kabel

250 years have passed and the village became a nice little town. However since I'm waiting for the last bricks to arrive I thought I might present a little teaser of stoneroda 1450:

Well, I understand that. I actually teach economics myself ... However, it's always being held up as an argument that western/pritates/kingdoms doesn't sell and therefore the world needs a licensed TS, POTC or even LOTR. And that's were I get pissed off because Playmobil (being LEGO's hardest contender, at least in Germany) sells these lines, and actually always continues lines and ideas that LEGO dropped. The thing is, I don't want any Playmobil castle because they suck. I want Kingdoms to continue at a decent price and I want to buy my kids (and myself) some cool knights/villagers etc.. Out of protest I didn't buy a single POTC set (bought all 2009 Pirate sets though) and I will not buy any LOTR sets (having acquired almost all kingdom sets so far).

What I really wonder is how Playmobil does without licensed themes and still makes a profit. I mean they have all those topics that some people here argue wouldn't sell in the first place: Classic Pirates, Classic Castle and Wild West! And to be honest, I think LEGO could have done some of the things depicted in the POTC sets without a license and we still would have recieved new cool pieces albeit without fleshy minifigs at outrages prices. So if they make LOTR, I suppose we'll see the same thing again happening!

oh man, the two topics that I really love and cherish (pirates and castle) both licensed? Well, I guess LEGO isn't getting any of my money (nor my children's)for the next years!!!

is that what you got the LDD forum for?

Being a great fan of both the History and the Pirate Forum I think it would be really cool to also subdivede the forum into a normal discussion board and a subtopic for the mocs. There are always so many new mocs around here that it is really hard to follow them all in this just one board. A community build with national teams, something like a moc world cup, is something that I would totally love to participate in ...

to be honest, this is the firs time that I like something made in LDD, really great looking already!

I always love it when castle and pirate topics start to blur into each other. I really love both topics the most and its a great pleasure to see these half timbered houses. They really inspire me to continue working on my own city evolution topic.

Your English ships are totally awesome, what else is there to say? I really didn't have much of a picture in head yet, as the Spanish ships are much more widely known. Now my head cinema works a lot better when I read books about that time. BTW, have you started thinking about the Spaniards yet?

Lego's near bankrupcy came when they got rid of their classic themes and tried to do castle action figures and other nonsense instead. Kicking their fans in the megabricks is what made them lose costumers in droves.

if they did stop it, it most certainly would make TLG a bit more unsypathetic again. Whereas in the old days they would push themes to the limit and stick to it for several years, they are now lacking the breath to gain profile again. Kingdoms is definetely heading in a really good direction and it's far from being exhausted!!

Actually this is a rather nice ship of the "CGH-manual-class" as I would like to call it. The only thing that really annoys me are the white ropes your used for the rigging. And of course a tiled deck would be really cool too. However, these are things you could change without taking the whole thing apart, which actually would be shame as the construction itself is really great. BTW, where is your ship stationed? Gdynia, Gdansk? Gdansk in the 18th century is going to be my next moc as I really love this city

Well, I certainly hope that this will not be the case as I just got forced from the pirate realm into caslte due to POTC. So no LOTR for me if it's licensed!!

With that color sheme and that stern one can clearly see that your using the "Lady Washington" as a source of inspiration, wich means that it is good ...

I totally love the perspective of the shot you got in your signature now. It looks like the perfect background for a really great animated stop motion movie. (realistic might not be the right word, as you can still see that it's too perfect to be real) What amazes me the most thought, is how your houses all of the sudden dwarf the entire landscape and give it this really cozy feeling. In the beginning I thought, well, maybe this might be a little to huge to really fill it with life. However, now everything seems to be in proportion.

Thanks a lot guys, I appriciate your constructive feedback. So version B it will be then. And as for the upper slope, well I'll have to think of something else, as there actually is a thick rope connecting the bow and the bowsprit. I already got an idea though ...

hi there again, today i would simply ask the question of which bow design you think looks better given, that this is the replica I'm moslty relying on and these are my two solution Version A: Version B: thanks for your help and inspiration kabel

A true Hanse Cog would be really cool. Transferring pirates and merchants from the Carribean to the Baltic Sea would be great for those of us that like both Pirates and Castle!

well, fortunately Germany doesn't only consist of Bavaria ... as for the moc, this is so awesome it really inspires me to push forward with my own medieaval project, thus consequently alienating myself from my wife

oh, wow, this is starting to look really cool!! As for the double-tail, I actually really like it the way you created it!

Well, thanks for the positive feedback. I just started construction on phase two and I'll see how it turns out. However, your comments quite motivate a lot. As for the simplicity, houses around that time were constructed rather simple and without much decoration. The highly elaborated facedes many percieve as mediaval are actually more of a Renaissance thing, at least in the region that i'm trying to depcit here. I'll try to put more details in it as this mocs evolves. btw, the bs folder is public now

wow, I really like the teepees and the totem poles, however, a totem pole is an item of the pacific northwest and not of the prairie!!!

After seeing all these castle evolution mocs, I decided I'd go for a city evolution series. The idea developed during a class on urban geography I tought last sping term. Stoneroda is actually modeled after my hometown of Wernigerode, found at the foothills of Northern Germany's Harz mountains. However, due to the limitations of my Lego collection I had to simplify matters and came up with this: Stoneroda is a small village at the intersection of two important trade roads. Around an old Inn a few more buildings have begun to spring up: a number of peasants in simple huts still lives in the vicinity however, as the area is favourable for the construction of a city several stone buildings are finally being raised the local duke residing in the largest of them when not on his castle the area is rich in natural resources and the rivers are teeming with fish so, will Stoneroda remain a peaceful place? more pics on brickshelfwhen public

Wow!! As always, I'm totally digging your creations as they resemble what I have on my mind, but am never able to do myself (yet). So I'm really looking forward to your depiction of the fight between the Armada and Drake. BTW, I'm currently reading a really great book about this time by an Polish author, but I don't know whether it ever got translated into English. The German title however, is "Marten" written by Janusz Meissner. If you could get it in English, you should really read it!!

wow, that's actually pretty cool, and I didn't know before that biremes had two tails. What I'm wondering though is, how are you going to do the oars? I've always wanted to build a galley and never came up with a cool idea for the oars. As for the lack of response, well it's the middle of summer, most likely many of the members are on holidays right now, so don't worry