1x2 plates and 1x1 round plates to achieve a strong connection. This of course uses more parts and thus becomes more expensive however. The advent of the 1x2 round plate in 2018 (35480) improved the stability and ease of this technique. In this case, 1x2 round plates are stacked in 4 overlapping layers followed by a layer of round tiles (either 1x1 or 1x2 round tiles). + The advantages here are strength and the ease of moving sticks along it due to rounded corners. These are easy to use because they do not fall apart with abuse as easily as the brick tracks do when free (the brick tracks are just fine once seated in sticks). These will be used for the remainder of the example builds, but you can substitute the brick tracks if you need to in any of the examples. See the end of the instructions just above the examples for pictures of the brick and plate tracks in use. - The major disadvantage, which seems to be obvious, is cost. Not only are the 1x2 round plates $0.07 each from Lego PAB, you need more of them than the bricks and plates since there's 4 layers. I was both excited and dismayed when I first saw these plates, knowing they would improve this technique and that I could not afford them. Happily, these plates appeared shortly after on the PAB wall at my local Lego store, and because they are hidden in this technique, their color does not matter. Usually BL sellers have these for reasonable prices in quantity since they have appeared on PAB walls. The Stick The other component of this technique is the stick. These are straightforward to build and made from common parts, but are numerous, and if you are after a uniform surface, will need a lot of uniform pieces for the outer shell. The basic stick needs a layer of plates followed by a layer of bricks followed by a layer of plates, and an outer decorative shell. Axially, the stick has two ends that are two studs wide that fit onto the track, and a center that is as short as one stud and as long as you wish. Practically speaking, I find that the plates need at least two studs of brick to 'bite' onto it or they are fiddly and fall off frequently. Ideally you would use a single plate if you have a short distance run in a size of which plates are made (say 8, 10, or 12 studs) but you can make due with 1x4 plates at a minimum. The theory behind the end of the plates where they attach to the track is on a vertical level, the two stud SNOT plates are equivalent to 5 stacked plates horizontally, and the horizontal SNOT distance from the top of the stud to the back of the plate above is equal to the width of a brick as illustrated in the background section. The decorative shell can be horizontal interwoven tiles to represent bricks, vertical plates to represent organic matter, random plates and bricks to approximate geological formations or anything you can imagine, which we will see examples of later. The Technique To create a curved wall or surface with this technique, you need multiple sticks that are held on two tracks. First, we will build 5 sticks, each 8 studs long, which means we will need two 1x8 plates and one 1x4 brick of any color for each stick. For the tracks, we will use 1x2 round plates and 1x1 round tiles, again any color, but we will need six 1x2 round plates per row and 4 rows (24 per track), plus twelve 1x1 tiles per track. Make 2 tracks like this, or, if you are using the brick track, with bricks and plates etc. For my own convenience (and because I have several lengths of this assembled already) the remainder of this tutorial will use the rounded plate track, but you can substitute the brick/plate track wherever you see this rounded plate track. Flatten both tracks on the table, then pick one and stand it studs up on the table. To this, add the sticks, SNOT, studs all forward Now gently work the top track onto the top of the sticks. For short runs like this, it's not too bad, but be prepared to be patient and do a lot of gentle wiggling for large rings or irregularly curved surfaces. You can bend this track how you like now. You can also decorate the studs with alternating uniform tiles to make it look like stonework, muddy cliffs, large bricks, whatever you want. Helpful tip: If you have long sticks or large towers, lining up alternating tiles prior to connecting the plates to the brick can help. The sticks can be spaced to allow for an interior or exterior curve. Alternately, if you would rather have somewhat irregular studs showing, you can add wedge plates, tiles, etc. along the axis for details such as tree bark. The sky is the limit with the details here. This technique really shines when you need a lot of detail. Round towers built out of bricks such as castles or round