Weekly Set Review: Battle Dragon

[Formendacil]

An odd set, what with the faction-smudging. The boat design isn't all that attractive in my opinion. Fortunately, with two figs in the relatively small set, it's still easily worth it.

Parts: 7/10
Playability: 7.5/10
Figs/Accessories 7.5/10
Design (then): 6.5/10
Design (now): 7/10
Nostalgia: 7/10

Overall Score: 7.08/10 (B-)

[Azaghal]

Speaking of which, why is it always boats that get re-reviewed here?

You know, I was sure this set had been reviewed already, but I can't find it now...

[Silent Arrow]

...I own this set. I remember I bought it especially for the yellow edged shield of black falcons (the only one in my collection).... It is an average set.
Last year I increased the lenght of the boat and now it looks better...

[Jojo]

Hello!


The set is OK, not too great. Despite of the yellow Falcon shield it is clearly a Black Knights set. Everybody is invited to invent their own story that fits to this set, I don't know what the responsible set designer had in mind. Non of the figs is a Black Falcon anyway, unless they are disguised.

The shape of the boat is weird, I doubt a double decker like this would be safe on the water. However, it contains an unique piece, the black rounded thingie at the rear of the raised deck can only be found in this model (as far as I know). Also the black 1×1 cones were amongst the first of this kind that I got, so they were quite precious to me when I got this set back then.


Bye
Jojo

[jamtf]

Perhaps that BF shield was added as an odd finishing touch since around that time the BF faction had more or less left the Lego castle range. My thought is that TLC had to get rid of a pile of gold edged BF shields somehow.

The 6057 Sea Serpent is considered to be the last set containing Black Falcons and this set is not far from it dating from the same period (early 90s). An easy way for Lego to sell soon to be discontinued parts and a last chance for people who want to own something of one of the most beloved classic knight factions.

It is said that the Black Knights are the "new" Black Falcons but personally I do not think that is true. Each faction merely stands on its own. The 6059 Knights Stronghold provides backing for my theory.

The BFs are one of my favourite factions and I still think it is a bit of a shame that they are one of the few classic factions without a matching horse barding.

[jokkna]

I think it is pretty fine and i love the dragon head once I made it in black putted red diamonds as eyes and white wiking horns as horns and it looked fantastic.
But it is a funny built boat and ... well there is not much more to say about it.

[Webrain]

No matter the shield whatever reason TLC decided to put it in this set it's pretty obvious to me that it's a black knights set.

If I'll have to venture a guess in 1990 when this set was released there weren't out a lot of BF sets anymore.
There were 2 new figs of BF in 6059 (that had a blue falcon shield) and 2 old ones from 6103 that was released 2 years before that again had blue falcon shield.
It's probably the only yellow falcon shield that was out to get by those years and maybe TLC didn't want to get it of this shield for good for just yet, so they stuck it in one set so it will be still available.

About the set itself, well both of those figs in 1990 were pretty rare. They were only out in one big set (6085) which kids like me wanted and couldn't buy. So this set offer those figs for a low price. Before anyone will jump and say the blue fig was in 6060 well it's true but me and many others until 2000 never knew this set was even existed. The blue fig is still not that common.
1990 was the year TLC invented the crossbow, which again we might have these days so many, but back in 1990 3 sets only had them (6081 and 6059) and this was the smallest.

The ship itself is pretty nice in my opinion, I think the cabin is really for a nobleman which might have been better in this set. It got some vibe of ancient Egyptian small nobles ships rather the medieval one.
On the other hand the dragon head gives a viking ship vibe. Ships overall are not that common in Castles and for a small ship it's rather nice.

[Tower of Iron Will]

I thought of this set as maybe a small merchant ship for river trading. Not big enough to be a war ship, more like a patrol vessel. I still like the set, its a little quirky, but good.
-Tower.

[DerBum]

I bought this set when it first came out and enjoyed it thoroughly. This boat is the perfect size to do river battle with the Kings Oarsmen. I dont see why people have confusion over the faction of this set though. The only clearly identified soldier on the boat is a Black Falcon. The fact that neither soldier has a Black Falcon on their chest does not mean that they are not Black Falcons. This is about the same time that Lego started using the generic torsos on Crusaders as well.

I present as evidence:
http://www.classic-castle.com/sets/archives/6081.html
http://www.classic-castle.com/sets/oop1991.html
Lego also had another Black Falcon (the archer) with an older generic torso in:
http://www.classic-castle.com/sets/archives/6059.html

I just think Lego was experimenting by using the scale armor in as many sets as possibly. Heck, if it had not been for this set none of my BF would have had scale armor. Now as for the dragon on the boat being evidence of that this is a Black Knights set... didnt the Crusader owned Viking Voyager also have a dragon's head on it? I may have missed something, but I do not get the confusion over which faction this boat belongs to.

Anyway, the poop deck is a little odd, but to me it was a way for the BF archer to get above the enemy and shoot down into the opposing boat (like putting sharpshooters in the crowsnests of warships during colonial times). I actually bought 2 of these but one was scrapped years ago when the oars broke and I need more foot soldiers. I give it an 8/10.

[Athos]

I kind of like this set, but I'm a sucker for most castle boat set. I've used the dragon head as a model for other viking boats.

This ship is the focus of controversy and speculation because the crossbowman has a yellow black falcon shield while the set name, color scheme, and figures are related to the Black Monarchs. The relationship between the Black Monarch and Black Falcon factions still is not clear.

Maybe the BMs plundered the BFs?

Steve

[Ben the lego king]

nice set. it is good to have these little sets and buy 10 or 20. nice parts too. over all 10/10 the figs are some of best

[Kozai13]

I find it funny that in the main pic, they guy on top of the boat looks like he's trying to kill his buddy.

[Aliencat]

I find it funny that in the main pic, they guy on top of the boat looks like he's trying to kill his buddy.

Or force his prisoner to row...

That's the good thing about this set, you can fill it in your own way, as others have mentioned.
How did the Black Monarch looking guys get a Black Falcon shield? Or are they Black Falcons? Or is the one with the crossbow a Black Falcon and he's forcing his Black Monarch prisoner to row?

This was the second castle set I ever got, after the Black Monarch's Ghost, and I really loved it. It was great to play with as a kid, and even though the back looks a bit funky, I think it still looks great on my shelf nowadays. Let's call it nostalgic value

Great set!

[ericgizmo]

A very weird looking set if i found one for really cheap i would buy it

[Spongey]

Definitely not one of the great classics. An interesting design to be sure, and not a lot in the way of weapons. The figurehead is alright, but nothing really special about this one as a whole.