Review of the 852001 Castle Chess Set

[Guss]

Hello everyone, My mother offered me this set for my 25th birthday, she bought it on the shop at home on the Lego.com website, I did a review of it on my website, and I think nobody did it here, so I'm posting it here ! here we go !

I received it 7 days after she ordered it, which is a normal delay.

ref: 852001

name: Castle chess set!

Price : 34,90CHF(promotion)

Pieces : N/a

Gallery: here it is!

click on the images to see it!

opening of the package :

we can see that the set was well protected with plastic "bubbles" bags, so it arrived in perfect condition, thanks to the nice package.

The box:

front and back

the box is sympathic ,with it "attaché case" look, easily carriable to go and play chess in a park!

unfortunately, while removing the protection tape, it scratched the green painting of the box,but nothing important

let's open it !

we can see that the parts are well organized in little box, protected by a transparent plastic thing, which is easily removed, and put back.

the board:

the board have "scratchs" that avoid it to fall from the box, and to remove it/put it easily, the only negative point of this set is that the 4x4 plates are glued to a 32x32 green board, but that's not very important

the pieces:

they're all in their case, entirely built, only the staff of the black king is stored just behind him, and the 2 staffs of the 2 white bishop( is it the right word ? don't know in english^^) are placed behind the white king.

the two kings, I love the black king's cape

the two queens, the white queen have a reversible happy/scared face!

the two towers, when I tried to removed the black tower from the board, the bottom of it stayed on it, that prove that's real lego, not glued ^^

the two horses, note that I reversed the base of the black one, you think it was intentional ? no.. i'm just stupid ^^

the two bishops( really.. is that the good word ? XD) , I love the black one " the death"

and finally!

two of the 16 pawns, as someone told me, the legs of the skeletons just keep staying on the board when you move it, it's quite boring, but just a matter of habit.

Note: 9.5/10 ( because of the glued board^^)

Conclusion:

this chess game is very nice, carriable ,although the dismanteling pieces when you play, the playabilty is nice, you just have to take the pieces by the bottom of it! this is a set that you have to own if you like both lego and chess ! we'll just regret the glued board.. but .. that's a minor point

plus it only cost 25€ (half the normal price) and seeing the numbers of parts and minifig, the quality of the box and the playability ( it's a game^^), It's a set that I advise to buy, I really liked it!

[Siegfried]

It's been done before... but it's such a stunning set that it deserves another! Thanks!

[Guss]

that's not the same set Sinner^^ the one Whitefang reviewed is the Giant one, I just reviewed the normal, I wish I had the giant^^

[Dwarvenlord]

Very good review, guss! I own this set to, and i like it very much. However, after a few chess games with my lil' sister i decided to integrate the MFs in my LEGO armies That's actually why I bought it.

[UsernameMDM]

You can still buy this set?

[Buttons]

Thank you very much Guss

[Guss]

Dwarvenlord : thanks ^^ I bought it to have some castle minifig too^^ I only played it once, and against myself, my girlfriend didn't want to play with me

UsernameMDM : I don't think so.. the set is not on the S@H anymore.

Buttons You're welcome

[Cardinal Brick]

A nice review I really like this set infact I've bought three of them so far. UsernameMDM there are still a few at Bluewater in the UK so manybe a local Lego store if you're near one.

[Asuka]

Thanks for that nice review, Guss. Somehow it´s pretty mollifying to see that

there´re still LEGO chess sets out there in a more regular size...

[Siegfried]

that's not the same set Sinner^^ the one Whitefang reviewed is the Giant one, I just reviewed the normal, I wish I had the giant^^

My mistake. Sorry. I thought that sold out months ago.

[Guss]

that's ok , I got it in september, I just didn't wrote the review yet

thanks Asuka ^^

Edited November 15, 2008 by Guss

[Siegfried]

that's ok , I got it in september, I just didn't wrote the review yet

I can't talk; I'm in the middle of at least 5 reviews... It's a good review by the way! I voted "Average" as I preferred (and bought) the first one.

[KimT]

Thanks Guss.

I've got this one myself and it's a nice addition to one's army.

For the past weeks this has been on sale on S@H, but I checked a few days ago and now they're sold-out.

A fine army builder with a glued white baseplate

[WhiteFang]

Guss, thanks for this nice review. Among all the castle chess sets except the giant chess set, this is my favourite. Why? For a reasonable price, I am able to get a good amount of minifigs, especially on the swordsmen armed with shields. I love this set very much, and I have bought about 6 of these to build my army. Unfortunately, I opened 3 sets so far to play with, and the rest were kept in the storeroom.

By the way, my friends bought this set for me, for my birthday this year. They have even created a birthday cake for me too.

[UsernameMDM]

For the past weeks this has been on sale on S@H, but I checked a few days ago and now they're sold-out.

Wish I would have known! Oh well. How much was it on sale for?

[KimT]

Wish I would have known! Oh well. How much was it on sale for?

Half price.

[UsernameMDM]

Half price.

Wonder if that will happen to the new giant chess set.

[Guss]

whitefang that's a nice cake you got! It must have been a cool birthday ^^

Kimtgot it at half price too, approximately 25€ , with this amount of minifig, it was a "must buy" ^^

Sinner waiting for your reviews :P well..I have a lot of review to do too on my website...

[DJ Force]

Dammit. I need this set, too!

Great review, wanting to buy this even more, now!

[allencao3]

I would have bought 2 or 3 sets if that kind of deal were ever available here.. So jealous of y'all.

Great review though. I guess I would buy one with a three-fold price.