Basiliscus

Really nice work! Lots of nice little architectural touches here, around the gate opening, the windows and the wooden palisade. You've done a great job showing the damage and the work in progress, overall a great entry.

Thanks, glad at least one other person has played that game. I don't have the original Endless Space, I initially got hooked through Endless Legend and now I own Dungeon of the Endless and Endless Space 2. I agree "avian sapien" is a bit technical, initially I had thought that Meiyo had been told this by a professor at the University of Petrea (you know what these academics are like!) that she meets on her travels. I've got a little bit of an idea as to how that will play out, and now I've got my challenge entry out of the way I'm going to post my Conzaga family vignettes then I can do some background so it will make more sense.

Thanks Thanks for the kind words. Obviously I had thought that there were murder holes above the door well before you suggested it @Muakhah, I definitely didn't steal that idea from you right now!

Thanks for the warm welcome! You and @mccoyed seem to be flying the flag strongly for Varlyrio (going by active guild members) so hopefully I can add to that and put Varlyrio on top where it belongs! The sigfig is heavily inspired by the Hissho, a race from Endless Space, one of my favourite games of all time. I thought it was a bit different. I do have a normal human family, the Conzagas, who I will post later today, and Meiyo will be a big part of their storyline (as well as battling her own demons).

It's a beautiful shrine and I can see the effort you've put in to it, good use of those gold gate pieces and the 3x3 roof corner pieces with 45 degree cutout. I like the minifig action too. Have to agree with @Muakhah that the landscaping feels a bit random and not very natural. I get the urge to cover up studs with stalk pieces but I always think they look better being clustered together.

And my Challenge I entry:

Here's my Challenge I entry:

Conzaga manor, situated just outside of the Varlyrian capital, was once the main home of the Conzaga family, famed throughout Historica for their wines. During the turmoil caused by Ravaage, although Varlyrio escaped much of the fighting, the common people baulked at extravagant displays of wealth and it wasn't uncommon for rich nobles to be attacked in daylight. For their own safety, the Conzaga family abandoned their most ornate and lavish home for residencies further from the capital and easier to defend from bandits and unruly peasants. As time passed, nature began to reclaim the once neatly tended gardens, and the Conzaga family kept a low profile until the civil wars ended. Now with peace reestablished under Queen Ylspeth, the Conzaga family feel their position secure enough to once again show their wealth to the world. Once Conzaga manor is restored to its former glory, the family's reputation will be rebuilt! The younger son Mychel has been sent by his father to oversee the work and ensure the peasants follow orders. As he explains to the foreman what needs to occur, his bodyguard Meiyo keeps a careful eye out for any trouble. One of the first jobs is to remove a rather unruly weed known as "mare's tail". This weed produces a vast underground root system which needs carefully dug out to ensure full eradication. After such lengthy neglect, the vines have dried out and the only grapes are wizened and sour. First, all the dead leaves and grapes need removed before they can produce fresh fruit. The once tranquil pond has now been overgrown with weeds, this will need cleared out before any visitors can be invited to share in the manor's opulence. Some thought has been given to defence, with a stout door and only arrow slit windows a last resort to keep out an angry mob. A determined attacker with siege weapons would not be deterred however. -------- So the theme was rebuilding, and since I've been away from GoH for so long, I felt it was necessary to introduce my Varlyrian family rebuilding their reputation in their homeland.

This is Meiyo, an avian sapien who originally hails from Nocturnus, signing up to serve the Rego (for now...). Biography: After losing her brother in the darklands, Meiyo fled the mainland and landed on the isle of Varlyrio. Needing work to put food on the table her expertise with a blade landed her a job as a bodyguard for Mychel Conzaga; heir apparent to the Conzagan vineyards. ----- So I fancied joining Varlyrio this time round! I've got vignettes for the Conzaga family built, I'll photograph and share these tomorrow night. Challenge entry to follow...

I've just finished season 4 of Better Call Saul. I love it. So much slower than Breaking Bad but having watched that (and knowing the outcome), it's fantastic character development.

