REVIEW Castle 7097 - Trolls' Mountain Fortress

[daxflame680]

Thanks for the review svelte corps! I love your sense of humour.

I really don't like this set. Darn it, TLG, why must it always be a wall?

[Svelte]

I never realy liked this set before but the review was very interesting for an ok set. By the way this pirate: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=pi013 was the first to have a tattoo.

Thanks for the link, Tom Bricks!

I love the number of minfigs in the set, along with the number of BURPS as well.

Ralph

Yes, I quite like BURPs too for large landscaping projects. I don't mind them as some people seem to. King's Castle Siege used the large wall panels to make the size, so I would have expected to see these pieces used for a mountain-based set.

I also think a "above average" is a fair grade for this set. Not as good as Drawbridge Defence but better than King's Battle Chariot.

Having built both, I actually swing towards the Fortress now, although I probably wouldn't have said that beforehand! Apart from the 3 new figs (well 2 and a new Jester face), there is not a lot that is interesting about Drawbridge Defence that we haven't seen before, and it relies on the Harry Potter esque method of creating a castle by using lots of tall 1x2 bricks and arch pieces (although it is nicely executed). The Mountain Fortress is flawed, but at least it is attempting something stylistically quite different, even if it doesn't fully succeed.

The only thing which I could hope to see, was the use of barding for its white horse, somehow, it does look better to have a barding on it. Apart from that, I think this is splendid. More thoughts later on, once I finished admiring this beauty.

Yes, it's like they spent all the budget on the new paint job for the large Trolls, the new figs, and parts, as the lack of interior and accessories is highly unusual in a large set. The Troll Warship had 6 or 7 shields; this only has one! Still, if you have other sets it shouldn't be too hard to make the Fortress look better - it would have been more of a problem if this was the first Troll set we have! I imagine most people have the Warship or a few of the great Tower Raid sets to cannibalise to make the Frotress look better. I will have to dig out some Trolls and try and populate it a bit more!

My first imagination with troll mountain fortress, it should be more dark brown and dark green ( and everything dark ) elements.

Yes, I was initially unimpressed by the colour scheme too. It is kind of messy and I would have liked to have seen something more cohesive. However if you think of the Trolls as scavengers it kind of makes sense. It has grown on me, anyway.

[Abaddon127]

I like this review. Those new orc minfigs and the giant trolls are pretty cool.

[WhiteFang]

Yes, it's like they spent all the budget on the new paint job for the large Trolls, the new figs, and parts, as the lack of interior and accessories is highly unusual in a large set. The Troll Warship had 6 or 7 shields; this only has one! Still, if you have other sets it shouldn't be too hard to make the Fortress look better - it would have been more of a problem if this was the first Troll set we have! I imagine most people have the Warship or a few of the great Tower Raid sets to cannibalise to make the Frotress look better. I will have to dig out some Trolls and try and populate it a bit more!

That's what I had in mind, and I didn't regret getting an entire naval fleet of Troll Warships and few Tower Raids to make up for the orcs minority in there. You are right, I am disappointed with the amount of shields, and I supposed this set greatest point will be the Orc King and Queen. At the same time, with regards to the horse barding I hope for, I thought the "Golden Knight" will be a great addition to make another re-appearance in a brand new horse barding design leading the solders to rescue their king.

Personally, I got nothing against this set, but I think this little bit of tweaking could help to improve it better.

[Hewman]

The troll king and witch are fantastic figures and their capes are brilliant. However, the set as a whole just doesn't work for me, bley just doesn't seem like a troll colour.

[Dadster]

Great review! I snagged this set and was surprised as to the brown crown (I thought it was gonna be metallic bronze) and was a bit worried...

Love the capes!!

[gogobig]

Im pretty impressed with this set and its design and colors dont bother me as much. Yeah I noticed only one orc shield which is lame, but oh well, no set is perfect. The way I see it, if you really dont like it, you can still use it for parts to built another orc fort or even expand this one.

Very nice review and def. processing the order for this and drawbridge tonite :)

[Section8]

Great review! Props for skipping pictures of the build since they wouldn't show anything useful.

As for the set, it's average. As other people have said, it's really not worth the price. One wall piece and/or one troll tower could have easily been something more interesting and not a clone of the other part. But the modularity is definitely a step in the right direction for castle (which is backwards).

[iamded]

As always another great svelte_corps review! I was a bit sceptic when I first saw this. I think I prefer the old giant trolls and clubs, although the tattooed arms are cool. I just don't think the black armour fits in. The rest of the figs are awesome however, love the Troll King. Look at him winking at the Sorceress. The build is very, herm, not how I expected. I pictured a crazy haphazard asymmetrical construction, but it's more symmetrical than King's Castle Siege. Symmetricality means a lot to me, I'm not sure why.

