Challenge 1, Cat. B: Stranglehold tower

[Gabe]

Rutger Van Stappenbelt looked out on the dreary, narrow mountain pass he had been charged with capturing and defending in the name of the Black Spire. Originally he had been a Valyrian noble with a dubious past - a minor official in the diplomatic corp, it was nevertheless whispered that he held much power to influence the right people. During the Revolward war he had been sent to Petraea, but was found guilty of passing intellegence to Hand of corruption forces during the battle of Queenscross. Thrown into prison to await execution, the charismatic noble managed to engineer a prisioner revolt and in the ensuing chaos, he escaped with a small band of hardened criminals. Managing to make his way to Nocturnus, he once again joined forces with his hand paymasters.

His right hand man and bodygaurd, Badrig Headtaker, shifted impatiently by his side.

"Sire, the main minotour force will be arriving soon to retake the tower. With your permission, i shall move to block the pass - I am eager to show these Nocturnian dogs to thier graves!"

"Nay good Badrig, stay a while yet. No sense in risking our skins yet in open combat. Yuraddek Shadowsinger has not yet returned from scouting and laying her snares. Besides, any Nocturnian scum that do manage to make it this far will have to deal with Master Blight's pet shade... how does one fight the deathless? It should be entertaining to watch!"

Small footprint i know - this was originally going to be for Cat 1, but i just kept building up and up and finally thought what the heck, lets just call it a tower.

Back side of the tower - not that interesting but i quite liked that window.

None shall pass who do not bear allegience to the Black Spire!

C and c welcome!

ps. UoP stuff: i would like to claim credit for the following subjects please: Round walls/towers (architecture), Sideways rocks and Studs-up rocks (both landscape design), and Fortification (Millitary Science). Thanks!

[Gunman]

beautiful moc and idd very inderesting window there.,,!

Master Blight's pet shade :) cool fig!

[Lord Vladivus]

Awesome! Love the tower, it's my favourite technique that I've seen (I don't think I've seen one that mixes technic and system like that). The Minotaur skull above the door is a nice touch.

And we of Nocturnus know exactly how to deal with the deathless.

[soccerkid6]

I love your vine design, will have to borrow that, and the top section of the tower is fantastic :wub:The whole scene works very well together and captures an excellent Black Spire vibe

[MKJoshA]

My favorite part is your snot work on the parapets. Incredible! I also like the staircase and the black thorns on the vine. Curved staircases are tricky for me, but your technique is absolutely flawless!

[NiceMarmot]

I like this a lot. Great round walls; way to mix up the techniques! I wish I had more of those 2 stud technic lift arms, but they're expensive on BrickLink. Last time I checked, you could get the 7 stud lift arms cheaper than the 2 stud ones.

+1 for the military fortifications and the round walls. I'm not sure there's enough rockwork here for both rock landscaping credits… Let me think on that one.

[gedren_y]

Wonderful. I have no qualms about posting +1 for all credits.

[mrcp6d]

I really like the combination of the lift arms with the SYSTEM components. The color choices are great, the structure is fantastic and the dark background was a very good decision.

Overall, a fine example of quality over quantity!

[Kayne]

Looks great Gabe! I really like the use of the technic arms in here. It has the 1x2 tower feel, but more refined with those technic arms. I will grant +1 to all 4 claims for UoP

[Gabe]

beautiful moc and idd very inderesting window there.,,!

Master Blight's pet shade :) cool fig!

Thanks Gunman! I'm thinking about making the raising of the "pet shade" part of my cat A entry.. continuity and all that, even if it is a little out of sequence.

Awesome! Love the tower, it's my favourite technique that I've seen (I don't think I've seen one that mixes technic and system like that). The Minotaur skull above the door is a nice touch.

And we of Nocturnus know exactly how to deal with the deathless.

Thanks Lord Vladivus! Yeah i hadn't seen anyone combine the technic and system techniques of building round walls either so i was keen to have a go. It's a bit fiddly as the technic liftarms don't seem to quite fit the "5 plates high/2 studs long" formula we are all so familar with, plus there are quite a few half-plate gaps where i had to maintain the brickwork pattern. It adds a bit to the feel of a crumbly old tower i guess!

I love your vine design, will have to borrow that, and the top section of the tower is fantastic :wub:The whole scene works very well together and captures an excellent Black Spire vibe

Thanks Soccerkid! I was a bit worried that the top of the tower would look a bit bloated and randomly plonked on there, so i'm glad that you think it works well.

My favorite part is your snot work on the parapets. Incredible! I also like the staircase and the black thorns on the vine. Curved staircases are tricky for me, but your technique is absolutely flawless!

ThanksMKJoshA! Curved staircases are quite easy as long as you give them some good support underneath. The trickiest part i find is filling in/covering the sides.

I like this a lot. Great round walls; way to mix up the techniques! I wish I had more of those 2 stud technic lift arms, but they're expensive on BrickLink. Last time I checked, you could get the 7 stud lift arms cheaper than the 2 stud ones.

+1 for the military fortifications and the round walls. I'm not sure there's enough rockwork here for both rock landscaping credits… Let me think on that one.

Thanks NM! Yeah, as soon as i saw Tiberium Blue's T'Met Monastery , i rushed out and bought up a heap of 1x2 liftarms. They were pretty cheap then - maybe 5-7c/part? No idea how much they are now.

