So... I'm not the world's biggest believer in enormous, Windsor-scale castles. Call me unambitious, but A) I like to design something that might be in the realm (for me) of building one day (given my finances, even small MOCs are ridiculously tough to swing), and B) I like isolated, somewhat forlorn fortresses located in the wilderness, as opposed to city-encircling mega-citadels. 

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to build the starter keep from the Kingdom's and Castles PC game, and while I was happy with the final result, I didn't like that it was based on someone else's IP - I wanted a "castle of my own," so to speak. So, three days ago, I started putting together Wolf's Watch. Originally, I didn't plan on doing anything nearly this ambitious, but the project kind of expanded as I built - I wanted to add a dungeon, and then once I had raised the keep up, it needed additional terrain to give the elevation context. But I am very happy with the final design - it really encompasses the heart of what I was shooting for: an English/Welsh-style small castle with heavy play features and a (relatively) low part count (okay, 5,000 isn't low, but when you're talking about projects like this, you can quickly see the numbers explode into the tens of thousands :P). 

First, some overview shots of the exterior:

The keep itself features three floors, plus an accessible roof. The top two floors lift out over the first (which has a kitchen inside, but I didn't bother taking a picture of it since Bluerender's interior lighting is so shoddy), and are accessed via a swinging side panel. The second floor is a reception room which will showcase a few suits of armor and a throne (not going to cram the suits into the digital model); the third is the King's (and I say "King's," but I never intended this to be a full time royal residence - I am thinking more along the lines of a Baron or poor Viscount) bedroom, and features a bed, chamber pot, crown, fireplace, tea kettle, and so on. 

The castle has an extensive subterranean area which has limited access via the keep lifting up. Unfortunately, as mentioned previously, Bluerender's lighting for this kind of thing is downright poor. However, the left-hand side of the underground section is an area of haunted caves, with still drip pools, stalactites, stalagmites, and so on.

The right side is a split scene, with two jail cells and a brick-built spiral staircase, plus the Forgotten King's Tomb. I intended for the tomb to be accessed via the caverns and not the stairs directly (some imagination is necessary), to give the basement a kind of adventurous, exploration-oriented design that hearkens back to Taran and Eilonwy mucking around under Spiral Castle in The Book of Three. 

The only independent non-castle-related structure within the outer wall is a blacksmith. I ripped off the mill wheel-powered auto-hammer design from 6918. The bone is part of some exterior scenicking which, along with a buried skull, is intended to represent a fossilized beast. There are hints of the caverns embedded in the sides elsewhere on the model.

And that's pretty much it! As always, any questions, comments or critiques are most welcome!

Edited November 2, 20177 yr by ProvenceTristram

It’s great you’re challenging yourself by not basing it off an existing IP. Plus it’s always tough to meet people’s preconceived notions of something they have seen before. I especially like the details in the bedroom adding those extra special touches. Great job! 

I really like this build. You clearly put a lot of thought and effort into it, and the final result is great. I'm generally more impressed by a detail-packed and thoughtfully made castle than a behemoth with no interior.