Weekly Set Review: Prison Carriage Rescue

[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 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue.

Prison Carriage Rescue was released in 2010 for Kingdoms. A dragon soldier attempts to transport a captured King's man to prison before he is rescued by a knight.

This set features a cart and black horse with a unicorn helmet. Various accessories such as swords, shields, a torch and a spear are included.

[Highwayman]

The three minifigs with this set are great. However, the concept of the prison carriage was not well executed. I mean, the knight could simply jump over the bars. Most of his head rises above the bars that are imprisoning him.

It's a decent deal with the three minifigs, but that carriage is not great. On the plus side if you don't mind spending the money you can buy two or three sets and make a pretty decent carriage that fully encloses the prisoner.

[nanuck95]

I normally don't purchase multiples of sets, but I think I have 3 or 4 copies of this one. I bought it mostly for the figs and the horse as $10 for 3 figs, a horse, the "unicorn" headgear for the horse, and some weapons/shields seemed like a pretty good deal. I already have plenty of the scared face mini-fig heads, but the torso works great for making archers/crossbowmen. I really liked the Lion knight with the new helmet, and the dragon knight with the new dark metallic helmet and sword were totally worth it to me.

The cart itself is pretty "meh", the dark green and gold cheese slopes are about the only pieces I found to be somewhat useful. The design really isn't that great, but for the price of the set and the number of mini-figs you get, I wasn't expecting anything too flashy and I thought it was a great set overall.

[J_MAN]

This is a neat little set. It comes with three good figs and a horse. I'm confused why there is a black spear in the set. It seems like it should be dark pearl gray. The cart is nothing special, but you can use it for parts. I would give this set a 9/10 for today and a 8/10 overall.

[Elephant Knight]

Design is pretty weak, but a great parts pack! Three figs, tow of which are nice foot soldiers, plus weapons for them all. The black horse is definitly one of the best parts, but no saddle makes it a bit less awesome. The cart, while pretty ugly, has some decent parts.

All in all, 8/10

EKnight

[Blueandwhite]

As others have said, this set is good value if nothing else. Three figures and a horse for $10 is a pretty good deal IMO. The set may not be that exciting but the figures are nice enough and if you're looking to army build for this line this set is probably the most reasonable way to accumulate a large number of soldiers without resorting to battlepacks.

8/10

[ezehogan]

This set was produced to get the new figures into people's hands cheaply as well as to give kids a nice little set that they can buy with their own money. In my opinion this set is a figure pack. The actual battle packs were about $15 for 5 figures. This set is $10 for 3 figures and a horse as well as a small cart. If they had made the cart more substantial the price of the set would have gone up and this set's value as an army builder would have dropped.

As a set with the cart as the focal point I would only rate this as a 6 of 10, but as an army builder pack with extra components I would rate it as a 7 of 10. I think it would have been better to have more dragon knights than king's knights in this set.

Overall its a nice little addition to the castle collection to add soldiers but the cart won't be assembled for very long.

[Athos]

The carriage is kind of dumb. And by kind of, I mean really. Why did they have to make it a prison cart? Wouldn't a treasure cart have been better? They could have even included three figures (a driver and two knights to attack it). The horse helmet is nice. And its nice to get a bucket helmet. Another shield or quiver would have made this a great little army builder.

Steve

[Tower of Iron Will]

As others have said, this set is good value if nothing else. Three figures and a horse for $10 is a pretty good deal IMO. The set may not be that exciting but the figures are nice enough and if you're looking to army build for this line this set is probably the most reasonable way to accumulate a large number of soldiers without resorting to battlepacks.

This is one of the main reasons for me to buy this set. I realize that Brinklink would be cheaper, but it is easier to buy this set at a local store than explain why I am getting packages from overseas. Plus, if these sets sit on the shelves too long then Target won't stock them at my store at all. That would be bad.