I know there isn't a lot of rockwork as it's a pretty small moc - although there are 3 seperate patches of snotted rockwork visible from the front angle. But i'm happy with whatever you decide is fair.

Wonderful. I have no qualms about posting +1 for all credits.

Thanks gedren!

[Gabe]

I really like the combination of the lift arms with the SYSTEM components. The color choices are great, the structure is fantastic and the dark background was a very good decision.

Overall, a fine example of quality over quantity!

Thanks for your kind words mrcp6d! Yeah i love my dark card backgrounds. Haven't used them in a while but they felt perfect for this.

Looks great Gabe! I really like the use of the technic arms in here. It has the 1x2 tower feel, but more refined with those technic arms. I will grant +1 to all 4 claims for UoP

Thanks Kayne! I liked the tower effect too with the liftarms in there. It's a bit of a shame that it's so super fiddly, although i guess a straight wall would be easier to constuct. it'd be interesting to see it on a larger scale. I just wish Lego still made these in black or grey!

[MKJoshA]

Thanks Lord Vladivus! Yeah i hadn't seen anyone combine the technic and system techniques of building round walls either so i was keen to have a go. It's a bit fiddly as the technic liftarms don't seem to quite fit the "5 plates high/2 studs long" formula we are all so familar with, plus there are quite a few half-plate gaps where i had to maintain the brickwork pattern. It adds a bit to the feel of a crumbly old tower i guess!

Would you mind explaining what you mean by the "5 plates high/2 studs long" formula? I'm still trying to learn some the more well known secrets to SNOT building and other techniques besides brick-on-brick.

[janatale]

That tower is just beautiful! I think one of the most difficult things about a round tower is finishing the top and your technique is just incredible. I might have to borrow your design on my next round tower if you don't mind! I also love the vine and the skull above the door. Overall the tower just screams Black Spire. Incredible!

[mrcp6d]

Would you mind explaining what you mean by the "5 plates high/2 studs long" formula? I'm still trying to learn some the more well known secrets to SNOT building and other techniques besides brick-on-brick.

5 plates worth of vertical is the same distance as 2 studs worth of horizontal. To prove it:

1. stack four plates together, then put a tile on top of the stack
   
2. stick two 1x2 bricks on the end studs of a 2x4, there should be room for a 2x2 between the 1x2s
   
3. the stack of plates will fit between the 1x2s in a sideways orientation
   

There you go! There's probably easier ways to prove it to yourself, but that's what came to mind first.

For further reference:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/KimT/Mixed/Instructions/advbuilding.pdf

[The Architect]

Nice use of the minotaur head.

Rutger Van Stappenbelt has an amazing sword. Where can I get one like it?

[MKJoshA]

For further reference:

http://www.brickshel...advbuilding.pdf

I've seen many of these explained before, but I've never seen so comprehensive a guide! Thank you for sharing!

[de Gothia]

So great Gabe! I love that tower! It looks like it came up from the rockwork, just so smoothly! The figs are really great!

So many details packed into this small area! Awesome!

[Ecclesiastes]

Creepy! Love the rock and wood work and the black fangs look good on the leaves. Also great work on the skull, I first thought it was from the Lone Ranger set.

[Gabe]

Would you mind explaining what you mean by the "5 plates high/2 studs long" formula? I'm still trying to learn some the more well known secrets to SNOT building and other techniques besides brick-on-brick.

I was going to link to the same article too, but mrcp6d beat me to it! Lots in there to get one thinking.

That tower is just beautiful! I think one of the most difficult things about a round tower is finishing the top and your technique is just incredible. I might have to borrow your design on my next round tower if you don't mind! I also love the vine and the skull above the door. Overall the tower just screams Black Spire. Incredible!

Thanks! Yeah, borrow away, it's not like i own the technique or anything. I was actually trying to channel Ecc a bit with my tower capping in this moc, i really admire the style and finish he brings to his towers.

Nice use of the minotaur head.

Rutger Van Stappenbelt has an amazing sword. Where can I get one like it?

Brickforge is the place to go. They have some pretty nice stuff, it's easy to spend a fair bit of money there.

So great Gabe! I love that tower! It looks like it came up from the rockwork, just so smoothly! The figs are really great!

So many details packed into this small area! Awesome!

Thanks deGothia! I'm glad that you think the tower works organically with the underlying rockwork, that was exactly the look i was going for.

Creepy! Love the rock and wood work and the black fangs look good on the leaves. Also great work on the skull, I first thought it was from the Lone Ranger set.

Thanks Ecc! You mean the Voldemort head? Yeah I tried the ghost warrior with a "evil" skull head first and it still looked too cute, so i swapped it for this one. It's super creepy i love it.

[Wedge09]

That's great :thumbup: I like in particular the stonework and the tower

[Thomas of Tortuga]

I love the crenelations!

[lord raphael]

nice work!!

[The Architect]

Thanks Gabe I appreciate the quick answer.

[Gideon]

Very nice tower design and technique! I really like how you've mixed the technic parts with system parts in the walls and how the tower feels like it grows out of the rocks I also like the minotaur heads in different states of decay decorating the entrance.

Nocturnus must yield before the mighty fortifications of the Black Spire!

UoP +1 for all the credits.

[Kayne]

I just wish Lego still made these in black or grey!

I second that...I have a million in blue and tan...no black and a few in the old grey