[SoNE Ep XI] The Tip of the Force Pike

[LucasLaughing]

Trooper: I'm just sayin, if we got walkers and tanks how come they sending us in first?

Sgt Kirana: Jax, the whole point is that we outpace the walkers and rush the city before the rebels can hunker down.

Trooper: Sure, sarge, I got that part, but the hover tanks are almost fast as us. Why not send them first? I mean, might be mines in the road or, or bombs...

Trooper: Exactly! You're not going to send a million-credit tank to scout for mines when you can send a refurbished swamp speeder, right? It's simple economics, Jax.

We were one of several fast assault convoys; a mixture of upgraded swamp speeders, troop carriers and assorted light armor. The plan was to hit Kuat city from several directions at once, and establish forward outposts while the walkers encircled the city. Any rebels who fled from our advance would be chased down by the units behind us. We arrived at our AO, the central market, around 0900.

Sgt Kirana: Acklay 2-1 to Acklay Actual.

Lt. Tanager: Send it 2-1.

Sgt Kirana: Ma'am, we have reached the central market and are preparing to set-up a defensive cordon...

Sgt Kirana: I have eyes on what appear to be armed militia...

... as well as an individual on a rooftop who seems to be relaying our position via a handheld comm unit.

...request permission to occupy the building and bring in the suspicious individual for questioning, over.

Lt Tanager: Solid copy 2-1. You are cleared to occupy structures as you see fit until we've established our forward operating base. You are also cleared to detain and interrogate any suspicious individuals, but current ROE states you are not to engage any neutral militia unless threatened. How copy, over?

Sgt Kirana: 2-1 copies all. Thank you ma'am.

Lt Tanager: Happy hunting, 2-1.

A few close ups of the market:

A few more swamp speeder shots:

[ChiefPie]

Your swamp speeders are really cool! Today seems like a soNE day with atleast over 5 episodes!

[Tariq j]

The markets amazing! I like all the attention to detail and variety of aliens

[Lord Tyrus]

Beautiful speeders! I love the variety of aliens you have included and the angled streets look great!

[Kodan Black]

Great speeders and I'm jealous of your minifig variety! I love the bustling, cramped market.

[goatman461]

great job getting in-universe shots and incorporating some neat architectural elements and details throughout. I'm not sure about some of the minifig selection, but you yellows always erk me when comes to figs :) while the scene has a great overall vibe, I think those swamp speeders are you best part, the detail is fantastic and you were able to blend lbg and dbg together so seamlessly. You structured them extremely well so that it looks like they do belong in the swamps with their shallow hull.

[Brickwolf]

The speeders are great. They have a nice utilitarian military appearance.

[WickNole]

It is always very nice to see an "all LEGO" shots, without any background visible. :)

Speeders are very well-built and nicely detailed - and in comparison with simple and straight lines of the buildings they look very good.

Speaking of the pictures - one technical comment, if I may: try to rotate the picture a bit - so the horizontal lines are horizontal. Currently it looks like the thing is falling to the left.

All close-ups are perfectly fine if the lines are not aligned, as these are POV shots. But this first one,I believe, could really benefit from this.

[Jannik]

Those swamp speeders look so believable, everything looks functional and I love all the little details like the lights on the sides.

The sense of scale is great too, those buildings look enormous.

[LucasLaughing]

Your swamp speeders are really cool! Today seems like a soNE day with atleast over 5 episodes!

Thanks! Yeah, I think the majority of the episode entries tend to get posted on the last day.

The markets amazing! I like all the attention to detail and variety of aliens

Beautiful speeders! I love the variety of aliens you have included and the angled streets look great!

Thanks guys! It's always fun to have an excuse to raid my 'alien minifig' box

Great speeders and I'm jealous of your minifig variety! I love the bustling, cramped market.

