Lego diorama of a castle tower overlooking a bubbling river. The castle sits atop a rocky mound and appears to have been converted for habitation with the addition of a wooden extension clinging to its top. It is clearly winter, as the ground is covered in snow, save for the areas sheltered beneath the boughs of the trees, one of which has been decorated with baubles for the winter celebrations. Three figures are seen around the area. A tomboyish knight in full plate removed her helmet to greet her companion, a ranger with spiky hair and brown clothes. Sat by the river is a blue-skinned rogue, who appears to be the most feminine of the three.

Winter Outpost

[2025-02-01]: New page: Winter Outpost.
[2025-01-27]: New page: Coles Titan Dragon AC.
[2025-01-19]: New section: Bricks.

For Christmas 2024, I was in the mood to create my own little festive village style diorama, and this is what grew out of that desire.

You might be able to tell that my starting point was the base of the Japanese Garden set - most of the pieces of which have made it into this model - but obviously I soon swerved into a new direction. Beyond stealing the wonderful water effect from the above set, the only planning that went into the model was the general idea of “a Norman-style castle in snow, with a decorated christmas tree somewhere nearby”.

I have used proper lego design tools such as LDD in the past, but I find that just sitting down with my collection and improvising is super relaxing. In this stressful world, we all need time to just vibe.

The back of the tower swings open, and I’ve stuffed a set of multi-coloured christmas lights into it - that’s what you can see glowing through the windows.

Btw, I watched Nerdcubed’s winter Planet Coaster series whilst building this. Check him out, he’s good people.

Additional photos

Alternate view of the diorama, from an ant's eye view. — There are some fun building techniques in here. That window on the ground floor between the buttresses is on its side because I don't have any three-wide windows.

Alternate view of the diorama, focusing on the uneven steps leading up to the front door of the tower. — Some more fun lego geometry in the steps. I was pleasantly surprised when my 1x4 wedge plates lined up perfectly with the angle that a hinge had produced.

Alternate view of the diorama, focusing on the detail of the river and the small jetty reaching out over it. — I introduced turbulence into the river using plates and trans-clear pieces instead of just using trans-light-blue tiles.