Wolfpack Renegade

I purchased this right about the second it became available at midnight on 2/2 (well aware how fast a coveted set first run will sell out) and it arrived on 2/5 before I got home from work, giving me something to do all night. As an old timey Black Falcons fan this set was enough to get me out of my dark ages. Well, that, and discretionary income. Knowing historically how expensive Legos are (when you're a poor kid it means you'll only see the 100USD+ sets around Christmastime!) I actually thought 159.99USD was very reasonable for a set including 2165 pieces (and they threw in a Year of the Ox freebie and another thing for first-time-ordering). While I haven't done the math extensively, there's a lot of repeated and bulk parts here, a lot of rare little pieces, new pieces, enough quantity to be MOC useful should I tear it down, and I feel like a baseline average of 10cents a piece can be worked with. Anyway, I got home at 9pm, unpackaged carefully, and got to work. I'm rusty (and surprised to learn one can be 'rusty' at building) and was too excited to start to find better lighting which I also think slowed me down, but Ideas Medieval Blacksmith took me about six hours to complete, from 9pm to about 3am. I wasn't in any kind of rush to completion and spent extra time studying a lot of pieces I've never really seen before that seem ultra useful and even drifting off into what else they could be used for in the future. And probably way too long playing with the hot coals and gust bellows. I'm already contemplating what would accompany it well, trying to decide between launching into a Black Falcon garrison, making it an official structure in their fortifications (necessitating maybe a modular chunk of Crenelated Wall, or setting it up on a landscape next to an Inn or Tavern in a village center and figuring out what I have that can make a similarly Tudor-styled Inn that's about twice as large but of a similar height and pitch of roof. A Stable also makes sense to be very near to the Blacksmith ... and the Inn. I suspect I'll attempt to do all of that - build a modular section of Wall and an Inn and Stable both, and populate it as well with MOC riffs on Classic Castle small sets. As for a set review, I don't have a ton to contribute. I like the playability and adherence to modular Tudor-style construction techniques, unique pieces and flavor and theme. Certainly there's never been a shortage of Lego "Blacksmith Shops" so it's not filling a niche other than being a rather Well-To-Do, Well-Known Black Falcon associated Smith. I really like small details like the terra cotta pieces on the chimney. I think it comes with a generous amount of Items and Equipment for figures to play with, including more shields, swords and armor than required, but also the broom, buckets, pots, pans, and so forth. There's techniques I thought were very clever for setting angles and stabilizing but there's also some barebones and less pretty workarounds to things like stones on borders, keystones and the bricks in the walls feeling a bit pastiche and not unified - but that's a natural side effect of the translation from an MOC Idea to a Lego Set. I think the apple tree is a little oddly constructed, rather 'loose', and I understand both historical accuracy and needs of design and function and form, but the bottom floor Smithy shop itself is about one brick short, so the cellar door would have to be ducked through making positioning a figure say, standing in the doorway, a little awkward. Small gripes though! Overall super satisfied.