robuko

Intriguing. Is Goldblade a Nocturnus fifth columnist? This would be great as part of a Nocturnus Embassy. In pure and noble Avalonia, well, I don`t know what to think. Love the snot on the back wall and the guards. What heads are you using for the guards? Stingrays?

Lovely! A very nice story, a real step forward in the development of Nocturnus, and a beautiful build. The blue stripes and the roof details are my favourite parts, together with the window shades. The cart wheel really adds to the scene. Merodaquinas seems to be rather a nice place!

Thanks all for your excellent suggestions! CptMugwash, do you mean wedge plates like ? Nice, I never thought of that - but it leaves us with studs showing on top, which I want to avoid in this part of the build. The clip idea is a good one, I was thinking on similar lines but the problem is you need 2 clips together (by my shaky mosaic artithmetic) and the only one in pearl gold is which can`t be stacked vertically. DaMaximus, using minifigures to hide the gaps is a splendid idea and i think it will solve the gold stud problem nicely. Rogueang, your stag mosaic looked great for the stronghold, so if you think this is the right technique, I am happy! The red roof here is 10x8 (on 8x6 frame) and the Nocturnus House needs 16x14 on a 14x14 frame, but with a bay window and a cutaway back. In the end, I felt the red roof was too bright for the house, but luckily I was able to dismember a Stegosaurus and a dragon for dark green wedges. NM, skulls is a lovely idea, but too bright as you say. I really like the wrought iron idea, which would help with the Edgar Allen Poe vibe (runs off to greeble bank). I have gone for a kind of half-timber using tentacles - should have some photos at the weekend, hope you all like it. The challenge was that for my internal scene, the upper floor has to be mostly a blank wall, (and I ran out of dark grey and dark bley bricks) but I have tried to keep it a bit interesting. Now for the interior!

Thankyou all so much for your kind words. This will be part of the ground floor for my embassy build, I am trying to learn from Sirens-of-Titan and make it a collection of modular vigs. I have to say, I am really enjoying the Nocturnian element of the build and I really hope we can have more challenges in other territories. I feel my technique (or maybe my brick availability) is progressing, for this build I was able to pretty much bolt everything to the floor, which made it much easier to photograph than the Frankenstein Lab or the New Year Feast. gabe, that is so funny! The chef`s personality here is intended to be a blend of P.G. Wodehouse`s Anatole, the gastronomic and highly sensitive chef, and the psychopathic misanthropy of the chef in Gormenghast. Warren Clarke would be the ideal choice! Thanks very much, the blood tiling is a wonderful idea, I never thought of it - I was seeing it as a kind of smoked or possibly pickled delicacy. Yes, I started with the fireplace, in the plastic the fire looks a lot better, with more colour variegation coming through, it would look much better with a light brick, but I have no skills in setting them up and it would muck up the external wall. I would love it to be like this one (NOT mine), which it kind of is, a little, in real life. . Damaximus, I used to work as a kitchen porter as a student job too. Tough work! We are not planning to serve human flesh, but I am sure we can find something to your lycanthropic taste

The Kaliphlin Embassy of course has a very open employment policy. However, the self-styled Duc LeStrange will only allow orcs to work in the kitchen, as he holds himself to be a first-class gourmand who will settle for nothing but the most exquisite flavours. Here we see the head chef Anatole and his sous-chef Marie preparing a few amuse-bouches for the upcoming party, while Jean the head butler checks that the wines are not corked not poisoned. The game rack is well-stocked, and the guests can look forward to a very wide selection of local delicacies, from bugbear fricasse to good old fashioned rat-on-a-stick. The bouillabaisse promises a snappy flavour, but the pickled ostrich brains are probably best left to the more adventurous or drunk reveller. We look forward to seeing you on Valentine`s Day!

Hot dog, you`ve done it again! Amazing! Very original, beautifully detailed interior, nice story and posing, great parts use. Wonderful build.

