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.

The stronghold of the separatists

I can only assume that the dark villains who live in this black castle nestled among spiked growths on a lake of lava call themselves the separatists. Why is that? Because the main piece of the castle by Simon Liu is one of the new double-wide brick separators from LEGO’s new mosaics, with a strip of chainlinks down the center to make stairs. But the separator isn’t the only piece that Simon copped from the mosaics, as the front wall of the castle is the Technic panel hangar, with the nail slot making a perfect front gate. Simon built this for our friends over at New Elementary as a way to explore the LEGO Art line.

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Five feet of Heavy Metal badassery!

What is five feet tall and completely brimming with Heavy Metal badassery? No, not Ronnie James Dio or Glenn Danzig. Those two are taller than five feet but not by much. This stunning LEGO castle by Shawn Snyder stands five feet high (152.4cm) and is like every Iron Maiden and Motörhead album cover combined. If this seems reminiscent of images you’d find on the side of your weird uncle’s van in the ’70s or ’80s that is because it was inspired by the art of Frank Frazetta and also Shawn’s time playing the video games Darksiders, Skyrim, and Castlevania. You don’t need much color to convey the completely ominous feel this castle encompasses. In fact, Shawn’s stark color choices work in his favor here and instead employ repetition of form and the use of compelling textures. Note the tiny minifigs flanking the front steps and one on the upper balcony.

This closeup offers a detailed view of the skeletal sentries adorning the front of the castle as well as the centralized snarling horned skull.

Even the gargoyles are well-positioned and intricately detailed.

This Fortress of the Skeleton Mage has won a place in my dark and foreboding heart. I now have classic metal tunes stuck in my head but, in the whole scheme of things, that’s a pretty decent place for me to be. Rock on, Shawn! Rock on.

I want much more than this provincial life

It takes a careful eye for detail to craft a large LEGO immersive scene since every corner of the frame has to be considered. But it also takes a large number of LEGO bricks, far more than one would think before beginning the project (especially for the foreground, which always needs more, always). Talented LEGO builder Joe (jnj_bricks) has both the careful eye and the pile of bricks and uses them masterfully to craft this castle harbor scene, with a quay, lots of shops, a castle, and even a drunken pirate down on the dock. It certainly fits the bill as a large scene, too, measuring 144×80 studs.

Joe neglects no surface in the scene, from the textured roofs to the detailed walls. There are slight variations in color to show weathering, and no two houses have the same wat-and-daub pattern. The selling point is the minifigure posing, however, which can be one of the trickiest bits to nail down, but Joe got it just right, with dynamic and natural poses all around. It really sells that this is a normal day with people going about their ordinary lives. Pretty sure I see the baker with the same old bread and loaves to sell. And do you see the goat? He’s got a goat, the Holy Grail of castle builders!

Spires in the Skies

Markus Rollbühler surprises us with a creation that could be straight from a fairy tale. Inspired Terry Pratchett, Markus created this giant turtle with a settlement on its back. The turtle is a lovely build, using owls for legs and acorn tiles for eyes. The best thing about this creation has to be the use of the ninja neck scarf to create the dome roofs of the settlement and the smalles airship (which is cute as a button). The bigger airship uses a combination of the magnifying glass and the barbell weight. After seeing these I want to build an entire fleet of cute little airships.

Autumn woodlands just in time for Spring

Just as Spring has sprung around here Isaac Snyder has Autumn on the brain with this Tryandal Woodlands. But as it turns out, March signifies the onset of Autumn in the southern hemisphere, so… Yeah, maybe my title and premise aren’t as funny and ironic as initially thought. Plus, last week, it was snowing and 36 degrees Fahrenheit here, so who knows what’s going on in the world. Either way, Isaac tells us Autumn is a magical time for him, and if that inspires him to build a LEGO creation this good, then I’m inclined to agree. With only 101 elements, we are taken to a magical land complete with Elven towers. It’s rather breathtaking, truth be told. Here are some of the other times Isaac had us whisked away to magical lands.

Gnepnug the Forager gathers mushrooms

Behold! Another fun little LEGO creation by John Snyder featuring a woodland gatherer. I’ll be honest, my first thought upon seeing this build was, “Oh, look! The Wicked Witch of the West!” But then I saw the title and realized it was an insanely cooler character, Gnepnug the Forager. I’ve never seen anyone use a Bionicle leg plate before as a face, but this works! The use of multiple minifigure capes for worn-in clothing was a clever idea. I also appreciate the lack of a baseplate, with John instead opting for what appears to be a green LEGO sail piece.

