[moc] War in the south of the north - GoH

[Alfadas]

Hi all, this is my entry for the Hersir of Mirgardia in the archer category. I am very proud of the landscaping, and I think it is my best MOC so far, regarding landscaping. Please keep in mind that I am not good at landscaping, and this is I think the second time I make a bigger landscape. Hope you like it, C&C are always welcome!

Diary of Alfadas

Today we had a big battle against those filthy Avalonian Orcs. They have been invading the South of Mitgardia for a while now, and it needs to stop. So I gathered a couple of my best archers, and went to the place where they were last seen. When we got there, there was a muddy path, slightly overgrown with plants. The path led up a small hill. When we reached the top of it, I heard an orcish sound coming from the bushes. I turned around, and I saw two dozen of them running to us. I grabbed my bow, ordered my men to do the same, and shot one in the neck. One of my men climbed in a tree and started shooting arrows, calmly aimed, so none missed the target. Then one heavily armored orc shouted that there was somebody in the trees. One of the orc-archers tried to shoot him, missed and died in a few seconds. Orcs with spears and pikes tried to stab us, orcs with swords ran to us. No-one came even near us. The whole battle was fought in minutes. One of my men got a flesh wound on his shoulder from a poisoned arrow. I don't know if he makes it. I hope he does, he is the best of my archers. A couple of orcs fled the scene, maybe to their camp to get more orcs. We will see.

An overview shot.

Shot from the archer in the tree.

A shot of the hill.

And a shot of the archers, orc perspective.

Can I also claim UoP credits? I am not quite sure how to do that, if someone can explain it that be great.

More pics at my flickr.

Edit: I would like to claim UoP credits for Minifigure Posing. (hope I did this right?)

Edited February 15, 2014 by Alfadas

[soccerkid6]

Your landscapes are getting better, I like how you made a small hill in one corner Good fig posing as well

[Alfadas]

Thank you! I absolutely wanted to have height difference, and this was the only option that looked cool. In the left corner there is a green hill, did you see that too? I have to admit, you don't see it as well as the brown one, but I am sure on the other pics on flickr.com you can see it better.

[Kai NRG]

Have you read the DoH thread? If you still need more explaining I can do that, but if not I'd suggest you read it first, and maybe check out a few examples.

However, I'm not sure what sort of credit I could give you for this build. From what I can see of the trees they look fairly simple (which is not necessarily bad, just not going to get you credit). I could maybe give you minifigure posing if you asked for it.

A tip on the landscaping - usually a path is sunk below the surrounding landscape (especially a dirt one) as it's more likely that it (the path) has been stomped into existence rather than that someone dumped a pile of dirt right there (and even in that case it would soon be stomped down into the grass or washed away). With the hill, a bit more green plates (not just flower stalks, but actual plates), and not so many straight lines would probably improve it. Yes, both those additions eat up the bricks fast, but they vastly improve the landscaping!

Also I would suggest that for the future you try to get an overview picture that's not from quite such a high angle & includes the whole build (not cutting off parts of the trees, for example - makes it look more professional). Looking at it from the top makes it less realistic (when do you see a scene from that angle IRL?), easier to spot faults in the landscaping (a lower angle would hide the straightness of the hill sides a bit more), harder to see the minifigures or get a sense of the action, and harder to get a nice clean white background for the entire thing. For this particular build, it's understandable that you would want one shot from that angle to show off the archer in the tree, but the other ones should be a bit lower! (If you're taking pictures on the floor, you should be on your elbow at most, would be my suggestion.)

I hope that helps you, I wasn't trying to sound too critical, just give you some tips!

[Alfadas]

Thank you for all the tips. They are very useful, although I am not sure on how to use them with the number of bricks I have. I don't have a lot of plates, green nor brown, so I can not really improve things there. In the next order I will include a few of the 1x4 at one end, 2x4 at the other end. Hope I can make something better with them. I can always try to improve myself. And you are right about those trees, they are simple. Very simple.

But, how can I make an overview pic when I can't make it from high? You don't see everything, I think. But I can always try it!

About the flowers on the hill, I just did that to make it look nicer. Otherwise it would have looked a bit too empty.

About the UoP, I don't think I am suited for it. But I can try it out. I will edit the first post, and then post the link in UoP thread.

[Kai NRG]

That's certainly understandable, lack of bricks is always a problem!

It's true that a lower angle doesn't allow you to see absolutely everything, but you don't really want to see absolutely everything. Plus, from such a high angle, there are limitations on seeing things that really are interesting - like the minifig combos, tree trunks, etc. If you look over other builder's photo angles you'll probably notice that they aren't quite as high!

You did it right! I'll give you +1!

[gedren_y]

UoP DoH +1 for Minifig Posing credit.

[Gideon]

Excellent minifig posing, +1 for that

I also like how you've improved your photography, only one case where the angle shows something outside the backdrop. Try to make that nothing at all next time or just edit it away as I sometimes do when there are parts of the background not covered by the backdrop?

[Alfadas]

It's true that a lower angle doesn't allow you to see absolutely everything, but you don't really want to see absolutely everything. Plus, from such a high angle, there are limitations on seeing things that really are interesting - like the minifig combos, tree trunks, etc. If you look over other builder's photo angles you'll probably notice that they aren't quite as high!

Allright. I will try it next time, to take pics from lower angles. Hope that it helps!

I also like how you've improved your photography, only one case where the angle shows something outside the backdrop. Try to make that nothing at all next time or just edit it away as I sometimes do when there are parts of the background not covered by the backdrop?

Thanks. I know the white sheet doesn't cover the whole build, will pay more attention to it next time! I am not good with computers, so editing isn't going to work for me, I am afraid.

Thanks all of you for the credits

Edited February 16, 2014 by Alfadas

[Gideon]

I am not good with computers, so editing isn't going to work for me, I am afraid.

Just opening the picture in Paint and make the missing part white can't be that hard?

Of course it's better however to copy/clone the nearby parts of the backdrop to get the right brightness, as a white backdrop in a photo actually is different shades of grey and not entirely white if not totally washed out.

Anyway, a too white part or some editing artifacts are still better than some unintended glimpse outside the background.

[Alfadas]

Yeah, you are right. For the coming MOCs I will pay a lot of attention to the background, and use paint if I miss something.

[Gunman]

Nice minifig posing Regarding CC i would say stick the folliage together and not so seperated. It looks a bit unnatural to have a leaf here and another leaf there. And as you said order some small plates to make the texture on the ground more random and natural looking.Also I think you dodnt need to have so many figs fighting in a not so big terrain because it gets distracting for the eye. I try CC here and I hope I dont sound like a ****.

Edited February 16, 2014 by Gunman

[Alfadas]

Well, you are not an *****. More foliage should not be a big problem, less figs neither. But a lot of figs fighting look cool! But I can try using less figs, and more foliage. Small plates will be in the next order, after 3rd party stuff for the orcs. So in the near future there will not be a lot of changes in that area. Sorry.

[Gunman]

Many figs are ok as long as the bad and the good sides are easily seen, thats my problem with it if you get me

[Alfadas]

I do not think I get you. Sorry. My point with the many orcs and few vikings was to show an outpowered, small army of vikings win a battle against a lot of orcs.

[Simon_S]

Also, as soon as your landscapes get better I wouldn't use many figs. The more figs you put in such a MOC, the less attention the forest and all the other landscaping details, or even the buildings get.

If you look at some of the best MOCs you will mostly find them with only a few minifigs .

Just my two cents about figs...

[Alfadas]

You are right. But I love figs! Lots of them! But you are right. Better landscaping, less figs. Sounds good to me