Thanks CptMugwash. For context, my Nocturnus House next door is pretty big, I don`t want a tall roof as it might overwhelm the embassy. The basic problem is, the design I like, I don`t have the right bricks in the right colour in the right quantity.. If anyone has a strong idea for the upper floor wall design, I`m open to all thoughts. I am torn between the mage scene I have planned inside, or making room for a staircase, and that would impact the upper frontage. This is the house front and side views The Embassy roof, I am really happy with. I would like to do something like this little red roof for the Nocturnus House, but my black roof tiles are all the conventional ones - I could use the Ollivander`s roof I guess, but it would be too tall... here are my other fragments so far - the front gate and the ballroom floor. If we have any mosaic experts here, I am not sure I have got the mosaic calculation right so any advice appreciated. front gate - where to put the bouncers? Ballroom floor - what to do about the gaps? Looking forward to this, Kayne. Sounds awesome! definitely! I shudder to think how expensive the Embassy will be! Expect all my other buildings to have very similar parts from now... I am going to enter my kitchen as a free build now, just in case (perish the thought) I can`t finish in time.

LegoPinocchio, welcome, lovely first build. Kayne, great work! CptMugwash, like it so far. The roof looks like it will be pretty amazing too, if it follows the eaves. What are the long parts over the mantelpiece? I am having a few problems with my Nocturnus roof. So far I have only a bunch of fragments. This embassy build is so absorbing, we are not really coming up with that many free builds, I don`t think I will have time to do one, although my embassy will be like 4 free builds stuck together. If the scoring is on 5 embassies and 5 free builds, we might need a few more.

Lovely build Kayne, a great start for Kaliphlin. The trees and waterfall are beautifully built, the tree adds a huge amount from your earlier shots. The timberwork looks great too. Well done

These buildings go very nicely together. Lovely detail on the bannisters. A worthy addition to Albion, very well built.

Justindale, you will find many helpful tutorials on this page. On Windows Vista I use MS paint and image/resize. On Windows 7 I use the MS photo gallery editor and properties/resize. Good luck! NM, I think medium blue looks great with the Kaliphlin colours, I just picked up a bunch of medium blue tiles, and I see Scubacarrot is using it too. Maybe you could consider recolouring the exterior columns on the ground floor to match the new polychromatic look?

Lovely map, and I applaud the relocation of the Labyrinth. My Lords and Ladies, your Majesties, Nocturnians, Nocturnii, and Nocturnes, The self-styled Duc leStrange invites you to his annual Valentines Ball at the Kaliphlin embassy in Abyssan. RVSP via PM with your sigfig`s parts breakdown (in ball clothes) if you would like to attend

Welcome, Justindale, look forward to your builds! Many congratulations Tower Lord Basiliscus/ Wahil Musca, may the Emir praise his architects! There are advantages and disadvantages to any system. I don`t have any strong view here. The wisdom of the crowd is only going to work properly if we are using similar criteria to the judging panel. I actually think the system of guild leaders submitting (assuming it`s as unbiased as a democratic system) has the advantage that the guild leaders understand the judging panel. Total aside, is anyone good at statistics and scenario modelling here? I think that if all the guilds have builders of similar talent levels (mean) and standard deviation, and essentially the guilds are judged on the extremely good outcomes, then Avalonia with more members and submissions should have more extremely good builds than the others, statistically speaking, and should win everything on that basis. Avalonia also has some really good and prolific builders, arguably its average talent level is pretty high. So maybe there is an Avalonia penalty in the early stages? Very promising, Lord Shale. I really like the colour combination, but if it helps, I think it is a little "busy" in the current configuration - it might look more coherent in a photo if the colours are more grouped in blocks or lines? Well, first off, it`s lovely, an incredible build and it will look awesome! On your specific questions, things I would suggest to think about - dark red curved pieces will look fine with reddish brown, I would think about using which come in brown. The design is very Mitgardian and I do not feel much Kaliphlin at the moment, which is totally fine as you can have a backstory about it being purchased from a local merchant et c. The plan to "Kaliphlinise" it through the exterior activity will work well, but when it comes to the interior, I think you will find it very hard to photograph the Kaliphlin details effectively as there are a lot of small closed spaces that are only visible from above. Do you have a plan for all of the rooms? I think you would be better off with fewer and larger rooms for taking photos. Niku, many thanks! This is very kind of you, the video is really good, and shows the variety of invention very well. Nice one! I hope you are reunited with your bricks soon. By the way, who in the guild is planning an embassy at the moment? I know of 4 or 5 under construction, will we have a lot coming in?

