April: How do you use earth elements to defend your kingdom?

Discussion of personal LEGO Castle creations
Post Reply
User avatar
Bluesecrets
High Priestess of the Vermillion Order
High Priestess of the Vermillion Order
Posts: 2184
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2004 6:21 pm
Location: On the girls side of the castle.
Contact:

April: How do you use earth elements to defend your kingdom?

Post by Bluesecrets »

SO here we are in April. I waited a day because of all that April Fool's silliness that I absolutely hate. I didn't want you to think this was one of them.

The topic for discussion this month is all about earth barriers...moats, rocks, fences...and whatever else you have thought about. Talk to me. Tell me why that is what you chose. Convince me that it is the best.
BrickshelfFlickr

Queen of Tan

Any building, is good building. Build for the fun of it!
User avatar
Bluesecrets
High Priestess of the Vermillion Order
High Priestess of the Vermillion Order
Posts: 2184
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2004 6:21 pm
Location: On the girls side of the castle.
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by Bluesecrets »

So I am of like three minds about this.

First I'm totally loving the idea of a moat. But then I go..ew..stagnant water is stinky, is a place that bugs live, and ew. No. Just no. Call this the gross out factor...I hate bugs, and the thought of the smell seriously makes me want to puke. :twitch:

Second...I build desert castles primarily. Yeah no moats to be had in a desert. So yay! No stink...but then there is sand. Any barrier I can come up with well sand will just cover. Even when I build giant walls...sand is going to be a jerk.

Third...I have always wanted to build a castle with a round wall around it. I've never actually attempted it because...I get distracted with other ideas and do not have the parts to pull it off like I would want to.
BrickshelfFlickr

Queen of Tan

Any building, is good building. Build for the fun of it!
User avatar
soccerkid6
Admin
Admin
Posts: 2169
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:41 pm
Location: Nordheim Keep
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by soccerkid6 »

I certainly wouldn't want a stagnant moat around my fortress, but channeling a river to flow around it would be cool :eyebrows:
Building stone walls into a mountain, with river circling the front. Sounds like a nice place to me!
John 14:6, Jesus answered, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Brickbuilt: http://www.brickbuilt.org/
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/isaacsnyder/
User avatar
Bluesecrets
High Priestess of the Vermillion Order
High Priestess of the Vermillion Order
Posts: 2184
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2004 6:21 pm
Location: On the girls side of the castle.
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by Bluesecrets »

I'm kind of not wanting to run a contest with this one because I think the builds will have to be giant. Plus, I can't keep coming up with prizes every single month. With no current line of castle, everything castle just keeps rising in price.
BrickshelfFlickr

Queen of Tan

Any building, is good building. Build for the fun of it!
User avatar
Formendacil
Knight Templar
Knight Templar
Posts: 4162
Joined: Wed May 05, 2004 7:22 pm
Location: Ashland, MA
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by Formendacil »

If there were ever a month to hold a bragging-rights-omly contests, surely Lockdown 2: The Stay-at-home Order is the time to do it.

Maybe microscale it to avoid giant builds?
User avatar
jtooker
Admin
Admin
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 8:32 pm
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by jtooker »

Elevation is something I always consider when building a castle. I'll give two examples I've used:

1. I put this castle at the top of a rocky hill with a steep path leading to the draw-bridge.

[img]http://lego.jtooker.com/yellowCastleRevisit ... d500px.jpg[/img]

2. This castle town is at the base of a mountain range that meets the sea. The curtain wall is on the rocky hill to defend the castle-town proper. A lookout tower is built on a small peak to look over the sea.

[img]http://lego.jtooker.com/alnor/Alnor500px.jpg[/img]



Regarding contests, I agree bragging-rights-only monthly contests would be great. Specific to this topic, I think you would want micro scale, otherwise the MOCs might need to be quite big.
User avatar
Bruce N H
Precentor of the Scriptorium
Posts: 6311
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:11 pm
Location: Middle Zealand
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by Bruce N H »

IMO the coolest use of earth elements are those castles [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_castle]built into caves[/url]. We've had a couple of MOCs here before of Predjama, one such castle from Slovenia.

[url=http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/viewtop ... =3&t=19023]Neven Cintauer's rendition[/url]
[url=http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/viewtop ... =3&t=19023][img]http://www.classic-castle.com/moc/articles/ ... neven1.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://classic-castle.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 5&p=251424]Subix' rendition[/url]
[url=http://classic-castle.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 5&p=251424][img]http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/subix/Cas ... 11tiny.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/isaacsnyder/32500194997/]Isaac's version[/url] - Isaac, did you ever post this here at CC?
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/isaacsnyder/32500194997/][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/7882/325001949 ... 6fb9_w.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://comicbricks.blogspot.com/]ComicBricks[/url] [url=http://godbricks.blogspot.com/]GodBricks[/url] [url=http://microbricks.blogspot.com/]MicroBricks[/url] [url=http://minilandbricks.blogspot.com/]MinilandBricks[/url] [url=http://scibricks.blogspot.com/]SciBricks[/url] [url=http://vignettebricks.blogspot.com/]VignetteBricks[/url] [url=http://www.classic-castle.com/bricktales/]Brick Tales[/url]
User avatar
soccerkid6
Admin
Admin
Posts: 2169
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:41 pm
Location: Nordheim Keep
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by soccerkid6 »

I don't think I did :oops:
John 14:6, Jesus answered, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Brickbuilt: http://www.brickbuilt.org/
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/isaacsnyder/
User avatar
Bruce N H
Precentor of the Scriptorium
Posts: 6311
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:11 pm
Location: Middle Zealand
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by Bruce N H »

No worries, it's a great little micro of amazing subject matter.

And with that let's bid this thread adieu.
Bruce
[url=http://comicbricks.blogspot.com/]ComicBricks[/url] [url=http://godbricks.blogspot.com/]GodBricks[/url] [url=http://microbricks.blogspot.com/]MicroBricks[/url] [url=http://minilandbricks.blogspot.com/]MinilandBricks[/url] [url=http://scibricks.blogspot.com/]SciBricks[/url] [url=http://vignettebricks.blogspot.com/]VignetteBricks[/url] [url=http://www.classic-castle.com/bricktales/]Brick Tales[/url]
User avatar
minoboys
Freeman
Posts: 78
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2020 5:02 am
Location: On the Boys side of the castle!
Contact:

Re: April: How do you use earth elements to defend your king

Post by minoboys »

I like to use rock cliffs and diverted rivers as my natural defense features. I don't have enough tan yet to build a desert around my castle yet, but my collection is growing. I think diverted rivers are the best, especially if the castle is on a island in the river, because it would mean a great source of water and you obvisouly wouldn't die of thirst. It would also be hard for the enemy to cross over if the current was strong as well. Plus rivers are easier to make if you don't have a lot of pieces.

Cheers minoboys.
Post Reply