Etzel

Great torso skirt combination!

This is so impressive! I admire your ambition to build such a large MOC with so many details, and to succeed with such great result! I love that you didn't just choose one location for your build, like a wall, or a house, but went all in and included a whole section of a city with gates, palaces, street life, outskirts and much more. Truly a masterpiece, and dare I say a trendsetter for future Kaliphlin builds? I expect many (myself included) to draw inspiration from your magnificent gatehouses.

I love that you managed to show both the scene of the clock being made, and a detailed clock itself in such a limited footprint. And it's mechanized too! Great job!

That's a very impressing hall! The banners in Kaliphlin colors helps to see the scale and the floor design fits the scene pefectly. I like the muted colors that goes well with serious topic being discussed by the envoys. The microbuild is also beautiful. The turquois dome stands out perfectly. The microscale ship foreshadows greater things to come

A grand epos! I think you deserve much praise for your story telling which really builds up the tension, and equally much for your detailed builds that brings the story to life. I very much like the council room with the wonderful bookcases with large volumes and scrolls.

My entry for category A, "Burning bridges":

Following the uprising in Mitgardia under Sir Uldain, Lord of Bleywood, the Northen Guild was is turmoil: To strengthen the popular support of his rebellion, Lord Bleywood sent out a group of men to seek out a shaman in the distant Clan Lands. Shaman Noiddi was considered mad by many, but during his episodes of trance he had vision of both past and future events. Rumors had spread of his vision of the old chieftain Krix the Cruel from many centuries ago that ruled almost all Mitgardian territory. Persuaded by Lord Bleywoods men, Noiddi seeked out the bog where the infamous chieftain had been buried the old-fashioned way in the dark, murky waters. With ancient rituals the shaman raised the bones of Krix the Cruel, and with them the last crown worn by something equal to a Mitgardian king. The antique artifacts were quickly transported the Lord Bleywood and presented to his son and heir, Sir Urdraigh. With the symbolic power of the chieftain of the olden times and the strength of the growing rebel forces, the Mitgardian people were ready to break free from the tyranny of the southern Queen… * * * It was finally time to face the battlefield for Lord Bleywood’s rebellion. So far they had succeeded in the political and tactical arena by gathering more and more lords and cities to their side, while at the same time the guild leaders in Valholl had been divided and undecisive in their actions. The support from the people had grown as well, and Lord Bleywood and his allies had increasingly became the true leaders of the lands of the Northern Guild. The threat to their success came now from the outside. Queen Ylspeth would not let a fourth of her kingdom slip away with out a fight. An army of loyal knights, mostly Avalonian nobles, and their levies marched north and set course towards Valholl to join up with the remaining royalist Mitgardians that were still holding out. The Bleywood forces made their stand at a bridge across the Whistling River in the southwest… The battle ended in a great victory for the rebellion. The Avalonian knights were lured out in the woods and picked of one and one, the footmen and archers tried to outflank the Mitgardians but got stuck in the mud, and the bridge was held by the elite troops of Theodore Bruin. The beaten royalists retreated to the south and the claim to the Northern lands by Lord Bleywood was now unquestioned. Sir Urdraigh took some noble prisoner to ransom and gave orders his soldiers: “Burn the bridges! We will have no use of them now that Mitgardia is once again a sovereign land. We want nothing from the southern lands anymore. The border is closed! Queen Ylspeth can try to salvage what little pride she has left, but one thing is certain: she is no longer Queen of Historica, because Historica as a unified kingdom is no more. The other guilds will soon follow us in their quest for independence.” More pictures can be found at my Bricksafe account: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Etzel/guilds-of-historica-

Don't give up hope yet. The Medieval Blacksmith is in the next review session (where the result will come in early 2020).

A very inspiring prelude, I'm really curious to see what the challenge will be. The bandit hideout sets the tone perfectly for a rugged and unbalanced Mitgardia. Love the snowy landscape!

Those are really nice! I love the use of some minifig torsos that I never thought to be so fitting for Indian MOCs. I very much like the flowered howdahs too.

Of course! I just got it (it got hold up in customs for a while) and can enjoy the excellent design IRL. The inside was packed with cool pieces. Big thanks for this amazing prize!

Thanks! The tan 2x2 cone has been produced, but it's quite expensive in quantities so I chose an easier option. I'm not the creator of the map, that honor belong to Viceroy

Great work! I think you really have the "Mitgardian feel" in your landscaping, a very good balance between bright and subdued colors that fits well in the cold north. The birch tree really lifts the build and matches nicely with the flag. The minifigs are on point as well, I didn't know the hair you used for Siggi came in that color.