Aye, there’s a castlehead for you

There’s trainheads and castleheads, but usually it’s meant to refer to fans of the various LEGO themes. However, here’s a build that takes it quite literally. Designed by Corvus Auriac, this 5,400-piece microscale model depicts a castle built on a rock that might be a little more alive than its builders suspected. It’s packed with lovely details from the dragon burninating the town to the tiny wizard tower sprouting out of the side of the castle’s tallest roof. Do yourself a favor and give this one a close look, as you’ll be rewarded with lots of clever parts usages. One of my favorites is also the one used most here: most of the trees are made from dark green minifigure epaulets stacked on each other.

A medieval winter wonder-castle

Winter wonderlands are a fairly common theme with LEGO builders, and not just houses and villages, but castles as well, like this cozy castle by W. Navarre. I hope they have plenty of tiny logs to burn in their tiny fireplaces. The model features a nice mix of newer and older gray parts for the perfect weathered look and speaking of weather, the scene includes several patches of snow on the roofs and the surrounding grounds. One of my favorite details is the little tower near the left side, which is attached using 1×1 rounded tiles on their side, stuck into the underside of the larger 2×2 rounded plate.

Medieval city tour

Sometimes you just happen to stumble upon a creation that shocks you. Roger Cageot’s creation did this for me. I was shocked that I never heard of Roger Cageot and that I’ve never seen his work before. His medieval street creation is simply stunning. It looks like it could be a film set. Every single building is a knockout if you ask me. I could write a feature about every single house and be perfectly happy to do so. My favorite building has to be the tan stables with the sagging roof. No, wait the white building on the right with the crumbling plaster. No, wait the Tudor-style house with the diagonal wood beams. No the barrack on the left with the half-round wall and the excellent roofing. Ah heck, I love it all! You can ‘walk’ these medieval streets by checking out the rest of the pictures in Roger’s stream. Some of the houses also have an interior.

It takes a village to raise up good builders

Back when I was first exploring the world of online LEGO fandom, years ago now, one of the first places I landed was the Guilds of Historica, a medieval fantasy-based role building forum on Eurobricks. It was an eye-opening experience for me, then just a novice builder fairly fresh out of my dark ages, seeing all the incredible castles and villages that talented builders the world over had contributed. I quickly joined up and contributed my own creations, getting invaluable building and photography feedback along the way, and Mathijs Dubbeldam was one of those helpful folks giving me feedback and support. His latest build feels like a medieval piece of Ninjago City, with the blue water and grey walkway along with the tower and colorful buildings. The varied roofline and angled walkways give it a wonderfully organic feel, like a real city. Fancy a visit?

Don’t forget to browse other LEGO fantasy builds while you are here! Perhaps you’ll be inspired to build your own, especially with the new LEGO Ideas 21325 Medieval Blacksmith shop out now.

A mine for the blacksmith

If you’re a blacksmith, odds are you have a supplier of ore and metals coming from a nearby mine. In this case, the mine is built by -LittleJohn. Clearly taking inspiration from the new LEGO Ideas Medieval Blacksmith set, builder -LittleJohn made this creation for the Colossal Castle Contest. The Allanar Mine is run by dwelves (dwarves + elves) who offer a warm meal and a soft bed to any travelers passing through.

The level of detail here is staggering. The landscaping, the mine building, and the inn are a work of art. I’d have to say my favorite part of this build is the windows. They’re beautiful! Both paned and double-paned are built so creatively. I’m going to have to see if I can replicate -LittleJohn’s techniques in my next medieval-themed creation.

Is this Maleficent again or one of her cousins?

Making LEGO brick built animals is something I always struggle with. Especially when they have to be minifig scale. Louis of Nutwood has no problem with brick built animals. His creation features an amazing brick built dragon. Which has been done before quite a couple of times before. Louis used bricks to build the wings, which I’ve never seen before. Builders quite often make the skin between the fingers of the wings out of a different parts. Fabric, cloth, or plastic with a pattern. The wings look great and are quite poseable. The face looks absolutely divine and the action posing was done exceptionally well. The fire effect looks better than most tv-show CGI fire bursts which makes the water near the dragon ripple.