Tag Archives: Medieval

TBB Cover Photo for January 2022: The king’s royal hangover

Why is the start of the new year in the middle of winter? It’s dark and cold out, everyone is tired. Even indoors can be dark and cold, just like this grand high-ceilinged throne room built by Andreas Lenander. After a night of celebrations within his keep, the noble king returns to his throne with a royal hangover to ponder the existential dilemma of ruling instead of partying. Or he may be wondering what’s taking his servant so long to fetch the breastplate stretcher…

We recently wrote about this grand royal hall, but we decided to use this immersive and atmospheric shot as the cover photo for our social media platforms. Despite my questionable interpretation of the scene (and one too many Bobby B references), the composition of this build and the photo speaks for itself as good storytelling. The king positioned on the white carpet draws the eye to the throne looming in the darkness, prompting the pondering of his situation. Does the darkness mean that his kingdom is in peril? Do the columns signify that the king is trapped in a risky position of power (and he’d rather be spending his life partying with peasant girls)? Ok, I’ll stop now.

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Take note of this impressive castle vignette.

Francis Wiemelt has delivered a 12×12 castle vignette featuring a medieval scribe, attending to his work in a room worth writing home about. From the slanted brickwork in the ceiling, to the well textured stone floor, there are loads of impressive details in this build. My favorite part is the scribe’s desk, which is made (appropriately enough) from books.

Beautiful mosaic patterns feature in this grand hall

Andreas Lenander has designed this fantastic looking great hall. Light trickles in through the windows, surrounded by intricate stonework frames. Tall pillars are placed close to the main walkway with extended connector pieces assisting in adding to their height. A grand window overlooks the king who greets an approaching visitor while the guards stand ever watchful. Cast your eyes down to the floor and you can see complex mosaic patterns created by wedge pieces. The outer squares along the path also have some great details with arched pieces creating elegant curves in the patterns.

As Andreas says in the video, you wouldn’t want to tip this model upside down, otherwise those wedge pieces will be going everywhere.

Wintery forced perspective for the win

Forced perspective is always the way to go when you want to get noticed by TBB. Using niche LEGO parts in a clever way is another way to get blogged. John Snyder did both so I have no choice but to write an article about this amazing build. The forced perspective is created by building something that is further away on a much smaller scale than the things in the foreground. The background is too blurry for me to identify cleverly used parts, but the objects in the foreground are a lot easier to identify. The path is made of 1×2 round plates mixed with plates in dark tan. This makes the path look like it is made of cobblestones. A simple technique with a great effect. The tree is made using several limbs of Chewbacca. The print on this piece works perfectly for tree bark. When it comes to foliage John got really creative. The autumn leaves are made with toy winder keys. The fallen leaves are made using star stud holders. For the grass John used minifigure claws

This town needs a Witcher!

Alas, this small hamlet has been invaded by a variety of monsters! A sinister banshee haunts the field while a werewolf creeps around the village. However, a Witcher has just arrived on the outskirts of town. Will he be able to help villagers fight against these foul creatures? This fantastic build comes from Ciamosław Ciamek and has a vibrant style in its colour scheme. The thick coverage of leaves on the trees suggests that the town is located on the edge of a dense forest. There is a great build for the field as it uses textured pieces to create grooves in the dirt.

Luckily, it seems as though the travelling Witcher is experienced in fighting monsters as the head of a demonic-looking creature swings from his saddle. The diorama also has one character taking part in kissing a frog while onlookers stare at her. These intricate details assist in conveying that the town is teeming with compelling stories and intriguing characters.

Lanterns with tassels!

Tudor style buildings are my weak spot. There, I said it! This build by Kevin Wanner is no exception to that rule. Kevin’s creation features stained glass windows with yellow glass. Using the turntable base for the stained glass windows is a technique that quite a lot of builders have used before, and even LEGO eventually picked up on this technique, featuring it in their Unexpected Gathering set. But there is so much more to love — the macaroni tiles in brown used for the woodwork, the crooked little chimeys, the round 1×2 plate well, the Mjolnir wall, the string net hills, the claws for a straw roof and the tree stump tiles used to show where the wooden support beams in the building are hiding. All lovely techniques, but the best one has to be the use of the old Scala perfume bottle to create a lantern with a tassel.

A very smooth Halloween cottage

Okay Halloween might be over but that is no reason not to post an amazing LEGO Halloween themed build. This creation by Jake Hansen sure is something else. It is completely studless (not counting the studs on the foliage). This makes this creation almost look like it is not made out of LEGO bricks. Not building on a base but placing each element loose on paper also helps. Jake uses some interesting techniques. There are treasure chest lids hidden in the tree trunks. The best part has to be that cute fence and the balcony made with umbrellas. There is a stash of pumpkins next to the house. If you look closely you’ll spot that the ones in the back are not orange but red. This creates more depth as they look like there’s a shadow cast upon them because they are further away. Very clever. Another clever technique has to be the tombstone made out of a 2×2 round tile with hole and bar holders with clips attached to the back of the round plate. The effect is amazing!

