Bacon Potatoes Posted October 12, 2014 Posted October 12, 2014 (edited) After departing the royal residence in the port city of Mirameth, Lord Baconius decides to visit an old friend. The serenity of the forests of northern Ambalar have made Baconius forget about the urgency of the mission, and he takes his time chatting with Thorgard McKaye, a soldier turned miner who operates an iron mine in Northern Ambalar not very far from Mirameth. Baconius and his entourage of sorts walks up the winding path to the operation and they are immediately greeted by Thorgard. "Hey hey, Kenrick! Long time no see!" shouts Thorgard at the approaching party. "Come on, Thor, don't use my first name in front of the soldiers," Baconius replies. "They're new recruits and need to learn respect for the royalty." "Well, its better than the name you chose for yourself. Baconius. Ha!" He laughs at this for a moment, then recovers his composure. "Anyway, what brings you to my humble mine? Did you hear about our increase in production? Very impressive, eh?" "It certainly is, but that's not why I'm here. I have a favor to ask of you. During the fight to clear to Rocky Hollows of bandits, you were the best at navigating in the caves. Do you remember those good old days?" "Certainly do. I still remember every path, every passage, every spot of ore if the elves decide to let us miners in..." Thorgard trails off in reminiscence. "Well, I'm going to need your help again. our spies have told us that a rogue band of orcs may be attempting a bit of a takeover in the area. However, and I'll let you in on a secret here, old legends of the druids speak of a weapon of incredible power hidden in the caves. I have been searching for years, and finally have some clues. But we have to act quick, because if the orcs invade the area, there will be no way of getting to it. I will be needing you to come with me." "Right now?" "Right now. There is no time to waste." And so the old miner joins the group and begins their long trek. Meanwhile, the mine continues to operate as usual in the background. The vein of ore was discovered when a stream washed away loose rock and soil from in front of the vein exposing it over time. This stream has been redirected to allow the miners to extract the ore. A muscular miner chips away at a vein of iron ore, slowly accumulating a heap of rock behind him. Another worker searches the rock pile for ore rich chunks of stone. The ore in this vein is hematite, which is a form of iron oxide. These chunks are crushed into small pieces to remove large impurities and placed in a charcoal fired bloomery. The carbon monoxide from the charcoal mixes with the iron oxide in the ore to produce a more pure iron. The iron is removed from the bloomery in the form a red hot, porous mass called a bloom. The bloom contains pockets of impurities inside, so the bloom is pounded with a hammer to force these impurities out of the iron. The final product is nearly pure wrought iron. The iron is then shipped throughout Ambalar. While this process creates most of the ore used in the production of goods from Ambalar, some still must be imported from Mitgardian mines to account for all of Ambalar's iron consumption. Here's the best overhead shot I have, hope this is good! Thanks for looking! I would like to claim HSS Laborers - Mine for the settlement of Mirameth. Edited October 14, 2014 by Bacon Potatoes Quote
Lord Vladivus Posted October 12, 2014 Posted October 12, 2014 Awesome! Love the whole build, and how you've explained the mining process, and fitted in a storyline as well! Quote
Gideon Posted October 12, 2014 Posted October 12, 2014 Nice scene with lots of details! I love builds like these with correct descriptions of the medieval industrial processes Quote
Alfadas Posted October 12, 2014 Posted October 12, 2014 Very nice! Love the rockwork, and the forge is very nice. Quote
-Carson Haupt- Posted October 12, 2014 Posted October 12, 2014 Very nice, I like the stream it good to see people working on HSS... Maybe I should start someday. Quote
gedren_y Posted October 12, 2014 Posted October 12, 2014 Wonderful little scene. There is enough quality here to make some UoP DoH claims. If the people of Ambalar are in need of more metals, the Nestlands Clans are willing to trade. You may find the dwarf mined ore less available given the current sentiments and situation in Mitgardia. Quote
Bacon Potatoes Posted October 12, 2014 Author Posted October 12, 2014 Thanks for all the feedback! And gedren, the Ambalaran Trade Council would greatly accept the Nestlands Clans offer for ore. Hopefully, this will be a successful alliance! Quote
Scaevola Posted October 13, 2014 Posted October 13, 2014 Very nice build, the rockwork is very good and there is some really good details Quote
MKJoshA Posted October 13, 2014 Posted October 13, 2014 Wow! Great details in the build, description of the mining process, and the story! Quote
NiceMarmot Posted October 13, 2014 Posted October 13, 2014 Great builds and I really learned something too! Quote
LordDan Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 Great build, I love to see all the detail put in to showing the mining process. I love all the activity going on as well as all the rockwork.There seem to have been a lot of mining builds lately( I have one built too,that been built for several weeks but I'm too lazy to actually upload it yet) Also, I wish there was an overall pic, or one that showed more of the top because in that first pic the top is cut off Quote
Garmadon Posted October 14, 2014 Posted October 14, 2014 Excellent mining build, BP, it is good to see some historically accurate procedures Great rock-work, ore vein, rock pile, stream and minifig posing! I agree that it would be nice to have an overview pic though. Quote
Bacon Potatoes Posted October 14, 2014 Author Posted October 14, 2014 I wish there was an overall pic, or one that showed more of the top because in that first pic the top is cut off I agree that it would be nice to have an overview pic though. Sorry about that, I forgot to add one! Just edited it though, so it should be good now. Thanks guys! Quote
soccerkid6 Posted October 20, 2014 Posted October 20, 2014 Lovely little mining build The water trough is my favorite detail, though all the mining action is excellent Very good landscape too Quote
de Gothia Posted October 20, 2014 Posted October 20, 2014 Many good looking details here! The redirected stream is a great touch! I miss a photo of the whole moc though... Quote
Slegengr Posted October 20, 2014 Posted October 20, 2014 This is a nice build, Bacon Potatoes! I like the rockwork and foliage. The refining process is shown and explained in nice detail. The water trough is my favorite part. For a slight improvement tip, I think the base looks a little bit blocky using only plates. I would recommend using wedge plates and round plates to help break up the squared lines in the ground. Brick on, Bacon Potatoes! Quote
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