robuko

Ooh, curtains! Very homely. I love the tent feel to the middle floor and the new upper balcony. I really liked the window treatment on the first version, sorry to see that nice frame go. The design of the new stairs is a good change though. From the photographs, my only critique would be that the black is too... black, now there is a lot more of it. I know we`re in Nocturnus, and I`m sure it looks awesome in real life, but I think that dark grey or dark brown would have been more harmonious with the rest of the build. Small niggle, I think the overall impact of the revisions make this even better, especially the drapes. Good to see your builders are perfectionists!

Excellent build Jareth, the more I look at it the more I appreciate the simplicity, for instance the head could not really be done better at this scale. Great parts use too.

Myths and MOCs. Brilliant, Ska. 2 weeks sounds just right (Although that means 1 for me, I am off to Japan in 10 days). 32x32 fits my idea very well, and I would love to do 5 panels but time-wise that is unrealistic. Maybe 2 32x32s and 2 16x16s for 4 panels? At a pinch I could maybe get it down to 24x24. Should it be ancient, or could it be a little backstory of how Rasputin became President of the Board? DC has hinted that challenge 3 will be posted today. I think it`s a bit too soon for me but I know others will be raring to go, hope the deadline is not too soon. Ska, you had some really interesting and thoughtful posts about the Historica metagame on the CC forum, did you share them with the guild leaders here? (runs off to myth bricks and weeps at the thought of dismantling the Abyssan embassy)

Not all guilds are are blessed as we are with the mighty and versatile camel, although the PGTC does have a thriving export business in camel milk, camel leather and camel steaks. This wagon-bandwagon is pretty cool so far, very nice builds MikeyB and rogueang! Very nice use of the spanner. Oh, this sounds very good. I hope it`s related to the quest you have mentioned, having a narrative beyond the war will add quite a lot to the Historica story. I know Angeli will disagree vehemently, but I hope the next challenges will be based on smaller scenes. I found the embassy quite exhausting, and we might get more participants on smaller builds.

Fantastic! Love the portraits, wonderful interpretation of Filch, and such a great sense of action. Brilliant MOC

Another lovely build de Gothia, your MOCs have such a warm feeling to them, and always very nicely detailed, the chickens are a great touch. I can see why Fahkr likes Quinn, she was very popular with the local men during her stay in Kaliphlin. The roof is very nicely done. One way to make it less gappy is to start with the wing angle plates meeting at the top and to work out the geometry from there, you might have to experiment with different angles of wing plate to get the height right. Maybe you could move the black 2x4 to the lower side of the wing, or use 2x6 there. Great job, anyway!

I really hoped you would get sails in time, but never mind, Ambassador Haarloos was probably too busy thinking about his clothes for the ball instead of his roof Very nice story too. The arm wrestling is really funny, and very good BURP usage. I wish you had been able to finish though, it still shows that it the site is under construction.

Wow, this is fabulous! So many excellent details, the curved wall, the school sign, the fountain.... The Avalonian buildings look very authentic, and what a brilliant set-up. Abū Alī, you have excelled the bounds of generosity with this wonderful gift to Avalonia. Please do not share our experiments in Opticks or Al-Chymy too widely with Avalonia! I would suggest that this will be an excellent free build, even if a bit too late to be an embassy

Absolutely brilliant. I have to agree, the photocopier is superb. But then so is everything! Beautiful

Very nice, a little slice of Burrium in the desert. Great use of that baseplate, and all your angles are lovely. The citizens of Barqa will be very happy to have you nearby. The flags are brilliant too, leaves no doubt who lives here!

Grat story Mikel, and lovely choice for the bay. We have only 1 build in Barqa so far, Kerntechniker's excellent embassy, which is on the sandy slopes of the south Bay. Master Cartographer Gex and I have offered a view on the scenery too "As far as our travels have taken us, the country around Barqa has a beautiful and varied coastline, with soaring cliffs and sandy beaches, some patches of jungle. Barqa town itself is a bustling harbour in a natural bay, at the mouth of the mighty river Akbri." I don't think it's super dry desert there, but there is plenty of sand. It's more of a Mediterranean climate perhaps, with jungle and mangrove swamps around the river mouths." as well as the official note "The port city of Barqa stands as the major trading hub in the western part of the Siccus. Here supplies from the north are shipped in and in return the Black Oil is shipped out. The supplies travel along the Oil Road - always heavily guarded to protect from bandits." Unfortunately I was pretty sick going in to the Embassy deadline, so I apologise for the obviously unfinished parts, I just ran out of energy and daylight. I guess the judges will only accept what made it pre deadline, regardless of illness, but I thought you might like to see how it was intended to be, I have updated the embassy post with bigger pictures. I am feeling much better now, the changes are very small but I think they make it look much more finished, especially tiling off the loose surfaces at the top of the walls. I don't know how I forgot to attach the chimney the first time, the lava stream provides heat for our kitchen and it is then cycled through the building in a complicated lattice of tubes, which you can see above the kitchen fireplace, and then out the chimney, which I actually built as one of the first components. It keeps the embassy at a standard Petraea temperature.

Yes, Kaliphlin, Mitgardia or Nocturnus would be delighted if you join them. Avalonia is closed to new members for now. Kaliphlin is the best guild

Absolutely fantastic! I can see we are going to have an incredible fleet of dragons in Nocturnus as well as Mitgardia.