A continuation of the story from "Pass it on", my Challenge III build, and of the misadventures of Shivering Ettu. The rebellion of Lord Bleywood and Lord Ulfgang is slowly beginning to take shape. With the help of the mercenaries of Theodore Bruin, these lords are hoping to gather more support from displeased nobles and break away from the leadership of the Steward in Valholl. Defensive preparations are being made as the risk of open conflict draws nearer and in Ulfgang land the stockades are being erected in all strategic places. According to the lord's deal Lord Bleywood has sent a group of prisoners to his ally to be used as workforce in the constructions. It's mostly just an excuse to show of my Ulfgang faction. Wolfpack shields and insignia, with dark red and dark green colors, and the nice tartan printed legs from Tartan Batman. I have a few ideas on how to bring this story forward, but I'm not sure how much time to build I'll have from now on. Maybe it will have to be a long term project. I did work a bit with the Mitgardia map to give you a bit of a hint of where this takes place. The map shows the southwest corner of Mitgardia. Blue+Gold: Bleywood, Dark Green+Dark Red: Ulfgang, Green+Yellow: Valholl, Mitgardia Capital

Thanks everyone! Really happy to come out on top among such great entries. Guess it's time to demolish and start building something new. ;)

Thank you very much for your nice comments! I'm happy the diagonal orientation worked and that all the little scenes fits together. Ah, that part hasn't actually been told yet. ;) I imagine something must have happened after Ettu arrived to Bleywood that made the Lord quite angry, but what that may have been is still a mystery... Those are actually official ones from the 71040 Disney Castle: sticker sheet

I've made an entry as well, Cat A:

