Grover

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"!

Great to hear! We look forward to more of your builds! Welcome back! Mitgardia will be very happy to have you! Outstanding! I am glad to have you building for our guild! And Lego in the garage? Oh no! I use the garage for unimportant things, like food, money, etc.

This build is a lot of fun. I love the all-Lego first shot. It has a great perspective at almost eye level, and there's a ton of detail here. The stained glass, the wooden rafters, the minis having a great time... you can almost feel the music and excitement in the room. The wagon wheel chandelier is very clever, and your half-stud inset stonework windows are very nice. The floor tile color choice is festive, but works with the colorful environment and the culture of Varlyrio. Your story shows a good understanding of Varlyrio, and I like you tying it in to the bard's story and that of the lord of the manor. Great job! I look forward to more!

Great build! I love the detail in the story here. You have really nailed the spirit of the challenge, and you've done well building some characters and leaving questions in the reader's mind that compels them to read more. The build itself is very clean, which is a matter of taste in my opinion. It has a very classic feel, and reminds me a lot of the 3739 Blacksmith Shop. You do a nice job describing the lack of windows for arrow loops, and I like the Avalonian colors! Well done to include them! I like the peak of the roof as well. It is many times difficult to make the peak cleanly. You have done a nice job with the curved slopes on the beds inside, and the 2 plate steps to the stage are great and proportional. Your irregular base looks great and breaks up a square feel. If you want a challenge on your next build, figuring out how to build a SNOT or half-plate indented Tudor wall is challenging and subtle, but many times worth it! Look forward to more!

Very nice build! I like the angle, the great density of the foreground with the slightly out of focus Lego shrubs, and the stage. The audience is a lot of fun, and the candles are great! The Lego trees are well done, and the overhead banner is a nice decoration. The ground is fine, although a varied elevation, even slight, may have helped show more of the scene. I am not a fan of the background. I think it detracts from your tree builds and makes it too busy. Had you had a busy background with all Lego trees, I think it would have worked. I would have also liked to have some more backstory and description of the bard, his home venue, and how he ties into your sig fig's hometown. As is, it's a nice build, and the candles are a real stand-out in their use. The lighting from them is just about perfect, and you did an outstanding job photographing them and selling their authenticity. Well done!

Great job! You have solved one of the problems of photographing a square room not by looking along the diagonal, but by removing a third wall, which actually works nicely here. I like your lightly textured back wall and love the wooden supports running down the wall. The scene in front is nice, and I like the color choice for the floor. The mitgardian rug is great, and the printed tile border makes a good transition to the dark orange floor. I also appreciate the Mitgardian shield in the back! (Designed by our very own @soccerkid6!) I like the direction the story is going, leaving some threads for the teacher to go in several directions, and the school setup. The shadows around the minis are a bit dark, which can be tricky with darker colors. Light photoediting might help, or a little more light, although that can be tricky to avoid washing out light backgrounds like your white wall. I have at times used a 'spotlight' such as a reasonbly bright LED desk lamp to shine light in tighter, darker color areas that would otherwise be too dark. One other technique to draw viewers in is to take the shot a little closer to the eye level of the minis. It has a different perspective that tends to help the viewer feel closer to the action. Overall, a very nice build, and I look forward to reading more of the history and meeting more of the residents of Thanesford!

Lovely little build! You have a great angle on this scene to maximize lighting and sightline to the action, and I like the framing with the bookshelves. In particular, the all Lego shot close up in the first picture is great: it draws the viewer in and makes it feel like you are in the conversation. I appreciate the zoomed out whole scene shot, since it allows appreciation of the technical features of the build. The tile floor is an older technique that still looks good today, and you did a great job blending it seamlessly here. I also like the double stacked wedges on the top corner near the ceiling, with the 45 wedge tiles over the larger wedge plate. The torch holder is excellent, and I like the detail of the log rafters protruding into the room near the top. Incorporating the printed shelf tile isn't always easy, but you did a nice job of it here. My only critique as it were is that the scene appears to be an exchange of information for money rather than instruction (teaching) of some kind. This may be somewhat semantic in some sense, although it does fit the Varlyrian culture well. You have done a great job integrating the story into the culture there, and it works well. The color choices in particular fit right in, and I think you will do well there! Keep up the good work!

