Weekly Set Review: Wolfpack Tower

Discussion of official LEGO Castle Theme sets and products
User avatar
architect
Baron von Ellermann
Posts: 3708
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 5:10 pm
Location: Saint Louis, MO USA
Contact:

Weekly Set Review: Wolfpack Tower

Post by 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 6075 Wolfpack Tower

Wolfpack Tower, released in 1992, is the flagship Wolfpack set. This tower and bridge fortress features three Wolfpack men, a jail with a ghost, an opening rock base, and accessories.

Image
Last edited by architect on Sun Nov 20, 2005 4:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
The Wolfpack
Gong Farmer
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2003 2:26 am

Post by The Wolfpack »

The Wolfpack are awesome but this is hardly a tower. If a building inspector came over, this building would be deemed unfit to habit. This is just like the Wolfpack, they have a great thing going with Wolfpack Renegades but when it comes to a hideout, they cheap out. Its not realistic and it needs to be a solid black color instead of a black tower with a light grey bridge. Finally, there are only three minifigs in the set. For a bunch a thieves, they are creating a high profile with a tower.
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" -- Nathan Hale

Long live the Wolfpack
User avatar
medib
Bailiff
Posts: 329
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2003 9:37 pm
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario, CANADA
Contact:

Post by medib »

i think this is one castle subtheme (faction) that was
WAY under-utilized. I thought they looked very cool.
So minifig-wise, I give this set an A+ for overall theming.

I have 2 minor gripes:

1. Why are the Wolfpack on a island refuge? Were the Forestmen too strong a faction and banished these?

In my opinion, these guys should have had enough skills to hold there own against any force, and would have felt most at home in the forest setting up some trap and attacking in some kind of ambush.

2. Structurally, I have to agree that this set has some
definite short-comings. The overall design of the tower.
And yes, it is too much of a "profile" for this faction.
They would probably feel more at home in a mountainous
cave....but then I highly doubt LEGO would have put out
a mountain set!! :lol:

Ben M.
User avatar
Troy T. Moore
Gentleman
Posts: 710
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2003 10:58 am
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada

Post by Troy T. Moore »

Oddly enough I remember when I bought this set. For what I paid for it at the time I was happy with it. I got it an the Wolfpack Renegades at the same time. My wolfpack men usually join up with the Forestmen, but are more "professional" bandits :D I aggree with you Ben that it was an under-utilized subtheme. Would have been better to have the Wolfpack (in an encore appearance) attack the knights kingdom rather than Cedric the Bull. The set never remained in it's original form long, but was parted out to build my main castles. Other than the BURP's (I'm not sure if that is right or what it stands for, but those dark grey rock pieces is what I am meaning) the set would be useful for parts, and more Wolfpack men :wink: , if available again.
Troy T. Moore
User avatar
architect
Baron von Ellermann
Posts: 3708
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 5:10 pm
Location: Saint Louis, MO USA
Contact:

Post by architect »

Wolfpack Tower is one of the few sets that I do not own. I would like to get it. (edited in 2005, I own it now)

I like the minifigures. The gate tower at the end of the bridge is very nice. I like the roof and torches. On the other hand, I do not like the set behind this tower very much. There are too many large pieces. The bridge itself is very nice. Overall, I think this is a pretty good set. Wolfpack is definitely a theme that could be expanded.

Ben E.
Last edited by architect on Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
wlister
Sheriff
Posts: 1562
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2003 1:40 pm
Location: There be no castles here.
Contact:

Post by wlister »

I agree with everyone here, wolfpack was one of those themes that worked on many levels. The building itself may have been a little ill conceived, but I did find uses for all those parts.

In one of my MOCs I kept the bridge and gates intact and did some big changes to the structure behind it. I wish I had taken a picture.... The bridge crosses blue plate instead of having the whole thing on the blue baseplate. The rear structure was more of a combination Camoflaged Ourpost, black wotch tower. I uses a lot of greenery to make the set look more like a Forestmen set.

