Magnificent Castle Sets

[Stanley Kbrick]

What, no King Leo's Castle? Blasphemy!

In actuality, I own King Leo's Castle (the castle from KK1) and it suck big time. And I passed up the ninja fortress on sale at TRU and bought King Leo's Castle instead. I've been kicking myself ever since.

Thanks very much for the lovely article. I only own the Legends Guarded Inn from your list, but I agree with your other choices, though Kings Castle Siege never interested me. I think because it doesn't even have flat base-plates like the original castle, Kings Castle Siege is just a bit spare and I wouldn't want to be constantly standing figs up on whatever surface the castle is on. I hope the new castle in the summer has plates underneath it, though it is most likely that plates won't be included.

Perhaps, though, you could have added a Ninja castle? Or does that not count with Castle sets. I have the Emperor's Stronghold, and though it doesn't have much of an interior it has enough and the look is magnificent to me.

The Orient Expedition Oriental castle is also a magnificent palace, but I do know why that isn't included here.

Indeed, this is a good set! I don't own it but would like to have it...

Too bad the knights kingdom II series seems to have such a bad name among eurobrick members. Despite its A+ playability factor and the great fantasy feel.

[Rufus]

375!!

One of my first Lego sets. It was the first set I took care of and didn't chew; though most of the pieces are lost now, I still have the box somewhere! There was something magical about this big set, with lots of figs, and a big red working drawbridge.

I've never collected Castle since, but even if I did this would get my vote.

R

[boba_jagoda]

I completely agree with the selection (except perhaps with the chess set).

The set with most charm definitely 6074 BFF,

the most beautiful set 6086 BKC - my all time favorite knight shape

(a knight with a standard movable visor with dragon plumes on a barded horse - have a quite large collection of those),

MMV - the most beautiful of the newer sets.

I myself am "in love" with the Castle theme and am collecting the sets with 1984-1988 period complete.

Currently on my wish list are the yellow castle and the forestmen's fortress.

Have no plans for purchasing the 6090 (I concentrate on sets up to 1993) or the big chess set.

[jimmythefly]

Thanks for including 6077 Forestmen's River Fortress! It may not be big, but it's aces in terms of playability. A nice camouflaged fortress with a dungeon and river (lake?) flowing through it, treasure, drawbridge, protcullis, raft. Not to mention 6 minifigs!

It's a small set, but is very "complete", which I like vs sets like 6080 (which I love) that are large, but feel like they aren't as detailed out as they should be. I'm not talking about detailed interiors, but on 6077 you get a great big tree with foliage, an archery target, a nice hinged access wall, just some really though-through design elements for that size of set.

[ANT]

Well I think Vldaks Dark Fortress should be added to the list.

It is my favorite castle and only one I own. It has decent play features and it looks good when infront of you.

Agreed, and I think it is the first and only really "dark" castle

[WesternOutlaw]

My favorite Castle set (and thus the most magnificent set for me) is actually the Dwarven Mine. It's unique among all LEGO sets, it introduced a whole bunch of all-new minifigs at the time, the design is beautiful, it has a whole plethora of play-elements and the building process has zero repetition.

Definately - how could we not forget the more recent DM? Magnificent set!

[Sir Dillon]

Thanks for the compliments everyone! I'm glad to see this is sparking some discussion.

I'm a little surprised you didn't include the wolfpack tower here. That's one of my all time favorite sets and it seems to fit the description pretty well.

The Wolfpack Tower is a great set, but in the end I decided not to include it simply because I'm not impressed enough by it.

I do see one not on your list, and although it's not exactly a Castle, how about the 3739 Blacksmith Shop? -magnificent set!

Ah! I'm not sure how I forgot that one. That is indeed a magnificent set.

Hey! What about 10176?!

It's not here because it doesn't have walls on its "4 sides" or is it because it was released under the Knights' Kingdom theme?!

Explain yourself rightaway!

I see why Vladek's Dark Fortress it's not included and in fact, I agree with that decision, but King's Castle 10176?!

I like 10176 more than King Leo's Castle and The Castle of Morcia, but overall am not too fond of the set. The design feels recycled, and the reuse of those lion insignias was confusing considering it was released towards the end of the KK2 line. It's definitely not a bad set, but I wouldn't rank it as high as some of these other castles.

