In progess MOC - My call for ideas!

[J1A3L5]

Hello all-

I'm working on a castle wall corner tower MOC, but I find myself in need of ideas for it. First off, so you know what we're talking about, here's two pics:

Pic 1
Pic 2

As you can see, inside I will have a XL grey baseplate size of space inside - I have no idea what to put in there, I thought about putting a couple shops in there, but all those tudor shops (In my opinion) get boring after a while. Hopefully something that doesn't involve castle army figs, as I don't have enough as it is already. Villagers and that would be excellent though.

Secondly, the outside of the wall - I plan to put a rock slope down (Like Anthony did on from them, but I don't know what to have at the bottom. At first I thought about water...any better ideas?

Thanks in advance,
-John.

[Dragon Master]

First off, thats an excellent wall! Is really great. Secondly you seem to have a ton of space there. Why not try an amphitheatre or stage. That is seldom done, but always cool!

-DM

[jamitjames]

It is looking good but you need more stuff in it, it is sorta blank, maybe a well?

[Formendacil]

Make it a full-scale courtyard, and then make it a lush, green garden. you know, like some refuge for rare and endangered wildlife. just my two coppers.

Great wall, BTW!

[Legomaat]

It is not clear to me how you want to go further. Do you want to add a Keep? And a gatehouse? Or is it only this tower?
Is that is the case, I will suggest to make it as a ruin. Give the walls crumbly ends. This will look more natural. Some ivy against it. Some rats.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=597120

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=597119

Well, I use that ruin idea when my castle tends to be bigger than my amount of bricks. And it works very well.

You made a great start. And your merlons are very special.

[Magnus]

If this is going to be part of a larger castle, you could build a blacksmiths and/or a stable, two buildings which would be essential. Build them up against the wall, so that you only need to build three walls instead of 4!

[Snoopy]

First off you need a parade ground or at leat some open space for your soldiers to marshall at. With the rest of the space, I would say to build a stable, a blacksmith, a saddlemaker, and buildings that would be needed during a seige.

[Brickboy]

I agree with the rest of you. You need a blacksmith, armor maker, parade ground, and a large well( in case of a seige).
Just some ideas.
Alan

[J1A3L5]

Thanks for the ideas all - I might not have made my first post clear.

The size it is at now, will be it's final size. I neither want to make a full castle right now, nor have the pieces to do one at this scale. I just wanted to make a corner tower. But I was unsure what to put on the inside of the walls in the baseplate worth of space I have remaining.

I like the ideas of stables, and actually thought about it before I posted this here, but I'm unsure how it would work exactly. I would like to have something against the walls, such as a shop or stables or something. Also, I might make a shop to go inside.

I like the idea of a courtyard area, I could do some more landscaping inside with gardens and that. It would maybe make a good mini-scene inside.

Here's a pic of what I'm doing on the outside - Fairly simple rock slope, the green area will hopefully have trees. (Ignore the space fig, he was just convenient at the time to show the scale of it all. )

Thanks again.

[Magnus]

Just a note, from the historian in me

If you are striving for realism, I'm not sure that a real castle would have had a parade ground inside the walls. We tend to think of castles as very big things, and many of them are. But they would have been jam packed with everything that they woud need during a siege. They would have stores, livestock, and very possibly whole fields of crops growing inside the walls. They wouldn't have set off a large space for soldiers to march around. Parades would more likely take place outside the walls. Jousts also, for the same reason, but also because no lord with his salt would want to allow a bunch of hotheaded rival knights inside his walls!