Tudor-style buildings with plumbing

I am quite a fan of old cities. Old cities offer a little bit of everything. They have skyscrapers and office buildings but often also Tudor-style buildings reminding us of simpler times. These Tudor-style buildings are often located near the city square or the city centre or what used to be the centre of the city. Quite often these buildings had to be modernised at a given point because they didn’t have central heating and electricity in the period they were built. Sometimes these features are added very respectfully, and it is not noticeable from the outside that these features were added on in a later stage.

Sometimes, however, these features are just slapped on the building with complete disregard of how it looks. Although I prefer the first option, I’ve grown fond of the second one too. Either way, it reminds us of our past and it shows how our demands for housing changed over the years. This build by Pieter Dennison is a perfect example of a building having to evolve in order to meet the inhabitants wishes. Pieter made a lovey Tudor-style house, complete with a stone staircase leading up to the building. Bars and slope tiles have been used to create some lovely details and even windows. Dark tan and olive-green work together wonderfully for the plaster. It looks like the building has passed the test of time. The addition of rain pipes however takes it from a medieval theme right to something more now. It gives the house a bit of a steampunk-ish vibe that we all love.

This massive castle display is incredibly detailed

Created by Ben Pitchford, this LEGO model is a beautiful diorama of a medieval castle by the ocean, overlooking a quaint village and a forest hideout. The castle rests upon a cliff which is made up of a variety of sloped bricks with plants pieces wedged between the gaps in the rocks. Several waterfalls flow over the cliff faces into the colourful ocean below. There are even some hidden features underneath the castle such as mysterious caves, a dungeon and a blacksmith.

The castle has a dominating presence created by its sheer height and elaborate layers. The textured surfaces of the castle are produced through a mixture of bricks being stacked up normally and bricks placed sideways. A few of the entrance ways lead to detailed throne rooms, perfectly suited for the royalty of the castle.

A stony path to the castle leads down to a gate with a village surrounding it. The roofing details of the buildings provides a great sense of slabs stacked together. Villagers are shown to be selling an assortment of vegetables and meats, while a cart, full of supplies, heads towards the castle gate.

But the residents of the village should beware as the hamlet is overshadowed by a forest people base. Platforms are built into trees with precarious wooden bridges connecting the platforms. On the forest floor there is a training ground with targets and a blazing central fire. The intentions of the forest people seems unclear, although there are a few of them hiding and sneaking around, close to the castle.

There is also a video of the display where Ben shows some of the intricate details and hidden features of the build. The castle is hooked up with a lighting system, used to simulate flickering firelight in the dungeon and throne rooms. A water wheel is also shown to have a battery powered mechanism allowing it to spin.

Check out more articles relating to fantastic castle builds, here.

I want Dragon Lands sets for Christmas

The last LEGO castle theme was LEGO Nexo Knights. Whether you think that was an actual castle theme is debatable. LEGO has released some castle-themed sets since, but not a full-blown castle theme. Sure, Harry Potter sets are mostly castles, but it’s just not the same. So, what do you do when LEGO doesn’t sell what you would like to buy? You create it yourself! Aaron Newman created not a castle set, but an entire castle theme titled Dragon Lands. Filled with elves, orcs, wizards, knights, and of course dragons. Each model looks like it could be produced by TLC. Each set comes with action features and the minifigures have a background story. Even the photography is comparable to LEGO catalogue quality.

Aaron’s amazing work doesn’t limit itself to an amazing cathedral that hinges open to reveal its lavish interior. The theme also includes a ship with festive flags, ruins covered in snow and ice, a sea serpent, a massive crossbow, a rock-dropping dragon, and last but not least a very inclusive cast of minifigures to accommodate these lovely creations.

Eroded rocks and wand fences

I love a good Tudor style build. And since LEGO is slow when it comes to producing castle themed sets we love to feature medieval fan creations here at The Brothers Brick. This creation by Robert features some lovely techniques. The one that really catches the eye is the use of upside down 1×2 dark blue plates for roof shingles. The roof needs the texture added by the plates because it is quite present in the build and without it the roof would look quite bland. The waterwheel is ingeniously made with a lot of A-shape wedges. For the rocks they used a variation of round bricks. This makes the rocks look like they got smoothed out by the eroding water traveling down from them. Also the cute fence made out of wands with sprue attached deserves a quick mention.

There’s something fishy about Skaldar Port

What is better than a nice medieval building made out of LEGO? An entire medieval city! Louis of Nutwood created Skaldar Port. A place that apparently is salty, damp and a bit stinky. It’s supposed to smell like fish. Even though it smells, it’s a place of hope for a lot of people who want a fresh new start in life. What makes this build amazing isn’t just its size. Each little building could perfectly work as a stand-alone creation. The stonework on the little houses is made with great attention to detail. There are a lot of different bricks used to depict the crumbling bricks of the building. From slopes to tiles to bricks to wedges. Using the same technique for the roof and the Tudor style throughout the build creates a uniformity to the creation that is really nice.