The Garrison Attack

Gomur · Post by **Gomur** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:49 pm

Hey guys, this is my first post and my first MOC. I am a long-time lover of Lego that just got back into them after my parents brought a large box of them for my 2 year old son, including my old Black Falcon's Fortress, Black Monarch's Castle, Tournament, and Woodmen's Hideaway sets (all of which I still have and amazingly with all of the pieces, and I do mean all as in of those four sets I'm missing less than 10-15 pieces from the original sets which are almost 20 years old).

Anyway, my little guy is too small for the regular Lego still, and he has Duplo sets that I bought but in an effort to de-stress from my day job's long hours, I got out the castles and put them together, and then I found this site and made a MOC of my own. I'm sure you'll find it pretty basic, but I thought I'd get some feedback anyway.

I used some of the design points from both BFF and BMC to put together the Garrison. I like the classic Lego castle designs, but I realized when I made the BFF and BMC that the scale was disorientatingly unrealistic. I tried to correct that with this MOC and incorporated some elements of both castles into it. I did a little narrative too inspired by www.thebricktestament.com (not a bible person in general, but what an awesome project), just for the heck of it. Hope you enjoy.

Front and interior views. The Garrison opens on hinges similar to BFF and BMC and uses the same baseplate configuration as BMC.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3351998
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3352586
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3352588
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3352016
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3352022

The main towers were just heavy enough to support a ballista.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3352010

(More to follow)

Muskey15 · Post by **Muskey15** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 1:21 pm

Nice job! I really like how you put a ballista on the gatehouse; keep up the good work!

-Muskey

Heir of Black Falcon · Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:14 pm

Very nice return. The fortress is very nice. Looks like the dragon knights win again.

The ballista is pretty neat on that tower.

R

Gomur · Post by **Gomur** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:23 pm

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I didn't post all of the pics on the Brickshelf page from the little narrative I did, but I'll get them up ASAP. The whole thing will make more sense when I do, and the next MOC hopefully (if my wife's patience holds out) will involve the dragon knights and some conscripts led by the guard captain (who was a recurring character when I played with these things for real in the 80's), are going on the warpath to take the fight to the road, and eventually to the Black Knight's tower/castle/whatever-i-have-the-bricks-to-build.

I did what I could with the ladders, but even though the old castles were legendary, they didn't have much for simple ladders/doors/baseplates, etc. The cool stuff started right around the time I turned into a teenager and stashed these in a xerox box in the darkest, dustiest corner of my parents' basement.

Post by **Formendacil** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:54 pm

Very nice. There's a really lovely old-school feel to this creation. I love it when returning builders with old collections post here, and they have talent, because in a sense they've been isolated from all the studlessness, SNOTedness, and bley that pervades modern building--not that those things are bad... but the nostalgia! This takes me way back, and basically looks like what I would have considered the perfect MOC about ten years ago: like a real set, but awesomer.

Nonetheless, lest you think I think you're a heedless primitive, let me point out that with the landscaping, avoidance of the Big Grey Wall Syndrome, and overall awesomeness, you're in no danger of ridicule for it.

deathdog1 · Post by **deathdog1** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:28 am

"an effort to de-stress from my day job's long hours"

Building and creating is a wonderful way to de-stress. Yes, it can consume time and, at least in my case, money. I'd chew off my arm -- or yours -- to have some of the parts you used in your MOC, so it is terrific that your folks not only held onto your bricks but that they cleaned out the basement and didn't sell them in a yard sale. My dark age was much longer than most (it really began before minifigs were even introduced), but I discovered brickfilming and then rediscovered building and a hobby was born.

About the MOC. Very nice. It would be a great set for a film, btw. I wouldn't think it would be too hard to move the figs around and to set up shots that create the illusion of an actual working castle (meaning the set is believable for the reality you're creating).

Ok, enough jibber jabber. I need to build!

Prince Imdol · Post by **Prince Imdol** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:19 pm

The MOC itself is nice, and like others said, it has an old fashion feel to it. I never really liked the black gray/bley combination, but that's just me.

Your landscaping could use a little work. Try to use plates instead of bricks to create variation. I see you did in some parts, which is fantastic, but would be great everywhere.

P.I

Gomur · Post by **Gomur** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:42 pm

I uploaded the rest of the pics to the Brickshelf page.

I would love to have done more with the landscaping, but what you see is literally every green piece I have, including one from the basic "child's" set. I suppose I could have tossed in some Duplo from my son's sets...

Anyway, yeah, landscaping was an issue and I was surprised I could do as much as I did with it. I get a feeling I'm going to be limited to relatively small MOCs until I get some more bricks/plates/sets. I'm lucky enough to live close to the Northbrook, IL LEGO store, so that's a place to start.

Gomur · Post by **Gomur** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:45 pm

[quote="deathdog1 I'd chew off my arm -- or yours -- to have some of the parts you used in your MOC[/quote]

Really? What are you looking for? I might be talked into a trade if you've got doors or ladders or wood bridges or something else I don't have. If it's the minifigs and parts, I've got actually something like 50+ of them from the old days, including several space ones like the original Blacktron ones.

legokilt · Post by **legokilt** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:43 pm

Man, that looks sweet. I like how you made the ballista. The openability (not sure if that is a word) is a great feature. I like the whole setup and how the road to the keep isn't too defined, it is more of a mowed path. Very nice.

Ben the lego king · Post by **Ben the lego king** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:32 pm

nice job i liked it alot. the brick bible is cool too. again nice job

hopeso009 · Post by **hopeso009** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:22 pm

I like your ballista, looks cool
the garrison also
nice work

Gomur · Post by **Gomur** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:17 am

Thanks again guys for all the positive comments. I have one of my own: if the admins are listening thanks so much for making this place and keeping it going. I go to several message boards and this is one of the best and friendliest I've seen.

Since everyone seemed to like the ballista so much, maybe I'll do a how-to when I get home (I'm on the road at the moment visiting relatives in NY)

dell_wood · Post by **dell_wood** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:25 am

Wow. When I got back into legos, this was pretty much the type of thing I first envisioned, before I had seen all the great MOCs and such. Just the good old "set" look. It really reminds me of the type of stuff Stephen Wroble builds (or built). Great Work

-dellwood