turrets on structures look great. Modern smooth steel pieces like chemical tanks or water towers tend to look pixellated. Any organic materials like trees do well. Options If you wish to make a circular tower, you only need close the tracks into equal size rings. (I tend to mark every 10 studs with an off color tile so I can keep track of the circumference). Then add enough sticks to close gaps around. Closing the gaps on a completely circular tower can be a bit fiddly, and there are some circumferences that are cleaner than others, but you can usually get very close if you play with it a bit. If you want to add a window or a door, you can remove a few sticks, leaving a gap. Then you can build on the space between the rings. You can even attach to a ring by adding a stud to your window or door frame (see the green tower below in examples for a finished window). Directly below, you can see the opening left by removing sticks, plus a cutaway of how the sticks work with some decorative outer layer removed. How do you cover the section of the lower ring track that you can't attach to the top ring since there is an opening? You can add an extension from a lower layer, seen here sticking up from the top track. You can also see optional changes to the sticks, such as adding a batter to the base of a castle tower (here partially done so you can see the difference). Note the lone stud on the top ring track. It allows a second tower section to attach to the top. These sections line up for seamless integration, and the extension from the lower level covers the missing stick area above. The beauty of the technique is that the structure is load bearing because the SNOT bricks that form the center of the sticks sit between the two tracks and are solid, so they support tremendous weight and you can easily use these as building platforms for large, tall structures. One limiting aspect of this technique is curvature. This technique is great for big curves. It does pretty well with surprisingly tight curves, but once you get into really small cylinders or curves, it has difficulties and can appear blocky. Down to a certain size, you can substitute the 1x2 curved smooth slopes (11477), but there is a limit to minimum diameter due to the thickness of the track and sticks. Fortunately, there are macaroni bricks of this diameter and larger that avoid the need for this technique. This is one of the most versatile techniques I have found, and I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I have. Update 2 March 2026 After some questions, I hope I have not given the wrong idea that only the round plates can be used. I went back and rephrased some of my sentences to make sure that was not implied. In fact, to prove there is no issue with using the brick method (and thus what you have in your collection more affordably, I give you the "trash tracks" made of whatever I randomly pulled out of my loose bins. And onto those go not entirely uniform tiles, but a mixture of a color scheme that you might have laying about your collection. I did a poor job consolidating the sticks there because I was in a rush and you can clearly see light through them, but I did a better job on the interior curve. As you can see, the exterior of the wall looks just fine and hides whatever is behind it, so please don't think that I'm advocating for you to go spend a lot of money on the 1x2 round plates! If that's what you really want to do or you find them at your local PAB wall, then have fun, but the purpose of this technique is to show you that you can use it with bricks that have been around for a long time. I think the latest piece to release was the 1x1 round tile that released in 2011, and this is fortunately found many places cheaply and usually comes as extras in most sets. Examples I have included a few examples from my previous builds, some of which may escaped notice. I consider that a good thing if they have, since it means they have blended seamlessly into the build. Small, tight curve between straight walls, incorporating an opening for a door and 1x2 curved slopes in places to achieve smoother texture. This is in fact made with the brick/plate track and not the rounded plate track since it was before I had a ton of the rounded plates. Lovely sand green color, complete with overhanging battlements, window, and attachment to straight wall. Tower under construction with both inner and outer curvatures: there are actually TWO concentric towers here! The top layer where the mason is working is attached to the top ring and is for show. A subtle inner curvature with door and window openings, and tiled doorframe by extending the sticks out with an extra plate before tiling.