I am missing castle set number 6073? It is another Black Falcon Castle

6073 is a nice little castle, but is very similar to Black Falcon's Fortress and falls short when the two are compared.

My favorite Castle set (and thus the most magnificent set for me) is actually the Dwarven Mine. It's unique among all LEGO sets, it introduced a whole bunch of all-new minifigs at the time, the design is beautiful, it has a whole plethora of play-elements and the building process has zero repetition.

A great set that I definitely could have been put on my list. It's a fresh idea and well executed. The dwarf figures are some of my favourites.

I'd like to put in a word at this point for 6097 the Night Lord's Castle. Although it's no looker, there is something quite impressive about actually building it. The tower is pretty tall and there are some rather nifty black columns used in it. It's more magnificent in reality than pictures lead you to believe.

And why are people so down on Knight's Kingdom I & II? 6091 King Leo's Castle rated highly with me. And not just because those blue 2x2x3 corner slopes took me back over 20 years to my excitement about the first yellow ones!

Finally if you count "Ninja" as part of the castle theme (I know, I know, but some people do!) then 6093 the Flying Ninja's Fortress is truly magnificent from its sloping rock walls, to its colour scheme, to its height, to its styling, to the way its modular construction actually allows you to add to its splendour.

I'm not a fan of the Night Lord's Castle, but I do like that they tried something different. Most of the castles by TLG follow a certain pattern whereas this one is breaks away from that with the tall tower. Unfortunately the design wasn't executed as well as it could have been.

I actually enjoyed KKI and most of KKII, but didn't like any particular set enough to include.

There's been a few discussions on whether Ninja should be included as part of the castle line or not, and I'm still not entirely sure what I think. I really like the sets, but decided not to use them this time. If I had included Ninja, Flying Ninja's Fortress probably would have been on the list.

Well I think Vldaks Dark Fortress should be added to the list.

It is my favorite castle and only one I own. It has decent play features and it looks good when infront of you.

Vladek's Dark Fortress is very impressive and probably better than its predecessor the Castle of Morcia, but I didn't think it was good enough to put on my list. I can't think of any particular reason offhand, so it's probably just personal preference (and so is everything else, really ).

Thanks very much for the lovely article. I only own the Legends Guarded Inn from your list, but I agree with your other choices, though Kings Castle Siege never interested me. I think because it doesn't even have flat base-plates like the original castle, Kings Castle Siege is just a bit spare and I wouldn't want to be constantly standing figs up on whatever surface the castle is on. I hope the new castle in the summer has plates underneath it, though it is most likely that plates won't be included.

Perhaps, though, you could have added a Ninja castle? Or does that not count with Castle sets. I have the Emperor's Stronghold, and though it doesn't have much of an interior it has enough and the look is magnificent to me.

The Orient Expedition Oriental castle is also a magnificent palace, but I do know why that isn't included here.

Interesting point about the baseplates. I generally prefer baseplates to regular plates as the building surface, but it isn't a big enough factor to deter me from the recent sets (the Viking Fortress and Troll Mountain Fortress were also built without baseplates).

I chose not to include the Ninja (and Viking) sets for no real good reason. Perhaps I should make an amendment.

[Alex the Great]

Very nice list you have here, sadly the only one I have out of the lot is the Royal Knight's Castle. Hope to gain some of the new castle sets coming out!

[WhiteFang]

Sir Dillon, glad to know that I have inspired you into to write up this well summarised article, and for my taste, I agreed with your selections, almost everything for sure, but with some little additions.

Having to own my favourite number one Castle set, ever released, is 6086 Black Knights Castle, which is the best among the list, due to its guardhouse, underground prison, tall towers and outstanding minifigs added along with it, with my very orignal sigfig included in this set with that superb barding.

I had the chance to own the Black Falcon Fortress of the LEGEND series, and it's not proclaimed LEGEND for nothing, with substatinal support of modular continuation and my only regret could be missing out the Guarded Inn. At that time, the Guarded Inn was not made available in my region, and I didn't know such a term called "modular".

The 6077 Forestmen River Fortress is another set which I have a chance to build and played with. The distinct architecture made it so outstanding from far, as others might really think this is an abandonded fortress, but never did one expect, a band of Forestmen are actually residing in there.

