I. En Contra Oleon

[Kai NRG]

  It was a brilliantly beautiful summer morning in Terreli.  Back in his spacious bedroom, King Fernando was rubbing his hands in undisguised satisfaction.

  Today was the day!

  He thought with satisfaction over the events of the past few months.

  King Fernando Augusto VIII chuckled as he remembered the Trade Companies.  Squabbling little merchants!  And now they were all eager over this little fight in a jam jar with Mardier.  Haha!  Wouldn’t he show them!  Big plans, big plans!

  Begone with diplomacy!

  Ah!  Those Oleonese!  They’d rue the day they had rejected him as King!

*             *             *

  Far away, in a lush forest out in the New World, Captain Argentum picked his way through the undergrowth.  He was followed by a small band of his own trusty crew, and two companies of well-trained Eslandian soldiers – one from the Royal Army itself, the other a band of picked marines.  A grim smile overspread the Captain’s face as he thought of the work ahead of him.  A fort of Oleonese soldiers, and an outpost right nearby!  This would be a piece of cake!

*             *             *

  Dickie Cal sighed contentedly as he lay back against the hard brick wall of the fort.  He loved this post – out of sight of everyone – perfect for naps!  (Spot him if you can.. and of course you can!)  The next instant he was lost in the land of dreams.

  He dreamed strange, strange things.

  He dreamed of yells and shouts and screams.

  He dreamed of the clash of arms and the rolling of artillery.

  He dreamed that the cry was raised, “Contra Oleon!  Contra Oleon!”

  And in a panicky voice, an Oleonder cried out, “The Eslando… Eslandi… Green People!”

  Dickie dreamed that the Oleonders, caught unprepared, made almost no resistance, but were forced to surrender.

  He dreamed that all the Oleonders, including himself, were being huddled together out in front of the fort.

  And it wasn’t until poor Dickie was being hustled down the broad pathway at the foot of the cliffs, an Eslandian soldier prodding him along, that he realized some of it, at least, hadn’t been a dream.

 

-----

This build was a collaborative effort between myself and Garmadon, who will be posting his half shortly!  Now for more pictures of my segment:

I'm rather happy with how it turned out on the whole (particularly considering the fact that it was a four day build)... probably my first attempt at this sort of jungle and using all those colors was really fun!

Captain Argentum, as you can see, exchanged his usual red suit for one with dashes of green, thinking that a bit of patriotism would suit the occasion.

The corps of Eslandian marines picks its way down the path - eager for the fight, but well disciplined as always.

The Oleon ambassador to Eslandola is sure that these soldiers were either actually disguised Eslandians, or else maybe disguised Corries.
Don't pick quarrels with me - he was the one who said it! 

Captain Argentum's crew is quite eager!

A couple of final shots of the fort:

And now I wonder what the rest of Eslandola thinks of this piece of action on the part of the King?  Was the High Council aware of his intentions?  If not, will they tamely submit?  And how about your average Eslandian citizen - not to mention the various Mayors, Governors, Trade Company leaders, and everyone else holding important positions?
Big things are brewing!

As for the build: this was really enjoyable (well, except when a chair fell on it during photography... setting it back up wasn't so much fun then...), got to try out a few new things and expand a bit on others!  Comments are always appreciated!

[Mike S]

Awesome build you two!

[CelesAurivern]

Wonderful diorama! Glad to hear there's a 2nd half to appreciate :D

[Elostirion]

Fantastic build, both parts are absolutely stunning! Definitely inspiring!

[TitusV]

thrilling, both the story as the build(s)  Elysabeth would like to have that Dickie as a court jester, is that possible?

[Mengish]

Now, all the vegetation and the rock combination looks just cool, giving the right atmosphere of a pirate infested area! Congratulations...

[SilentWolf]

This is a beautiful build. The vegetation is great. The classic castle colored towers really add to the build and the overall color scheme. You did a great job with posing and photography (as you normally do.)

"The WETEC though impartial to the politics of nations as long as there trade and exploration are not interrupted is wary of the goals of Eslandola. Their reasoning for an assault on Mardier seemed reasonable enough, though over reaching on new islands and in such new colonies. However, an assault on another of kingdoms without a declaration of war, causes great concern. Does Eslandola hope to seize all the nations and force everyone to submit to her trade companies? The WETEC looks upon this newest act as dangerous evidence in support of the idea that Eslandola is not acting in self defense but rather in an armed power grab. We shall be watching with weariness and readiness."

