Tag Archives: Castle

Dragons! Knights in shining armor! Trebuchets & ballistas! From enormous LEGO castles buttoned up for battle to peaceful village market scenes, we’ve got your LEGO Castle needs covered right here.

Step on it! – A forest drive has LEGO bricks on the move

Have you ever been a passenger in a car when the driver is just going way too slow? Geneva Durand seems to have had that experience, and brings that frustration to life in an expressive, yet tiny, creation. In this scene, brick-built horses pull a carriage fit for microfigure nobility through a dense forest. Every feature is instantly recognizable, which is pretty astounding considering those microfigures are just under 2 centimeters tall.

A Forest Drive

It’s a twisty path, so maybe the driver is justified in a more cautious pace. Perhaps the passenger is just upset that his crown is way too tall to fit inside the carriage, requiring him to lean out the window the whole way. Geneva first designed the carriage back in 2013, and later updated it in 2017. Maybe their next iteration will include a little more headroom!

In the meantime, though, we can appreciate the skill that goes into the current build. I like the “studs down” building approach for the horses, the variety of techniques used for the tree trunks, and the subtle curves in the carriage canopy. There is also some great part usage, including minifigure hands for flags, and helmet plumes for the horsetails.

Be sure to check out Geneva’s blog post detailing the techniques that went into the forest background.

Adorable cottage has big heart in a small space

Medieval cottages are a favorite subject of LEGO fan builders around the world, and while we feature them often on TBB, once in a while a creation comes along that really makes an impression. At first glance, this compact cozy cottage by mamax711 may not seem that remarkable, but once you look a bit closer, there are some wonderful details worth noticing. For example, the walls are built using a number of parts not commonly associated with wall building, particularly, the tan 2×2 brackets used to trap the sideways facing plates on either side of the windows. And speaking of windows, the brown 1×2 tile with handle on top makes the perfect small window frame. The jumbled garden and roof details fit the building very well.

Medieval Times

The legacy of Ninjago’s Dragon’s Forge

Everything old is new again and Robert4168 takes us on a nostalgic trip back to 2017 with this colorful and detailed homage to set 70627 Dragon’s Forge. Recently, LEGO has started giving some of their classic Ninjago sets a makeover and re-issuing them under the Legacy moniker. For fans, it’s a great opportunity to get your hands on some updated versions of older locations that you may have missed the first time around. Taking a cue from LEGO, Eurobricks launched a contest asking their members to create their own Legacy scenes based on any past Ninjago set. Clearly, Robert4168 was up to the challenge!

Dragon's Forge

The color palette of the landscaping is a beautiful combination of lime green and dark green accented with translucent blue tiles and bricks for a pleasing water effect. I like the use of angled plates and some sideways building to create its organic shapes. The rickety brown wooden bridge is not only nicely constructed, but provides good color contrast.

The detailed revamping of the forge’s interior is a marked improvement on the original set with its tan and dark tan color scheme, brown window frames and tiled floor. The addition of warm lights inside the forge is a perfect finishing touch that really puts this model over the top.

Massive monastery in the mountains meets the ‘mancers

Necromancers, that is. The story is that druids once lived here in Ard-darragh with their magical tree, but when they left, eventually Christian monks settled the cliffs and build a monastery; but they too left, and necromancers took over the site. At least, that is how builder Michal Herbolt describes the evolution of the place. And what a place it is, too! Large castle dioramas are always impressive, if for no other reason than the sheer volume of parts needed to bring them to life. But this one is exceptionally well done, with the brilliant textures on the walls, the large cliffs, the glittering water, and the nicely contrasting roofs.

01

While there might not be many particular elements here to make you say, “Ooh, I never thought of using that piece for that purpose,” it is nonetheless a masterwork of architectural design and landscape integration. No part of the structure is aligned to the stud-grid of the base, and most of the towers join with the adjacent buildings at non-right angles, too. The way the buildings fade into the rear cliff is perfect, too. My absolute favorite detail, though, is the way the smooth white and rough light bluish grey parts of the walls blend organically together, creating a level of texture that is just right without being either too little or too much. This is a build that is definitely worth a closer look, so check out Michal’s full album on Flickr for all of the detail shots.

All the world’s a stage, and all the minifigures merely players

Many of the best LEGO creations are carefully composed scenes which tell a story. MorlornEmpire takes this thought one step further — building a delightful LEGO Castle scene which depicts a medieval theatre with a play in progress. The theatre walls are nicely chunky and use the classic technique of scattered dark grey tiles to simulate stonework, with an added splash of colour from the well-positioned climbing foliage.