I like this set because even though I don't need X amount of prison carriages, I do need the parts for peasant carts and war carts. Plus, it's a good way to get Dragon shields. 9/10
-Tower

[Heir of Black Falcon]

I like the set but do not use it as a prison cart. I use it as a supply wagon of sorts. My son has some 2-3 of them, mostly as gifts and he thinks the set is really good as it comes with lots of men and a horse which is something really lacking in castle/kingdom sets the last few years.

Heir

[Formendacil]

I like the set but do not use it as a prison cart. I use it as a supply wagon of sorts. My son has some 2-3 of them, mostly as gifts and he thinks the set is really good as it comes with lots of men and a horse which is something really lacking in castle/kingdom sets the last few years.

I'm also inclined to think of this as a 'mere' waggon, rather than a prison waggon, and as a mere waggon, it's not bad. At the very least, it's a one-horse waggon that's actually not massively oversized, like King's Battle Chariot was. As mentioned already, it is an excellent army-builder, coming with two generic soldiers, as well as a generic knight--with that lovely new helm. That it comes with a shield for each faction is nice (the next set down does not), but it's a bit of a disappointment that the Lion soldier--the prisoner--does not.

Parts: 8/10
Playability: 8.5/10
Figs/Accessories: 8.5/10
Design: 8.5/10 (if you think of it as a 'mere' cart)
Nostalgia: 8/10

Overall Score: 8.3/10 (B+)

[DraconisTerrena]

While it's not terribly impressive as a set, it's a great army builder. You get three figures, including the lion knight with the bucket helm, a sword and shield set for each faction, a spear, a torch, and a horse with a helmet. By adding a few of the grey saddles from the last series, you can build Dragon Knights light cavalry, Lion Knights spearmen and heavy infantry/foot knights. I bought 5 when they came out, and another 5 at a recent Target sale. I'd give it an 8.75/10, which would have been a 9 if the spear had been silver instead of black.

[DerBum]

This set is awesome, in my opinion. It is very much like the sets I owned in my childhood and is pretty much the same type of set I asked for here: http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11614

I bought one as soon as I could find one locally and my daughter loved it. There is enough utility in the cart to be used for other purposes and the figures are good in this price range. Sure I long for the prices I remember from when I was a kid but that just isnt going to happen these days.

The two soldiers, who are armed, are well armed and both come with shields. You get the new great helm and plume plus a decent torch and extra spear. I am actually not sure that I would change anything about this set except maybe add another Dragon Knight for balace. All told I give it a 9/10.

[sidewinderl]

The great helm is the biggest draw of the set. It's hard to get it anywhere else. The second biggest draw is the dark pearl horse helm...the one downside is that there is no matching horn for it anywhere (they really look a million times better with matched horns...can't stress it enough). it's also notable that the horse isn't white for once.

It's a fair army builder, but not great. It doesn't do anything to help the dragon/lion imbalance and you don't get a wep/shield for the prisoner. The cart is only useful for parting out, but if you've collected Castle Lego for any time, you probably have plenty of parted out carts already.

7.5/10. It's not a particularly great army builder compared to the battlepacks (i'd rate it higher if we didn't have those), nor is it a particularly great parts pack since it's another cart (and not very useful at that). It's strength is that it's a fair value with 2 desirable helms.

[Old_School_Fan]

From the pictures, I really didn't have much enthusiasm toward this set. Once I purchased it and had it completed, it actually changed my mind. Sure, from a plausible standpoint the cart does not make much sense, but as a fun little cart, it is actually kind of charming. It is much more fun now that I have it in hand than I thought it would be. The set itself is just tremendous for play value. TWO Lion Knights and a Dragon Knight, all of which make for repeated fun battles. Sometimes I'll have the Lion Knights drive the cart, one acting as a stand-along escort while the Dragon Knight plots an ambush. Other times I'll simply stick to the story presented on the front of the box. I will admit to highly underestimating this set when I first saw it (and probably the ninth and tenth times too), but not any longer. A great set for fun/parts.