Here ends Book III.

I hope everyone has had a restful break. Book III draws to a close. We are preparing the launch of Book IV near the end of the second week in January. Stay tuned!

Thank you, @T-86(swebrickLUG), King @de Gothia, @LordDan, @SimWies, @MrLind and @kahir88! I'm trying to find all of the sigfigs I've built through the years and build a few more of the newer crowd as I find the parts. We are revamping several aspects of the organization/mechanisms to try and make things run a little smoother, so it's taking a bit of time, but we hope it will be well worth it for everyone. Stay tuned!

The first Avalonia Guild was posted for Book I as the Flight of Dragons thundered across the land. Things have come a long way since then. Thank you all for your patience. We are still working behind the scenes, and we think we have a lot of fun things in store. In the meantime, here's a little Avalonia teaser picture of a few things to come of some of the current alumni. (Apologies if your sigfig isn't in here, I had to grab what I could easily find). This is a snapshot of some of the Avalonia members on the Greffen Bridge in front of the Great Gatehouse of Albion...

Gorgeous! I love the drawn maps matching the forced perspective build. Well done! The colored skies actually work here because of the pink reflection you have in the build itself. Nice job!

Wow! This build is huge and amazing! I think if you put this in HSS, you may have a record, since I don't think anyone has satisfied all the requirements in a single build! The detail shots you provide are fantastic, since it's kind of hard to see everything in the overall shots. The detail in the woven sticks, the various vegetation, the color choices for the vegetation, the working waterfall and incorporation of the old bridge pieces, the awesome statuary, the niffler in an innertube on the river, the decorative mixel joints under the bridge and SNOT cheese slope stairs... I would encourage anyone who has not to click on the Flickr link and look. There's some fantastic techniques in here from the round mill and the stone archway on the sand green roofed round building to the broken slope pathway at the base and the fantastic olive leafed tree. Amazing work!

Awesome! I love the design with the tiles on the walls. The overall vibe here is really cool. I'd love to see it with a little less retouching, but I do understand how it works for the spookiness. You did a great job incorporating the thestrals into an amazing creepy scene, and the various 'tails' as tentacles is great. The reaper is similarly creepy, and the bright light blue color from the flames is fantastic. The statuary here reminds me of the cover of the 1st Ed. Temple of Elemental Evil adventure. I think this would make a great entrance to a gate of some kind in Nocturnus...

Very nice work! I like the color palette, with the sand green and the tan. The fall colors on the tree are very nice, and I like the tan for the unfinished wood. The thatched roof is decent texture, although it's a little confusing the base is the same color as the unfinished furniture. It might have been nice to use a dark tan base with some light tan highlights, as opposed to the opposite that it is now. Regardless, the building is nice, and I like the teaching scene. The story is funny, with the family and the disagreement between the husband and wife. One aspect of this that I did not get was the bardic one. This is a master-apprentice type relationship, not as much a bard traveling about spreading knowledge from far and wide. The small kindling pile is great, and I like the brick built door (the cheese slope door arch is a subtle nice touch!). I also like how you used the brown for the frame, which I can assume to be larger timbers, and the dark orange etc. for the walls, which is a very nice color blocking choice. Overall, you have a great little build here, and I look forward to seeing more!

I love this build. You really captured the viking hall in my opinion, and I must congratulate you on your lighting for the photograph. It is incredibly difficult to get a good picture of multiple shades of brown, and you totally nailed it. It's clear without being overexposed, and the texture is not overlit for a viking long hall. I am also quite impressed with the huge exterior. I love the size, the tons of wood panels, and the great olive plants outside. The cheese wedge roof is insane too! The story for the bard is good, although I would like to have seen it detail more about your sig fig's home community. I hope to see more of these builds!

Well, sir, this is some amazing work. You have always made beautiful creations, but you have really knocked this out of the park. Before I jump into the build, I must congratulate you on nailing the story call in a clear and succinct manner. This is an excellent example how you can clearly meet all the requirements without rambling on for pages (like I tend to do... ). As for the build, there's a ton going on in this tiny package. The figure placement and the sandbox are great. There's a bunch of tiny plates and wedges here that all add together with the nano figures to bring your story to life, and the minis are great. The new tiles really stick draw attention, but your subtle blending of the SNOT on the sides of the arches, especially with the juxtaposing colors from the blue and white turntable frame overlay, quietly add texture while maintaining clean lines. And, let's not forget to mention the incredibly subtle and awesome job you did with the inverted build of the columns. To get that inverted and back again in such a small space so cleanly is brilliant. The photography is crisp and sharp, and I appreciate the grey background to differentiate from the white in the bricks. I love the story and the idea of the oral history being used as a classroom tool as well as a way to capture historical knowledge. I always look forward to your builds and appreciate you input and advice here. Keep up the awesome work!

