Derfel Cadarn

Gluing parts to a ship! Shame on you! Beautiful ship! The color scheme really stands out excelently with that white hull. Nice work on the details and sails. I'm not going to moan about the glued coins as I myself am guilty of gluing whips on the stern of my first ship. However I can say that there is always another solution and gluing parts shoulding really be done. If you are planning on keeping this ship intact as a display model than I suppose the glued coins won't be a problem. Really excellent work

Hey guys Sorry for my absence, I have been away on holiday, then came back to a heavy work load, so I have had no time to really get involved and comment. I have been lurking on my mobile however, and I've seen some great challenge entries and wips, not to mention some great free builds too. I shall get myself up to date with all the new builds and leave some comments in the next few days. I am still stocking up on parts for some part-pack prizes for the new mini-challenges I have coming up. I'm currently trying building up some tree leaf pieces in dark green, white, light green and green. These should come in handy for members. Lots of other pieces will be up for grabs, I'm really having a good search to find the most useful pieces for castle builds. Keep up the great work everyone!

Truely excellent work Taz When the idea to build the challenge by using different scenes was brought up, this is how I imagine it. This is a great collection of well built mocs, each with there own great ideas and techniques. I love some of those entranceways you have built using your stone wall technique, the dragon is also very good. The story that ties it all together is well thought out too and together this makes for a great entry and one that will be hard to beat. Great work mate

I understand what you are trying to say, it seems that a lot of people like challenges built on only 32x32 or 48x48. This is mainly down to the fact that virtually everyone here has the parts to build on those sizes. However there are those that do like to build bigger, which is why I suggested we have no size limit on challenge 3. I myself do enjoy building large mocs from time to time, and I think most people would love to build a large moc if they had the pieces. It seems to me that maybe a good way to solve this is to maybe have catagories, small, medium and large, but still have the same sort of prize for each one to make it fair, otherwise people might not be happy because they havn't got enough bricks to enter the large catagory and win a bigger prize. So maybe thats the way to go, different size catagories but all with an equal prize.

Excellent build! It has a very menacing look and I can imagine a fleeting these would look mighty impressive. Great color scheme and details, a truely wonderful battle ship. As for the Black Knight, we Avalonians know about as much about him as you do, but he is too be feared and according to our historians he has been around for a very very very long time. Can a man live that long? Or is he just someone trying to spread fear by pretending to be the Black Knight of legend. Who knows, maybe he really is the original. I hope you Nocturnians don't get in over your head with this. Angering the Black Knight could be a bad move. I've heard he eats Drow for breakfast.

Looks great from what I can see, good to see some more free builds coming along. How is everyone doing with challenge 3? How many of you are entering?

Thank you everyone for your great comments. One of the reasons I included the Mystic Isle area in Avalonia was so it could house some more unusual style structures for those who want to build something different. I will be continuing with a bit of a story about the Black Knight, hopefully ending with his castle, although I fear I may need a large bricklink order to be able to build what I have in mind! Thanks all DC

That's looking great, I love the brick work you have achieved, that's definitely going to be a build I will enjoy seeing!

Now that the first batch of free builds have been scored, we hope to score the rest more regularly. Do probably every 2 months we will score all the new free builds. There's plenty of time for the other guilds to catch up to Avalonia. Remember that Avalonia were very quick to start creating their land, while other guilds were concentrating on flushing different aspects of their land. One of the reasons Avalonia built a lot is due to an idea I had that each person could pick an area, name it, then build it. This was so our map would have lots of towns each built by a different person. If you have your own area and an idea of how you want it to look, then you are more spurned on to build it. If your town needs a bakery, build it. Or a blacksmith or a Inn etc. it's a good way to get a lot of free builds built and it also helps build up your land. So don't feel you need to rush out free builds, you guys are catching up as it is, and they have all been excellent builds. I think Kaliphlin is probably the most stable and close knit group, and you have all contributed in creating a great look and feel to your land! So well done. Plus, Si is doing a great job Don't forget, you can also build a moc based in another land if you fancy something different. As long as it has a reason behind it as to why your there. For example, you could build a scene set in Avalonia with some Kaliphlins trading or on a mission to find or talk to something/someone. Or maybe you fancy building a scene in snowy Mitgardia. You don't have to do this, just reminding you that you can build a story scene in another land if you fancy the odd change of scenery. Just make sure to have Kaliphlins in it and a story/reason as to why they are there. These will all count as free builds for your guild. Keep up your great work.......just as long as you dont overtake Avalonia