I agreed with Dillon's comment about the King's Castle Siege, and its a significant improvement from past castle designs of 1995 to 2007. There is no castle sets like it ever released before, building on the basic foundation. I like the King's Castle Siege, along with its Giant Chess Set and that awesome Medieval Market Village, which are some great examples plus Dwarves Mine to make the Fantasy Castle, a hit for my taste.

While I didn't mentioned the 375 Yellow Castle is something that I never involved myself with due to its vintage age, and many felt that this is the start of the Castle age, making it one of the evergreen themes ever. I agreed with that, and thats the reason why its on top of the list. However, I don't like the 1995 Royal Knights' Castle. Somehow or another, I never really like the built of this castle and the minifigs' selections even though I own a few before. The only plus point about this castle is having the guardhouse and that very tall tower at the front.

Now, what are the sets that didn't made into the list but is considered magnificent, is the combination of both Ninja sets, Emperor Stronghold and the Ninja Flying Fortress. By definition, these sets are really impressive and means a lot to me, but I have failed to obtain it until now due to its high cost. Other than that, these sets are something new and innovative as TLG has designed and explore new cultures of the Eastern Lands, where another new faction or ruling appears. Even though there is no backing at the back, but the overall Oriential structure appeals to me, and I will add both of them in as well.

Thanks for doing up this article to share some great insights with our fellow community.

[jamtf]

Some smaller but still desirable sets that could have been included in the list are the following:

6071 Forestmen's Crossing for its unique forestwoman and river baseplate

6076 Guarded Inn for it's classic design and rather civil (non-fortress) style; Lego even re-released it as a Legend under the 10000 number

6079 Dark Forest Fortress for its impressive baseplate with incorporated trees and the horse pulled wagon (actually this is not such a small set )

[Rick]

While I don't own most of these "Magnificent Castles", I did buy Falcon as a Legend, as well as the Guarded Inn.

Same here, I own the Legend version of BFF, although I own the original Guarded Inn.

I have the Forestmen Hidden Outpost but not the larger set you mentioned (had to get a black Forestman)

That's a pretty good set I also own. Don't know if it would qualify among those selected though. It has an insane* number of minifigs for the size of the set.

* Insane = Good

[Lorentzen]

Great "article" :)

The Castle that brings out the strongest feelings in me, is the Black Falcon's Fortress (which is not even ac castle) But It came out at a time when I was young enough to just sit and stare at the catalogue pictures for hours and hours at a time. I wanted that castle so bad.

I just bought a 99% complete 6086 Black Knight's Castle on ebay yesterday. (Missing a few minifigs, which I'll buy on Bricklink) I can't wait to get it, because that castle really has all the things a LEGO castle needs.

I'll do a review of it at some point, because no one else has yet

Edited January 17, 2010 by Lorentzen

[Sir Dillon]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts WhiteFang, I agree with most of what you said.

Some smaller but still desirable sets that could have been included in the list are the following:

6071 Forestmen's Crossing for its unique forestwoman and river baseplate

6076 Guarded Inn for it's classic design and rather civil (non-fortress) style; Lego even re-released it as a Legend under the 10000 number

6079 Dark Forest Fortress for its impressive baseplate with incorporated trees and the horse pulled wagon (actually this is not such a small set )

Forestmen's Crossing is a good set, but doesn't really capture me the way some of the other Forestmen sets do. I think it is slightly overrated due to the rare Forestwomen and baseplate.

The Guarded Inn was included in my list.

I liked the Dark Forest theme and was happy to see its release, but the design of Dark Forest Fortress feels a little thin to me. I would have preferred something more compact looking, perhaps without the large baseplate.

[dartmar]

"6073 is a nice little castle, but is very similar to Black Falcon's Fortress and falls short when the two are compared.""

But 6074 wasn't for sale were I lived. I never even knew it existed until way later. So far me it is a nice little castle.

I have 3 castles and a most of the knights series from that year. They were my favorite Lego line back then besides the trains.

But the castles haven been in pieces spread over 7 boxes off loose lego blocks the last 10 years. But I am thinking even putting everything back together for fun.