Weekly Set Review: King's Mountain Fortress

[Spongey]

Not bad, not bad at all. However, I am not a fan of the raised baseplate, and I believe that castles such as King's Castle and Black Monarch's Fortress are of a higher quality.

[kevblee]

Just built it for the first time....after digging for parts for almost 2 weeks. Came up short on about 4 pieces. Yes, the black bird being one of them. Other parts coming from Bricklink.....also took 2 weeks to locate the baseplate as it was 3000 miles away in an attic. Cool parts, but a weird design....may rebuild it , and customize. Not crazy about the center wall down the baseplate, and the main tower at the rear....sort of a jail but not really. Anyway, was awesome to realize out of all my parts from when I was a kid, this set was in there.....well, almost. Was fun to go on the search to complete it.

[Username]

I like this set (although I never owned it). It has just about everything a good castle set needs:

1. Lots of guys
2. Lots of weapons
3. Mounted knights
4. A maiden
and 5. A spooky ghost

The thing that turns me off about this set is that it's a sad example of a castle/fortress.

7/10

[Elbee]

Having recently (finally) acquired 6086, I was inspired to re-build my old 6081 with the help of Peeron (the actual instructions having been lost long ago).

This was my first - and, indeed, for my entire youth, only - large castle. It has its ups and downs.

On the plus side, it has a keep or keep-like structure; many "Golden Age" LEGO castles omit this entirely, with the only large structural edifice being the gatehouse. In the same vein, the keep is taller than the gatehouse. While 6086 and 6074 do have a secondary structure that could be construed as the keep, they are dwarfed by the gatehouses.

On the downside, the usual short LEGO battlements of 1.6-2.0 studs in height. The wall around the courtyard is far too low - even as a child I was irritated by this, and remember complaining to my father that the 'bad guys' could just step over the wall - and the jail is an eyesore.

Nevertheless, as another pointed out, it has a certain ... 'character'. And I love the lower level of the keep tower, with the tall, arched cobblestone gallery ... that part always catches my imagination. I envision the king and the princess strolling along, admiring the landscape, as golden rays from the setting sun stream between the pillars. Overall a win, even if it doesn't utilize the baseplate to the same extent as the larger 6086.

[Elephant Knight]

Having seen this in person, It does not look like a very easily defendable castle. However, that does not detract from its coolness. Lots (compared to KK2, and sort of the Crown Knights to an extent.) of figs and weapons, though it isn't very playable by itself, as myy oldest brother might have found out.

I give it a 8/10

EKnight

[Heir of Black Falcon]

I liked this castle as well. This castle was the first crusaders castle set I got, though second after the one I made for them.

I thought the cool crossbow machine at the top was a fun idea. Though never seen anything medieval like it it was pretty neat. The trap door as a child gave me all sorts of fun things to do when baddies got where they should not be.

The use of the indented space was very good as well as all castles need storage space to withstand a good siege.

I thought the main tower was well built as the gate house. THe secret entrance was fun, a good sally port if you add some type of bridge and it were not right beside the main gate....

I think the low walls that can be walked over are fine with the consideration of the mount they are atop. With motte and baily castles a low wall atop the mound was very common and when remade in stone they seem fairly low as well. THe problem is needing to look at it from the bottom. Going up a massive hill is hard. Going up a hill then over even a low wall gets almost impossible. Add the fact that ladders have a hard time gripping the inclined side of a hill and it makes a low wall very useful.

Never a big fan of ghost prisoneers. There was alot of open space but that allowed for some fun modifications. Sadly I lost the knight with the black helmet (think he may have been borrowed and never returned by a guy who at times was a friend of mine).

Overall a fun set for sure. came with a fair array of men and the castle was pretty well built.

R

[yaya]

I have 2 complete 6081, and 1 incomplete. That`s the set that got me into castle.....

[wallgorn]

I owned King's Mountain Fortress when I was a kid and still wish I had the set. I enjoyed this set as a kid. I liked the knights with the euro armour and visored helms.

[Blue Monarch]

I always wanted this set as a kid... I doubt I'll ever get it because it isn't so important to me (I'd rather buy a lot of the new stuff). I remember looking at this in the catalogue for hours. Looking at the trap doors, the swinging door on the front, the cool looking (but impractical) keep in the back and the courtyard on the right. Not to mention the double crossbow on top... the icing on the cake!

[boses]

I think of this as a good "starter" larger set...I liked it when I got mine for Christmas in 90 or 91...I loved building with the raised baseplate, many of my first castles used that baseplate as part of their design...I really like that set.....I still have my crow too...ah, memories...

[FirebenderDude2]

That was my first LEGO set ever! (I think.)

I inherited most of my LEGO's from my brother when he went off to college.

[domboy]

I remember seeing this set in a catalog when I was little... never had it though, we had the older gray castles before baseplates. I have been wanting to get one of the old castles on a baseplate, and I decided on this one as it is less popular than 6086 (so perhaps more easily acquired), and I'm rather partial to gray castles, since that's what my siblings and I had as children. So I am very happy to have just acquired an immaculate copy of this set through Ebay, and for $56 at that! I think the design is really cool as it's a little unusual (not your standard square castle). I like the idea of a small fortress in the mountains, and I like that it includes a bit of landscaping as well (trees and a courtyard of sorts). I even like that Lego included the Technic pin so one can attach the old Lego castle sets to it, even if the results are a bit odd.

[timber_wolf899]

Fits well with our discussion of mid sized castles.

I know the raised baseplates aren't exactly popular, but this set actually made good use of it. The printing on the plate is nice too. I also like the early use of the big doors, and the secret enterance. I also liked the hinging window allowing access to the second floor of the main tower.

Speaking of that tower, it helped me learn to make round towers back in the day!

[legobaron]

This was a cool set. I got it coming out of my dark ages although I agree, I am not a fan of the raised baseplate. My sons like them, because they are just learning to build (6 & . I liked the use of the small scorpion-type siege weapon.

[Nicker]

This castle is definitely my favorite Lego castle with 6080 Kings Castle and 6086 Black Knights Castle following close behind. I remember building this set on Christmas morning while dad fried up some bacon and eggs. I think this was the first set to have the new knights helmets with the moving visors. I really liked the asymmetrical design of this castle. It has a very nice heavy fortified looking tower with a curtain wall attaching the tower to the battlements over the main gate. The only thing that I didn't really like about this set was the gimmicky trap door in the tower. I thought the room in the tower could have been better used as living quarters for the princess or an armory etc. I would give this set 8/10.