The Mystic Isles has always been a place of mystery and the unknown. Nobody really knows what lies in its heartland, as the deeper you go, tnhe more dangerous the waterways become and most who venture in, never return. However, many of the outer islands are home to all sorts of clans who prefer the more secret existance. Most Avalonians avoid the Mystic, so it has always been the perfect place for different clans and groups to live in secret. Of course, one of the reasons people avoid the Isles is due to a particular Isle known as 'The Dark Isle'. It is mostly covered by a thick dark forest and is reputed to be the home of the Black Knight. The legends of the Black Knight go back centuries and nobody knows who or what he really is. He is often seen on stormy nights, haunting the mist covered track ways and roads that cross the outskirts of the Isles. Some folk of Avalonia believe he is a dark guardian who watches over the realm, others believe he is an omen of disaster who's appearence forshadows a tragedy. From the shores of the Dark Isle, it is possible to see 'The Sanctuary Of The Damned'. Legend says that during the 'bad times' when Avalonia had no ruler, the Sanctuary was used as a prison for the sick and mad, left to die and rot, the echo of their screaming souls now haunt its courtyard and hallways. No one really knows what happened to them in there, but one story says they were sacrifices for the Blood Religion. Whatever happened, its a history we Avalonians do not like to remember. It now stands in disrepair and slowly nature is consuming it, but it is not empty! The Black Knight is often seen patroling this area and many believe he uses it as an outpost that guards the Dark forest. The only other group who may know its secrets are Avalonia's Assassins Guild. It is said that they sometimes hideout here and use the area for training with permission from its dark keeper. Still, even they have never ventured deep into the heart of the Dark Isle. It is said that a dark castle lies in its center, home of the Black Knight. Who knows, but if it did, it would surely hold all the answers about who he really is, what he does and what really happened at the Sanctuary. Blood Religion? This moc is a kind of prelude to a story I will be doing based on the Black Knight, so expect a few more dark creepy builds in the near future. There are more pictures and larger sizes on my flickr account. Thanks for viewing DC

Very interesting moc Captain! The roof is the main stand out part here, its a great original design and works well. Like Z said, I guess your limited with colors with the roof, although It looks fine in brown. I think you could pull it of in dark brown and also tan, as the log bricks are availible in those colors too. The tree has a great angle and im always very impressed with your efforts when it comes to flowers and foliage, you always seem to come up with a great variety. Nice presentation as well. Im guessing your testing out a few techniques here and I hope to see that roof technique used on a few more of your creations. Nice work mate

To be truthfully honest, this moc has been an on and off build for a while as I never really knew where I was going with it. I miscalculated the base and realized I did not give myself enough room to build the second tower, so I'm not entirely happy with it in that respect. However, I'm sort of achieving the look I was going for, so my next moc shall hopefully have all the ideas that I wanted in this one. I imagined a place in the Mystical Isles that is dark and gloomy and has a huge dark forest. It's the home of the black knight, a mysterious warrior who haunts Avalonia's roads at night. It will allow me to build up a neat backstory around this character and reveal a few surprises. More about that when I finally post this moc tomorrow. To those of you who have PM'd me, I havn't forgotten you, I have just been pressed for time as I'm getting ready to go on holiday for a week. I will try to get to all of you tomorrow. @Blackmoor, great to hear your planning a new build, your previous works for our guild have been some really stunning mocs. Your sawmill is still one of my favs!

I do agree with Angeli, if something is repetitive, it doesn't mean it isn't good. However, it can be bad for the builder. I built in pretty much the same way for quite a while and it got very boring and it wasn't pushing me to be a better builder. This is the reason why I have been trying a different look and style. I don't recommend anyone to constantly build the same thing as you will struggle to grow as a builder. I have tackled a few large mocs and it isnt easy. Firstly, they take time and you can sometimes find yourself losing interest or get an idea for something else that you want to build. Another factor is pieces. I like to build in detail and you need to get a lot of pieces to pull that of on a big scale, so a lot of time and money goes into large creations. In this respect, I always admire people who build large epic creations as I know they have obviously put the time and effort in. It's true that a lot of people do believe that large equals good, but that isn't always the case. Everyone has their own opinions and look for different things in a moc. For example, the size of this moc is not what interests me. What I like is the great layout of the towers and bridges that run at different angles and the interesting color scheme makes this stand out as something different. Which is good I'm not very keen on the tiled water. Thoy seems to have a big expanse of tiled water in all his mocs and I would enjoy seeing him build a nice forest landscape instead, which I know he's more than capable of. I absolutely love those elemental guys, very creative and look excellent. None of us can please everyone with our mocs, but we all build and try our best, which is what he has done.