[Maxim I]

What a wonderfull scene!!!

 

"Dear friends from Oleon,

Even I am the son-in-law of the King of Eslandola, I am not supporting his actions. I can speak in name of everyone belonging to MAESTRO, when I say that we are against assaults on Oleon and that we did not know this would happen. We will help our blueloving tradepartners as much as we can the coming weeks.

You helped us defending our Treasure Fleet, now it is our time to help you with this new threat, even if that threat is our own King.

As token of our goodwill, our apple cider shop in Breshaun will give away free bottles of applecider to the citizens of Breshaun.

 

Lord Maximilian Damaximus,

Governor of Stedor

CEO of MAESTRO"

[blackdeathgr]

You won't have your ways with us you miserable  King Fernando Augusto VII!!!!! You and your lackey Captain Argentum will pay dearly!!!  (Of to call the Oleon foreign matters council)

On the builds themselves: Absolutely great! I love the way you too made the jungle so lush and all the forts and outposts are lovely!

[Capt Wolf]

Beautiful build. I love the lushness of the vegetation/undergrowth. The fort, rockwork, and figure posing are all excellent.

[BrickCurve]

Looks really good!  One thing that I think that could be improved would be that the vegetation in the front corner is a bit him, especially since it is so exposed in the front of the MOC.

Oh and another thing, with the photo of both modules together, it is hard to see the detail in the parts of the MOC that are in shadow.  If you both use the same camera which I noticed on Garmadon's Flickr, there is an option to adjust how it shows shadows in an image.  Page 50 of this manual shows how to adjust the shadows (for an Oly EM10) http://www.olympusamerica.com/files/oima_cckb/E-M10_MANUAL_ENGLISH.PDF

[Garmadon]

Great work Kai, your rock-work and jungle is excellent, and I really like how your outpost turned out, especially after the change on the battlements!   Awesome work with the minifig posing, story, and photography as well  - and I'm definitely looking forward to watching the story-line progress! 

 

On a different note, E.T. Wilkinson de Chauncourtois has been heard to declare that this was quite a puzzler, and as for Captain Whiffo, he, why he - well, he doesn't know what to say about the whole matter, except that he feels like throwing a nightcap at somebody too  

[Kai NRG]

Thanks to everyone for your comments! 

On 10/5/2016 at 6:52 AM, TitusV said:

thrilling, both the story as the build(s)  Elysabeth would like to have that Dickie as a court jester, is that possible?

Thanks Titus!  If Elysabeth will pay his passage I dare say it could be managed! 

On 10/5/2016 at 9:50 AM, SilentWolf said:

This is a beautiful build. The vegetation is great. The classic castle colored towers really add to the build and the overall color scheme. You did a great job with posing and photography (as you normally do.)

"The WETEC though impartial to the politics of nations as long as there trade and exploration are not interrupted is wary of the goals of Eslandola. Their reasoning for an assault on Mardier seemed reasonable enough, though over reaching on new islands and in such new colonies. However, an assault on another of kingdoms without a declaration of war, causes great concern. Does Eslandola hope to seize all the nations and force everyone to submit to her trade companies? The WETEC looks upon this newest act as dangerous evidence in support of the idea that Eslandola is not acting in self defense but rather in an armed power grab. We shall be watching with weariness and readiness."

Thank you!  In fact, it seems like King Fernando might not have had the whole nation quite on the same page with him in his latest actions... 

On 10/5/2016 at 5:16 PM, BrickCurve said:

Looks really good!  One thing that I think that could be improved would be that the vegetation in the front corner is a bit him, especially since it is so exposed in the front of the MOC.

Oh and another thing, with the photo of both modules together, it is hard to see the detail in the parts of the MOC that are in shadow.  If you both use the same camera which I noticed on Garmadon's Flickr, there is an option to adjust how it shows shadows in an image.  Page 50 of this manual shows how to adjust the shadows (for an Oly EM10) http://www.olympusamerica.com/files/oima_cckb/E-M10_MANUAL_ENGLISH.PDF

Thanks BrickCurve!  I completely ran out of vegetation otherwise I would have been glad to make it a bit thicker!  Yes, we both use the same camera - thanks for the tip!