A big castle without a raised baseplate??? H**l must have frozen over.
2005 castle line looks better than any year since 1996 (not counting Ninja).
8873 - not bad. Both sides represented = good play value, and that machine doesn't look bad, although who knows what it is.
8874 - not sure what to make of this, but it is better than 8875 and some other siege instruments. I see some useful pieces, and the shadow knights are nice. I'm not into horse helmets, but as others have said, the new color will be appreciated.
8875 - definitely not as good looking as 8800, and not that many good pieces either...so many big pieces, total piece count must be about 20 (

). I really like that (small) blue shield though, and the shadow knights are useful.
8876 - looks like the shadow knights kicked the Dark Forestmen out of their Hemlock Stronghold, and made some upgrades. Despite the clunky design (a staple since 1993), it looks like they actually put more thought into this than other similarly sized forts in recent years. I like that ladder going up to the upper floor! The scorpion isn't bad either. Good play value.
8877 - three words: no raised baseplate. I think others have already said enough about it, so I'll leave it at that.
As for brown horses - I would have no problem with having them in the new color. After all, there
ARE reddish-brown horses in real life.
Also a question - what is "euro" armor? This is one term which annoys me terribly. How can any of the castle armor (power rangers aside) not be "euro"?