Tag Archives: Battle

The Black Breath

If you are like me, you’re probably thinking the world could use more LEGO creations inspired by The Lord of the Rings. Am I right? Who is with me on this? As it turns out, Cole Blood (who, in my opinion, has the coolest name in the history of the world) has answered all our prayers with this stunning piece he calls “First Appearance of the Ringwraiths”. Having no physical form, the wraiths are cleverly depicted as hellish black apparitions that seem to seep into the landscape. The orc heads on pikes, the toadstools, and the small flowing stream create excellent visual cues throughout. Stay tuned, because this is merely one piece of a larger Second Age collaborative series we’ve been covering that Cole is participating in with his equally talented friends. I will eagerly wait, right after heading over to the registry to change my name to Rex Awesome or something.

First appearance of the Ringwraiths

Timbers will be shivered

The trading of cannon broadsides was surely the bluntest form of projectile warfare. Huge ships, passing within yards, blasted cannons into each other’s sides as quickly as the sailors could reload. Simon Pickard brings the fury of battle under sail to vivid life in this LEGO creation — a frigate and a galleon all set to pound one another into matchwood. The tightly-cropped image creates a real sense of action and drama — you’re just waiting for the splinters and blood to start flying. The brick-built ship hulls are impressively shaped, and the sails are beautifully done. This is a close-up view from a large-scale pirate-themed LEGO layout we featured previously, put together by British building collaborators Brick To The Past.

LEGO Pirates Cannon Battle Broadside

And the fierce dragon awaits

Earlier this year we wrote an article about two builders from Australia who came together to create an epic mythical scene. Their inspiration came from a Nordic legend about a pair of warriors who slay a fiery dragon. One of the builders, Ben Cossy, continues the tale with the dragon he calls “Yddreig the Red”. Now we have a snapshot diorama of the confrontation about to take place. It must have taken countless hours to create the incredibly detailed landscape, which features amazing rock work. Everything is positioned in a way that really brings it to life and sucks us straight into this fantasy world.

Confronting Yddreig the Red

One thing is for sure: our heroes look like they have quite the battle ahead of them to survive.

Winter castle conflict

It will take more than a little snow to put the chill on this conflict between the red clan and the blue. Part of a larger collaborative project depicting a clash between two rival factions, the battle is heating up at this mountain fort by h2brick. Demonstrating some amazing rockwork, along with plenty of snow, and an icy stream, a precariously steep path, and some very nicely detailed walls.

Fortress of Batonn | A RebelLUG Collaboration

Ta Davy Jones’ locker with ya!

There is no doubt that William Navarre is one of the best and most active LEGO builders out there, churning out build after build of great quality almost every week. This one and his previous creation were built for the Colossal Battle Contest.

Down to Davy Jones

This naval battle has a lot going for it; the positioning of the ships is very expressive and dynamic, not to mention how well they are constructed. The scale is deceiving and the details are amazing — from the burning elements of the sinking ship to the rigging on the victorious side, each vessel is worth looking at individually. What I like best though, is the surrounding water, achieving a realistic look with two layers, a top textured one, and the bottom for colour (and a great look from the side!). William’s creations seem to have a theme of their simpler environment ending up capturing my attention even longer than the build’s focal point…

Oh ship, we’re in trouble now

What happens when an English frigate faces a French 64-gun battle ship? Well much as we all love to support the underdog, it seems that the English captain may be regretting his bold move against the larger vessel. Sebeus and Rick Bewier have built a LEGO scene full of action as the French guns fire upon the English frigate as it broadsides causing fire, destruction and death. The ships have been really well crafted with lots of attention to detail,  but I love the atmospheric smoke, giving a sense of action to the whole scene.

A matter of simple math

A close up look at the damage to the frigate shows some deck hands frantically fighting fires while one sailor appears to be jumping ship into the blue water far below.

A matter of simple math

Looks like the English are going for an early bath.

When the Spartans surrendered in bricks

Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War. Mpyromaxos has created a particular battle from this war, the Battle of Sphacteria, when a  small force from the Spartan army was isolated on the island of Sphacteria by the Athenians. The scene depicts the Athenian forces landing on the island after a surprise attack which included a risky move to attack the Spartans from the rear, thus forcing their surrender. The main focus of this build is on the land-based action so I rather like the way that only the front portion of the Athenian’s ship is included with some  sea spilling over the edge of the build.

Battle of Sphacteria 425 BC

On the left of the diorama, Mpyromaxos has included the Temple of Athena and statues of gods Dioscures, Kastor, and Polydeuces, who were all worshipped by the Spartans. The close-up view below shows some of the battle enfolding.  I love the little arrow stuck in the wall of the Spartan fortifications.

Battle of Sphacteria 425 BC

If you want to see more close-up views of the action, the builder has an album on Flickr, entitled Battle of Sphacteria.

Paleolithic cat food

Built for the MOC Olympics contest in a round focused on human evolution, Deus Otiosus created this scene depicting one of our forebears about to become a cat’s lunch. The sculpture and posing of both characters is perfect. And as an added bonus, you can even enjoy this build from all angles thanks to a handy spinning animated version.

The Fortress of Cameria

This gorgeous river fortress was built by Soccersnyderi for Guilds of Historica.

The Fortress of Cameria

I really like how the castle spans the river and the landscaping is quite nice. All the pieces really seem to mesh and create something special here. You also have to love the roof on the main tower.

For Honor and Glory!

I love a good battle scene and really good, properly posed ones are quite rare. This scene, by TheDonald13, has excellent posing and near perfect photography. It feels like you are right there in the middle of it, fighting for your life amongst the little plastic warriors.

Men of Loreos doing what they do best

Minifigs are suprisingly difficult to pose realisticly and action scenes are some of the most difficult. Massed battles are also difficult to photograph. The minifigs tend to blur together and it can be hard to get a sense of what the builder has going on.