Eastgate is the town of Dugal Maclean (SkaForHire) so if you wish to be based there, that's totally fine but send him a PM (see the first page of this thread for Kaliphlin building code). We do need builds and settlers for the Free cities of Barqa, Qarkyr, and Petraea, also Queensgate, but you can basically build anything anywhere you like in this guild. Holy Moly! Something of that size would grace any city, I suggest to put it in one of the big ones! Maybe the way in to Barqa? Beautiful! I am happy to see we are reattached.

Thanks rogueang! Thanks too to Legonardo Davidy for his brilliant pictorial index of the watchtowers!

Thankyou all very much for your kind comments. This was a ridiculously ambitious build for my abilities, and I am quite happy with how it came out. The cartouches on the front and the curved windows were the most technically demanding parts, and there was a lot of experimentation to come up with I think original window detailing (Doktor Frankenstein helped ). Unfortunately I was pretty sick going in to the deadline, so I apologise for the obviously unfinished parts, I just ran out of energy and daylight. I guess the judges will only accept what made it pre deadline, regardless of illness, but I thought you might like to see how it was intended to be. I am feeling much better now, the changes are very small but I think they make it look much more finished, especially tiling off the loose surfaces at the top of the walls. I don't know how I forgot to attach the chimney the first time, the lava stream provides heat for our kitchen and it is then cycled through the building in a complicated lattice of tubes, which you can see above the kitchen fireplace. It keeps the embassy at a standard Petraea temperature. The inspiration was from Kaliphlin's heritage as a rich desert empire, I consciously wanted to reflect different glorious ancient empires on each side, and inside. The front entrance is inspired by Karnak in Egypt, while beside Dr Dee's house on the other side is my sketch of Petra in Jordan. The roof was very loosely based on the Suleiyman mosque in Istanbul, while the sides are inspired by various Indian facades, especially on the medium blue side. The rather lavish use of bulls on the columns is from the palace of Persepolis. The mosaic attempts to blend the red and gold of Nocturnus with the red and dark blue of Kaliphlin, and it is more or less directly lifted from the incomparable Katie Walker (eilonwy). I also somehow missed out the wings when photographing the band. I am quite pleased with the mirror. On bugles, Penelope and Michiko. You all know Fernando Fernandez on flute, and Sabrina of course, such a sweet voice, if only you could hear it above the racket that mad Suzie makes on drums. We did actually invite a suitable partner for Valsharess, but when Anatole the chef saw a big spider in high heels, he sadly turned her into medallions d'arachne avec ossobucco. Tragic, but delicious. My dear Gex, we assumed you would be too busy supervising your incredible palace to attend our little soiree, you and her ladyship are of course very welcome next year! I do know that since dancing with lady Alyssya, there is a recurring nightmare that has haunted our friend Lord Darecold in his sleep. But she's rather a lovely lady, so not to worry! (Sorry Hersbrucker, werebabies were the only things that I had on hand to make this work)

Great detail here, the "arise" scene is genius! Very nice colour consistency too. I think the photography under-sells it a little bit with the fish-eye distortions in the first 2 shots, it somehow looks a bit un-natural - which is the opposite of what one would expect. The photoset on flickr is worth a visit for better images

At first when I saw this tower, I thought it was a bit too colourful, but it's really growing on me. The detailing around the tower entrance is particularly lovely. I am not sure how much ambassadorial business can be done here though, it's quite militaristic!

Very nice entry, the story explains the small size very well. Good use of simple parts like shields and the tree for a local atmosphere. The checkers game looks like it's about to cause some major berserking!

This fits so well with the Hykerbia vibe, quite a brave and very successful idea go for this relatively "modern" style of building. I really like the vegetation. Brickwork around the windows especially is great, and of course the light bricks take it up another level.

Bravo! Another wonderful build, from the irregular baseplate to the stonework to the gables, everything is superb here. The angles on the stairs are even better than your early shots. It must get very dark inside the building with so few windows, but it's cold cold cold out there!

Wow, this is fantastic! I agree with CptMugwah, it looks a LOT better in the brick than in LDD. The merchants' arcade really brings it to life, and the level of interior detailing is superb! This must be gigantic, 5 stories tall plus a spire! I agree, a builiding of this size should be in the capital city otherwise it would overwhelm most settlements. The roof came out beautifully, especially the Eastern side, and the subtle colour detailing on the upper walls is very nice. The micromummies are a good solution too. I agree the floating floor is problematic, that probably comes across better in LDD. Great build!

oooh, marvellously swampy! Another beautifully presented and constructed tower, gabe. It was a really good idea to go for that external staircase to create the room, I did wonder how you were going to get space in the top and that is a perfect solution. Well done on the Death Star use (I struggled for a long time trying to fit Naboo on top of my embassy, the coulours are perfect but it just didn't quite fit and I really wanted to preserve the octagonal shape). Great use for Sebulba too Are the triangles actually equilateral? Very impressive maths to make that work!

This is a really great idea Ska, and very well realised. Those icicles on the mast are an inspired touch. I worry that the ship might have to be re-planked after the crushing ice has melted? It would be really cool to throw a few sleds, snowshoes and dogs around, and maybe a fur trader from the Great Elks..ha ha, I am getting carried away with this being such a good idea. White bricks are a total menace, you have done very well with them. Great Embassy.

What a thriller! Well done to all the participants, bravo to the master of tne arena, and a big thankyou to our hosts. The commentary is absolutely brilliant, so creative. The Elias appears to be the only participant who died in the games, and if so all of Kaliphlin should rejoice. But appearances mean little with the Elias. We fear it is simply waiting, back in the desert...