Gary The Procrastinator

Great effects! Makes them really come to life.

That is awesome of you Capt Stabbin, greatly appreciate it! Good timing too. Thank you Endriu. I have created a small tutorial with pictures in a Keynote presentation and I also have it in a Powerpoint presentation. How would I display that in EB? Any ideas? Ha, we actually lived in Louisiana for about a total of 8 years before moving to Virginia, so I know exactly what you are talking about: "Nawlins" is how they say it. Ha! You Cannucks just didn't want to keep it! When I was in Kingston I toured Fort Henry and the tour guide asked if there were any "Lower-48ers here." So I raised my hand of course and she said, "We built this fort to keep you out. Must not have worked 'cause here you are!" I always like guides with a sense of humor. Thank you for the compliments. Thank you Gunman! Waterloo is on its way.... Thank you! I must admit that I did have the trees already built... Yes, unfortunately all war is cruel to some degree or another. Compared to the US Civil War this one was a walk in the park... Still, it's important to remember history so we don't repeat it....Thank you Blufiji for the compliment.

Outstanding posing and great setting. Your terrain work is top-notch, and you've captured the action so well it feels like a still from a movie. Great work here.

Thank you LittleJohn, I appreciate the comments very much. I've been on the Connie as well, lovely old ship. I'm so glad they've preserved these two treasures. Wow, that is such a kind compliment, thank you! I have La Haye Sainte about 1/8th finished now. The buildings alone will be 4 x 48x48 stud baseplates, and the garden and orchard will double that size. You should go to it CD! I will have two free tickets if we can arrange a meeting, but I won't have them until the Thursday prior. Thank you for those great images 2maxwell. Thank you Capt Braunsfeld. Yes, and I appreciate all the comments too. I had never seen that Brickfilm before. Funny how that song forgets to mention that the British burned down our Whitehouse...

Hilarious and well-executed build! Build = Bug Salad =

Thanks James, yeah one has to be careful on Wikipedia, it's fantastic for a very quick run down on something you may not know about, but further research always needs to be done to confirm anything factual... And I think the Colonels and Generals really were killed off up at the front end of the fighting, which is why it took General Lambert in charge of the British reserve to the rear to deploy his troops as cover, and it was he who finally gave the order to withdraw. THe joys of earworms! Cheers Murdoch. Cool family heirloom. I think I have ancesters from Arkansas who fought for the Rebs, but I don't have the lineage documentation to show it.

What a fun build, lots of playability here. Good job

Great build, I really enjoy LEGO interpretations of actual locations and events. You've done a wonderful job on this one.

Thank you lightningtiger, I appreciate the comment a lot. Thank you, yes it's one of Britain's "little wars" and America didn't achieve much out of it either, considering the Brits continued to impress our sailors into their navy afterwards even though that's one of the major things that triggered it. Ha, definintely not one of British Arms' shining moments that's for sure. I'm not a huge fan of it either, but the display was a one-day show at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, and with it being an earlier land-engagement for them I thought it fitting...which explains your other critique: the reason why all the Americans are in uniform is because this is supposed to be the Marine contingent, and they definitely were in uniform unlike the rest of the American "rabble". As to the casualties you are 100% correct, I messed that up by comparing British casualties for the entire campaign with American dead at this one battle...I fixed it as per your catch, good job on that. And don't worry, since I'm working on La Haye Sainte for Waterloo now, you'll see a major British victory soon Thanks Graham! They are deliberately made to be set up quickly for all these displays, but they sure do eat up a lot of resources... Wow what a great catch, I love the U.S.S. Constitution; you'd have thought I'd have caught it since that's such a fantastic battle for Old Ironsides. I got to tour it once back in 2011 when I was in Boston on a business trip. I have attempted to fix the mistake with a statement...but that picture is already Gimped. Too bad I didn't put the word "land" in there. Thanks 2Maxwell. Thank you very much Gremer! Yes I actually was there for the re-enactment and celebration at Appomattox VA on 8 and 9 April. It was awesome, the re-enactment was one of the best I've ever seen, with fog and mist making for a very moody, and actually historically-correct, display. But boy was it packed...so glad I did most of the stuff the day before on the 8th as on the 9th you couldn't get in to buy anything that day and each site had a long line. Still, I made sure I toured the McLean house on the 9th where the surrender was signed 150 years ago that day, and now I'm going to build that sucker at minifig scale! Thank you LEGO for the new dark red masonry brick... Thank you very much Captain Dee. Just you wait for our Battle of Waterloo display at Brickfair Virginia in August...there will be over 1000 figs, La Haye Sainte farm, and lots of terrain like this.

