Kwatchi

Am I allowed to call your gang cute? Nice entry!

Non-humans have been frowned upon in the past by the BoBS leadership. How far are you straying from the species?

Wow, that was quick. :) And this is exactly what I envisioned for the challenge. Well done!

Awesome job!

Wow!!! I... um.... ... [Steeple fingers and use Mr Burns voice] Excellent! [\Steeple...]

@SkaForHire Hi. With the start of a new month, I'm looking for the result of my mine exploration from October on Infero Pordejon. As for the island's description... Thanks in advance. (Crosses fingers for a decent roll this time)

Captain Meloche approves of this story turn! Nicely done Sinbad. Yer a proper pirate captin now and I'll sail with ya on any seas, as long as yer in front of me. Nice trees as well.

Yikes! This took a darker turn... I like it.

A very nice building you have there Captain Wolf. I spent 5 minutes admiring it.

Glad to hear it! It would be a poorer party if no one showed up. :) And wouldn't you know it, I took that photo this morning while in a rush to get ready for work (it snowed last night unexpectedly so my drive was promising to be long and awful; wasn't that bad in the end) and while posting it up I notice there is a bloody hair in it. Seems the old adage is true: Haste makes Waste

September 15, 616 - Meloche Estate House, Hightown, Charlatan Bay Sir, we'd like to talk to you about the rising crime in Lowtown if we may. Say yer piece gentlemen, but be brief. I put to sea with the evening tide. Well your Grace, while we have followed your edict regarding only using our sentries to guard the fleet docks and warehouses, I've become alarmed at the rate that the criminal gangs have flourished. Lowtown has become a scene of wanton excess and cruelty. Theft and graft are rampant, and murders are a common occurrence. And we now have reports of near full on warfare between the various groups vying for control. It's a scene from hell itself your Grace! Have the faithful been identified and moved to Hightown as I requested? Yes Sir! We have moved them to new accommodations atop the cliffs as you ordered. Good. But your Grace, what of the remaining populace? They struggle to survive and the families are being eroded by the proliferation of drink and opium! Gentlemen, I have nary an interest in the fate of these non-believers who have come my shores begging fer deliverance. Hades himself turns his back on them and so shall I. They are animals anyway, so let them lose their souls. You have my orders. Yer dismissed. ---------- Mini Challenge: Gangs of Charlatan Bay (Oct 28 - Nov 26) "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." The dockside district of Charlatan Bay is a lawless warren controlled by the various dockside gangs of thugs and hoodlums. These are tolerated by the local authorities as long as they stay within Lowtown and their activities don't unduly affect day-to-day operations of refitting and resupplying the pirates, smugglers, and privateers when they put in. This leaves the human flotsam that lives at the base of the cliffs at the mercy of the criminal element, as each gangs tries to carve out a living by preying on the populace and each other. Every once in a while, one of these criminal groups will prove to be more conniving and vicious than the rest and they will rise to the pinnacle of the local underworld. Once upon this lofty perch, they will become known as the Kingpin of Lowtown. Does you and your henchmen have what it takes to grab that brass ring? Rules: This will be a minifg building competition. Each participant will create a gang which will represent a criminal syndicate operating on the seedier side of Charlatan Bay. The gang will be composed of 5 to 10 members, and must include one (1) leader and one (1) lieutenant; The gang may be displayed on a build up to 24 x 24 studs in size, with minimal overlap and no height limitations , though it is not required; Members of any BoBS faction may enter, but all gangs are considered outside the laws of nations so they can have no official connection to any country or trade corporation; Only one entry per player; All entries must posted by midnight EDT on Saturday, November 26; Judging will be done by myself and my brother (i.e. Gulagurag) and will take into account three categories: i. minifig construction; ii. backstory, iii) overall presentation. In the event of a tie, we'll bring in a third party to break the deadlock (possibly my 10 year old, or my brother-in-law, or I dunno); As for backstory, we're not looking for a novella or anything that takes an hour to read, but please include a short paragraph or two of exposition on your leader and his henchman. Please try to stay true the established backstory already in place for Lowtown; and, You must provide a link to your entry below. Prizes: Prize money will be paid out by Charlatan Bay, or by Kwatchi's bank in the event participation levels are higher than anticipated. The winning entry will get a captain's share and receive 40 dbs, as well as the income from one provided small property that is to be licensed in Charlatan Bay in November or December (hopefully). They will also get added to the official history page of the colony as Kingpin of Lowtown; The runner up entry will receive a first mate's share of 20 dbs; The third place entry will receive a quartermaster's share of 10 dbs; and, All remaining entries will receive 5 dbs and a hearty slap on the back. Miscellaneous: A good portion of players who are pressed for free time tend to go into these challenges with an eye on being able to license their builds as something afterwards... myself included. So while this challenge is not my veiled way to get you to build in my town (well, not completely anyway), I do understand the motivation. As you may have noticed, Charlatan Bay is not overly friendly to Oleon and Eslandola at the moment for RP reasons. So for the record, let me state now that if anyone wants to license their challenge build for some reason, I will not now or ever repossess it, or any of that funny business, so that your effort is safe and not wasted. And to answer the follow-up question on why am I doing this? Simply put, spending the town's bank on troops is pretty boring so I figured this would be a more fun use for it. Fine Print: This challenge is open to all willing participants except where prohibited which includes residents of the following: State of West Dakota, Antarctic penguin sanctuaries, Narnia, the noodle shop at Tenth and Lyon, Muppetville, my house, that hair salon that smells of herring (not the one in Cape Town, the other one), Kingdom of Latveria, the Wonka factory, hunting camps within 50 km outside of Rankin Inlet, and the lavatories at Elland Road stadium. You must be over 5 inches tall to enter. Many megablocks were harmed during the typing of this message.

