Slegengr Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 I got tired of sorting and wanted to do something a little bit more exciting for a change, so I photographed the updated Falki Ridders. The Falki Ridders are the mounted guard of Erland Blar's village, Falkidalr, in Mitgardia. Erland Blar (Center) and his squires: Even Blar (Left, Erland’s nephew) and Tait Blar (Right, Erland’s youngest son) House Blar (Left to Right): Osmond (Erland’s loyal brother), Hagen (Erland’s oldest son), Fell (Erland’s nephew), and Bjarke (Erland’s middle son) House Blakkr: Einar (Right, Erland’s Champion) and Halvar (Left, Einar’s son) House Gulr: Rangvaldr (Right, Erland’s Advisor) and Ralph (Left, son of Rangvaldr) House Rjodr: Colborn (Right, Erland’s Hersir) and Manning (Left, Colborn’s son) House Vitr: Hammond (Left, Stian’s older brother) and Stian (Right) The weapon of choice of the warriors of Falkidalr is the poleaxe. It is versatile against unarmored and armored foes and doubles as a useful tool for everyday life in Mitgardia. The sharp blade is useful for cutting and chopping, while the hammer head is great for smashing. Each Ridder also carries a sword and lance at full armament. Each lance is mounted with flags: the top flag is either green or yellow to represent Mitgardia while the bottom flag represents the bearer's House. Erland's full banner includes both flags of Mitgardia atop his House flag. Quote
Alfadas Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 Very nice, and I love the viking shields, the quality of those is amazing! My sticker viking shields are all rubbish... Anyway, love the ridders! Quote
Slegengr Posted October 31, 2014 Author Posted October 31, 2014 Very nice, and I love the viking shields, the quality of those is amazing! My sticker viking shields are all rubbish... Anyway, love the ridders! Thanks, Alfadas! I really like the viking shields as well, both for shields and hanging decorations for building/banners/etc. The stickers on mine are all fine, but they never really saw hard play, nor where they ever left in a tub of loose parts. I try to avoid leaving stickered components with many other parts, as the edges can rough up the stickers just from the movement in storage. Very cool figs! Thanks, Vladivus! I love that pole-axe idea! Thanks, MKJ! I used to think the sword was the perfect weapon until I did some historical research on the 15th century. Against foes in full armor, a sword blade is nearly worthless. Half-hand techniques, where the second hand was placed near the center of the blade (sometimes both hands on the blade), were used to either use the sword handle like a hammer head or direct the tip into the gaps between plates. The poleaxe was the more common weapon used on the battlefield because the head weight could cause a damaging blow that smashed armor or damaged from the shock of the blow, negating most of the armor's protection. After learning this, I wanted to make LEGO poleaxes with blade and hammer head. These are the solutions I came up with and I am quite happy with the result, especially Stian's. Quote
mccoyed Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 Those are great figs with great color and arms. I also like your polearms. Quote
Gideon Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 Nice figs overall, and I agree that those weapon designs are excellent! A photography nitpick however, at least on my screen the pics look a bit reddish, might it be that the white balance is a bit off? Quote
Slegengr Posted October 31, 2014 Author Posted October 31, 2014 Those are great figs with great color and arms. I also like your polearms. Thanks, mccoyed! Nice figs overall, and I agree that those weapon designs are excellent! A photography nitpick however, at least on my screen the pics look a bit reddish, might it be that the white balance is a bit off? Thanks, Gideon! Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate constructive feedback with suggestions for improvement. I still have not yet perfected my photography and I still do not have my photo setup completed as I would like: insufficient backdrop and only two florescent lights. I have fiddled with the white balance on the camera, but my camera is too cheap to get good quality color. The reddish look is due to the touch-up I did with photoshop. I try to optimize the realistic representation by altering shadows/highlight, brightness, contrast, saturation, etc. The background shows too much for my liking, but to make it whiter, it affects the LEGO too much. I am still torn between leaving the background or erasing it. I am not yet satisfied with how my background looks, but it is way too much work to remove all backgrounds using magic eraser and background eraser. I have also been frustrated to have spent time erasing a background only to discover when uploading to Flickr that there are still gray spots around the build due to uneven lighting and incomplete background removal . Quote
Alfadas Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 Thanks, Alfadas! I really like the viking shields as well, both for shields and hanging decorations for building/banners/etc. The stickers on mine are all fine, but they never really saw hard play, nor where they ever left in a tub of loose parts. I try to avoid leaving stickered components with many other parts, as the edges can rough up the stickers just from the movement in storage. Yeah, mine did. I got the sets when I was about 10-12ish, didn't MOC at all and played very hard with them. Hours and hours of shooting them over. Nowadays I am very careful with stickers, to not ruin the parts. Indeed, most of the edges are ruined. I realized I didn't say anything about the poleaxes, I love them! Quote
Jorrith Posted November 1, 2014 Posted November 1, 2014 These are really cool! I love those warhammers, (axe with plate with clip) i might steal that idea from you. Quote
Slegengr Posted November 1, 2014 Author Posted November 1, 2014 Yeah, mine did. I got the sets when I was about 10-12ish, didn't MOC at all and played very hard with them. Hours and hours of shooting them over. Nowadays I am very careful with stickers, to not ruin the parts. Indeed, most of the edges are ruined. I realized I didn't say anything about the poleaxes, I love them! There are a number of things I wish I had done when I was younger, most especially related to the first set I remember: 6086 Black Knights Castle. My brothers and I broke the clips off the blue barding, lost the red barding, broke the helmet visors, cracked the baseplate, lost pieces (including the white dragon feathers), and left them on the floor too much. Of course, I was only a 3-year-old when we got the set. I take much better care of my collection now . I am glad you like the poleaxes! These are really cool! I love those warhammers, (axe with plate with clip) i might steal that idea from you. Thanks, Jorrith! Please do not steal the idea, as I would like to continue using it as well, but feel free to share it with me and utilize it whenever you like . (I am just poking fun at the use of the word "steal" .) Quote
Hammerhand Posted November 1, 2014 Posted November 1, 2014 Really nice looking minifig combos there! Quote
soccerkid6 Posted November 6, 2014 Posted November 6, 2014 Sweet group of warriors! That pole axe design is superb, I'll be borrowing it Quote
Slegengr Posted November 6, 2014 Author Posted November 6, 2014 (edited) Really nice looking minifig combos there! Thanks, Hammerhand! I really like how they turned out as well. I originally was unsure of making the transition from the old dark gray armor to the pearl dark gray, but I definitely think it is a nice update. Sweet group of warriors! That pole axe design is superb, I'll be borrowing it Thanks, SK! Feel free to use the poleaxe design, as I have not yet acquired a patent for it . Edited November 6, 2014 by Slegengr Quote
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