Weekly Set Review: Viking Chess Set

[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 G577 Viking Chess Set.

Viking Chess Set was released in 2006 for Vikings. This game has 32 chess pieces and 24 armed minifigures. Figures exclusive to this set include the rooks, knights, and good and evil queens. It is also the first set to feature dark blue cloth capes.

[Laird Cashman]

HAH! 14 MINUTES AFTER POST! YEAH!

Excessive emoticons removed by admin.

Anyways....
I like these chess set because even though the gameplay itself is fairly poor and difficult, the platform makes a good tiled floor and the minifigs are always plentiful and useful. Peace out Non-Lairdy people.

[Baned]

I have this, though I have yet to actually play chess on it. I was disappointed how some pieces are glued together, but overall, I loved it.

[Mr. Shiny & New]

I reviewed this set on my blog when I first received it from Lego Shop at Home. Basically I was disappointed by the glued pieces and by the awful swords. I thought the glue might be justified for people who actually play chess with the set, since the pieces might fall apart if they are stuck to the board, but then Lego released a new set (Castle) with no glued pieces and that tore up that theory. I am disappointed that the black and white squares are glued to the baseplate, there seems to be no good reason for that.

Otherwise, I thought the set was very well executed. The colours were good, the minifigs were great (if you like vikings) and the weapon's selection was decent. The set is expensive but considering the packaging is a re-usable carrying case and the rest is all minifigs, it's reasonable.

[Jojo]

Hello!


In my opinion this is the worst of all the Chess sets. Other Chess sets are partly glued as well, but in this case every single minifig was glued. And since glueing a thousand figs for ... (let me reckon)... a lot of copies of this set must be quite a piecework, the actual craftmansship was poorly executed. Helmets are crooked (and you can't correct that), horns in the helmets are weird adjusted (can't correct that) and I spotted fingerprints in the dryed glue. So at least I'm able to nail the culprits!

Also the variation of minifigs you get with this set is not too exciting. Only three kinds of torsos are a bit boring. And since they are all glued you can't even replace legs and heads for variation. And I'd have liked blonde hair for the Viking queens, rather than the usual grey hair.

The best parts in this set are the unique shields.


Bye
Jojo

[JoshWedin]

In my opinion this is the worst of all the Chess sets. Other Chess sets are partly glued as well, but in this case every single minifig was glued.

Really!? I had no idea some of them came this way. In mine, only the queens, the rooks, and the knights were glued. All the rest of the figs have been incorporated into my viking army. I would have been very upset if they had all been glued. I wonder if this was a European vs. North America thing or if it was simply different runs.

Josh

[Mr. Shiny & New]

... every single minifig was glued.

In mine, only the queens, the rooks, and the knights were glued.

I'm with Josh: my set had only some things glued:

* The chessboard squares, made up of 4x4 black and white plates, are glued to the 32x32 white baseplate.
* The rooks are completely glued except for the shield on the front.
* The square plate on the base of the knights is glued to the 2x2x2 slope.
* The 2x2x2 slope 'skirt' of the queen is glued to her torso.
* The Viking horns are glued to their helmets.

Most vexing for me are the black and white squares, the horns, and the queens. I don't really use the horns for much but it would be nice to have a big supply of these as they can be useful for detailing and monsters etc. The queens are a waste of a good torso if you want to re-use it. The rooks and knights, well, those are just a small handful of pieces. Shame that they are glued but not a major problem.

[Aliencat]

I wonder if this was a European vs. North America thing or if it was simply different runs.

Very possible. Mine were all glued as well.

[architect]

My multiple copies of this set only had glued rooks, queens, and horns (on some of the helmets). I agree that completely glued figures are terrible thing for any set.

Ben

[Laird Cashman]

The pieces are glued!? I had no idea... Thank you for removing my excessive emoticons, admins! Teehee!

Excessive emoticons removed by admin. Consider this a warning. Future violation will lead to temporary suspension of posting privileges.

[DarkTemplar]

Wow I've never bought a chess set from Lego before but I've always been curious. I'm pretty shocked to find out it's 90% Lego, 10% glue . Nevertheless, I've always liked the idea of Lego games and a fully pose able chess set probably makes the game a a lot more fun when you're waiting for your opponent to go. I think the idea for a viking chess set was a great one and I love the execution, the only complaint I'd have besides the glue is that the rooks and knights as a little bland. I'll give it a 7/10.

[burkey42]

I've never been a Lego Viking or a chess player. That aside, the bigger thing that perturbs me is the use of glue! Glue bad, no glue better.

[Elephant Knight]

As far as the Chess sets went, this one was the worst. The glued rooks, knights, helmets, and Queens were the downfall of this set. The figs themselves are pretty meh, and not all that useful. About the only good thing this set offers, is a large army of vikings, and not everyone is into vikings.

EKnight

[Baned]

Is there any kind of glue remover that won't harm the paint on the torsos or melt the plastic like acetone does?

[Jojo]

Hello!

Is there any kind of glue remover that won't harm the paint on the torsos or melt the plastic like acetone does?

Unfortunately no. The kind of glue Lego uses is not a glue that simply sticks two elements together. It rather solves the surface of both components and fuses them together. It’s impossible to seperate glued parts without damaging them or at least having damaged surfaces on both elements.


Bye
Jojo