Challenge IV: Category A: The Grand Victory at Al Tajir

[LittleJohn]

 

The Desert King has been growing increasingly dissatisfied with his control of Kaliphlin - sand, palm trees, more sand - he wanted something more. Sure, it's nice to relax in the cool of an evening on a rooftop, while being served fruits and star gazing - not to mention the best linens, the seemingly endless riches, and the finest spices in all of Historica - but he wanted more. He wanted control. Control of all of Historica, not just Kaliphlin.

He began secretly gathering troops to Al Tajir, near the Avalonia-Kaliphlin border, preparing to launch a surprise attack on Cedrica. He also planted spies in several locations, using the current unrest of the guilds to garner support for himself. As more and more troops began arriving in Al Tajir, some residents of the city loyal to the High Council began to grow suspicious. They soon discovered what the Desert King was planning, and immediately sent word to the Queen and Resistance leaders.

The queen gathered some elite Avalonian troops, and had a few of her Generals lead the march to Al Tajir, hoping to catch the Desert King by surprise before he left the city. With the help of the Resistance troops their journey was swift and undetected. Before the Desert King knew what was happening his armies were being slaughtered and driven from the city, while he himself was trapped in the palace.

 

Such a swift and successful strike against one of her primary detractors quickly quieted public disapproval of the queen.

Even much of Kaliphlin appreciated her help, as the Desert King was deposed and leadership was restored to the High Council.
And while many still were not fully convinced of her right to leadership, no one dared openly rebel against a queen with such solid military backing.

There were of course a very few Kaliphlinites who were more concerned with the safety of their goods than who their ruler was...

 

Spoiler

More pictures of the build:

Lots more pictures on Brickbuilt.

So this is my entry for Challenge IV, Category A. As soon as I saw this category, I knew I had to use the opportunity to at least try to rid Kaliphlin of the Desert King's rule  The build weighs in at 34.8 pounds, making it my largest MOC so far both in footprint and weight. Very glad to be done with this though – now our desk isn’t mostly covered by a single build! Well, once it’s taken apart anyways…
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome!

[Grover]

Wow!  This is a brilliant build.  I am really blown away.  I love the entire city block built here with all the various colors that fit together.  Your palm trees and detailed brickwork look great as usual.  I am assuming that you got a lot of those new rounded 1x2 technic plates off Lugbulk, as I haven't seen them in that kind of quantity to the public yet, and the streets and the round tree base look great with those.  I am curious to see what an entire tower made of those would look like (although I'm quite sure it's so expensive that I would not be able to afford such a thing!).  The scenes of the peasantry helping drive the desert king's army out is great, too.  Excellent work, as always, and I hope to see more!

[zoth33]

Really excellent build.  The buildings all have some great details.  I like the sea foam with the white on the part on the right side.  The walls look great especially at an angle like that.  Lots of great arches throughout the build.  The streets look great with the 1x2 on there side.  The landscaping outside is just awesome.  The small stream looks fantastic and the desert looks great with all the brown vegetation.  The figs look really nice and nice story too.  

[Captain Dee]

Ok, I'm going to write some words of praise, just as soon as I finish recalibrating my eyeballs...  Magnificent composition.

[Louis of Nutwood]

This palace is simply absurd!

The domes, the beautiful color choices (the acqua blue and the inside greenery are mind-blowing), the water stream, the tiny little details that make each house and tower unique... It's just perfect. 

The brick work on the orange-flesh outer walls is fantastic!
The vine-sprouts growing sideways on the inner walls is outstanding.
The market stalls filled with sauces, spices and fish is perfectly positioned. 
The cart is so good!
The wooden balcony on top of the main tower is beautiful. 
And the way you add layer over layer of arches in the main entrances and sides is majestic. 

Breathtaking build, Duke LittleJohn.
Truly impressive. 

[Kai NRG]

White and light aqua for a middle eastern gate?!  Beautiful.  That combination went on my for future reference list right away!

And now I can get on to the rest of the build... wow, a magnificent piece and, dare I say it, a fitting end for the Desert King.   Very ambitious layout with a whole slice of city wall, and those are some really nice houses behind!  A few details I have to mention... the vines made out of the 3 leaf stalks, the rooftop bower on top of the highest building, and that road technique!  Great build, wish I could see it in person.

[Eoin Wallace]

Wow! you have managed to make a massive and yet extremely detailed build! If I had too pick a favorite I would say the gate and vines are the best. 

[Blufiji]

Amazing work LJ as usual!

I love the color combinations, and the use of white fits perfectly. It helps break up the earth tones that usually find in desert builds. The minifig posing is superb and the built onion domes are a great touch. 

[adde51]

A really awesome build man, the colours work great and those onion-domes really work well with the rest of the build. It's a always a good sign when your first thought when looking at a build is "I sort of want to walk around there and have a closer look", haha! Great job! 

[Etzel]

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. 

[Garmadon]

Super impressive stuff here, LJ, and lovely work with the colors throughout!  As others have mentioned, the gates and onion domes are fantastic here, and all the palm trees and greenery (especially those vines! ) just really help the whole build pop!  I'm really intrigued by your Snotted road technique too (although it seems quite part intensive!), and of course I've got to applaud any attempt to oust the Desert King!  

[Basiliscus]

Lovely build! Love the diversity of middle eastern architecture you've included, and the colour blocking is top notch. Loads of action going on and an impressive scale.

My only nitpick is a number of photos feel underexposed and the one fourth from the end looks out of focus or blurry, which is unusually because usually your presentation is excellent.

Good entry to the challenge! 

[soccerkid6]

Not sure what I can besides the fact that this is even better in person!

Your hard work paid tremendous dividends, and it was awesome watching everything come together

Keep it up

[Ayrlego]

Unfortunately I was at sea for this challenge and when this MOC was published - it is truly stunning in every way. Some of my favourite bits are the aqua and white ornate gate, the MDF SNOT walls and the vine creeping up the wall using the CMF plant pieces. Not much else to say that hasn't already been said - just wanted to add my (belated) awe at this one!