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Having plundered the Royal Kingdom of all their gold, Awful Anthony and his wily Wolfpack have set their greedy sights on relieving the Black Knights of their riches.

To achieve this end, the murderous band of cutthroats, thieves, and outlaws have launched their biggest plot ever: an all-out assault on the formidable Black Lord's Keep.


One arm of the attack is focused on breaching the western wall. One hapless attacker plunges into the moat, speared by a decisive defender. Archers try to provide cover for their brethren ascending the rickety ladder as spears and bolts continue to thin their ranks.



Another squad of wolfpack archers distracts the guards on the walls as two of their cunning compatriots attempt to gain access through a secret entrance.



At the main gate of the Keep, another formidable force attempts to force entry. The Black Knights are determined to deny them any foothold.



Having managed to hook onto the raised drawbridge, the wagoneers are using horsepower to force it back down. One intrepid daredevil has managed to catch a merlon with his whip and is ascending to eliminate the opposition.



Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, the true aim of the assault is being achieved. Having successfully pulled all of the defenders to the front side, Awful Anthony and his trusty cohort have snuck in by boat and stolen the treasure.



But the Black Lord, wise in the ways of the wicked, will not allow their hasty but rich retreat to proceed unchecked. He battles Hateful Harry in an attempt to pursue Anthony and cut short his perfidious pilfering.



Awful Anthony makes good his escape, perfectly content to let others take a blade for him. Clutching the Heart Ruby, he runs for the boat. Hopefully the two oafs lugging the treasure chest don't drop it!



But the success of this mission now depends on the boat being ready to launch as soon as the treasure is safely aboard. However, the man left behind to make sure this happens has stumbled into a rather smelly problem. Above, a curious guard, after relieving himself of several rather troubling burdens, peers out to gaze upon the scene below. Could his unsuspecting deposit have delayed the departure enough for the Black Lord to catch up with Awful Anthony? Perchance this encounter hangs upon the balance of how the fickle dice of Fate land...

Wow.

Just... Wow.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were pandering to the judges, or at least one of them. This is a huge build, and I have to assume some of it took place before the contest started, but that is irrelevant. Lots of interesting wall angles here, love the 'splash' effect for the poor wolfpack guy falling into the water. The, um, residue, from the garderobe is a nice touch, albeit gross.

Style: 7 Okay, love the build, but it is a castle. There isn't anything here I haven't seen on other builds, no matter how greebly and awesome it may be. I do like the splash effects, but there isn't really a lot of NPU that isn't normal to castle builds.

Substance: 7 Again, it is a castle. It is a BIG castle, mind you, this isn't some halfway slapdash keep, but more shots to show off the details might have been nice.

Theme: 10 Okay, this is where you hit it out of the park. You've got a big battle, different viewpoints of attacks from the opposition, the cart trying to drag down the drawbridge (might need more horses for that, and usually they pile rocks into the cart to give it more weight), valiant defenders, some interesting battle vingettes, and... poop....

Presentation: 9 Good viewpoints of the action, lots of scenes, nothing from the big folk world to distract the viewer away from the build, but I would have liked to see more shots of the action. An eagle-eye overview would have been excellent for a build like this to help the viewer bind the scenes together.

Best castle action scene I've seen in quite some time!

Style - 8. Beautiful castle, plenty of details, I’m a big fan! Though because you have chosen a classic castle style, the complexity of techniques used is not advanced enough to score full marks here.
Substance - 9. Impressive, scenic build on a large scale, with some surrounding scenery. For top marks here, I would be looking for the surrounding landscape to also be brickbuilt.
Theme - 9. This is BrikWars, and we certainly have a brik war going on here! Love all the details, the scattered conflicts and mini-scenes, the posing! Knocking one point off cos I’m a harsh bastard and would have liked to see original factions rather than LEGO’s Black Knights and Wolfpack.

Presentation - 10. This is how it’s done. Plenty of angles to show off the action, well-lit, in-focus photos and effort went into the backdrop to enhance viewer immersion. This is the gold standard I’m looking for in presentation scoring.

Style - 8.
Substance - 9.
Theme - 10.

Presentation - 10. Very nicely done, a great send up to Castle as a genre.