"Pass it on", Category A entry for Challenge III. I got a bit carried away when writing the story for the build. If you prefer to just look at the pictures the compressed backstory is that the build shows a secret meeting between some Mitgardia nobles where they are planning a rebellion against the Guild of Mitgardia. All around the castle there are rumors and gossips about the events. In the stronghold of Sir Uldain, lord of Bleywood, things are stirring. Strange people are coming and going, lords have paid visits and mercenaries are camping outside the walls. Words travel fast in a big household, and it reaches every corner of it, even deep down into the darkest dungeons... Shivering Ettu, the far-traveled little man from the Northern-most part of the Clan Lands of Mitgardia, could just about hear the conversation that the guards were having outside his cell. They spoke of Sir Uldain and his guests. Apparently the lord had invited both two of the neighboring lords and a captain of a mercenary band. All the armed soldiers belonging to various factions had the guards on their toes and one of them shared her doubts about the true allegiance of the guests. Ettu didn't know what to make out of it, he didn't know who these people were or why they were there. It was difficult for him to care about anything really, locked up as he was. But still... the talk among the guards had been increasing during the latest weeks. There were a tension that forebode something grand and radical in the atmosphere of the stronghold. If something could change are break up the monotony of the realm, perhaps there were a small chance that Ettu could finally be free again? He had lost count of the days he had spent in his cell, but by the changing of seasons he figured it must have been about five years since he came to Bleywood... - Those bear soldiers look especially untrustworthy, I don't see why the lord let them stroll around the castle like this. ´- Relax, they are only allowed to walk around the village and into the courtyard, no one is allowed inside. Besides, they spend good money in the taverns. Alesia over at The Burping Rock said she'll be able to keep the fires going all winter thanks to all that gold those bears spread around them. Being a mercenary sure pays off it seems. - Whatever. I'm not interesting in joining them anyway. I'll stay loyal to the lord, especially with what may come... In the cell across from Ettu some imprisoned robbers also listened carefully at the conversation from the guards. - Maybe the mercenaries are here to recruit more soldiers? I know that sometimes they pick prisoners to join their ranks so this could be our chance to get out of this place! - Good idea! Hey, guards! Get over here! We need to talk! In the consulting room at the bottom floor of the castle three men were eagerly waiting for the negotiations upstairs to finish. The man with a wolf emblem on his tunic looked over the maps on the table again and again. - We should definitely go for the Antler river first. Controlling that gives us power over the most important trade routes south from Mitgardia. - Yes but the guild knows this too. They have strong garrisons in Vaholl and can easily reinforce by transporting more troops from the Winter Lakes region. The coastal cities along the Tradewind Bay should be our first target instead. That way we can establish contacts with potential allies in Avalonia and control much of the trade to Varlyrio. - You guys are too blinded by your lords' desire for gold and control over trade routes. Don't you think the guild will come down on you wherever you choose to attack first? You need to think strategically and make sure the Steward and his men underestimates your threat. Lure them into believing it's just a small uprising of angry peasants and then take them by surprise. With a bit of luck we will get some prisoners, that is a sure way of expanding the war budget. - Back off! You know the rules, no Ulfgangs or Teddy's Bears are allowed inside the castle. That's a direct order from the Lord of Bleywood. - Come on Gorm, we just want to know what's happening at the meeting. - And can't you smell the food cooking in the kitchen? I bet you there's stew, and roasted turkey and freshly baked bread and... - Bah! There's a wonder we even have an apple left in our larders with you guys here having done nothing but stuffing your faces for almost a fortnight. I don't envy the farmers downstream... eh, I mean... - Downstream? Towards the Antler River? Is that where we are going? - Forget what I said! The lords are busy and so should you be! Now get lost! In the kitchen the meals for lords and ladies were being prepared, and the kitchen boy just delivered an update on how far the lords had come in their discussions. - The Lord says they will dine within the hour, Miss. - Oh my... And how am I supposed to finish all these dishes in that time? It's so stressful to have make so many different dishes. Lord Ulfgang only eats his own recipes with that strange black sauce and Lord Bruin demands so many different spices. It's probably some expansive habit he's gotten into while traveling to Kaliphlin. - You might have more work coming, Miss. I overheard them talking about some lord from Tradewind Bay coming here as well and you know how much they love their seafood there. - Now that does it! I'm going to have a serious talk with Lady Bleywood about this. I can't keep up with the workload any more! Please Jarki, run and fetch your cousins Elmir and Tym as quickly as you can. First I need all the hands I can get to help me prepare the dinner! Upstairs, the highborn men and women of two old and proud families of Mitgardia were engaged in a hot-tempered debate. - Lady Ulfgang, I guarantee that if you try to avoid your share of the costs one more time this deal is off! I may be old but I'm not blind and this draft does not include your family's name among the financiers. - Lord Bleywood, I'm shocked that you think I might have done this on purpose! We fully support the arrangement we agreed upon yesterday, I assure you. - Spare me your excuses Lady, I've heard them before. Just change the draft to actually say what we have decided. Bleywood and Ulfgang both support Lord Theodore Bruin's Company with 40 % of their expenses for at least 4 months, or until the trade route to Avalonia is secured. The rest of the costs will be paid in land and rights to extract taxes after the conquest. - I don't like this Father, I don't trust these wolfs! They've tricked us before and will trick us again. As soon as the Steward appears with his troops they will run back into the forest with their tails between their legs! - Sir Udraigh! You might be the son of our host and heir to Bleywood but you have no right to speak about my noble family like that. Apologize at once or I'll have my champion challenging you to a duel! - Malvia, stop eavesdropping! You know your father strictly told you to not interfere anymore in the negotiations. - But Mother! What they speak of is treason! This is a real rebellion against the Guild of Mitgardia! Why isn't anyone doing anything? - Don't say that word! Your father is doing what is best for this family, by whatever means necessary. Have you forgotten all those taxes the Guild imposed on us because of their own failures of keeping the peace. We owe nothing to the Guild! Now step away from the door before anyone notices you! Up on the roof by the dovecote another hushed dialogue was taking place. - Quickly now, if someone comes up here now we are screwed! - I know, I know. I just got hold of the damn dove. I hope it's as fast as usual, the Steward needs to know about this scheme as fast as possible. - Is it really enough to only send one message? What if it gets caught by a bird of prey, or a fox, or shot down by an archer? - No time for any more! Your shift ends anytime now and I can't be here when you reliever comes up. It's been a while since I last built any GoH, but thankfully my friends talked me into it again. This was a fun build with many difficult angles and snotted areas that had to add up somehow. To give the build a Mitgardian feel to it I tried to avoid too lush greenery and incorporate a lot of wooden structures in the castle. I'm reusing my old character of Shivering Ettu from more than five years ago. Hopefully he will soon get out and see more of the world of Guilds of Historica, just as his creator. :)