I never had more than 6 or 7 wolfpack figs so I mixed them with forestmen and used the wolfpack figs as mercenaries rather than bandits. Now I use them as werewolves. They are my smallest faction so I needed a reason for that. I figure the Studios werewolf head mixed well with the torso. I like the result, but the heads are a bit on the big side.

I would love to see a continuation of the Wolfpack series.
After a long absence, I have returned. I can't wait to start building again.
User avatar
David Girard
Journeyman
Posts: 427
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 4:54 pm
Location: Canada, Québec, Québec
Contact:

Post by David Girard »

I don't know what to think of this set. When I bought it in 1993, I think that this was a nice set, but was soon disappointed. There was some new elements and pieces I didn't have. But now, when I look a this, i think that this is where Lego start to make too much big prefab piece. I hate especially the Castle Turret Top 4 x 8 x 2 & 1/3 (number 6066 on peeron) I hate this piece since the first time I saw it. This piece limit very much the creation. :evil: Don't like much the phantom. They put it in almost every set. I always think that the slidding rock was unrealistic. This is one of the last set I bought before my dark age.

Not bad, not fantastic, but better than what they make after that (Dragon Knights, Fright Knights, Knights Kingdom, Royal Knights, Dark Forest).
User avatar
Jojo
Master
Posts: 1685
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2003 4:26 am
Location: Westfalen
Contact:

Post by Jojo »

Late but not too late!

Erm... "hello!" I mean.


This set is none of my favourites. Though I still was an active LEGO-buyer in 1992 I didn't buy this. Maybe I thought this would be the start of a new major faction line (which it was not as we know now) and I expected my dark ages to come soon (which als was not the case as i know now :-)) so I just didn't want to open a new faction that I expected not to become complete.

In retrospective it's a nice set that captures the rough nature of the Wolfpack guys very well. There's not a single green part in this building other than every other building that is, so this gives it a somewhat "desperate" feeling. And the Wolfpackers are desperadoes.
However, I don't like that there is not a proper floor within the keep where the minifigs could stand on. Also the reartower is quite useless being only the chamber for the ghost.

As for parts it's cool, particularly for grey half-arches.


Bye
Jojo

Image
User avatar
Ye Olde Republic
Marquis of Brique
Posts: 1041
Joined: Sat Nov 22, 2003 1:50 am
Location: Calgary Alberta Canada
Contact:

re

Post by Ye Olde Republic »

Sorry to dig up an old topic but seeing as this is one of the only sets I still have......

Minifigs, excellent but I never understood why two of them were identical. Couldn't TLG have used three different heads for these guys?
The 16x32 blue baseplate, beautiful. I seem to remember LEGO used to give us baseplates to build on all the time, useful ones anyway.
As for construction and playabilty, I've never had a problem with this set except for (like JoJo mentioned) the bottom of the keep didn't have a floor but I always just assumed this was because the tower was flooded. That brings me to my last point...everyone says this set looks 'unfinished' and they are correct, I think this is an old derelect tower that has been abandoned for years. The centre tower has been destroyed, hence why it's missing and the bottom of the keep has years worth of water seeping into it. That's why there is a ghost living there and that's why the Wolfpack use it as a hideout, it's now just an old burned out hulk.:D

ps. The bridge part of this set is one of the neatest parts of any castle sets produced by LEGO, IMHO.

Trevor
Trevor

Trust me, I think I'm funnier than you do.
Why do I have to add the word "minifig" to my spell checker every time I use it?!

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/old_republic/]flickr[/url]
[url=http://angrylegonerd.blogspot.com/]My blog[/url]
User avatar
Sir_Marcellus
Laborer
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Nov 22, 2003 12:42 am

Post by Sir_Marcellus »

I remember I wanted this set!

The Wofpack, however, I don't see as bad. Rather, I think that the Black Knights were bad, and the Wolfpack were rough-and-tough people living in the mountains and forest.