Anyway, since I am a Castle fan I won't be passing this up. The new troll figures, and the new King are a must for my collection. The Fortress itself can be used for a decent parts pack, certainly useful for future troll MOCs.

So, thanks again for the review, svelte_corps! Great job. :thumbup:

~Peace

[KimT]

This is way better than I had hoped for.

I am getting at least one of these

Thanks for the elaborate review

[metalandi]

I totally agree with KimT. First i wasn't too excited about it, but the many ways you can assemble it, the good amount of accessoires and figs totally rule. Also first i thought the Sorceresses room was totally empty except the crystal ball, adding that small table is very nice. I can't wait for this to come in stores here.

Btw., would you mind to post the 6 digit.instructions number that's printed on the back of the instructions? I just wanna look if they are up at lego's cache already (though i doubt it, but you neve rknow, right?)

Edited May 25, 2009 by metalandi

[Scop]

Didn´t like it when I first saw the blurry pictures. Didn´t like it when i saw the clear pictures. And after reading the great review I still don´t like it. Seems to be overpriced and somehow too small. However, I know I will buy it though when it will be on sale.

[metalandi]

Just came across one more thing, i think i gotta disagree with you in case of the lack of interior. Of course, there actually is nothing inside the "rocks" as you build the set, but me thinks that all of these things would fit in these spare rooms perfectly! I could be wrong, but i'd test it out to be sure.

[Guss]

awesome review of an awesome set Svelte_corps! that's a very very cool review, and this set seems very amazing!

[UsernameMDM]

Anyway we can get close up shots of the dark green tavern/inn?

BTW - I have this set parted out and for sale if anyone is interested.

[calebexo01]

this set is awesome! the figs are great and it has a good number of pieces compared to other sets this year. i really like some of the new pieces. darkbrown spears=awesome! it has some great pieces of detail in it on the front and back and not much on the sides or inside but thats ok. it is still an awesome set and a must-have for me. i might combine it with skeleton tower and/or viking fortress and i will definatly add the assessories from the advent calender. (dont have skeleton tower yet so i had to cram all the witchy assessories into the back of the skeleton ship.)

great rewiew of a great set!

[Ratshot]

I am definatley going to pick this up over the coarse of the summer, along with Draw Bridge Defence.

[Eased]

Thanks for the great review! It's a pretty great set but it's $100 oh noes ! Hopefully I can get this one though and build up my army of trolls!

[Johnny 5]

I don't really know what to say about this set. On the one hand I should like it because of what it represents, it's the orc castle! First of its kind! I first heard the title and I gotta admit I was pretty excited. I imagined a huge lurking very dark castle, then I saw the photos and I was like, "What the hell is this?" What I saw was a crownie castle with the designers basically throwing random brown and green bricks at it. Suffice to say I was disappointed. But then I saw this review and saw some of the minifig details, and some of the structural options it grew a bit in my mind, from poor to average. So all that's left to do is decide how many I'll buy, cuz I will buy it no doubt, I just don't know how many. Anywhere between 1-3.

NEXT BADDIE CASTLE NEEDS TO BE BADDIE AASSS!!!!

Edited May 26, 2009 by Johnny 5

[puddleglum]

At first I was not interested in this set very much, even as a Castle fan. But the new minfigs, along with a very nice parts selection, changed my mind on it. Lots of brown and dark brown, along with the tooth in dark red (new part/color combo), and some dark green as well. Not to mention loads of slopes, which you can never have enough of. I think anyone who likes to build Castle has to like the set as a parts-pack, even if they don't like the final appearance of the set itself.

I ended up buying the set and selling all the trolls for $70, so I could have all the great parts at a reasonable price!

[salty tbone]

I really dig the Crown King's new torso and legs. Big improvement over the viking torso used in the Castle Siege.

[alex12]

I want this set badly. I love castle . I love the trolls.

Great review by the way.

[bamaker]

Of the three new Castle sets seeing a wide release in 2009 this is my most anticipated set. I didn't realize the courtyard area would be so cramped; the trolls need elbow room! Great review and I can't wait to add it to my Castle collection.

[Teddy]

Thanks fot the great review!

Took me some time to read trough the replies.

I agree with KimT.

Initially I did not like this set at all.

Now I see it as a usefull parts pack.

There are some great parts in there.

So I'll get one when it is available at my local toy store.

As for the design itself...

I voted poor.

Kind regards,

Teddy

[metalandi]

You agree with KimT but you voted poor? Huh?!