Weekly Set Review: King's Battle Chariot

[architect]

Join the weekly Classic Castle set review discussion. Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc. Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

This week’s set is 7078 King's Battle Chariot.

King's Battle Chariot was released in 2009 for the Crown Knights. The king and his royal guard ride out to battle two trolls in their single horse drawn chariot.

Various accessories such as glaives, shields, flags, treasure, and a chrome gold sword are included. This is the first Castle set to include a pearl gold treasure chest and the giant wagon wheel in reddish brown.

[Albatross_Viking]

I got one of this set, and really liked it. In my opinion, theres many useful parts in it. But i think there should´ve been at least 2 horses. And perhaps not in white. The fantasy era is sort of drowning in white horses
But all in all, i think this is a good set, and the lack of more horses after all gave name to Kurt the Super-Horse, who can draw a big chariot with a big king in all alone

[Bluesecrets]

This is quite possibly one of my least favorite castle sets. Sure there are unique pieces in it, but it was not worth the price of it. Four figs is fine. The king was the only figure worth getting mildly interested in. Sure the wheels are interesting, but I have enough wheels so that I probably could mount a whole castle on wheels and roll it around. The dark blue is nice. I won this set. Its the only reason I actually own it. I would never purchase it, not even on a huge sale.

[RichardAM]

I do not own this set but can quite happily report that I think it is awful.

[Formendacil]

I picked up this set back in the fall, and I was not particularly excited by it. I do like the upgraded King fig, as compared with the King's Castle Siege version, and I'm glad he's available with a smaller set--but not every set. So King's Battle Chariot was a good decision by Lego, in that respect. I also approve of the four fig-count, and the trolls are always nice--as are the dark brown spears. I wish they hadn't used this soldier torso--one of the older, more mailéd, ones would have been nicer. I mean... this is a nice torso, but I don't care to have an army of them in the same way.

I did find that this is a very playable set--the chariot was fun and had the potential for some great chase scenes. Nonetheless, the fact that it only had one horse was a problem even in the context of fun, and the chariot's design was not at all stellar enough for me to keep the set from being parted out beyond the time it took to get it home from college.

Parts: 6.5/10
Playability: 8.5/10
Figs/Accessories: 8.5/10
Design (on a curve, in theme): 5.5/10
Design (objective, universal): 6/10
Nostalgia: 7/10

Overall Score: 7/10 (B-)

[Robin Hood]

Good to great parts, a dubious design, and questionable price make it a hesitant buy, but I bought one anyway.

Parts:
Pretty good. The king, a random soldier, two trolls with dark brown spears and shields (emphasis on them shields), big wheels, a gold chest, and dark blue. Certainally a good assortment, and it's potential re-sale value makes up for some of it's cost.

Design:
The chariot thingy is just plain weird. It would have been much improved with a second horse (which would have made the price more reasonable too) but even then it might just not have worked. A medieval king riding around on a chariot just seems off. And the "design" of the treasure chest is just sad.

Playablity:
Meh....it's okay I guess. It has the seemingly required elements of opposing forces. The chariot itself is something that hasn't been made before, so there is some potential for it, but all I really see in this set a fig supplier. Boo!

Dan

[Busboy489]

I received this set as a gift for my birthday and for christmas and returned it to the store on both occasions. not a great set for the price at all, I also am not a fan of the odd pieces included.

[Tower of Iron Will]

I remember buying this set when on a week-end trip. I purchased this mainly for the King figure. The other figures are a nice addition. The chariot I wasn't too impressed with, as I thought that the wheels were too big. Perhaps if I let it grow on me a bit I might like it better.

Overall, it's an ok set for the King figure and the rest for spare parts.
-Tower

[DraconisTerrena]

I bought a few for the king figure (extras of which I used as nobles), the troll shields and the dark brown spears. The set itself was pretty weak, though. C-.

[Evil Ben]

The 'battle chariot' concept does seem a bit odd, but at least it's not a catapult. I found it reasonably entertaining to trundle around for a bit, but I agree that it's probably better for the parts, of which there is a useful selection in good (for me, anyway) colours. The big waggon wheels really are pretty big, but they have grown on me - they actually provide some useful variety, and don't look out of place on a hay wain (or, just about, on the rear axle of a Conestoga-type wagon); they would probably also work for a miniland scale pony and trap, actually. Hmm. Anyway, I certainly prefer them to the type in the troll assault wagon or tower raid. There are lots of good figs; two different troll torsos, both trolls have shields (yay!), and the dark brown spears rock. The price seems perfectly reasonable to me; in fact, I think I may have talked myself into buying another one...

[nanuck95]

The 2009 castle sets in general to me all seemed pretty weak, and to me this one was certainly the weakest. What the 2009 sets may have lacked in design, they certainly made up for in figures. Like many others, I bought this one for the figures, which I thought were excellent. The new king was leaps and bounds above the "viking ex-pat" from the king's castle siege set. It was really nice to get two fully armed trolls, and the extra soldier, while nothing special, was another nice addition.

The chariot itself was just flat out goofy looking and underpowered. This one didn't stay together too long, but the gold accent pieces have found their way into a few MOC's and the figures have been very useful as well. As someone else stated, the big brown wheels seem a little over-sized, but at least they're not the big clunky wheels from the troll sets and I'm sure I'll be able to use them somewhere.

I thought it was worth getting, mostly because of the figures. In the US, the $20 price tag was about right for what you get. I was somewhat disappointed by it, but I didn't feel like I wasted money buying it either.

[Elephant Knight]

A decent set, as far as wagon/chariots go. A bit overpriced, and a little odd, but otherwise it isn't too bad. Don't own it, don't plan on it either, but if there was a reason for me tog et it, it would be the two orcs. Those are some pretty nice orcs. (I still need to get some of those sheilds.)

I'll give it a 7/10. (Take away the orcs, and it goes down to about 4/10)

EKnight

[Forestboy]

Despite, most everyone's general dislike of the set, I really like this one. Sure the price is steep (I got mine as gift ), but the figs are great and only a handful of the pieces are a bit weird. I'll just highlight this set's features this time instead of just talking about it.

Pros:
The chariot has a great swoosh-able aspect to it. You just grab the horse with your thumb and index finger and can zoom it around!
Great figs
Useful pieces
Fits right in with the rest of the Castle line

Cons:
Should of had one more horse on the front
Awkward pieces that you wouldn't ever use (maybe)
Pricey

8/10 , Good set for me, not sure about everyone else...

[Evil Ben]

This set seems to be coming in for more than the usual criticism for its cost. While I'd certainly love it if all Lego was cheaper, I don't really see why this particular set is so widely seen to be over-priced. I think I understand why it wasn't worth it to Bluesecrets, but I'd be interested to hear the reasoning behind some of the other comments on this thread. To me, the price seems in line with those for other sets; what am I missing?

[stuifzand]

Parts
Great! Nice colours and usefull parts. Great figs

Design
I didn't know if I should laugh or cry when I built the set.
I laughed. Out Loud...
Really, it's a ridiculous design. The cart is way to big for the horse and for it's purpose.

All in all, a great set for the parts and figs, but not for it's design.