I do know what you mean, big builds don't impress as much and most of them are similar. However, this has a neat layout and the white gold combination works well. Plus those elemental creatures are sweet! Thoy has built some great creations, however I'd like to see him build some smaller more detailed scenes. This is a very interesting moc with some nice ideas. Nice find Angeli. I think the general problem with big builds is that people seem to think if you build big it instantly makes the moc epic, and most people go 'wow', but then you take a closer look and realize its quite basic and nothing new.

Coming soon......'Sanctuary Of The Damned' Blood Religion & The Black Knight

Its interesting to see what people look for. I often find I look for things that interest me at the time. For example, when I was building in a more 'realistic' style I was drawn to other mocs built that way. I'm currently in a dark/creepy fantasy stage at the moment, so naturally I really like other mocs that have that look. Look and feel play a big part in what I look for, some mocs can really evoke a great 'feel' if someone does it right and new techniques and those great little touches that just make you smile at their brilliance. Obviously I also enjoy when someone posts a moc that is based on a random thing that you are very interested in. For example, there might be a particular piece of history of Legend that you like that isn't that well known, and someone actually builds a great moc of it. When I build a moc, I try to build the moc in a special way. I never build anything even, like a square castle that looks the same from each angle. I will always build something that will look like it 'flows somewhere' in the photo. So if i build a castle, I will build it up gradually from the front leading up to the back which will be the highest point. This works well for photographing and you can get a really epic picture when you take a 'mini-fig' perspective pic, as the castle will look like its progressing up into the distance. So a bit of thought when designing and taking photos can go a long way.

Congrats Guildsmen! Your excellent free builds have given us even more points and we are still sitting nicely at the top! Kaliphlin are slowly catching up however, so keep up your great work and lets stay at the top The free builds that have been scored are everything up untill recently, so we hope to score the next lot of free b uilds in a couple of months. Rogueang got it pretty much spot on with the three aspects that we look for when scoring. Mocs are basically scored out of 50, something like this: 1: originality, style and overall guild-ishness - 1-20 points 2: Building technique - 1-20 points 3: Presentation (including photography - 1-10 points So someone might score 17 on the first, 15 on the second and 8 on the last, giving them a score of 40 out of 50. Two people judge each guild, so you all get 2 sets of scores which we average and calculate your final score. So if someone earns a score of 43-50 from one judge and 45-50 from the other, we average it so your final score is 44/50. Do you all follow? After challenge 3 has ended I will be setting some new in-guild challenges. There will also be 3 special in-guild challenges with a special 'parts pack' for the winner. I will make them interesting and challenging for you More on this in the next few days. Keep up the great work guildsmen! I can tell you that no one in the guild has got any lower than 30 points so far, you have all been 30 and above, and I hope that clears up a bit of how things are scored.

Great work Z This is a great little scene, the use of colors on the tree house really stands out and gives it a great look. Nice work on the trees, an interesting technique that works well here. The story is great as well, I look forward to seeing where you will take this. 'The Green Knight'

Sorry for not replying sooner. I will add your name to the list tomorrow, along with your title for your moc. I may have said a joust scene, but any small moc with a knight defeating a foe will do just fine, so yes it does count. I do hope to post some new challenges soon with some prizes as well.

For your first micro scale build this is indeed an incredible effort. There's just so much to like here! The thing that really stood out for me were the towers and their great look you achieved with the use of those modified 2x2 plates. Most excellent!

Gannicus!! Very cool, great presentation and use of foliage. You watch Spartacus then? I love it, so over the top and definitely made for men

Hmmm.. Well I guess I should make mine smaller, but I just have to be the biggest apparently!

Greetings guildsmen, I am sorry for not ring very active recently but I have had a very heavy workload these past weeks and have also been working on a new moc. Welcome, and I see all your questions have been answered by members already. Although I will add that we are quite open when outcomes to contests, so I'm pretty sure some custom stuff is useable. Sounds good. I am currently working on a new build forthw mystic isles, it's an old overgrown dark castle type ruin. It's known as the Sanctuary Of The Damned, and if it's ok I might mention in its description that it is sometimes used by the AAG for secret training and other stuff. I wanted it to be a mysterious building used by more secret clans when they need to. A bit like a holiday house for those who like to dabble in secrecy and dark arts.

I know most of those builders and I'm sure they would be happy to say a few words if asked, I think it will all come down to when they have time free to do it. For NPU, Slyowl and Legohaulic come to mind, their my all time fav builders. I have often thought that setting up a castle interview series would be cool

Wow, excellent pic Marmot, you Kaliphlin guys have really got it together and have evolved into a really strong guild of excellent builders.