u/Affectionate-Trip982

HIgher res images to the current submission of Fort Estrella, which received a bit of an overhaul since BDP9. :)

Any feedback appreciated as always! See the link below for the most important changes w.r.t. BDP 9.

Note: After BDP 11 has been concluded, I may submit this design to LEGO Ideas, where I'll be using the extra allowed parts (up to 5.000 parts where BDP allowed 4.000) to create cobble stone walkways, a more wooden look to the pier and applying tiles and more detail on the sides of the bastions in particular as one of the regular critiques is a desire for more display detail, where currently I'm going with a more '90s look to save on parts.

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-11/4758/Imperial-Guards-Fort-Estrella

Welcome to Fort Estrella, the mighty Imperial Guards stronghold!
Bring your pirate or rival imperial fleet to bare and lay siege to the fortress, blasting your way into its treasury, or sneak into the fort and steal it with a small group of brigand infiltrators! Perhaps you will gather your fleet and start your anti-piracy campaign or new conquests here under the leadership of the ambitious and temperamentful Governor Tempest. Maybe you will find your dreams of pirate ambitions reduced to the small, damp brick, pardon, brig of Fort Estrella and you need to find a way to escape... Perhaps you want to wage war between two imperial factions with their own port cities or you're in need of a safe port to restock or find shelter from a storm, with several bastions guarding the entrance to a bay.

Whatever your fancy, you can create it with Fort Estrella!

Its 10 main sections as well as a target practice buoy and parrot/pidgeon cote provide countless options for replay. The sections can be displayed individually or in small groups, but when put together the size of the fort is approximately 92 by 94cm. If put in line with the bastions stretched to its 180° angle, the city wall can reach 1.6m in length or if you only stretch some sections, you could create a large protected town square to place your other buildings. Aside from creating a huge imperial port wall, you could also use this to store it on a shelf.

So could you create a giant fortress with two sets? Hell yes. Could you build an entirely different fort with this set? Absolutely.

Feedback

Regardless of whether or not the design makes it, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the design, the changes since last time and your ideas for how you'd use this in your collection or inspiration you get from it. Which sections would you (not) want to display and why (not?). What works and what doesn't? Does it miss anything important play value wise?

What do you think of the presentation? Is it too busy? Too small renders? Too much text? Etc.

Please let me know your thoughts so I can improve any future submissions! :D

What changed from BDP9?

You may remember the Imperial Guard's Star Fortress from BDP 8 and 9. BDP9 was already significantly altered compared to BDP8 and many of those changes only gotten more radical so I won't discuss those changes, but this version too has been given some significant upgrades and revisions.

Compared to BDP 9, I've tried to make the fort more visually interesting externally, with more bright and coherent colours. For instance reducing the degree of dark and light bluish grey used, especially on the outer wall and introduce a bit more colour and decorative elements on the façades including plants and details to distinguish sections. The balustrades use a more similar design to increase the coherency of the whole. The bricks to do this were freed up by replacing, simplifying or removing little bits all over. Changes included:

• Some interior detailing of several sections was altered to either use fewer parts, while maintaining the aesthetic.
• The BDP9 clock tower was removed in favour of a larger lighthouse tower.
• The BDP9 lighthouse was mirrored and turned into a watchtower and given a door.
• The governor's quarters were updated with a new triangular feature. The gatehouse got a better gate system.
• More battle damaged areas.
• More and more intense use of plants.
• Made the cascading waterfall in the cave transparant.
• Changed uniforms
• An additional minifigure (purple Jaeger).