Well done! I was so impressed by the out of the box approach to the challenge prompt. This is the only non-minifig scale build, and you did a very nice job with it. As others have said, it's pretty difficult to pose a mini with a bow, and your lessons are depicted well with the larger figures and posing. Both the recurve and the long bow designs are great, and it's very obvious what is going on. The figures are posed well, and you did a great job with the colors. Some others have noted some photography advice, although I really like the neutral background. One thought for something to give you more flexibility would be to have an irregular base with this build. The call was for a 16x16 area, so 256 studs. Instead of a 16x16 square, with some plates, particularly wedge or curved plates around the feet of the figures, you could minimize the area and then have a 1 or 2 stud wide plate running out maybe 20-40 studs into a small 4x4 area with a target, taking advantage of your area requirement. In any case, it is a very creative and well made build for the challenge! I look forward to seeing more!

I really like the concept of this build: the various blocked elevations from the water up is great, and with the various stories going on, it makes a lot of sense. I also love the creativity in the 'pick up band' of the bridge troupe, I think you nailed it here! You fell into the trap that most of us have fallen into at one point, I think, which is you have so many good ideas in one build, it becomes difficult to fit them all in. Since viewing angles are single perspective each, it is better to look at a 45 degree angle into a room corner and only have 2 sides as opposed to straight on with 3 walls for two reasons: 1. You have a wider viewing angle when looking at the corner and 2. You usually get better light. I think that your build would have benefitted from a little more light and some more space between figures. It's odd, because you can still make a scene feel crowded (as I think was your intent with the marketplace) with space by doing exactly what you did with the close up shot. That shot is an excellent perspective, since it draws the viewer in and narrows the focus to the scene at hand. On the technical side, you have a nice use of the 45 degree square columns supporting the bridge down by the water and the similar columns with tiles above. The bold but well chosen color choices for the houses work, and the brick built one shutter windows on the top are very clever! The birds and statue details are great, and I love the boat of people going under the bridge. As for photography, @Gideon taught me to hold the camera further back and zoom in to give a wider focal plane, which means you can get more things in focus in a close up shot, so you could have that fig in the purple dress in focus as well as more of the background too. Light, but not flash, would have helped here. I built my own light box out of cardboard, staples, a couple of cheap LED desk lights and some white cloth initially, before I could afford a real one, or you can find a good day with natural lighting outside or through a window. As for the anachronisms.... I use them for humor in some of my builds, but they are definitely a difficult thing to use in a medieval setting without crossing a line. I don't want to derail your thread here, but I wanted to point out a few details of anachronistic use that can work in a medieval setting, particularly in a fantasy medieval setting that allows more leeway. 1. You can use them in joke builds, where the builds are obviously not serious and not really part of the world. They are 'meta', that is, they break the 4th wall, aren't part of the setting, and are there to give fellow builders a laugh. You can get away with things like beer cans and radios, but these builds are one-offs and not serious. 2. You can use anachronistic items if they are not declared as such, are explained away by magic or other supernatural means, and are only recognized by the reader as something other than described. In your case, describing the electric guitar as an electric guitar broke this model. If you had described the guitar as a magical dwarven instrument, or an amazing lute strangely carved by elves and enchanted by a crazy wizard, and that it sounded loud and harsh to everyone, but one person loved to play it... then it would be left to the reader to recognize it as an electric guitar and would still be within the bounds of the world, however funny. Similarly, in the Highway to Hell build, the undead and magic explained the music, which was obviously meant to allude to a modern rock concert without being such (much like @LordDan's amphitheater build for this challenge). 3. You can, if you are careful, add a character from another time or universe, but you then need to really sell the entrance of the character to the Guilds and minimize the technology brought in. After my joke build with Bob, people really liked him, so I introduced him to the world. He had his tools, clothing, and even a cell phone, but the phone didn't work and the batteries died quickly, and the tools were a small, low tech item. Similarly, @Henjin_Quilones's sigfig is actually a jedi who crash landed in an Avalonian Druid circle. Can these work? Yes, but you need to be careful with them, and you can't bring in technology that would create huge imbalances of power (firearms, explosives, light sabers, faster than light travel, etc.). Can Bob wear his trucker hat? Sure, it's funny and doesn't imbalance the game. Can he drive a jacked up 4WD around Historica? No. So can you use them? Yes, but it can be subtle and tricky. Feel free to ask questions or PM some of us who will post anachronisms from time to time if you have questions and we can help bounce ideas back and forth to make them humorous and yet still fit the world. In any case, you have a very nice build here, and I really love the bridge idea. It and the story were very creative, and you did a great job. Keep up the good work!

