Weekly Set Review: Black Knight's Castle

[architect]

Join the Classic Castle Weekly Set Review. Please post your opinions of the models' play ability, creativity, design, etc. Which models stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

This week’s set is 6086 Black Knight's Castle.

Black Knight's Castle was released in 1992. This castle has a main gate tower with a drawbridge and portcullis. There are two diagonally symmetrical corner archer towers. One has a jail. The last corner is made of yellow "tudor" wall pieces and has a side entrance. Four mounted knights, four archers, two soldiers, one wolfpack prisoner, one ghost, and various accessories are included.

[eNiGMa]

This has to be one of my all-time favorite sets. I don't own it, but I often find myself drooling over it. Great pieces, a lot of great figs, and a great design.

[Anubisconq]

Not a bad set. I don't like that base, though. It is so hard to build a good sized fortress on it. It's better than KKII.

[TheBohrok]

I do not own this set, but I have always thought it was the best looking LEGO castle I had ever seen. I still think it is, and I would love to get it someday. With twelve minifigures, the play value is very great. Four mounted knights? That is just awesome. In my opinion it was the pinnacle of LEGO castle.

[Jacob C.]

The best designed castle set in my opinion.
The black walls with light gray battlements goes together very well.
And the two yellow/black tudor wall pieces are very usable.
Fantastic figs, 4 horses and 2 bardings!
I also love the large flag too, I wish I had one.

This ranks up there with BF fortress and other CC sets.

10 out of 10

[wunztwice]

Yea! I finally received mine! I just missed this set when I was young and had regretted not being able to get it. When I finally found one with-in my price range I was estatic!

So, on to the review: Good overall design. Classic, fairly simple, but with some details that deffinately added to the overal look. I love the yellow tudor pieces making the little 'house' type part. The two smaller towers just work very well for me, especially with the tall inverted slopes at the base. Secrets are always neat, so the back door is cool.

The number of figs was great. If I were to man this fortress I would probably have given it about this many. Four horses and two bardings... that speaks for itself! Of course the white plumes are awsome, and not jsut because they are rare. This castle, as black, has jsut the right amount of other colors to keep it from being boring, but at the same time not going overboard.

I recomend this set to anyone who can afford it! I would personally hold out for any under $120 US. Anymore than that, and it should be in GREAT condition, but that's just me.

So, concensus says, one of the very best LEGO sets EVER (any theme).

[Troy T. Moore]

I bought this in 1993 when I was 20. It was in the Sears catalogue.....

I kept the original model together for nearly 8yrs. I would use it as the main part of my castle, sort of like a corner keep that could be sealed off from the rest of the fortress. For being on a raised baseplate, this set rocks. I like the "pit" with grated cover idea.

The figs, how I miss the numbers and types (more realistic, from a historical prespective) in todays sets.

I no longer keep the set together, but I am very fond of it. This review makes me want to rebuild it....

[The Hordesman]

Got this as a kid- one of all-time favorites. Great figures (white black knight!), lots of them, and cool rarities like the flags, tudor walls, bardings and well, white dragon plumes. The huge amount of dragon plumes is absolutely a plus, I think there was 6 of them. Im usually not a black castle fan, but if I try to remove the nostalgia, I still feel it looks really good- so I guess it does.

[fuzzy]

Best castle set. no doubt. 15/10

[Romas]

As far as minifigs go, this is the best castle Lego has ever produced. A fantastic set on all levels, I really can't find any faults with it. This set came out during the pinacle of my childhood...oh the memories.

I only actually own the minifigs, that were in a plastic bag full of figs that a friend of mine gave me without really knowing what was in there. I guess the figs are probbably more expensive that building the castle piece by piece, using Bricklink.

[Formendacil]

Sigh... mine's STILL in the mail....

I wanted this set SO badly as a 6 year old, and I've STILL not got it... I'd saved up the money, but sent it with my parents while I was in school... and ended up with a 6061 King's Mountain Fortress. At the time, I wasn't TOO disappointed, but in the time since, I've spent far too many hours drooling over pics of this Castle. A subjective review is hardly possible. It's flipflopped with 6090 Royal Knight's Castle for favourite set many times over the years...

Parts: 8/10
Playability: 9/10
Figs/Accessories: 9.5/10
Design (contemporary): 9/10
Design (universal): 9.5/10
Nostalgia: 10/10

Overall Score: 9.17/10 (A)

[Kanduu]

This was my first castle, of which I owned half (the other was my brother's, he got the nicer horses, of course...). I really liked playing with it, and now the pieces and figs are awesome!

It's designed open enough for playability, but still built up enough to be a decent castle (unlike some I've seen *coughcough*). The moving roofs are handy, and the ghost tower is pretty cool (for those of you who've never seen this set, there is a nice "closet" kinda thing in the far tower, where the ghost is supposed to live). Then you have the dungeon, which is pretty cool too.

The number of soldiers is great, and the Wolfpack guy is a fun addition (it was my only one for years).

I'm sure there's something to improve on this thing, but for now, I like it as it is.

[stawastawa]

mmm my pride...

i got this set on ebay a little while back.. teh person i bought it from must have built it only once and taken it down shortly after. all my plumes are still on the wheels and the pieces have (well had) 0 dust. mad eme happy. although i kindof wnat to aply the dragon plumes but the collector in mee says not to... we shall see how things turn out.

i personally dont really liek the ghost in the tower. fomr the pics i think that the ghost in that little front shack on 6090 is better but thats just me... i love the battle ments (although i stilll say "how do tehy get up there! theey arnt nijas for heavans sake!") the back door is really nice. especialy as it can be closed up.

anothe rthing i dont liek about the towers is teh fact that the center of them (a 4x4 stud space) is 1 brick lower than the rest of the tower top. so if you put it down there teh defender cant really see ove rteh battlements. and if you put him on top he is hard to position but is at a great hight to see ove rteh battlements and shoot arrows. i guess this is easilly solved but i am a purist and dont liek modifying sets.

the gate tower is awsome although the one arch under teh drawbrige confuses me.

i liek the random wepons positioned all around the set and how each wall is defendable. (has battlements that figs can use)

i think having the well in teh middle of teh courtyard also adds great realism to the set. the duingeuns could have been done better but i guess they work. i wish that the set came with gold coins instead of yellow 1x1 round plates. but i gues sit wanst quite old enough...

i cnat wait to get 6090 so i can compare it to the only castle that really comes close.

6080 mountain fortress is too small and monarchs catsle, 6074, and 6073 are built in a diffrent style ( i love monarchs castle though)

anyways my top castle set!

[Romas]

I don't think the golden coins from the pirate sets were ever used in a castle set, which has always had the yellow round plates instead.

[stawastawa]

i think some KK has them =D

and i thought that the royal cart (that royal knights cart) had them...