This set captures Wolpack's feel well, but there should have been more sets with trees and (I hate to say this) BURPs, to expand on the forest/mountain feel of the Wolfpack.
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison
Jedipawn
Artisan
Posts: 274
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2003 5:35 am
Location: Ellensburg, Wa.

Post by Jedipawn »

I always wanted this one, and just recently ordered it on bricklink... So I will save my comments untill it stands tall on my lego room floor

Jedipawn
Long, long ago. In a galaxy far, far away... THERE WERE CASTLES!!!!!
User avatar
Formendacil
Knight Templar
Knight Templar
Posts: 4162
Joined: Wed May 05, 2004 7:22 pm
Location: Ashland, MA
Contact:

Post by Formendacil »

Ah Wolfpack tower...

A less-than-perfectly designed set, with more than a few flaws, but still a fun set in my opinion. The piece complement is decent, if not excellent, and it comes with three awesome figs.

I'm not a fan of the ghost in any set, but in a building this size it seems particularly pointless. Either put it in a part of a big castle, or in its own little "Black Monarch's Ghost" building, but putting it in a building of this size, when it's inhabited, seems pointless.

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

Overall Score: 7.25/10
User avatar
ezehogan
Foot Soldier
Posts: 201
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 6:47 am
Location: USA

Post by ezehogan »

I never did get this set when I was younger, but I did want it. To this day I still do not own it.

I think the look of the tower is very fitting for the Wolfpack. It looks like a lonely abandoned structure that the Wolfpack found and inhabited. I like the fact that the bottom level is flooded (but only to the ankles or so).

I do think there are some problems with this set though. Another ghost? It probably fits better with this set than it did with others, but by this time I'm sure most people had more ghosts than Wolfpack figs! I'd have rather had another Wolfpack figure over another ghost. The tower is a bit too cramped, and I don't like the fact that the entrance leads to a large drop unless you lower the "prison door" ladder, in which case the entrance only leads to a very small prison cell.

I think the Wolfpack probably could have had a better hideout with this being an intermediate set (the renegades cart could have been the "affordable" set with this the intermediate, and then a set at least the size of 6081 be the large). Overall I'd still say this is an enjoyable set though.

7.5 out of 10.
"A chair like this is like a girlfriend! Why would you trade in an old one that's comfortable for a new one that could be a pain in the butt?" -Archie Bunker-
User avatar
Webrain
Journeyman
Posts: 445
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Holon, Israel
Contact:

Post by Webrain »

I'll start by saying for the biggest set of the Wolfpacks it's a pretty small set. Actually it's the smallest biggest set a castle theme ever got. The WP as an attracation in 1992 was great of course, they were a more developed more evil theme of the simple Peasents/Thives we loved so much in the 80's. Red/Black plastic robes which use to be pretty rare are pretty common on the WP sets. Since it was the begining of my Dark ages I didn't get any and until 2001 I didn't own a single WP. Now finally I have this set. As a set it's got ok bricks well for 92 and a kid I guess they great. The first 2 shapes of BURPs available and Turrent. Only one shield though :(. As a concept 6078 is far better. As a theme I like them of course. I would have made for them a better bigger set though something in the size of 6079 would have been better.
I'd buy more minifigs from EBay and I wouldn't buy more then one.
User avatar
quiksand
Peasant
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:06 am
Location: Utah

Post by quiksand »

My all-time favorite faction, and one of the biggest mistakes TLC made as far as what they did with it. Overall, I like the design of the tower, though, if it was 3X the size that would have been nice. I was always under the impression that this was is in a hidden lake some where and that they didn't have to worry about camouflaging it because of location. The ghost was the only thing about this set I didn't like. Why so many ghosts in the early 90's? Anyway, I like it because it is Wolfpack. 10/10 for faction affiliation. Is it perfect? No. And it not like we have any other Wolfpack headquarters to choose from.
Why do you need all those minifigs? You'll poke your eye out!
Post Reply