What a spectacular build! This really packs a ton into a tiny scene. I appreciate the closeup of the floor, since it's a great texture, and there's so much other fantastic work going on that it could easily be overlooked. This is really a tour de force in techniques, many of which are quite subtle. The not pressed all the way down gold plates, the mosiac door, the perfectly blended SNOT walls and brick walls, the arched doorway technique, and the stained glass fence windows are awesome. The music stand is great, and the violins along with the various horns are quite nice. The rubber bands around the horn for leather straps is great, and I love the idea of the old horns being taught. You do a great job describing the history here, which is not dissimilar to many historic horns. The photography is fantastic, and you have some nice closeups. Outstanding work!

Fantastic build! You have managed to pack a lot of detail into this build through a number of means. First, although there is a lot of LBG, which some don't care for, I think you did a great job juxtaposing it with a cohesive color palette which really sold the scene. The dark red really pulls the scene together as it threads its way through the build. The way I see this scene, is that, despite being 'old town', it is well cared for and maintained, so it is clean and the stonework is uniform. You have some dark tan and some old light grey in there that help sell this idea. I like the textures you achieved with the various arches, clips & bars, and the masonry inlay with the cheese wedges near the bottom is great. I particularly like the multi-elevation scene that really 'elevates' the scene (ha!). For sure, though, complex elevations do generate interest when viewing. The story was also compelling: it fit the call, generated some interest in the bard and the town, and did a nice job of explaining some of the bard's history and motivation. Great job!

Nice work! You have a lot of really nice things going on here: I particularly like the transition between two roof slopes. It breaks up the mono-slope and adds some detail. I like the snow overhanging the roof edge. If you have a few small white wedge plates, you can put some smooth angled lines on the roof to break up square snow. Additionally, if you want to make a snow or ice pile under the roof drip line, you can use some cheese slopes, since snow usually falls off directly under the roof edge if it has no gutter (common in the medieval) and piles beneath it, melting there or having melted runoff drip on it and turn into ice. It's a small detail but a fun one. I like the stacked hatched windows, and the texture (but not insane greebling) of the tavern walls. The fireplace is at a great location mid wall, and the chimney is nice. I also appreciate the extra shot with no minis so we can get a good look at the interior. This has the same issue that a lot of builds do, in that trying to depict a crowded hall is tricky without getting it too 'busy'. Unless you have a huge area, usually having only 2 walls and taking a diagonal shot helps lighting and the 'crowded' feel, as opposed to 3 walls. The keg tap with the keyed valve and the king's coin head is great! I love Jenessa's story, and the verse you wrote! I did have a little trouble picking Jenessa out of the crowd since she's sitting and not standing above the crowd on a table singing or with space cleared around her by the fireplace, but the story is well done, and you have a great character here. The shield and flags by the fireplace are nice, and I like the use of the green slope as some painted stone over the fireplace. I also like the detail of the cellar stairs and the bags under the bar in the cellar suggesting more room than shown. I think my favorite detail is the story about the 'raven' that hangs at an odd angle over the door. In trying to explain away the falcon shield as a raven, you have managed to add a ton of realism to the story, since that's exactly the kind of hilarious tales spun by bartenders and innkeepers! Great job!

Wow, that is phenomenal! Thank you! I had looked into trying to make a map like that, but alas, I lack the skill. I'm super happy you made it, and that it looks so good! I was thinking a rasterized map, but the vectored map you made is even better! Great job! I would love to see the full world map when you are done. You have my vote for "Historica Cartographer"!