A very nice build Bregir, and I enjoyed the story; you can really see the influence of your reading list in text (though as a post Captain, isn't he supposed to have a single epaulet... time to get the scissors out ). You did a far better job than me portraying waves an a blue base plate, and I like the field tent. Well done!

September 15, 616 - North Dock, Lowtown, Charalatan Bay The north dock in Lowtown is used exclusively by the pirate captains that make Charlatan Bay their berth. It is located both next to a number of warehouses that store supplies that allow for a quick refit and replenishment of a ship's stores, and is close to one of the Porter Guild's lift baskets which allows quick traveling up to Hightown for those affluent Captains who can afford to live away from the denizens at the base of the cliffs. This dock is one of the few guarded by the Ashen Guard, which keeps losses to thieves at a minimum and the gangs avoid it on the understanding the Bishop will take any interference in this operation as an act of aggression and react accordingly. Welcome back to Charlatan Bay your Grace. I hope that your 3 month cruise proved fruitful! Blast fate for the fickle wench she is! We saw nary single sail during the whole venture and I don't have two coins to rub together to show for the effort. Were it not for the six plotters I shot during the trip, the crew would be in even a poorer mood for it all. Colonel Muscat, a pleasure to see you once again. Sir! Welcome home sir. Yes, yes. Walk and talk with me gentlemen. I am long overdue to make me obeisances at the Hightown Chapel and I am looking forward to a nice relaxing evening in my study. How has Charlatan Bay fared in my absence Mayor Morris? Very well your Holiness. The civil improvements you ordered for Hightown continue to progress, and while Lowtown continues to grow. As you ordered, the Colonel and I have reduced the guard patrols to a minimum but still managed to keep the crime limited to populace and away from the dockside warehouses through the use of sentries. The Colonel's men have also begun construction of the San Millar battery. And I have news from abroad! The Eslandolan King has gone mad and declared war on Oleon. This has led to civil strife in the colonies on Nelissa and a revolt is rumoured as well as an unsupported private war on Mardier. One of the Corrish traders who put in yesterday was quite talkative and mentioned his government has closed their ports to both kingdoms, which should mean more profit for the smugglers. And most importantly your Holiness, a state envoy made a stopover this past week and left you this message. Hmmmmm ... Change of plans Gentlemen! Boy, head back to ship and inform Mr. Moore he has until evening tide to replenish the stores and make ready to set sail. Should he fail, I'll have him flogged around the fleet. Mr. Morris, please assist both Mr. Moore and Captain Amara with finding the needed supplies. Colonel Muscat, please come with me. I require you to detach a company of marines to my fleet for this voyage and I'd like to see where you have sited this new fort of yours. After which I'll be heading to my study to pen a response to this most entertaining of offers and I'll expect my dinner to ready for me Mr. Morris. What's the matter boy? We've plenty of time and I'm sure we'll succeed and avoid any... repercussions from the Bishop. It's not that sir. It was simply that every time he gets that look, something terrible occurs. Nonsense! What look do you mean? He was smiling sir. ... Sometimes I wonder which side the gods are on. --- While I had hoped to get this out by the 15th and the new MCRA, real life does rear its head at times. If you have a keen eye, you'll note that I used the cliff face from my mine exploration build earlier this month in the bigger rockface. With my limited parts, and needing to use that cliff face for the eventual mine build, I decided to cheat a bit. I will be licensing this dock scene as a medium commercial property, though I don't think I will bother with the skiff. I actually built the boat for a stop motion movie my wife and daughter did this past summer and just never got around to pulling it apart. EXTRA PHOTOS