Displaying at the National Museum of the Marine Corps on April 11th, I had to come up with something featuring the USMC and also what’s apparently become my theme this year, the Anniversary of Something, so here’s my take on this iconic conflict. I only had about 6 hours to build it, so no border, and I would have liked to build up those ramparts higher but overall, fairly satisfied with this one. 100% LEGO except for the custom flags. Click on the pictures below for more detail. —————————— Ever forget something that was really important not to forget? The Battle of New Orleans, fought on January 8, 1815 was the last major combat of the War of 1812. 4732 American combatants, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, prevented nearly 11,000 British infantry and Royal Marines, commanded by General Edward Pakenham, from seizing New Orleans as a strategic prize to end the war. The war was actually over by the time the main battle was fought, ended by the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, but since the US government had not yet approved the treaty, the fighting in Louisiana would continue until the British withdrew on January 18th. One of the most lop-sided victories in history, the British advanced under very heavy fire only to find once they reached the American ramparts that the ladders necessary to ascend the fortifications were not available, having been forgotten by the negligence of the Colonel in charge of them. With limited access to the Americans and taking fire the entire time, all British officers over the rank of Major in the front ranks were killed, leaving no one to sound the retreat. Their casualties were therefore disproportionately high, losing over 2000 in just 25 minutes of fighting, compared to less than 100 American casualties (only 13 were actually killed). As for the USMC, 58 US Marines fought at New Orleans, and they are the American troops portrayed here (hence the USMC uniforms). Hope you like it, comments are welcome! Correction: This was the last major land battle of the war. As 2Maxwell points out below, the last combat was the naval battle between the USS Constitution vs. HMS Levant and HMS Cyane...which would make an outstanding LEGO build sometime as well!

Well-done! Especially those cow bones...

As I said on FLICKR, those facial expressions really make the MOC for me.

Absolutely hilarious! Perfect, thank you for the great laugh...and the shellfish too... :thumbup:

Thank you Graham, I like your latest build too, anything like the Adventurers them is always a welcome build!

Fun little build, made me smile.

Thank you LittleJohn, I appreciate it.

Bunch a wimps. A few Lenfel Scout Snipers could take 'em out easily BTW, is there any REAL LEGO there? I was just wondering Snark off. Some great color combos and posing, as usual Mark great stuff. Snark on. Eeesh, even Mark's enemies have that cheesy grin...

Welcome to EB, and what a great build to enter with! Magnificent work here, love all the details and the terrain is wonderful.

Another amzing build Mark. I like your dark green and olive green accents, but those mountains are so well-crafted.

Thank you Bonaparte for that great laugh! Humor is a beautiful thing.... I sure wish I could come to Europe again this year and be at the celebrations there in June, that would be such a joy. It would be awesome to get a tour from you as well! Originally I had planned to be there for the 200th Anniversary, but I had to switch jobs last October at much lower pay (but now have real job security) and now the money's too tight to afford the tickets from Virginia right now. Also my 17 year old son would come with me, so two tickets... Anyway thank you for the offer, it's tempting to go into debt and do it anyway,... ****So instead I will be building some MOCs to go with it. Next up is a 1-stud per foot build of La Haye Sainte Farm, along with the orchard and garden. This below is the plan I intend to build. I believe the main farm is about a 98 foot by 98 foot area. You'll have to let me know that you think:

Great build! The expressions work so well.

This is a sweet little work. It would look well when sunk into some trans-blue 1x1 round plates to mimic water.

Nice build, just right in size for this level of build. The lighting in the first actually works well to set a somber scene.

Thanks Balbo, I tried to stay close to the original Hever Castle. Thank you Graham. Thank you Capt Wolf, glad you liked both the story and build. Thanks Capt Braunsfield, it was a fun and fast build and the story was enjoyable to write as well.