The 17th of May is the national day of Norway, so what better way to celebrate my dear neighbors than with a Norwegian themed MOC? This is the Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft that Norwegian explorer and scientist Thor Heyerdahl with crew built and sailed across the Pacific Ocean in 1947. Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr The journey was made as an experiment to prove that pre-Columbian South Americans could've traveled and colonized Polynesia in the Southern Pacific Ocean. Rafts from the time had been documented in paintings and they were used as reference when building Kon-Tiki. The journey took 101 days from Peru to the island of Raroia in French Polynesia. The crew consisted of five Norwegians: Thor Heyerdahl, Erik Hesselberg, Knut Haugland, Torstein Raaby, Herman Watzinger adn one Swede Bengt Danielsson. They documented the expedition in both a documentary film and a book, and in 2012 there was also a dramatized feature film made. The real raft is in display in the Kon-Tiki museum in Oslo, Norway. I recommend the Wikipedia article if you want to know more about this fascinating expedition. Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr Kon-tiki by Etzel87, on Flickr Here are also some pictures of the MOC from the Swebrick exhibition two weeks ago. Pictures by @Ozp Klosskalaset Swebrick event 2019 Borlänge by LegoOzp, on Flickr Klosskalaset Swebrick event 2019 Borlänge by LegoOzp, on Flickr Klosskalaset Swebrick event 2019 Borlänge by LegoOzp, on Flickr Till lykke med dagen, Norge!

There is a big difference between the LEGO themes of City, Castle and Pirates, and the AFOL themes of City, Castle and Pirates. LEGO's themes are definitely aimed towards a younger audience and the sets are often quite simple, the latest Castle and Pirate themes are perfect examples of that. I didn't see a lot of praise for those themes among AFOLs and I certainly didn't think much of them myself either. But, they add their small part to the much bigger AFOL themes of Castle and Pirates that is the combination of all the different reincarnations of the themes throughout the years. These classic evergreen themes has such a big fanbase that they don't end when the specific current theme ends, they live on and expand. The main reason for why they do that is MOCs. Nothing keeps the interest in a theme going as seeing new builds from it, with new interesting techniques and creative ideas. Some themes are easier to start MOCing in, it's usually those with lots of buidlings because that's an easy and nice start for most. If left to just discuss the sets and stories behind them, the interest will die out when no more sets are released. Even though LEGO is mostly made for kids when you look at it from TLG's or an outside perspective, that is not really as relevant inside the AFOL community. i dare say most AFOLs don't love LEGO because it's a great kids toy, the love it because it's a great hobby for adults whatever its original intent. Of course we should be aware and understanding towards the situation and we can't expect to get our way all the time, but we certainly shouldn't back away from voicing our opinions from an AFOL point of view. With that said, I think a discussion about a possible future Castle theme is a bit uninteresting. If we get one, we'll get one, but until then it's nothing that stops us from keep building in the Castle theme. New, useful parts comes in a lot of various themes and thankfully the Collectible minifigure series has provided us with some quality historically fitting minifigs. If I could choose a "dream theme" it would be something like Prince of Persia, a theme that explores a new setting, provides a lot of useful parts, and that sells really poorly to the main target group so the sets will be on sale. It may seem a bit selfish but considering how well TLG is doing financially I'm not worried that it will do any harm.

Yeah, when I say "good" or "bad" it is of course a reflection of my personal taste. No LEGO set is universally good or bad to all AFOLs, we are humans after all.

Maleficent is my favourite, and one of few good minifigs in this series. I understand that LEGO goes with this because of the profit and so on, but I honestly feel that it's one of the worst series (only slightly better than the Simpsons ones). Good thing we are getting the German football team at the same time at least.

Thanks again! It's nice to see that it can please builders from different sides of the fan base. I do agree that the Elves theme could've fitted great with in the historic subforum. It is in many way similar to the many different castle themes, only made for a different target group. However, it's currently the only active theme in the A&A subforum that lends itself to MOCing to a high degree so it has a purpose of balancing the topics here. The A&A forum holds a great number of themes but its biggest problem is that it has too few MOCs to keep the interest up when the theme ends. Adventurers is an exception, and I believe Elves could have that potential too if it weren't for those mini-dolls. Character customization is one of my favourite parts of the LEGO hobby and an important part of MOCing, but minifigs are so much better suited for that. As for Eurobricks Castle fans affection for discussing discontinued themes I think you are missing that fact that the historic subforum is one of the largest and most active parts of Eurobricks, especially when it comes to MOCing thanks to Guilds of Historica. The amount of creativity that is shown there does not come without new inspirations and different ideas.

Thanks everyone! I'm happy you liked it! Thanks for you nice words, but don't let my build discourage you. There are countless new and different variations to be built!

You split a box with two fellow AFOLs of course! That's why the equal distribution for this series is so great, much less hassle about the remaining minifigs that no one wants doubles of.