robuko

Lovely build Carson. The R2D2 leg use is absolute genius and looks fantastic. The colour palette for the elven buildings is very nice, and I like the variety of trees you have packed in. It's pretty tough to photograph white on a white background, you might think abut getting a different colour backing next time. +1 for all UoP claims.

The North Gate of Sultan's Gate is the main trade route out down the escarpment and into the dusty orclands below. It sits on one of the major trade routes into the other 3 guilds, so naturally the Petraea General Trading Company maintains a strong interest in the area. Although Kaliphlin stretches for leagues to the North of here, many consider Sultan's Gate to be the Northern frontier of Kaliphlin civilization. Here we see His Grace the Duke LeStrange returning with a camel train of absolutely-probably-not-Nocturnian-contraband, accompanied by Pharoah Amset-Ra. Kaliphlinologists might interpret this as an interesting sign of further rapprochement with the mountain mummies. He notes the brisk trade in cavalry grade livestock going the other way, and is satisfied to see that relations between the ladies of the town and the orc gentlemen populations remain as cordial as ever. Umbart's diner is doing a good trade, despite the troubles in Nocturnus. All is well. Map courtesy of Master Cartographer NiceMarmot. I wanted to try a few new things with this build. It is about colour blocks and shapes, rather than my usual start-with-the-ornamentation approach. I also wanted to bring a Spaghetti Western flavour into the guild, as it has been neglected so far despite the massive growth in suitable minifig parts from CMF and Lone Ranger since we started Historica. I couldn't resist adding a few decorative elements though. Credit to Cristoph for the inspiration behind the camel pannier. This build was for some reason uniquely difficult to photograph, this is the least worst of nearly 200 shots. For the record, this is in the larger build category (>33x33)

Beautiful build ivanych, and true to the spirit of the Ferrein building. Wonderful detailing. What a debut on Eurobricks!

I know I'm late on this but congratulations Count NiceMarmot!

Well this is just lovely. The limited palette works very well, especially the yellow flowers and the rushes. The moat is excellent. Mounting the leaves on water looks beautiful. Looking forward to the rest of it!

Our brothers and sisters are in peril! The drow are notoriously late payers, we are rooting for the ancien regime. Good luck out there, we will muster a crack unit to help. Rougeang, that is a lovely build

Bartimaeus is a djinni. How could I forget the were-rabbit too! That was of course from Nocturnus.

The Petraea General Trading Company has adopted the following diversity policy: we don't care who you are or where you came from, as long as you have the money to buy our stuff. I love all the Chima tribes (well, not sure about them ugly bat people) and they are very welcome in my parts of Kaliphlin. I am totally cool with the idea that they are a minority of the population in any guild. Remember Nocturnus featured lizard men, reptrians and minotaurs right from the start. Of course, you know where I stand from my sigfig in both books. We are after all playing make-believe here. I am relaxed about sending humanoid emissaries to those who discriminate on head shape I have used humans of all colours, elves, dwarves, minotaurs, djinni, reptrians, lizard people, egyptian gods, all the SP3 aliens, sand people, Uruk hai, orcs, snake people, demons, monsters, mummies, skeleton people, were wolves of various extraction et c. in my builds, as well as whatever the Duke is and Rasputin who seems to be one of a kind. I would suggest that the fantasy element is already reasonably strong, though it fits better in Nocturnus and Kaliphlin than the other 2 guilds. Leg godt

@Lord Butters, I forgot to recommend the Chima legend beast lion. Not only is it one of the best sets I have ever seen, it is chock full of Kaliphliny goodness with 4 oriental arches in tan and a tan elephant tail. Also the Lone Ranger silver mine which you might be lucky enough to find on clearance. Ska, thank you as always for your hard work.

If this was a set, I would buy one. The decals are superb, and I love anything with a double bubble. The only thing that would make this better is if the drivers can wear their helmets. Great build!

Superb! A beautiful build, so many wonderful details and the scale is breathtaking. It looks great fun to play too!

The spaceship wings pop further out when you press the engines, revealing 2 large spring loaded missile launchers. There is a review on atamaii tv on YouTube, which I can't link from my mobile... it starts with the police drop ship

Thanks Eryn. These are very sensible. I feel like the gate itself would be higher and the shambles around it is built in to the gate so that's going to be a bit higher too. Won't be stupid though. Edit - on the height thing, 12 studs is quite a bit shorter than I would build a 2-storey dwelling. Are these walls designed to be low? Most city walls I have seen are 2-3 stories high, though of course there are low ones too.

I speak! The Petraea General Trading Company's special representative for Book II will be the Duc LeStrange, our Nocturnus Trade Representative and Speical Envoy. Rasputin Jones is busy shuffling around various economic entities off the balance sheet. Body and cloak: Gilderoy Lockhart from Harry Potter, but this is a rare figure so any finery is fine. Head: Jar Jar Binks (v2) or any gungan.

This is going to be superb! I am on it already. I might have to make a bit of an upgrade to my current build. A few questions: can we have multiple entries to the gate challenge? Can the gate entries also go into the free build challenge? Eg if we have buildings around the gate. The walls are lower than I have planned for my gate/shambles district surrounding buildings. Is it a problem if we go higher? Thanks for your hard work and prizes Eryn!

This is one of the greatest builds of all time ever! So many beautiful details, and the sheer scale of it is mind blowing! I love it. Congratulations on your royal visit!

Well, looks like we'll have to crush it on Sultan's Gate. I have stepped down the pace of building this year eg I was not able to put an entry in for l&diK. I spent too much time building last year which was kind of OK because it was a 1 year project to start with. With 2 children under 4 it's even harder to make time. I'm still here though and you guys are doing a fantastic job of keeping Kali the most interesting guild. Mitgardia is very accessible because all you need is some bley blocks, but Kaliphlin and maybe Nocturnus are much more rewarding for learning in my view. Any way, I hope to have a sketch up tomorrow for the sigfig page. I still haven't chosen my sigfig but I think you've seen him before

Fantastic! I feel bad for the other Ghostbusters team though especially as it's the ECTO-1

Top right of the first picture at the back. Interesting connection mechanisms on the truck with the new ball joints, I hope they don't wear out over time. Loving the truck and the Infearno set. That flying bike is very nice too. A great year for the action themes so far!

A lot of really nice figs in this set. And it swooshes!

That Mammoth walker is superb! Very Zoid-y. Look at all that beautiful trans blue.....Definitely the highlight of 2014 across all ranges for me so far.

....in Limbo was given I think by Si-MOCs or SoT after I built Hell and then didn't post for a bit Robuko Innovation Kaliphlin I guess from ZCerberus after I built a particularly colourful castle

This sabre toothed guy is giving me a very 2000AD vibe. For those who do not know it, it's a British comic magazine, rather dark, which created many iconic characters and launched the career of Alan Moore. These guys and my dinosaurs will be at total war in H2 2014.

Piece of resistance news from a children's book I saw today:

The new tribes sound brilliant. I am loving the golden bear/panther, phoenix, and mammoth bigfig. I have only just started to buy in to Chima (love the figs, don't like the spinners, same as ninjago). I hope it lasts beyond 2015.