Basiliscus

Hi all, After a busy start to the year, sadly I won't be able to enter the embassy challenge, but I have been working on this. I wanted to do something a bit different from the Sudites faction - I imagine this as an Avalonian style church in Stone Town, Isle of Gorr. There's only one shot, so enjoy what little there is! ***** Inspired by Those Who Have Gone Before by Cuahchic, on Flickr A young knight visits the tomb of his ancestors to pray for their assistance on the eve of his first battle.

A fantastic mix of Avalonian and Kaliphlin styles, fits right in and just what I would expect to see in the embassy challenge. This MUST be in our top 5 MOCs for the embassy challenge.

What can I add that's not been said already? Simply stunning.

Simply wondrous. A magnificent piece of work. The dome, the windows, are all fantastic. A truly excellent addition to Kaliphlin!

I commented on this on Flickr too but I would reiterate that this is tremendous. Fabulous architecture!

Good work guys! Some fantastic WIP entries already. It looks like a strong round for us! I am having a combination of real-life interference and builders block, so I am giving the embassy challenge a miss! I was struggling to come up with something original. I am hoping to finish the free-build that I've been sitting on since December soon, and get some other free-builds in! Good luck

Brilliant entry. Fantastic variety of buildings!

Fantastic entry Kayne! A very strong start for the mighty Kaliphlin guild Lovely colours in here, it keeps it different without making it too unrealistic. The two tall towers are very well done and the waterfall is simply stunning.

Lovely work there lisqr! A very unique design. The hues on the trees are stunning, great job!

First of all, thanks to SI-mocs for the post about the Ra'ad T'wur! I am honoured to make the top 7 and become a Tower Lord. NiceMarmot - what can I say? That LDD design is magnificent. The overall look is great - I think it is just the right look between Kaliphlin and Mitgardian styles. The colour scheme is great too. If you wanted feedback I would say think about covering up some of the "bare" areas - such as the base and the area around the 1st floor windows. These look a little basic. I agree with robuko that interiors are a nightmare to photograph - that's why I don't often bother with them! Unless you make the roof removable it isn't worth getting too carried away with. Finally, Niku, what a great video! Fantastic work. (PS - I am hoping to enter the embassy challenge)

Fantastic map Balthasar! A very worthy addition to your guild. Greetings from the South

I wanted to know the answer to that question too!

Lovely work. Great little comic strip and MOC. One question - where did you get the gold minifigs?

The MOC is fantastic, and now that I see it with the ship it makes more sense. I also wanted to say that the Werewolves faction you are creating is brilliant - I look forward to following their progress!

Lovely work robuko, as always. The story is great and the photo is well staged. Nice one

First of all, a big congratulations to gabe for his fantastic entry winning the tower challenge! A well deserved winner in my opinion It was good to see we came second in the overall rankings. I am hoping to post a free-build in the next few weeks! I do agree with robuko though that for the challenges, perhaps a little guidance on the judging criteria would be helpful. I have heard that playability was a criteria - which I admit finding very strange - I thought we were building great MOCs? It would be nice to know what the criteria was - I am not saying it will influence what I build, but it would be useful (e.g. total score = 30 points; design = 5 points, photography = 10 points, etc!). For the embassy challenge I have a dilemma - are we supposed to be building in the native style or a Kaliphlin building on foreign soil (I have seen both types of entries)? This might be part of the judging process so I would be interested to know (e.g. if I build a embassy in Avalonia should I be building half-timbered European buildings or a Kaliphlin building surrounded by half-timbered European buildings?). Originally I thought the latter was the point of the challenge but now I am not so sure.

Lovely work Luke. You've captured the northern atmosphere well. The snow work is excellent - particularly around the bushes etc (as I mentioned on Flickr). There's a lot of lovely small details to admire. I would say that the water surrounding the building is a bit bland being a simple studs up construction - for most AFOLs it would be acceptable, but I feel that for a builder of your talent (being one of my favourites! ) I would say I expected more. I am being harsh here though, it's only a very minor part of an otherwise fantastic MOC.

Absolutely stunning work Hersbrucker! I love it. So many great details - the "mosaic" floor, the rock work, the contrast in the architecture, all fantastic! My only slight concern is the water is a bit bland, but that's very minor. (As an aside - this is the way I wanted to do my embassy originally - where the Kaliphlin building is in the Kaliphlin style and surrounding buildings are in the local style - but I have also seen some entries with the embassy in the local style too)

Looks exciting! Can't wait for you to start building it

Wow! So much happened since I last posted. Great to see our guild is still expanding! New members appearing all the time. Hopefully this will make our entries stronger for the future challenges...! And NiceMarmot - what beautiful maps! You continue to impress me with your cartography skills. Over the next few weeks I hope to start fleshing out the area around Stone Town because I am beginning to firm up in my mind what I want it to look like. I will upload some sketches soon! Anyway, I hope there aren't too many hangovers today, you all enjoyed your New Year celebrations, and 2012 will bring lots of great Kaliphlin MOCs!

Great little scene CptMugwash! I like the foliage and the use of dark tan around the oasis to show the wet sand. The small hill at the back is very nicely done too. Your use of minifigures is good and they are posed well. One small criticism I would make is that the landscape is a bit...bleak. I know that the desert is fairly flat but using more plates to sculpt the landscape would help.

Great work MikeyB! Lovely use of colour as others have mentioned. I can just imagine these buildings as part of a larger display (hint, hint! LoL). Nice one

Fantastic guide NiceMarmot! With all due respect to the other cartographers, I believe your maps are the most beautiful! This guide certainly has some nice tips that even an average Photoshop user like me can take on-board. One thing I would say is that unless you are a professional photographer I wouldn't buy the full CSx version of Photoshop - stick with Photoshop Elements! This has 99% of the features you'll ever need and is about 10% of the price of CSx! Look forward to seeing your future maps!

I've noticed a big difference. The site seems to load a lot faster and I haven't had any time outs. Where I am I have very fast internet (through luck rather than choice!) and that's why I notice any drop-outs on sites very quickly. Thank you for upgrading - big difference

Some fantastic maps posted by NiceMarmot! These look great and makes me proud to be part of this guild. I hope to do a rough sketch of the area surrounding Stone Town sometime over the holiday period. That way you can incorporate it into your excellent maps! Great to see we are still attracting new members! Looking forward to seeing all the fantastic new sigfigs. Lovely city map SkaForHire! I need to do one of these for Stone Town. I love all these great maps as they help make it feel more real. ***** Finally, hope you all have a great day tomorrow! Lots of rattly presents under the tree! Look forward to seeing all your MOCs over the holiday period. Can't wait to get building again in the New Year!