Hi Phred @Phred Did you get my PM regarding the carryover error from back in April with my DB balance?

Improving Prospects | Kwatchi | Sea Rats Business as Usual | Kwatchi | Sea Rats

Liza Korchev and her family had fallen on rough times. Born in the colony of Longjaw, the Garvian authorities had discovered a small shrine to Hades Ascendent in their hut and promptly banished them from the colony. They managed to pay for passage to Charlatan Bay, but being penniless they were unable to settle amongst the faithful in Hightown. Her father, a geologist by trade, took what work he could find on the docks of Lowtown while her mother sewed and darned the clothes of the buccaneer crews on shore leave. Melody helped as best she could, and would frequently walk along the base of the cliffs searching the tidal pools trying to catch small crabs which she would to sell to the dockside public houses. The day after storm, Liza was strolling along the washout shoreline, when the glint of something behind a discoloured rock caught her eye. Edging closer, she quickly realized what she had found. The smile grew on her face as it dawned on her what this discovery meant. Her family would be hungry no more once they were able to mine this deposit. This marks my first attempt at horizontal SNOT rockface technique, but since I founded my colony on an island surrounded by cliffs, I figured I better start getting some practice in. So C&C is welcome, but it likely won't be applied to my next build which is already half complete; its my MCRA and I am desperately trying to get it done this weekend to keep it story relevant. :) Also, this will count as a mine exploration build in Charlatan Bay for the purposes of licensing. <- @SkaForHire More pictures:

My head is spinning a bit with all these twists in the last few days. It's a good thing. Bregir, the expressions you chose for the Eslandolan soldiers hearing the newspaper headline is perfect. Question: what piece did you use for the ink well? It's looks great and I can't place it.

A really well captured scene. I appreciated how the boats were being landed as you posed your minifigs in a way represent it faithfully. One thing I will say: those are a lot of happy faces on those soldiers. Hopefully it goes well for them. :)

Another lovely build Ayrlego.

Nice little boat you have there. The furled sails is something I like and I might steal for an ongoing project. And glad you got it in under the wire!

Nice vessel you got there and a nice collection of unique minifigs. I'm also impressed you got that built in such a short time frame. One thing I'll say is that I think you would have been better off mounting your "cannon barrels" the other way, as their bore looks incredibly small. But that is simply my opinion.

"This deal is getting worse all the time"

I just noticed the Sea Rat discount (-30% founding cost and -50% maintenance cost) from the April rules update was not applied to the troops raised by Charlatan Bay in August. And this is mostly my fault as I completely forgot we got a discount. Could I get this retroactively applied please?

This is a prime example of what drew most of us to to BoBS. A well written story (with a heavy influence of O'Brian Bregir?) supported by a beautiful build. And none to soon, as we desperately needed some political tension and a potential green civil war fits the bill perfectly. "No mister, I can feel it. The dice are rolling."

Very nice build. That town tone tree makes for a perfect autumn scene.