Hello again, I wanted to write a short suspenseful and action-packed bit with some espionage, and the build to go with it. The MOC is based on a real medieval kitchen at Hever Castle, England (click on the picture for the FLICKR link). This is also a global storyline update for Lands of Roawia. Hope you like it... --------------------------- Something wasn’t right, besides what the Duke of Ainesford was blabbing on about; no that cook…he was taking far too long to clean up the ale he himself had spilled on the stairs. And Captain Tavish was certain he was pausing to listen to what was being said on the Speaker's Floor, strictly against the rules for “the help” here at this Great Congress of Lenfald. The grizzled archer nudged Sir Caelan Munro sitting next to him, but the Baron barely noticed as he listened to Ainesford's speech and replied, “Can you believe what this pompous jester here is advocating? Full compliance with the new king, improper marriage and all! I just lost all respect for the Duke...” Tavish shook his head in mild frustration at Sir Caelan and got up to check on the cook, but he had barely made it halfway there when the cook suddenly collected his rags and left. Now that was entirely too coincidental… The Captain headed down the hallway to find him but was immediately accosted by the two ever-present and intellectually-challenged guards waiting there. Security at the Great Congress was incredibly tight due to the volatile nature of what was being discussed; no one except the castle guards themselves were allowed any weapons whatsoever, and all the delegates and staff were sequestered inside the castle for the duration of this critical assembly. Upon seeing the archer they held out their halberds to stop him, but Tavish was way ahead of them. “Ah, there you are my good lads, I am here to report an illegal weapon, one of the delegates has a knife, I clearly saw it. Here, let me point him out.” Excited that they finally had something real to do, the two looked like dogs waiting to go fetch a thrown stick. The Captain deliberately motioned at the middle of the delegates on the far side of the largest hall in all of Lenfald, and pointed indiscriminately, “there, that one wearing dark green.” The two were halfway across when they realized nearly every delegate there was wearing the official color of Lenfald. The archer entered the Great Kitchen impatiently as he searched for the man, to no avail; he wasn’t there. It was incredibly busy in the hot room, but there was one cook removing the entrails from a goose who he grabbed by the arm after the man objected to his presence. “Did a cook just rush through here?” “Oh no, I haven’t seen a cook all day!" he spit out sarcastically. "Look about you mate, you’re in a kit…” he didn’t get any farther as he was suddenly and violently shaken. “Tall, thin, muscular, with a goatee and a deep tan like he has been in the…” a sinking feeling hit Captain Tavish as he finished his own sentence, “…desert.” “Oh, the new bloke,” the cook muttered resentfully. “Yeah, he’s in the side kitchen over there.” “New bloke? But the staff has been sequestered!” “Aye but we ran short o’ help and contracted from outside…” Now Tavish’s stomach was turning, and not from the sight of the goose’s entrails. He shot down the side hall and found the door to the secondary kitchen locked from the inside. He was not a slight man however and he burst through it after four body slams, only to face an arrow shot at him. Quickly turning to present a smaller target the shot barely missed, and Tavish then plunged into the small kitchen. It had two ovens, one to his left and another to his right with a window facing the outer ward of the castle. A massive pot of some concoction was bubbling away in that fireplace, and two cooks were to his left, down and bleeding in front of the other oven. To his right across a table full of foodstuffs and dishes stood the dubious cook, now smoothly knocking another arrow. As Tavish reached for a large pot to try and deflect the shot, the cook instead leveled the shot at the window and fired the arrow out of it. Instantly Tavish knew he had just lost, for two things came to his eye; the arrow had a note tied to it — the spy had just successfully gotten the word out as to whatever he had heard. And the other thing was personally alarming; the cook had a tattoo of a crow on the inside of his arm--the same kind of decoration that the fearsome Areani have to show their allegiance to Lenfald's enemies the Loreesi— that this was going to be one bloody fight, perhaps the Captain's last. So he didn’t wait, and threw the pot at him as hard as he could, catching the spy in the ribs. That should have doubled him over, but the desert-dweller barely noticed it. He produced a curved Loreesi dagger from inside his shirt and a second knife and attacked with both, while Tavish grabbed a kitchen knife and jar of seeds, and the two went at each other with full force. The jar wound up shattered as it absorbed a crushing blow from the dagger, and Tavish gave him a brutal slash across the shoulder, which again the Areani barely seemed to notice. In the flurry, the archer had sustained four bloody cuts from the spy and knew he wouldn’t last long against this seemingly inhuman opponent. Then the Areani reacted to something over Tavish’s shoulder and a jar came flying out of nowhere and hit the spy in the head, shooting flour everywhere, clouding up the air. Sir Caelan Munro suddenly appeared and dashed by the Captain, attacking the cook with a meat cleaver. The sight would have been hilarious if it weren't for the circumstances of their opponent being a deadly Loreesi agent. Even dazed the Areani fought like a lion until Tavish grabbed a small iron pot and slammed it into the side of his head. Still the spy stood, but wavered. The temporary lull in the action allowed the sound of the bubbling pot to come through, and both Sir Caelan and Tavish simultaneously had the same idea, grabbing the spy by the arms and shoving him toward the fire. They forcefully pushed the Areani's head down into what turned out to be a lovely pea soup, now at full boil. The spy struggled mightily as he burned, but both his opponents held on until he went limp. “We need to question him, I think,” Caelan barely managed and finally Tavish relented, letting the man fall to the floor with horrendous second-degree burns now all over his head and face, also covered in a slimy green. The two friends stood huffing from their exertion until Baron Munro finally blurted, “You left just when the Duke was getting interesting…” "I doubt that very much." Tavish stumbled to the window and cursed. “The blighter must have shot right over the outer wall. Jig’s up now; whatever was on that note is long gone.” Just then the same two guards who had stopped the Captain earlier now slammed into the kitchen. They took in the Areani, the mess, and the two hurt cooks to their left and looked furiously at them. Sir Caelan only waved at the spy on the floor and by way of explanation stated indignantly, “He ruined the soup.” Two days later, a man dressed in fine red clothing stood on a tower of the King’s Castle, and held out his arm expectantly. A bird came down swiftly and alighted on his arm, and he gently caressed the falcon. He then unfastened the message tied to its leg and began reading carefully. His brow furrowed slightly after reading a few lines; then a calmness came over him. He looked towards the vast horizon and paused to consider everything that had taken place in the last few weeks. Then Loreesi Prince Jarius tucked the message into his pocket and, carrying the bird with him, walked purposely towards the stairs of the tower. ------------------------- Hope you like the build and story; comments are welcome!