Thanks for your comments Derfel, I totally agree that the standard of entries in all the guilds has been so high that it is a really tough job for anyone to pick the top 5 of any of them. And especially when the bulk flood in within 24 hours of closing Democracy may prove easier, but you are doing a really wonderful job as guild leader and your judgement itself is rightly considered high praise. I do wonder if the criteria were agreed before the first judging, and whether it will be similar criteria next time... Basiliscus, I initially thought the latter too, but I think the real answer is, do what you feel would be best. My concept will be similar to CptMugwash`s or indeed our friend Hersbrucker`s excellent embassy, featuring one local building and our embassy on the same city block in Abyssan. Thanks rougeang, yes, that point on guild style explains it I guess. Your tower was one of my favourites, but as you say, everyone puts a different weight ion different factors. I really think diversity is a wonderful strength for both Kaliphlin and Nocturnus, I hope Avalonia doesn`t get streamlined too much! I love seeing all the great building styles and techniques too, I think historica is doing a great job for building stimulus! Totally agree gabe, I am curious about what criteria the guild leaders value but ultimately I think it might be better not to know, as I would rather build to my own vision. I am looking forward to your take on Nocturnus, I will be building there too and so far I am making much more progress on my Nocturnus house than the embassy, it`s a great place to build! My embassy concept is kind of Nimrud`s palace meets Karnak with the Suleiyman mosque on top, beside the Ganges. Probably vastly too ambitious, but I might get some building time over Chinese New Year.

Thanks a lot guys for your kind comments, I am glad you liked it. I am still not quite happy with the composition of the image, but I took this one outside and the light failed before I could fix it (better positioning of the fish and pig, and trying to clear up the back field confusion of Raoul and the PGTC representative behind Rasputin) and it was a windy night so it wasn`t safe to leave it out and try again in the morning. In retrospect, the whole carpet scene should have been 3 or 4 studs nearer field, but I am learning each time. I guess I am most proud of the tree here, it is based on the winter toy shop but with layers of "tree" pieces in between, I really liked the quasi-natural look. It has been quite an eye opener for me how difficult it is to take these photographs - there is never a clear line of sight to the best details, and the big screen image is very different to how it looks on camera. I started all my Kaliphlin pictures with some concept of the a frame in the near field, action in the middle field, and a background, but I have been quite surprised by how quickly the vanishing points kick in at this scale, and how quickly you "lose" background to front field details. This vig is around 32x32, but it looks a lot smaller, and to get a really good shot with the full food spread I guess I would have needed another 12 studs of wall to the left on the back. For my embassy, I am putting a lot more thought into the image directing before I do the build. I am learning to really respect film directors, I need around a hundred takes with pretty docile actors and scenery to get a decent static image! If you bring the camera angle down towards minifig head height, which you need for intimacy in a scene like this, you pretty much lose all the nice background stuff especially in the further back planes. But if　you keep the angle high enough to get in the back plane details, you end up with far too much excess height in the foreground, and in my case, unwanted studs showing. In any case, I am very glad the PGTC was able to offer hospitality to our Northern friends, and Rasputin and Ingvar very much look forward to seeing Nordheim. I am especially glad the Ostrich was well received, it took our chef a long time to dress and balance the bird. We will expand the size of our farmlands to satisfy our new customers. Cpt MugWash, the grey hair on Jorgen Kerrow is sourced from Joshamee Gibbs of PoTC, who was bricklinked in for the scene. Viceroy`s characters are really nicely put together so I wanted to feature them prominently. NM, I guess I mostly end up with vigs because I don`t know how to take good photos of a bigger scene, but thanks very much for your kind words! Thanks all!

Very nice, lots of variety here. I have a couple of questions - is the lake salty (for the salt fields)? If so, it would imply a pretty massive tidal range, which would be unusual in a mountain river. Where do you get fresh water from? I ask because The PGTC is itching to try out its heliotropes on a desalination project somewhere. Is the river navigable by ocean-going ships? Or they need trans-shipment at Barqa for blue water voyages? Great stuff Kacj, I am glad you have a laboratory, maybe an inventors` workshop, an al-Khymist and a shipyard, as well as some clothiers, wine merchants could add to the mix.

