Weekly Set Review: Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon

[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 7019 Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon.

Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon was released in 2005. This is the first wooden motte and bailey castle made by LEGO. It has two brick built doors at the gate, battlements, side towers with small catapults, and a rear jail with a large catapult. The large fully posable Fafnir dragon attacks to rescue the smaller jailed dragon. Various accessories such as shields, spears, bones, and torches are included.

[Asterios]

i love the Dragon it has versatility to place it in any position for attacking minifig armies and such,LEGO's current and early dragons lack this.

[Formendacil]

Given when this came out... that is, at the end of a drought known as "nothing, then KK2", one could not help but be impressed by a whole theme of cool-looking castley figs. Now, however, I'm not sure the verdict is so favourable. All the catapults are quite silly, and it's really just a wooden wall arranged in a circle. Still, the Vikings have not lost their coolness, and I'm a sucker for those poseable (though Bionicly) dragons.

Parts: 7/10 - lots of panel pieces
Playability: 9/10 - as I said, a big wall and a dragon = fun.
Figs/Accessories: 9/10 - again, Vikings!
Design (then): 8.5/10 - came KK2 era, remember
Design (general): 7.5/10
Nostalgia: 6.5/10 - despite being big and cool, and even though I don't have it, it just kind of says "meh" to me.

Overall Score: 7.92/10 (or a B, academically)

[Athos]

I think this is a very good castle set. The wooden walls are a new fashion for Castle, as is the rounded design. One of my only complaints is the space that is used for a cage could have been used for something much better. The other is the standard "why are there catapults stuck on everything/everywhere?" gripe.

I'm not a fan of the dragon either.

But all in all its a nice set with a lot of useful pieces, and some very cool figures.

Steve

[Robin Hood]

Hmmmm, difficult to say really. As with all sets, it has its ups and downs.

On the upside, it has (as with all Viking sets) a nice selection of figs. Also the building is very much to my liking. It has a rather rare thing with official sets, four walls. Not only that, but there are no points of entry, save the front gate. One problem with official sets is the rather holey design of the walls. I also like the gates, very solid looking.

Of the other hand, there are a few flaws, the design of the dragon being one of them. It is, I feel, the worst of the Viking dragons. And then there is that catapults. All of them are silly to the point of being stupid. But sadly that is nothing new. TLC has never made good catapults.

All in all though, I think that good quality design of the fort outweighs the poor design of the catapults and dragon.

Dan

[Quickblade22]

This set isn't that much fun by itself. Maybe because I'm older now and my imagination isn't what it once was. I was never a big fan of catapults either. But........the Dragon is awesome, the viking figs are great, I love the little dragon idea, and the brick built gate is a neat touch. This set will go down as a very favorable one for me due to it being a surprise gift, and thinking that I'd never be able to get it.

[The Blue Knight]

I didn't care for the catapults of the Viking line, and I have been slow to warm to the Bionicle dragon, though brick built beasts with bionicle parts are very promising indeed.

Minor quibbles in the light of what the all too short Viking line signaled. This was the end of TLC's castle line dark age. They had a dark age too. I love the timber castle and all the Viking stuff (except the horned helmets). What a shame it didn't sell better. Alas! the Viking line goes the way of the Pirates--locked in stasis, though with a strong following of fans.

[Lord Felix]

I bought 3 of these; they have a great supply of large gray bricks (dark bley), that are not BURPs or LURPs, and are great for rock faces; I used three of them and created the whole dark bley rock face for my town, and the wall and most of the green plates. Great supply of good figures, good pieces (except the dragon [but even then it has great slopes] and perhaps the catapults), and, at least to me, great usage.

[spyrius]

Hi, everyone I just started collecting again after a long time. I just joined classic-castle. I just wanted to say that the Viking line has both good an dbad points. The dragon is fairly weak but I think the assortment of weapons, pallisades and siege equpment are its strong points. Siege equipment may get on your nerves just like all the siege in the latest caslte line, but it has its advantages if you remove them and add a few wheels to them, Before you know it you have a full siege train. I recently bought 10 7090's and 7094 kings castle siege and a few more. I removed the siege and added the wheels to them from the 7090's. I dont have pics yet but will work on getting them. So, I guess you know I am a fan of the siege equipment. The brown walls are great.

I am trying to buy around 100 of them for a siege moc that somewhat resembles the battle of Alesia. So I have around 50 new castlemen from the Lego's new line and am in the process of arming them with swords and javelins and my uniform shields.

This set is ideal because I can use the brown pallisade walls as siege walls that will surround a castle. Then I plan on adding a second layer of siege walls around the inner perimeter to protect the besieging army. I recently discovered bricklink.

[The_Hun]

I love Vikings, and this is one of my favourite sets ever, although even I admit that it has quite a few flaws.

Pros:
Minifig design. Great torsos!
Clip-on axes rule!
Octagonal shape of the fortress + fully enclosed structure.
Log bricks and panels in abundance.
Lots of green plates for landscaping.
I love the gate design.
Lots of large shields with beautiful print.

Cons:
Only 6 figs.
Minifig headgear could show a bit more variation.
Zwords.
Two dragons - would have liked a human enemy, or at least a few more Vikings instead.
Catapults, of course.
The large cage / prison structure is completely out-of-place in this fortress.

[Troy T. Moore]

I am quite fascinated by the construction and function of the doors in this set. Best set of the Viking line for sure. Not so much motte as bailey, but an excellent early period fortification at any rate.

[jokkna]

As a playset it is great but it is very un-viking looking.
The dragon is great although it should not be named fafnir because in a ancient Nordic legend it was Sigurður Fáfnisbani/Sigurd
Fafnisbane who killed him. But overall it is a great playset 8/10

[Tower of Iron Will]

I didn't buy this set as I had (gulp) other priorities. If I had, I could have used the figures for Dwarves(which is what I did for most of the Viking figs) and the wooden walls for a wooden fort like the few in Bravehart. Could have had more than six minifigs to it. 8/10
-Tower

[Elephant Knight]

Never got this set. Never really plan to either. Vikings were never the most interesting theme to me. I only got the smallest set.

The design (From what I can see) is pretty good. Looks sturdy. And there is lots of playability in here.

Parts: 8, for I have no idea what parts it actually has.

Playability:9 Needs more dragons for it to be perfect.

EKnight

[Kozai13]

I'm not too impressed by this. Pieces are almost useless, the Dragon SUCKED, and everything else was just BLAH!!! Other than the totally awesome viking figures and accesories, terrible set. Terrible, terrible...