Weekly Set Review: Catapult

[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 6030 Catapult.

Catapult, released in 1984, is the first castle siege weapon. This set has a two black falcon men and accessories such as round shields, weapons, and flaming shot.

A smaller catapult can be built from this set. The instructions are made from an idea book and can be seen here: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=25451

[architect]

Catapult was my first castle set. It remains one of my favorites.

I like the inclusion of technic pieces for the stone wheels. The catapult arm and bucket are very effective at launching balls of fire long distances. The gray circle shields were awesome. (My brothers thought they should be broken and converted to trashcan lids! )

Catapult is definitely one of LEGO's best seige weapons.

Ben E.

[wlister]

I have to agree with you on all points, I had 4 of these when I was a kid, it was great to line them up and launch rocks at the good old 6080. The round shields were one of my favorite items as well. Sadly most of my round shields ended up broken or lost during my dark ages. I would love to see the return of these shields. Again great set and a lot of play value.

WL

[Magnus]

This was one of my earliest castle sets, I remember it quite well. It looks far better than most of the more recent siege weapons and works quite well. The black Falcons look as cool as ever, and those round shields are great.
I remember at some point being disapointed that the catapult worked by hitting the other side, rather than by counterweight or rubber bands etc. But that's a minor blemish in the grand scheme of things.

Definetely two thumbs up!

[Jojo]

Hello!


I can only agree with you all: This is a great set.
The design of the model itself is decent and looks somehow realistic, even though I'm sure it is not :-)
Not only the model is nice but also the parts assortment is quite valuable. It helped (and still helps) to expand the army of Falcon knights, to stock up the arsenal with round shields and to build steep roofs. I'm sure those black 75° slopes have been the first in this vein in my collection. However, I really don't know what to do with all those grey wheels anymore :-)

6030 is definitely my favourite smaller set.


Bye
Jojo

[David Girard]

I agree with all of you that this is a great set. It's the more powerful catapult too. I love it's look and it's well design. Just as great as Lego made in those time. That was the golden years...

Good quantity of minifigs. Good quantity of piece. Good quantity of weapon. It's almost perfect, if not.

There is many technic piece in this set. It's unusual in castle line. But here, it's very well done.

As much of my small castles sets, I only got it recently. I'm very happy to have this set. Will recommend to all people that doesn't have this set !

[Troy T. Moore]

As is the case with the last two weeks sets, I, sadly, do not have this one either. If available, and reasonably priced, I would want several. Mostly for the minifigs and the round shields. If ever a re-release or Legend was done, brown for the wheels would be good. Hey, it's OK to have a dream, right?

[Formendacil]

Today's reappearance comes from the ancient Kingdom of the Black Falcons. Please welcome... the Black Falcons!

As noted by all the ancient posts on this thread, this is an excellent set. Black Falcons are always excellent, but the round shields are a nice bonus, and I actually like the look of this catapult, where I really don't like the look of any others that much.

Parts: 7/10
Playability: 7/10
Figs/Accessories: 8/10
Design (then): 7.5/10
Design (now): 9/10
Nostalgia: 6.5/10

Overall Score: 7.5/10

[The Hordesman]

+
Round shields
A catapult that me likes
Black Falcons
Green and white flag! Rarities!
Extra weapons

-
Yellow catapult shots

Even with 1 bad thing, 5/5

[Damien]

I remember having this set as a kid. It was a little old even by the time I got it (being born only a year before it came out).

Loved the shields. And they remain one of my favourite shield designs. And of course - Black Falcons rocked. They were, and are, one of my favourite sects.

But the Catapult, I feel, is sub-par compared to some of the others that came later. The Bull's catapult was better looking, in my opinion. This particular catapult was great at the time, but now it strikes me as really kind of ugly. And yellow stones? Meh.

It was a fun set though, and is still worth owning.

Back then: 9/10
Now: 6/10

[ezehogan]

This is probably one of the better catapults as for how well it works. It looks a bit odd compared to some of the later ones though. Still, this is a great set and comes with some useful parts. The only downside to this set is the wheels. Other than that, I have no complaints.

8 of 10.

[Teh Stud]

By far one of my favorite sets. Gotta love the round shields. There are two of them! No other set had 2.

As Jojo mentioned, the catapult isn't at all realistic, but for some reason it looks great, like a real catapult should look. Like the Siege tower, it's built out of black "wood", and this add so much to the look and feel.

I don't mind the yellow shots. I always figured they were yellow rock....

[Damien]

Maybe they're slinging sulfur.

[architect]

By far one of my favorite sets. Gotta love the round shields. There are two of them! No other set had 2.

Actually, 6021 Jousting Knights and 6039 Twin Arm Launcher both have 2 round shields. Those two sets and 6030 are great for building up knight accessories and useful pieces.

Ben

[mscannell]

round shields
black falcons
several useful pieces in a set of its size
green and white flags
unique way to use technic pulleys as wheels

It is awfully hard to hate this set. The use of the scooper provides a nice big bucket to place larger objects to launch.