This is a fantastic build! I love the expansiveness of it, and the technical end is awesome. The trees are fantastic. I think it's hard to make a realistic-looking, not insanely parts intensive tree, and you did a very nice job here. I also love the large elevation changes. Elevations are difficult to do right in Lego in my opinion, and you made it seem very natural. I also like how you used various angles and foliage to cover some of the seams from the sloped rockwork, which can get very pixellated if you don't break it up. The tongue in cheek nod to modern concert venues with the terraced seating, bathrooms, and drink area are hilarious and well done. The story is a lot of fun and I hope to see the bard again, although I didn't pick up on how this venue or the bard fit into your sig fig's hometown. I thought you did a bang up job of the slightly askew tiles making the quarter circle amphitheater, and your splashes of color with the flags and figures were great against the greys and greens. I also love slowly looking through all the figures. It's like a who's who of Lego castle figs through the ages. Awesome job, and I hope you are able to incorporate the bard into the world some more!

As others have said, I like the wood floor, and the display case is great! I am not sure how I feel about the wallpaper bricks, as they are more reminiscent of the 1920s to me, and I would have liked to have seen more of the teaching aspect to the story, as this feels more like an appraisal at the moment. I do like the agency to take a shot at the brick built minotaur head, which is not an easy thing to do, and I think you have a good color choice amongst the various minifigs that contrast the brown of the room. Nice job!

Very nice! I like the incorporation of the sand green into the col, snowy Mitgardian climate where it appears more like lichen, and I like the light blue background that gives a colder feel. It's a little out of the ordinary for a bard to prefer solitude than a crowd, but I liked the out of the box thinking. The smoke rising from the chimney is quite nice, and I like the irregular base. Some of the darker browns got a little lost together due to the darker exposure, but this is quite challenging to photograph. I like the rat peeking around the corner and the new CMF sparrow in the nest. I would have liked to see a few more shots of this build to appreciate it from various angles, although the shot you have is nice. Keep up the good work!

And the results are in! For Category A, Hometown Advantage, the prize goes to @T-86(swebrickLUG) for his build The Bard of Old Town ! For Category B, Those Who Can... Teach, the prize goes to @Gideon for his build Song of an Ancient Battle ! I wanted to thank everyone who participated, our judges, and especially @MKJoshA who not only helped secure these prizes but dealt with a lot of the behind the scenes logistics within the forums here and really helped drive this contest and reignite the fire here at the Guilds of Historica! To all of our builders, new and old: The builds this time were really phenomenal. We have a lot of new builders, and it was quite impressive to see the high quality of work that all of you brought, and it was good to see some of our vets back too! I will be commenting on each of them over the coming days now that I'm done scoring. Congrats again to all and long live the Guilds!

We are officially closed for entries, and scoring is underway. Thanks all for some amazing entries!

Well, on the upside, they look pretty good on my desktop, so have no fear!