Etzel

I think the top priority for a new Castle theme should be to bring us the gothic arch in grey, it's long overdue.

It's not totally impossible with castle interior sets though: I know it's not exactly what you want, but it does show that it can be done nicely.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone! Wow, thank you very much for all that praise! I don't quite agree that the very detailed castle and cottages that's been popping is a "plague" but it is nice to have a variaty of styles and I do like some nice clean lines here and there. Sometimes less is more. Hahaha, yeah those light bley rocks seems to be the weak part of this build. When I started building this MOC almost all my dark bley pieces were tied up in another build and therefore I went with the lighter ones. Then I started to think that it looked quite nice how the tower rise up from the rock and fits directly into it. I also think that the builders would've used stone from nearby when they built the walls, therefore the same colour. I did have some ideas of adding more colours to the rocks late in the build, some more dark tan and olive green perhaps, but I somehow forgot that. From Bricklink in various batches. They are quite cheap actually, but makes great roofs.

You did an amazing job with this, capturing all the different activities in the village and also showing a great variety of nature. Love your trees and your birds, nice job with those. Really cool to see a pre-historic build, they are quite rare.

Hi! This was a project that took way more time than planned to finish. It started about a year ago when I was experimenting a bit with my dark orange wedge plates, trying to fit them together to make nice peaked roofs. From there I added the timber framed/Fachwerk walls and after that it went a couple of months when I didn't add anything to the build. Eventually I regained interest in it and I started building the landscape and laying out foundations for where I wanted the walls and towers to be. I finished the small tower and the gate and the bridge before other things got in the way and the build went into hibernation again. But, some weeks before today I was finally done with a huge batch of sorting and had a lot of inspiration to go back to building and I finished of the castle quite quickly. I just had to wait a little bit for a Bricklink order and a day with enough daylight to get the pictures. I thought that it would be fun to put the classic Lion Knights in this castle. They weren't my favourites when I was younger, but now I really like how their bright colours contrast against the more sober grey and tan in the landscape. I also like to combine the classic torsos with the new shiny helmets and weapons that we have now, I think it shows that the classic factions works just as nice (if not better) as the new ones. While I surely hope that the rumours about a 2016 Castle theme is true, I'm not going to be devastated if that fails since we already have so many good minifigs and pieces from decades of LEGO Castle. TL;DR: I love LEGO Castle and here is a castle I built to show that! More pictures can be found on my Flickr: Link /Etzel

Thanks guys, I do like the manor and the outpost best myself too. The others are a bit more bland and I didn't put as much work into those. It's stickers on glass panes from 70810 Metalbeard's Sea Cow. Sticker sheet on Bricklink

I wanted to build some small scenes (16x16) for my minifigs from the Collectible Series challenge (my entry). I started with the Nocturnus ones: Imp soldier, guarding the entrance to the realm of the imps. Berserk attacking a croc outpost in the Nocturnian swamps. The Dark Wizard in his remote castle. The Bat Trainer's manor. It was fun to mess around a bit in another realm of Historica, Nocturnus has so many possibilities of cool stories and landscapes to explore. I hope to continue with these scenes for the minifigs in my series, but it all depends on how much time I manage to find. /Etzel

Amazing build and great story all in one! I didn't realize until I looked at the last picture links that all the different scenes where connected in one huge build, very impressive! I especially like the crypt with the blood fountain and all the different vampires that comes out of their graves. The diversity among your troops is excellent, I really like that it isn't a clone army with the same torso-helmet combination for everybody. I'm really looking forward to the next builds from you guys, I just caught up on the others and I really like them too!

It would also be nice with a list of what city/town/area that is associated with what member (e.g. Thorshaven - kabel). I'm a somewhat sporadic builder in GoH and would like to know who's MOCs to look at when planning a build in a specific place to be able to match the landscape and buildings.

Thanks everyone! I really enjoyed making these figs so it feels great that you appreciate them too! I've actually started making some small scenes for some of the characters to show them in their proper environment.

Nice job! The Valyrion Fox is awesome, love the references to that other famous "fox"!

Thanks guys! I'm happy you liked my series! The Imp soldier is indeed made from Maggie Simpson's body, and he also has a small tattered cape made from the skirt piece of the Ice Skater from CMF series 4.

It's Brick Daddy from Space Police 3.

My favorites would be the Elven archer and the Flag bearer, but you have really done a great job all around! From where is the Drow Necromancer's torso and legs, I can't remember seeing those before?

Really nice work, and some top quality ones among them. I really like the Wanderer, Hermetic Nobleman and the Satyr. The description of the second one was great!

