REVIEW: 79015 Witch-king Battle

[Blakstone]

Witch-King Battle

Set #: 79015

Theme: Hobbit

Year Released: 2014

Piece Count: 101

Minifigs: 3

List Price: $14.99

Box Art:

The color for the Battle of the Five Armies sets is green. It is a nice look but it does not match the other Dol Guldur sets. That is not an issue for me as I recycle the empty boxes after I build the sets.

Here is a side view of the box as well.

When you first open your box, you will find two small bags and the instructions.

I gathered the minifigure parts immediately. After all, they are the main attraction in this set. I took a photo of the capes themselves.

Here are the completed minifigs.

Front:

Back:

Back without Hair, Crown, and Capes:

Before moving on to the completed build, lets compare these minifigs:

Ring Wraiths and the Mouth of Sauron:

Only the Witch-King's head glows in the dark.

Elronds, Past, Present and Future:

Here are two Elrond mashups to show army builder potential. The first using head and hair from Mirkwood Elf Army and the second from the CMF Elf.

Lady Elves:

And now the final build:

It is showed as with the two sections of the build joined together. However, it can be separated.

The Witch-King is on a piece that can be rotated. The catapult will also move the skeleton torso. There are also all the pieces to make a full skeleton once you scrap this set for parts.

Speaking of parts, there are only a few spare parts.

For those that are interested in the background art of the instructions, here is a sample page.

Here is the parts list from the instructions.

In case you want see if your Toys R Us has this set, here is the code from the receipt.

By popular request, here is the Witch-king Battle with the other Dul Guldur sets. There are only a few connection points possible between these sets.

Witch-King Battle has one male connection in the middle of the set and two female connections. One is in the middle and one on the end. That means that one side is not available to be connected to any set.

If you remove half of the Witch-king Battle, you can connect the build to the tower of Dul Guldur Battle.

Here is WKB joined with DGA

Now we can subtract half of WKB.

Here is a better view at the connectors on the three sets. In this photo, you can see that the other side of DGB's tower uses a single male connector which does not fit with the double female connectors of the other sets.

The other side of the builds to show the connectors.

I hope you enjoyed my first review.

And now the score!

Design: 8/10. Well the design is decent we don't collect the Hobbit sets for the builds. Still the feel of this build matches the other two Dol Guldur sets very well.

Parts: 10/10

There is an excellent selection of bricks for your castle MOCs. My favorite parts are the red leaf piece and the window with the black bars. However, you get a decent selection of reddish brown and gray parts too.

Build: 8/10

It was a simple build which is expected at this price point. Still it is a random amount of ruins.

Playability: 10/10

There is a catapult, a Witch-King launcher, and part of a skeleton that moves with the catapult. That is more play features that some mid-sized sets get.

Price: 10/10

There exclusive minifigs for less than $15. The Witch-King's crown is a new mold which Elrond and Galadriel both has new colors of their hair piece. That more than makes up for a price per piece higher than 10 cents.

Overall: 46/50 (92 %)

This is an excellent set for fans either The Hobbit films or Lord of the Rings. I plan on getting at least one more set to make a purist custom of Eowyn in Meduseld. None of the torsos have fleshie bits which makes these a good idea for tradition Castle fans as well.

Hobbit wave three appears to be the last Middle-Earth sets. If so, don't miss your opportunity to complete your collection. Even if you are not a big fan of the Hobbit movies, you will want Galadriel and the twilight version of the Witch-King.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Blakstone

[just2good]

Wow, great review! I especially love your minifigure shots.

Can't wait to get my hands on this one. Definitely my favorite of this new wave.

[atreyu2112]

Can you post the UPC #s so we can check our local TRUs?

[Steph 104th]

Wonderful review, thanks for taking the time to do it, this is definatly one of the lines best sets.

[Robert8]

Galadriel is the highlight of this wave, for sure. Her cape is BEAUTIFUL.

Cool review!

[kevkipo]

Nice review! lovely little set! and for that price

[Daimar]

Thanks for the review. This set is an instant buy for me. At last I will have all the elvish women from the Hobbit and LOTR line.

[Wardancer]

With this Elrond, we all can make the armored Elf we have been waiting for so long! Only without a helmet and shield, hmm. If some customizer company is smart, they could fill that void.

Thanks for the review. This set will sell like sliced bread.

The ruins look like they were assembled by either a kid or a randomness generator. Yes, they are ruins, but how about ruins with style?

Edited September 14, 2014 by Wardancer

[TheRedViper]

Thanks for the review, looks like a nice little set with the figures obviously the highlight.

[KristofBD]

Great set! Thanks for the review! Elrond is indeed a good 'army builder' it seems. Also thanks for the comparison shots, they are very insightful!

[sahidko]

The new Elrond is really great and with price for this set i will probably BL more of thim to create armored elf army at last. :)

[wetib]

Can you post picture with Witch-king in the dark? I want to see how he glows :)

Guys you have good idea with Elrond army builder. Blakstone can you also post pircture with Elrond body + normal elvish head + normal elvish hair (yellow or brown)

thank you in advance :)

[Tuinman]

Thanks for the review. Can't wait to get my hands on this set, excellente figures and a nice addition to the other Dol Guldur sets.

[Ranger_Elegost]

Great Review :D

[Robert_88]

Great review! I'll buy this set as soon as possible.

[Egor]

Awesome!

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to picking this set up when it'll be available in my country. Hope they will be in our stores in October, not in January like previous years.

[Black Numenorean]

Thanks for the review. But why usa are priviliged?!

[Blakstone]

I will take the requested photos later. I am charging the Witchking right now but only the head appears to be glow in the dark.

Here are the series of numbers on the TRU receipt: 67341921244.

[wetib]

It seems to me Galadriel is one piece taller than Elrond and Witchking :)

[Infernum]

Awesome review! Those figs are great!

The price is $14.99 though? Is that just a TRU, or is that the official price?

[HawkLord]

Wow, I'll be in for a number of those to army build both Elves and I can always use more forest/castle bricks. Despite being an uninspired set, there's lots of MOCing material.

[Agent Fusion]

I need more capes, so this set is perfect.

[TheLazyChicken]

Wow, this set looks great! For $15 this is a great deal (for me at least).

[Deathleech]

Awesome review! Those figs are great!

The price is $14.99 though? Is that just a TRU, or is that the official price?

Pretty sure that is retail/MSRP. People were talking about other sets being at TRU as well and noted the $30/60/130 which we had confirmed for those sets. TRU usually has them for MSRP when the sets first come out, before they realize the error of their ways and jack the price up

Anyways, nice review! Not sure if I will be buying a ton of these like other people keep mentioning. Galadriel isn't terribly useful after you get one of her and the Witch King is nice, but other than maybe making 9 Twilight Nazgul has no real use either for multiples. That leaves one figure worth army building with in a $15 set.. not exactly ideal.

[sahidko]

Anyways, nice review! Not sure if I will be buying a ton of these like other people keep mentioning. Galadriel isn't terribly useful after you get one of her and the Witch King is nice, but other than maybe making 9 Twilight Nazgul has no real use either for multiples. That leaves one figure worth army building with in a $15 set.. not exactly ideal.

Thrue, that's why i am going to wait until somebody does that for me and i will buy Elronds only on BL. :)