Dwarven Affairs

There's announcing a build challenge and then there's announcing a build challenge with style. Ecclesiastes has just released the latest in a series of challenges over at Eurobricks featuring the on-going saga Guilds of Historica and he has done so with a bang! I personally would feel extremely intimidated to submit anything to this contest as my MOC would only hide in the proverbial and literal shadows of this amazing castle. Seriously, it is OK to sit, stare, and marvel at the scale of this beast. I won't tell, just clean up the drool when you are done.

Challenge Three of Book II

Caer Caradoc

This one might ruffle a few feathers of the purists out there. No, there's no Kreo or Mega infiltrating this amazing MOC by Derfel Cadarn, but there is a little non-LEGO present. Some of the vines and creepers you see are actually fishing tackle. But it's used to such great effect and only as a subtle decoration, I'll implore the more emphatic out there to grant him a pass, this thing is gorgeous.

Caer Caradoc

Dino Riding And Battle Ready

So you say you've got some swords? Oh, and those are some nice sturdy shields. You've even got some smaller weapons for close quarters and some ranged weapons, very diverse. Yes, you seem fairly ready for battle. Why you've even got some banners and colorful uniforms, quite spiffy. Well...is your army riding FRIGGIN DINOSAURS? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Clans of the Highlands
Clans of the Highlands

Watchtower Of Gragoloon

It takes care and skill to pack this much detail in a footprint this size. Many builders confuse detail as "more stuff" and that's simply not the case. Everything should have purpose and serve the MOC. This diorama by Cesbrick strikes an excellent balance between foliage, structures and equipment to make it super detailed, but not unnecessarily "busy".

WTA3

A Feast For The Eyes As Well As The King

This banquet scene is from the upcoming book Build Your Own LEGO Knights Realm. And if this single image is any indication, it's going to be a fantastic book. There's so much detail here you can stare at this image for ages and keep spotting new things. My favorite detail is the candelabra on the main table, great use of the handcuffs part.

Knights banqueting
 
Build Your Own Lego Knight's Realm: The Big Unofficial Lego Builder's Book
By Joachim Klang, Philipp Honvehlmann, Lutz Uhlmann, Tim Bischoff
 

The Blacksmith's House

When you spend every day looking for notable MOCs it gets more and more rare that you say to yourself "that's cool, I've never seen that before". Well it happened this morning when I gazed upon this lovely little blacksmiths house by Simon S. The first thing that caught my attention was the cool purple shingled roof, but then I saw the walls festooned with all manner of armor and I was smitten.

Belynia's Blacksmith
Belynia's Blacksmith

Master Greybeard's House

Whenever I see a build in this style for some reason celtic music or something similar the the Lord of the Rings soundtrack plays in my head. There's just something so wonderfully organic and appealing when it's done right, and this MOC by One More Brick is done right. I especially like the tapered foundation, it feels at once like it might tip over and also sit soundly forever.

Master Greybeard's House
Master Greybeard's House

Battle At Hell's Gate

Well, since Tommy is gone on vacation and far away from anything resembling an internet connection, I guess that leaves me in charge and there are going to be some changes around here! Starting right now we are going to feature Castle MOCS and Castle MOCS only. I'm thinking we should re-brand the site, CastleNerd, and slap a kettle hat on nerdly.

OK, not really, but it was a good thought.

Anyway, on to Mr. Patrick Massey's latest MOC, THE BATTLE AT HELL'S GATE! Dun dun dun. All joking aside this is a pretty sweet creation that Patrick has put together. I am a huge fan of the stellar rock work and the exceptional minifigure posing. Also, and take note fellow builders, I really think the evil under-dark of the fantasy castle genre is heavily under represented and would like to see lots more of this.

Make sure to click through the entire series of pictures in this build so you can see all of the little up close posing details.

Battle at Hell's Gate

Siege Of The Royal Castle

I find medieval warfare fascinating. Can you imagine what it was like to wrap your body in a metal suit and storm a giant building made of rock? Just to have arrows fired at you, boiling oil dropped on you or have another guy in a metal suit come at you with a ginormous sword? I'd be dead in moments I'm sure. Builders like Disco86 help us imagine what it was like with stellar builds like this. A little snapshot of time, of a larger place and larger battle. See that guy falling off the wall? That's me. 

Siege of the Royal Castle

The 2nd Battle Of Devil's Pass

This battle scene by Mark of Falworth is an awesome MOC. I think people fall into a bit of a trap with large builds by making them too symmetrical, and therefore somewhat uninteresting. But look at the shape of this one, by making one cliff side longer than the other, and making the edges undulate, it has interest and dynamics in just the terrain alone. Throw in a few dozen soldiers about to get busy and you have all the makings of epic.

The 2nd Battle of Devil's pass.

Belynia Extended

Some of our loyal readers will instantly recognize this castle from a previous post we did on Belynia Castle. Well Belynia is no longer just a castle but has been expanded out to an entire village. Simon really took this village in a direction that I was not expecting and that is more than OK and I am really floored with the way it turned out. When taking a closer look at the village make sure to check out all the additional details he added including the docks and the water technique on the shore line.

Belynia

Finrodias

Feast your eyes on this! Just last Tuesday we were treated to the Kingdom of Renroth, now POCKYLAND is back with another absolutely mind-boggling build. Not only that, but another build called Renerrost slipped under the radar since then. I wish I have more info to share about these amazing builds, but you'll have to be content with with the total jollification of eye candy. Do yourself a favor and click through and view some high res pics, enjoy!

Finrodias Harbor
Finrodias-the harbor
Finrodias-The statue of Freedom

The Grand Joust of Gisellirburg

Mark of Falworth and his real-life brother, "Brother" Steven dropped an excellent medieval joust creation on us late last night. The Grand Joust is taken from the last part of their first book in their new series, The Anselm Saga. This build features a lot of what I like to see in a castle MOC, lots of small details, character, visual depth and a good use of color. I expect we will see many more MOCs from their book series in the coming months so stay tuned and check back often.

The Grand Joust of Gisellicburg

Eat Like It's Your Last Day On Earth, For It May Be.

This great hall by MinifigNick is massive, and positively packed with detail. I really encourage you to click through and view the largest picture of this stunning diorama. There's detail everywhere you look and it tells a rich story of the night before a battle. Although I have to say, Sir Ethelbert Elynbrigge employs a great number of jesters, hmm.

The Evening Before Battle