Evil Stu

Love the amount of detail in this - You have managed to put a lot in to a very small area without making it seem cluttered. Well done! And the tree is just perfect for this scene.

My Lord, 'Evil' Stetson the Summoner and his cohort reporting for duty.

Is it too late to sign up for this guild?...

This is genius

Brilliant! So many realistc details crammed on to this build. And excellent use of colours as well. I especailly like the use of the wheels on the sides of the boat and the marker buoys for the net at the back. ES

Hi All, Love what has been done so far, great job to all :) Everyone has done a fantastic job so far - great to see so much personality in the avatars and the customisatons on all the warbands/armies. I have been workiong on a list for a while now of things that might go in to my medieval villiage when I get the space to build (Half the fun is in the planning) so thought I might list a few of the ideas I have had here to possibly provide some food for thought for those considering how their own town/villiage within the guilds may unfold (Subject to moderators challenges and guild leader directives, naturally). These are a list of things which I think might be useful to the citizens of a medieval town (well, my medieval town...). I would like to emphasise that I am not suggesting that all of the steps in the production chain are necessary - for example, if your town has a stonemason, then you do not necesssarily have to build a quarry, the stone could be imported (excuse to build a market and inn or a harbour?). Conversely, excess production could be exported to your neighbours (so you could justify having a big fishing fleet for a small town etc). And the things you don't want to build can always just happen 'off camera' while you concentrate on the fun stuff - I would imagine that after the first 3 or 4 full sized farms some of the fun of building them might wear off... Anyhow, on with the list: Apothecary/Herbalist/Potion Maker/healer Baker Miller Granary Farm - Crops/grains; Fruit and Vegetables; meat; poultry; dairy; horse breeder? Tanner (or furrier for the cooler climates) Lumber Mill Stonemason Carpenter Blacksmith Kennels (Hunting dogs or war dogs?) Cooper/Barrel Maker Cartwright/Wheelwright Armorsmith Fletcher/Bowyer Shipwright/ship builder Seamstress/Seam person?/Fabric maker (Sorry, I don't know the proper word for this...Looms and spinning wheels?) Miners/Mine Quarry Windmill (for the blacksmiths bellows or to grind grain?) Stables Inn/Coach House (Different to a tavern, focusing on accommodating travellers) Butcher Fishermen (By the river/sea with nets or poles or on boats? Whalers to the north?) Somewhere for scribes and scholars, like a library Bridge (if you havea river or hills) Harbour/Port Brewery Ale House/Tavern Observatory/Wizards Tower (Astronomy was the primary method of navigation for centuries and also used to track the seasons in soome parts of the world) Barn Town Hall (somewhere for the bureaucracy of the town to be run from - all the day to day administrative stuff that the local leader wouldn't need to be involved in) Market/Bazaar Homes/Houses (could be bulk accommodation/round houses if you have 'serfs' or peasants, maybe something more individual and nicer if your people are free citzens in an affluent or well off town) Potters (The ones that make jars and vases out of clay, not the bespectacled broomstick riding kind...) Rope maker (Especailly important if you have a harbour, would probably need a sail maker then too?) Candle Maker Parchment Maker Town Crier Stocks/Gallows/Prison Thatcher Jousting Tourney area (for fun) Stage/Theatre (Again, for fun) Watch Tower (Already flagged) Fortified Wall (if the town is enclosed) Farmhouses Smokehouse (Curing/pickling/salting/smoking and preserving meats was crucial in the absence of refridgeration, so you will probably have a few themes to play with should the mood take you) Town Square Castle Palace (with a ballroom? Go on, you know you want to.) Menagerie/Zoo Gladiatorial Arena Graveyard/Mausoleum/Shrine to fallen heroes, persons of historical import or departed loved ones Sewers/Sewer Entrance (for all the nasty beasties to crawl out of at night and cause trouble...) Customs House/Duties/Tax Collector Cobbler/Bootmaker/shoemaker Metallurgist/Smelter Well (or other means of obtaining fresh water) Dairy Cheese Maker Saddle Maker Armoury Guard Tower Signal tower Jeweller Cartographer/map maker Weaver/basket maker Glass maker/glass blower Entertainers/Troubadors/Acrobats Seers/Diviners/Fortune Tellers/Augaries/Officials/Judges/Wise Council/Elders/people with long grey or white beards ;-P Woodcutters/Lumberjacks Gamekeepers/Hunters/Trappers lodge Aviary (for Falconry?) Minstrels (to provide the sountrack to your epic 'up until 3 am' build) Leatherworker Spice Trader General Store (for all the things I have forgotten - toothbrushes, socks, hats, lamp oil etc) Nobles Residence (an opportunity for a more exciting/impressive building?) Barracks/Mess Hall Drill Hall/Training Room/Parade Ground (all for the town guard, or possibly within the castle for the benefit of the standing army?) Shearing shed Lighthouse Warehouse Roads Carts/Caravans Sawmill (and forest?) Dyer (ie, someone to color/colour fabric) Defences (Ballistae, Moat, siege equipment, defensive earthworks etc) Kitchen (for the castle, or to feed the peasant workers {if you have them} who usually took their lunch in the field) Obviously, you wouldn't need/want all of the above. Just a list of thoughts to hopefully inspire. Your faction may have no need for most of the above, or may be in need of things that are not on the list. Incorporating magic might negate or remove the need for many of the above. OK, will stop ranting now ;-) Brillaint work so far everyone am really enjoying watching this unfold (and still deciding if I should join in or not - do we have a deadline to sign on by?). ES