Thank you! It's nice that we're getting a wider variety of minifigs in less expensive sets lately - I've also gotten lucky with some second-hand LEGO boxes.

great job getting in-universe shots and incorporating some neat architectural elements and details throughout. I'm not sure about some of the minifig selection, but you yellows always erk me when comes to figs :)

Thanks - my buildings were definitely inspired by the WIP you posted in the comms thread. I've actually tried to find a fleshie head who would be a good replacement for my sigfig, but haven't found any that are a good fit yet. If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate it.

while the scene has a great overall vibe, I think those swamp speeders are you best part, the detail is fantastic and you were able to blend lbg and dbg together so seamlessly. You structured them extremely well so that it looks like they do belong in the swamps with their shallow hull.

The speeders are great. They have a nice utilitarian military appearance.

Those swamp speeders look so believable, everything looks functional and I love all the little details like the lights on the sides.

The sense of scale is great too, those buildings look enormous.

It is always very nice to see an "all LEGO" shots, without any background visible. :)

Speeders are very well-built and nicely detailed - and in comparison with simple and straight lines of the buildings they look very good.

Thanks everyone - the speeders took a long time, and you're seeing at least version 3.0. Thanks again, btw, for the suggestions on my WIP speeders. I was definitely going for a 'functional' look, so I'm glad that came through.

Speaking of the pictures - one technical comment, if I may: try to rotate the picture a bit - so the horizontal lines are horizontal. Currently it looks like the thing is falling to the left.

All close-ups are perfectly fine if the lines are not aligned, as these are POV shots. But this first one,I believe, could really benefit from this.

Good call - I think I need to budget my building / photoing time better, so that I don't end up trying to do rushed shots on the last day.

Edited May 4, 2016 by LucasLaughing

[Puvel]

Great story and build!

The building on the left is very nice, love the colour combination and the entrance looks great.

The little sequence of the Chima butcher chopping, the baskets of drum sticks and the LGMs eating them as they watch the beautiful speeders go by is a very cool addition

[Forresto]

Simply fantastic diorama and story! The layers of building and accruements adorning everything really sell that this is a place people actually live. The shot with the swamp speeders, which are beyond excellent in their own right, is a rather striking display of Imperial military might. Urban scenes can be hard to sell in Lego and you managed to do it! I look forward to future MOCs.

[brickmasterben11]

I was blown away! I've always wanted to build a market/Imperial MOC, maybe like the market scenes in Star Wars Rebels.

[MKJoshA]

All the good things I have to say have been said. Good job! And do I see my character in the left corner hiding under a beanie? Intentional or not that's really cool! I would like to see a picture of the whole things zoomed out though, even if it's hidden under a spoiler tag.

[Thelonious Sparke]

Fantastic build and all those different characters make this even better. What an amazing entry, really.

[LucasLaughing]

Great story and build!

The building on the left is very nice, love the colour combination and the entrance looks great.

The little sequence of the Chima butcher chopping, the baskets of drum sticks and the LGMs eating them as they watch the beautiful speeders go by is a very cool addition

Thanks! I'm glad you spotted the little story - I tried to pose most of the characters like they were actually doing things in the market.

Simply fantastic diorama and story! The layers of building and accruements adorning everything really sell that this is a place people actually live. The shot with the swamp speeders, which are beyond excellent in their own right, is a rather striking display of Imperial military might. Urban scenes can be hard to sell in Lego and you managed to do it! I look forward to future MOCs.

Thank you! If you don't want to wait for future MOCs, I have about 20 prior SoNE builds linked on my profile

I was blown away! I've always wanted to build a market/Imperial MOC, maybe like the market scenes in Star Wars Rebels.

Thanks!

All the good things I have to say have been said. Good job! And do I see my character in the left corner hiding under a beanie? Intentional or not that's really cool! I would like to see a picture of the whole things zoomed out though, even if it's hidden under a spoiler tag.

Hah, including your character was actually a happy accident, but that's awesome

Fantastic build and all those different characters make this even better. What an amazing entry, really.

Thank you!

[wout1988]

Great diorama!

[strider117]

Awesome story and better build! I'm absolutely in love with the swamp speeders and was happy to see the 4504 hyperdrive as some kind of creature in there. Very nice

[Merc4Hire]

Wow what a marvelous scene! Very detailed city scene with so many different characters and the swamp speeders look great. Awesome work