LEGO Classic Castle Theatre Stage Play

However, appropriately enough, it’s the on-stage action which commands the attention — don’t miss the scenery flats of rolling countryside and hilltop castle, and the smart use of curved tiles to create an impression of a curtain backdrop for the sky. All this creation is missing is a rowdy audience of peasants chucking vegetables at the actors during boring sections of the play–a regular feature of theatrical performance until relatively recent times!

A modern twist on the classic castle

One of the most popular LEGO themes of all time is Castle, a staple of any LEGO fan from the late 1970s to the present. Builder Ciamosław Ciamek treats us to his own version of the Black Falcon Stronghold, showcasing modern building methods and a level of detail not seen on these sets back in the day. In particular, the smokestacks add an even deeper sense of realism (gotta stay warm in the winter, right?) to the castle. I really like the tried-and-true use of ice cream scoops as the smoke coming out of the chimneys.

03 Black Falcon's Stronghold

Even the interior is incredibly detailed. And as you can see, these guards need a little more target practice.

27 Black Falcon's Stronghold

Fire up your forge with the original gods of metal

If the Middle Ages taught us one thing, it’s that heavy metal is nothing new. Ben Tritschler’s lively-looking medieval forge has the makings of a metal legend. Blacksmiths hammer away, piecing together suits of armor and shaping cannonballs. Ornate-looking armor is achieved, in part, with sculpted minifig appendages like silver prosthetic legs and mechanical arms. Everything is framed within a structure that is both beautiful and rundown, and the sideways-mounted tiles for the brick floor look brilliant. You can even almost smell the smoke and hear the din of the tiny hammer.

Manufacturing 2

Cackle, boil, battle and foil

It’s nice when LEGO creations tell a story. Larsvader’s latest scene does exactly that. Whether you read the narrative he’s provided in the description or not, the story seems clear: a witch planned on having some children over for dinner, but Lady Megan has come to stop her. The story is framed nicely by walls and a floor made of varying shapes and shades of gray bricks.
Lady Megan
Furthermore, there are plenty of supporting details that help enrich the scene and enhance the story. For example, the skeletons imply the witch has killed before. One can only wonder what potions and sorcery are contained in the jars and spell books. The chained up man implies that perhaps this isn’t the first rescue attempt, or maybe he’s Lady Megan’s lover and the true treasure of her quest. What’s next in store for Lady Megan, the man, the children, and the witch?

Beautiful medieval scenery abounds

I’ve personally been building a lot of landscape lately, so I love being inspired by the work of other builders. There’s a ton to be inspired by in this creation by John Snyder. The first thing that draws me in is the colour palette – olive green and dark tan work so well together to form a muted backdrop for the bright leaves on the trees, and even the brown and light grey of the building stand out.

The Silver Seedling

Delve deeper into this detailed scene

Seaside market is open for business

Can you hear the sound of seagulls? The peasants and knights sure can in this medieval seaside market built by Teabox. This is an incredible build, featuring a multi-tiered castle wall manned by red knights, fishermen returning from a day’s catch, and a guild of green traders arriving for a visit.

Seaside market

It’s the little details that make this creation so full of life. It’s all here, from the wooden piers on the waterfront, to the flowers growing through windows, or the soon-to-be-eaten crustaceans caught in the crab traps.

Open the gates!

Builder Louis of Nutwood packs a lot of story in a small space in this snow-covered castle scene. This is part 8 of a wonderful ongoing series by Louis, and not only is it visually interesting, but there’s a written component that accompanies each part of the heroes’ journey.

Svalg Keep

In this chapter, a pair of weary travelers, one in dire circumstances, arrive at Svalg Keep to seek help from its residents. The castle is nicely sculpted and I really like the way it seems to spill off of the confines of the base. The small wooden structures are a fitting addition and do a great job of breaking up the mostly gray and white color palette of the castle. Adding more color to the proceedings are the snow-laden trees utilizing fall colors on their branches. It can be hard to work in a limited number of colors, but Louis excels at it here.
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Alone, a hawk soars above it all

Usually when we see something this epic, it has already been inundated with hundreds of “likes” from adoring friends and fans. When I clicked “like” on this piece, I was number 5. That was surprising given how amazing this creation is. This castle among the rocks raises more questions than answers, like: who lives there? What are they protecting? Is it abandoned? Aside from the plant life, the hawk appears to be the only discernible living thing guarding this fortress. Amenk Sachio seems to be a builder of few words as all he had to say was #LEGOcastle.

#lego #legocastle #castlefantasy #legoart #bhinnekalug #legomoc #moccastle

Though there are a few statue-like guards, it is perhaps the lack of human activity and minimal explanation is what makes this so fascinating,  We featured about half of this creation a year ago but it seems Amenk wasn’t finished building yet. Intricate gold filagree, bridges, buttresses, gargoyles and other details adorn the new addition as well as the old. Well, I’m intrigued, how about you?

#legocastle #legomoc #moccastle