I made one as well:

In the nick of time I finally managed to get my minifigs photographed. I built most of them weeks ago, but never got around to taking pictures until today. I hadn't had time to closely follow what you others have made yet, so in case any of my minifigs reassemble yours I apologize for that. Anyway, here they are: Avalonia: Avalonian Spearman The bulk force of most Avalonian armies. Perfect for protecting the less armored archers with his large shield. Very common soldier for the nobles private armies. Druid This experienced leader draws his knowledge and faith from the nature around him, seeking the true power of Mother Earth herself. He can often be found in the sacred growths in the Avalonian forests. Noblewoman The Avalonian Noble can live well of her family's fortune, but that's not the case for everyone in this land. To help ease her conscience this noblewoman has decided to pass out apples to the poor in nearby villages. Forest Nymph This spiritual being lives her life in the wilderness and cares nothing about the civilized world. Her only concern are for the creatures living in the forest. Her whistling has caught many wanderers ears but few have seen her for she's very shy. Kaliphlin: Petrean City Guard The capital of Kaliphlin needs a reliable force to keep order in the city's many streets and allies, as well as manning the walls in case of a siege. This man does his job, but some say the City Guards care more about their own appearance than the well-being of Petrea. Blade Master Trained with blades in hand since the age of six, this highly effective fighter usually uses her skills for entertainment rather than combat. Performances at private parties for the noble class in Kaliphlin can be rather lucrative and certainly safer than assassinations. Kaliphlin Counsellor Information is of great importance in this age and time, and the counsellor devotes his time to collect as much of it as possible and then pass on the important parts to his lord. Although high-born himself, his bad position in the line of succession in his family had him choose a career than served rather than being served. Feather Dancer The sensual movement of body and feathers is mesmerizing to all that witness this dancer. People from far away come to experience one of her shows and so far none has been disappointed. Mitgardia: Mitgardian Captain The rough seas in the North is no match for this seasoned captain. He has led his pack of raiders across the water so many times he has lost count by now. The coastal villages of northern Avalonia has learned to fear the sight of his ships. Fisher from the Clan Lands The Clan Lands of Mitgardia are cold, and the coldest are located at the border to the Frozen Beyond and inhabited only by a few frost-bitten souls. The waters are very rich in fish however, so at least the pale skinned people of the far North have plenty of food. Rumor has it that one member of the clan has traveled south, but it was very long since anything was heard from him. Nobleman The noblemen in Mitgardia are very proud and persistent in their independance from the Jarl. This one is no example and he proudly wears his house colors instead of the yellow and green of the Guild. His personal feuds with neighbours and vassals are of much bigger importance to him than foreign relations with "southerners". Merchant The trade in Mitgardia is mostly focused on raw material like furs, iron and timber. The merchants are always trying to surpass each other in share of the market and volume of trade. A lot of gold can be made if you can create your own niche of trade and this young woman seems to have succeded in that. Every good deal is of course sealed with a toast from the golden goblet. Nocturnus: Nocturnian Bersek Born and raised with one purpose, this creature has known nothing but war. Every day is a fight for survival and killing enemies is the only task. If he had been born in a different place in a different time, could his life had turned out different? Dark Wizard The magic that surrounds this wizard is darker than the night, but the gold in his outfit glows steadily when he performs his secret spells. The wizard is more powerfull than you would ever imagine, but prefers to keep his powers to himself. His home is located far away up in the mountains and protected by numorous spells to keep intruders away. Imp Soldier This short grown creature is more dangerous than his hight reveals. The imps has a large underground society in Nocturnus, but are constantly under attack from other factions. The rumour of the rich treasures of the imps are well spread but none has so far managed to infiltrate their caves and thunnels thanks to a fearless defence from the imp soldiers. Bat Trainer The vampires of Nocturnus have many specialities, but this one has focused on training bats for pet keeping. Vampires have of course a special connection to bats of all forms and can easily communicate with them, but it takes time to train a bat to feel comfortable with other races. Keeping bats has pets has grown in popularity among the nobles in Nocturnus and the bat trainer hopes that the trend will spread to the other guilds as well. It's been fun designing different minfigs and also very fun to write the short descriptions. Maybe this will spark my interest in GoH again and I will be able to produce some builds again soon. After all, I can't just abandon Ettu somewhere in the southern Mitgardia.

Looks like a really fun set to build, lots of interesting pieces and techniques. I like the microfigs as well, really cool way of including characters but still keep the scale somewhat right. The small vehicles are also very well made. However, since I'm not a fan of Superheroes and certainly don't have the money for such an expensive set as this I will not buy it. It looks very nice though!

Yeah, as far as I've heard the Nordic countries might miss out on the Pirates this spring when it comes to regular shops. It might be that it's just delayed and we will get it later this year as has happened with a few themes before (Superheroes and Galaxy Quest I think), or we might be really unlucky and miss out completely like the CM Series 11. The sets should still be available at S@H and are listed as being released 1st March at the moment.

Ah, sadly I don't think I will be able to make it this year. Which is a shame since it was such a great event last time in Windsor! I recommend everyone who has the opportunity to join!

Nicely done! Those trees definitely looks great when scaled up like this. I also really like the wolf pack, awesome minifig combinations there!

I picked up the 4 tribe packs today at TRU here in Sweden (Uppsala). They had the other new Chima sets as well, but I'm not really interested in those. The tribe packs however are more to my liking. I enjoyed the Lion set the most, but the Ice bears are also nice (although the trans-blue legs and arms are annoying). I wish we could have one with gorillas as well.

Thanks for a great review! I really like this set, and I agree with you that it feels "fresh". This is by far the best thing that have come out of Cuusoo and Ideas!

It would be nice if you could update the first post with a link to the calender so we don't have to search through the pages to find it.

A quite good series! The king is my favorite and I happy that the crown+hairpiece and the beard are separate parts. The Snake charmer, the Egyptian and the Goblin also looks great! Worst is of course the Cyclops which is ruined by the lipstick. Without it it would've been a perfectly fine minifig and still be easily recognized as a female, I don't understand the designer's decision here.