[OL - INTRO] The letter

[robinnilsson403]

Lan the engineer was working, as most days lately, to optimise one of his prototypes for new cannon to the navy.

"Ah, soon this will be able to swing faster than the sword of a blademaster! Just a little more..."

There was a knock at the door.

"Come!"

It was Gawyn, the young apprentice Lan took on a few weeks ago.

"Sire! Sire! I have a letter for you! I think it's from the king himself!"

"What do you mean? Why would the king send me a letter? Oh, don't answer that. Hand it to me."

Taking the letter, Lan turned to the windows as he read.

"Lan Bashere,

As you may know there are ships sailing for New Terra soon.

I command you to go there as soon as possible. Your skills are required of you in the new lands.

Make sure that our troops fortify taken positions, as to hinder other factions influence.

Signed - S II"

"Do you know what this means Gawyn? We'll have lots of work to do! Pack all belongings we will need. I fear that there is a long time until we see home again."

[Captain Genaro]

Those are some nice looking cannons. Can't wait to see them defending Oleon's rightful claims.

I also like the masonry bricks to add some texture, but feel that it could be included a bit more. Also, I recommend adding some spare parts in the workshop, just to add some more detail.

[Captain Dee]

For *some* reason I feel a magnetic attraction to this scene...

...and I'm curious as to exactly what type of work Lan is doing, as an engineer, with the prototypes. Tinkering with new designs, features, or construction methods I suppose?

To the build: you picked one of the top subjects, in my opinion, and the custom guns look pretty good. The room itself is rather plain but if you were looking for a simple smooth stone design then it works well enough - textures can be overdone at times, although I suppose that's mostly just a way to try to work around the very limited number of useful Lego colors. I would also like to see a few more interior details, but that would be dependent on exactly what type of an environment this is supposed to be - dirty workshop, clean lab or something in between. The lighting could be a little better too. Good idea for an intro and nice story to match.

[TitusV]

Neat build! The cannons are very good, my only point of critique would be that, as Cpt Dee said, the room seems a bit bare

[robinnilsson403]

Thanks for the comments this far! It will help me improve.

I didn't want to cramp the room with too much things, as I feared it would take the power of the pictures. I could use more texture in the walls, but I was afraid to over do it. :-)

And I'm not the worlds best photographer. I recently moved, so all stuff is still stored away. For some builds (coming up tonight, fingers crossed) I've used other settings, hopefully bettering the lightning.

Thanks for your comments this far!

[blackdeathgr]

Nice intro and an even more interesting sigfig's job! I too am wondering about his exploits in the New World. I think i must persuade you to make your workshop in the same colony most of us Oleanders move in as well, so that we all feel more protected by your weapon/cannon prototypes! After all, our Oleander forefathers said it clearly: Strength come in numbers. And guns! But you know that better than i do :)

Edited January 10, 2016 by blackdeathgr

[Gideon]

Nice intro! Great to see another builder from Swebrick around here! You've joined the right kingdom as well by the way

I like the mix of light gray and lbg, gives the wall a more natural feeling.

Regarding the photos, with a white background like that it's easy to get rid of the yellowish hue by correcting the white balance afterwards (particularly if you shoot in raw) by using an area of the background you know is more or less white.

I would also recommend you to step back the camera a bit and zoom instead, to lessen the perspective distortion which makes the front of the build magnified and the back of the build shrunken.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Gideon

[Sebeus I]

Nicely done,

It's a bit unlikely that the king himself would have written that letter but it probably was in his name.

As you may know Oleon is known to have the most efficient cannon crews, in combination with these cannons we will truly be invincible .

[Bregir]

First of all, I love those customs cannons! I have been struggling with building my own, and it really is a challenge. I have landed on two types for now (plus a few smaller cannons), of which I am very happy with one, and not so much with the other.

I like the simplicity of the room - he seems like a very orderly engineer, which I think is sensible, given he works with gunpowder and cannons... (In Denmark, there is a story that cannons were of too low quality and tended to explode on being fired. The engineers who designed them was then required to sit on them, as they were fired the first time, and qulaity immediately went up! )

Maybe a barrel with parts or some furniture with drawers to indicate where he keeps the spare parts for his work would have fitted in well, but other than that, I like the clean look!

If he sets up a gun foundry, maybe he will attract customers from across the factions!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Fine start!

I'd recommend to use black for the cannons instead of the light grey.

[robinnilsson403]

Nicely done,

It's a bit unlikely that the king himself would have written that letter but it probably was in his name.

....

This was on purpose. Good that you spotted it! S II could have been written by anyone... The plot thickens... ;)

[Kai NRG]

Very nice room! I like how clean it looks, and the custom cannons are pretty good too! Welcome to BoBS!