The stronghold at low tide
The Estuary Stronghold lies at the banks of a river where
the tides of the sea meet the current of the river, resulting
in large tide differences. The model shows the Stronghold
during low tide, so half of the surroundings are drowned
while the other half is dry. During low tide, carts can ride
onto the beach alongside the castle walls to deliver goods
which are hauled in by crane.
The main roadway curls gradually up from the lower right and goes round full circle. The oldest structure is the large half-round Keep. Other stone structures are the white garrison quarters and the small chapel. The wooden houses include a luxureous home for the residing lord, general store, food store, bakery, blacksmith and inn. There are seperate stables for visitors (garrison stables are on the first floor of the garrison building) and a crane to haul in large loads from outside the castle walls.
Town Guards
Garrison Soldiers
The Stronghold is not a court palace. It's a center of
local commerce, residence of the local lord and a fortress to
defend the river estuary from villains. The garrison includes
three parties: the Town Guards (local 'police' tasks), the
Garrison Soldiers (elite troops available for forceful
presence in the area) and the Wild Bunch, a small flock of
hired 'temps' - noone actually knows where they are from.
Wild Bunch
Enjoy the full visual tour (Internet Explorer) or a linear slideshow (other browsers).
Castle walls are curved. In this project special efforts were made to avoid stereotypical LEGO castle shapes and to have curving and skewed shapes. In retrospect I shouldn't have used the stereotypical castle walls at all...