A really big and impressive tower here @A_Goodman! I like the way you've used slopes going in and out to show the damage to the tower, makes it look more natural. Your landscape area looks very nice and the trees are simple yet well done. Unfortunately, the photography here lets down the MOC a little. The photos are shot with a very low f-stop (f/1.8 in some cases) which makes for a very shallow depth of field. It would help greatly if you put your phone on a stable surface and allowed it to take a longer exposure which would allow you to up the f-stop and therefore improve the depth of field. Also some additional lighting or post-processing would help brighten it up a bit as it seems quite dark. I'd also suggest that you link to a slightly smaller resolution image via Flickr, as these seem too big. To do this, click "Share" (forward arrow) on the photo on Flickr and click "BBCode" at the top. Then choose a slightly smaller resolution, say 640x??? and copy and paste the link into the post. That way you'll get smaller images with a link to Flickr for those who want to see the larger images. Also some images are not properly rotated which would help us see the detail. I don't mean to sound too critical but good photography is about 50% of making a good MOC - if you need any help please ask!

Really nice minifig action going on here, I like the girl offering refreshments and the helmets and weapons piled up showing it's soldiers doing the work. The house itself is nice and I like the construction materials strewn around it, looks very busy and believable. The landscape is a little on the busy side for my liking, I think there are too many colours here and it almost overwhelms the house. However, it's a great entry, well done!

There looks like a lot of nice foliage and minifig placement, it's a real shame the photography has let them down here. As @Gideon says, investing in a simple tripod or at least placing the camera on a stable surface will allow you take a longer exposure and therefore lower the ISO (this will remove the graininess from the photos). There's plenty of LEGO photography tutorials online, try starting here. If you need any help please ask! The bench in the third photo is nice and I like the composition of the last shot showing your main character.

No problem, it takes time to build up your parts collection so don't worry about it. I've been collecting LEGO for over 10 years and I still run out all the time!

Another fantastic build as always David! Wonderful crisp photography makes everything really clear, and there's lot of nice details: the wooden frame behind the roof tiles, the crane and the door embellishments. A few nitpicks: as @W Navarre said I think the studs at the top are a bit out of place and the way it's finished completely flat seem a little abrupt. I also think that from a health and safety point of view that bridge should have some kind of hand rail for people crossing it! In all seriousness a great entry, great work!

Really nice overall shot on this build, the colour certainly help it stand out. The water is really well done, I like the way you've blended in blue and white to show the froth, and the latter is gathered in places you'd expect to see it, like around the pier posts and so on. The photography is very crisp and well focused, well done on that. The warehouse being rebuilt is nice and I like that you've angled it off the grid. The lighthouse top looks like it's falling to the right in the first photo, is that intentional (looks a bit like the leaning tower of Pisa)?

I like the scaffolding and the way you've used diagonal crossbeams for that, it looks great. There's a really nice sense of activity going on with the minifigs too, and the photography is top notch. The keep is quite simple in just using 1x2 masonry bricks, but I do like the 1x2 plates with the studs facing outwards. As always my OCD finds the fact that the path is the same height as the grass a bit strange, since normally through erosion it ends up lower, but it's a minor point. Good work!

As you say yourself, it's quite simplistic but there are things to like despite that. I like the way you've layered up the grass to break up an otherwise flat area, and it's nice to see that the brown track is lower than the grass which looks more realistic IMO. There' s a nice sense of action going on from the way you've posed the minifigs. The grass stalks and 1x1 round plates you've scattered on the grass don't look particularly natural, they look like a bit of an afterthought. I also find that 2x3 or 2x4 wedge plates in green help the grass boundary and layering look more natural and less square. The building is nice and straightforward but the holes are a bit confusing, are they supposed to be windows?

Really nice roof shingles there, that's a nice design. I like the steps going up to the balcony area, the 1x1 and 2x2 round tiles you've used for the road and the detailed interior. The house exterior is relatively simple - it might have been nice to add some more interesting details - but I'm nitpicking here. Good work!

The curved and layered snow looks really nice, looks like un-trodden snow. The frame is simple but you can get a feel for how the house will look in the end. Good work!

Thanks for the clarification!

Just to clarify - the original rules state there will be one winner per guild, does that mean there are four sets up for grabs? Or will one overall winner be chosen?

This model is brilliant both when viewing it overall and add the detail level. Love the plasterers at work and the dome under construction, a great way to fulfil the challenge requirements. The colours really pop and you've dressed the scene with figs well, I can almost hear the hustle and bustle around the template. Great work!

Remember: banter. I'm getting the feeling maybe you guys should go easier on the new folks!

We in Scotland would call this "banter". Basically, @Henjin_Quilones is the leader of Avalonia, and is therefore lamenting the fact that you joined Mitgardia. Similarly @Kai NRG is the leader in Kaliphlin and has come to the same conclusion. Expect to see a lot of friendly guild bashing during your time here. Just give them as good as you get!