This is a wonderful idea. I would love to participate and I have a pretty good HP collection, but I think Historica will absorb all my building time this year. Good luck to all, I really look　forward to the result.

Please forgive a small mediataion on the nature of the game... I was a bit surprised with the Avalonian selection of towers, now it is public. I thought rougang`s was one of the best and most original towers from all the guilds, and it got a lot of positive comment, but it wasn`t selected for consideration. The reason for Avalonia scoring a bit lower than other guilds was the towers were not original enough, but one of the most original was not selected. I wonder if this is a case where Derfel misjudged the criteria of the other guild leaders? I am kind of interested to see which builds were selected, because then you can know what our guild leader thinks will score better. I think on balance I would rather build to my own criteria - so I would prefer not to know what the guild leaders` criteria are. I am really only starting to MOC with Historica but it appears I value technique, NPU, backstory, and originality more than other stuff when I look at all the builds. However, we have a duty to the guild to try to get a little gold if we can, so we should bear in mind that we may be being asked for a specific je ne sais quoi. If there is anything obvious that we should all think about for the embassy build - like, is playability a factor? Or are the aesthetics more important than the fragility? What should we do if we don`t have a good camera? I hope our leader will offer a few little hints. oh, by the way, this is NOT my build, it is just something I found. I wanted to show you what travellers have been encountering in our Eastern deserts. They are big and fast. These are small ones.

According to this globe, there really is no reason for the Trade Federation to land on the other side from Theed, and no reason to go through the Planet Core. Guess we knew but this confirms it...

Many congratulations Tower Master Erudhalion/gabe! What a way to celebrate a recovery! And congratulations to all the Kaliphlin Guild! Well done to all who took part, the standard was very high in all the guilds. Looking forward to seeing some more embassies, I am still working on the house next door.

*oh2*wow, whale shark! Thanks for posting. The hiragana and katakana snot techniques are really nice, I bet that ship was based all around that detail. Love the Yamato transport snowcat, is that a real vehicle? I really wanted to come for yukimatsuri but it is over Chinese New Year this year, so flights from HK are too expensive. Will try again next year

Another really nice build ZCerberus, I am amazed you could find the time for so many great builds, are you doing an embassy too? I especially like the woodworks and the ground level detailing on the city side of the gate. Lovely.

Sclet Lothar, welcome to you and your band. We rarely gamble, unless the odds are heavily stacked in our favour. But it seems that your establishment offers other delights to entice us too. Velethuil, the skill of your artists does you credit. I think this myrmidon story is sufficiently distinct from The Penguin's golden golems. Nice start to your embassy, a very Rakath vibe. Kayne, lovely waterfall! Very nice proportions and layout, I think this will be an impressive build. There seems to be a coded warning from Lord Artorius on the Avalonia page that we are all in for a dark year eg it is possible he wants the guilds to be more warlike. In this sense, it is possible the grand plan may be that embassies may become beachheads/redoubts in any future conflict. I am going to ignore this element for my Nocturnus embassy (if it gets razed we can easily buy several more, we are rich) but it may be worth considering if you are thinking about supply lines to your embassies. I am really enjoying the story telling from Dugal, Lord Damaximus, Velethuil and Master Katsumoto. Great stuff, really good to see our history being written like this. That Bay is indeed one sweet location, I think an Oriental flavoured town would be great to have there. The Nocturnus borderlands might be quite a dangerous area though.

My Noble Lords, We are pleased to report that the World`s End Caravan Company Expedition to Kaliphlin was a great success. Much profit and feasting all round. May the New Year bring you all happiness, good health, peace and prosperity, with best wishes from Petraea, Rasputin

My Lord, Barqa is a Free City and all are welcome to build there in a spirit of peace and friendship. Our recent visitors to Albion have given us favourable reports of your tower there, and we hope you will grace our fair land with your esteemed architectural talents. Barqa looks forward to increasing her commerce with the good people of Burrium.