Loved the reviews, thanks heaps! Now looking forward to getting my hands on these even more.

Brilliant tutorial, I am loving every update. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful building techniques with us all, and for the tremendous investment in time you are making in taking all of the photographs and preparing the write-ups (Not to mention the actual build time...). Additionally, your excellent suggestion to keep the sprue from the large green leaf piece triggered something in my memory - many years ago I was talking to a guy who had a scale model plastic motorcycle kit that he had built. He had custom made realistic shock absorber springs by cutting off a piece of the sprue that the kit came attached to, heating it with a cigarette lighter and then stretching and wrapping the heated plastic around a pencil until it cooled and looked like a coiled spring. I have just tried something similar with one of the leaf sprues and have had some interesting results. The sprue already had some flex so I just slowly heated each part and wrapped it around the pencil in turn, being careful not to overheat or over-stretch the plastic (which appears to have very different properties to that used for the model bike shocks). Link to a few bigger photos: If anyone is going to try this please do not attempt it indorrs - the fumes are not pleasant. I have been unable to locate a tutorial on the above technique on this site so let me know if anyone is interested and I will prepare a more detailed guide.

Hi All, Upon seeing the latest Modular Building offering from Lego I was immedaitely very excited and loved the idea of having the smaller buildings to incorporate in to a town. I could see that the Townhouse building would be in high demand, but couldn't see how people would need more than one Pet Shop. After a few momnets consideration I realised that Lego bricks are never really wasted, and taht anyone who was lucky enough to be able to pick up a second Pet Shop would have an opportunity to turn the bricks in to something else, thus ruining my ill-conceived and half baked schemes of acquiring surplus Pet Shops on EBay and Bricklink at discounted prices A few months after the release of these kits and my girlfriend and I have one of the sets each. This has provided me an opportunity to undertake a minor and simple refit of the interior and to remodel the Pet Shop as a Deli. It is now all ready for the CMF Series 6 Butcher to move right in and start trading. No modifications have been undertaken of the other levels at this stage - that is, they have been built as per the instructions. I had considered using the CMF Clown pies and Belville cake and making a 'Pies' shop, but perhaps that can wait until I have access to all of my bricks once more. Flickr gallery link follows, apologies for the quality of the photos, my camera is well past due for an upgrade... Hope you enjoy, comments welcome.

Just wanted to join the chorus of people praising all of your hard work and efforts with this wonderful project. What you have done so far looks amazing and the possibility of how incredibly grand your completed landscape might be is just doing my poor head in at the moment. Very much looking forward to further updates when you have an opportunity. Also, thank you for the time you are taking to clarify and explain the techniques which you are using for the benefit of the less experienced landscape builders. Your tips are greatly appreciated!

Hi All, Have been lurking on this site for some time so now that I have some free time I thought it might be nice to register so that I am hopefully able to contribute to some of the forums in a positive manner. I am a huge fan of the castle theme, especailly the 'classic' sets and the later ones that are beginning to show more of regular life (MMV, Mill Raid etc) rather than focusing on constant warfare. The apparent absence of civillains was always something that perplexed me as a child... My gilrfriend is a fan of the Town theme, with, i suspect, something of an undeveloped penchant for trains. Once we upgrade our present abode to somewhere larger and can pull the majority of our bricks out of storage I suspect that a large town layout complete with rail network will soon develop A genuine pleasure to meet you all, Evil Stu