MOC: T'wur ZaGorth (Kaliphlin Watchtower)

[NiceMarmot]

For your consideration: the watchtower of T'wur ZaGorth.

I was recently traveling through the desert northwest of the Arkbri River (a wasteland known to some as the Westersands), and came upon this ancient watchtower, near the northern edge of the desert. Built long ago as part of a chain of towers to guard this part of the Siccus Badlands against invasion from the north, it has fallen into disrepair, and the sand dunes are encroaching on it. The top of the tower is slowly crumbling, and the sands have filled up the base and almost obscured the doorway. I thought it abandoned, but as I came closer I was greeted with shouts and demands to halt! The local villagers, dirt poor and wretched, apparently still staff the tower and keep guard. What loyal, dutiful folk! They've put up a small roof to keep the midday sun off, but other than that, have no funds for major renovations. They had petitioned the High King for money to refurbish the tower and make it safe, but I think everyone in Cedrica is otherwise occupied these days.

IMG_4056-front

IMG_4052-side

IMG_4059-ladder-side

T'wur ZaGorth - top down

T'wur ZaGorth - top

IMG_4057-dune

Admittedly a rush job, to get it in on the 15th (it's still the 15th where I live). I wanted to do a bit more with this but ran out of time. The sand dune takes a lot of time, and a ton of tan plates!

Edited December 16, 2011 by NiceMarmot

[Evil Stu]

Wow - I can see that so much work has gone in to that sand dune - but well worth it. The curvature looks very natural, which is incredibly difficult to achieve with plates. And the tower has an authentic weathered look. Good job

[NiceMarmot]

Wow - I can see that so much work has gone in to that sand dune - but well worth it. The curvature looks very natural, which is incredibly difficult to achieve with plates. And the tower has an authentic weathered look. Good job

Thanks! Yes, the dune was a major pain. It probably took four times as long to build the dune as to build everything else. And it nearly exhausted my supply of 1x1 and 1x2 tan plates; I was getting a bit worried towards the end.

[KaiseR]

Not bad!

But the tower is better to make a rounded, in this case.

[mikey]

I will be honest and say I'm not that keen on the tower, although I do see the concept of the decaying structure. But, the dune looks perfect, I really like the way it envelopes two sides of the tower - as if the wind has blown the sand towards the tower - which is a realistic scenario .

[Ecclesiastes]

Sure as an ancient look, well done. The dune is perfect!

[NiceMarmot]

Thanks for the praise on the dune; it was hard and took a lot of pieces but I think it turned out well, especially since I didn't have a lot of time. I was going for the enveloping-the-tower look. I wanted it a bit higher, but given the 32x32 limitations, I would have to make the sides a lot steeper, and I don't think it would look that realistic. I've tried to make the leading edge of the dune (facing away from the tower) have a consistent medium slope. Then the trailing edge has a steeper slope at the top, gradually flattening out to much more gradual slope at the bottom. I think that gives it a more realistic look. I haven't really done any landscape shaping like this of this size before, so it was good to use a new technique; it would certainly apply to other dirt, rock, and grass landscaping. I was amazed at the number of 1x1, 1x2, 1x3, and 1x4 plates I used. If I were to do this type of landscaping in green, I'd have to get a lot more plates.

The tower admittedly isn't anything special and didn't stretch my building techniques at all, but the sand dune was the real focus here. I had originally planned on giving the tower more 'texture', more decoration, and more crumbling at the base, but didn't have anywhere near the time necessary to do that.

I am happy with the way the roof turned out, although for some reason I couldn't find another 6x8 reddish-brown plate (they must be in some other build...).

[TenorPenny]

I adore the sand dune and the haggard look of the tower. Well done!

[Gabe]

Great landscaping with the sand dune, it looks very natural and organic piled around the base of the tower. The tower is pretty nice too - it could use some more weathering and texture around the bottom half, but the top part has a wonderful derilict feel to it.

[robuko]

Great depiction of the dune, and I agree the roof looks marvellous. That ladder is beautiful, really good alternative to a rope ladder. Great second build!

Edited December 17, 2011 by robuko