[Review] 7189-1 Mill Village Raid

[Piranha]

It's always nice to have more civilians when it comes to the Castle series, and these 3 are all awesome(2 being completely new). I too think the mill is a bit on the small side. What are the 3 white 1x1 cylinders supposed to be?

Um I thought all three peasants are 100% new?

(Can't wait to build mine)

[Nicker]

Um I thought all three peasants are 100% new?

(Can't wait to build mine)

They are.

[Churchill]

I LOVE this set. This is the first Kingdoms/Castle/Knights set I've ever bought, and I confess I bought it for the animals. I'm going to integrate some of the civilian Kingdoms sets with some of the POTC sets into an 18th century village.

I really enjoyed the mill build, and I think it looks great. I don't think the buildings looked rushed, but since this is my first Kingdoms, and I'm not used to building buildings (I build mostly Star Wars, and some Creator buildings), I'll leave that judgement to others.

I also had the two extra grey pieces.

Unfortunately, the three Dragoon Knights will be exiting this set, but they'll take up residence with new jobs in my daughter's bedroom fighting off any dragoons which might show up.... I'll turn them into good guys.

Having built this, any doubt I had about buying the Medieval Market Village is gone.... I'm ordering at ASAP.

[Piranha]

I just got done building this set and I must say it is probably my favorite set of the year It was a load of fun to build, nothing repetitive and very satisfying. Oh how I love building buildings lol. The Wind Mill is brilliant, the blades really do spin, however the mechanism with the white round 1x1 baffles me, it shows to not shoot yourself in the eye, but when I turn it all it does it move back and forth??? There is a load of great parts in this set, I love all the earth colors of the nogut, dark tank and reddish brown. The barn is much bigger and better than I thought from the pictures, the weather vane mechanism is brilliant. Beware of how you tie the string, I couldn't get it perfect lol. The barn has plenty of room and lots of details and nice features and it is quite large and looks good. The little cart is very cool aswell, the barrel in dark brown is a plus.

The farm animals included I think are stunning and fit in with all other LEGO animals to date. The goats and chickens were of softer plastic however. As was the pitchfork, sadly. The spotted pig is my favorite probably because it is solid nice plastic.

I would like to gripe about the horse however, the blinders are good, but I wish they would have just given it the plain eye/pupil print instead, why? Because this is the first grey LEGO horse and the plain eye print would make it more useful for mounted knights and other theme use.

The three new peasants are great detailing and printing. The only thing that was out of place to me were the Dragon Knights, but that doesn't matter all my Dragon Knights get converted to Vikings anyway

Finally when I was done I wanted more, I want more peasant sets, like a house etc. This was a brilliant set I rate it outstanding and a 9.5/10

TLG give us more.

Edited May 30, 2011 by Macoco

[hanzocloud]

This set can intergrate with Medeival market village.

yes it can !! i have them sitting next to each other on the table, looks great!.. Cant wait till the next set of this calibre to hit the market.

[Daedalus]

Finally when I was done I wanted more, I want more peasant sets, like a house etc.

TLG give us more.

Haven't picked this up yet, but I couldn't agree more. I would love to see more like this! Here's hoping this one sells like crazy and they roll out more civilian buildings in the next few years!

[Captain BeerBeard]

This set is garbage. What is the point of the windmill? What is the point of the empty barn? The minifigures are lame. Are they supposed to be updates to MMV? Good review. I'm really not going to waste any money on this.

[Bricks2000]

This set is garbage. What is the point of the windmill? What is the point of the empty barn? The minifigures are lame. Are they supposed to be updates to MMV? Good review. I'm really not going to waste any money on this.

Slow down there! Why do you hate these sets? They're nicely built, the minifigs are great, and they have new animals.

But that's my thoughts. If you hate these, why rant?

[de Gothia]

I really enjoy to see that Lego is giving us civilian sets again! As said before, I hope that this sells good so they continue to spoil us with sets like these!

The set itself is a real goldmine!! New minifigs, more dragon knights, new animals, good pieces like the 2 pitchforks!

The sad part is that I live in Sweden and that the set problaby is going to be expensive...

de Gothia

[Captain BeerBeard]

Slow down there! Why do you hate these sets? They're nicely built, the minifigs are great, and they have new animals.

But that's my thoughts. If you hate these, why rant?

I was really looking forwad to this set. It suffers from lack of detail. The only reason to get it is for the animals. The buildings are very plain compared to the market village. There should have been some fences for the animals. I can't get over how plain and colorless this set feels. It's called mill village raid. Where's this village at? It would have been better if they increased the price on this and gave us a home for the villagers and a ton of detail. Why does my opinion have to be a rant because I didn't jump on the bandwagon and praise a subpar set?

[Halberd777]

I was really looking forwad to this set. It suffers from lack of detail. The only reason to get it is for the animals. The buildings are very plain compared to the market village. There should have been some fences for the animals. I can't get over how plain and colorless this set feels. It's called mill village raid. Where's this village at? It would have been better if they increased the price on this and gave us a home for the villagers and a ton of detail. Why does my opinion have to be a rant because I didn't jump on the bandwagon and praise a subpar set?

Remember the name on this set it is really about the mill for the village. Which might even be an interesting hypthothesis that more to a village could be in the works.

I am not really sure what detail you would hope to expect from a barn. Last time I checked there really wasn't many trapdoors and beds in a barn. Honestly I am quite suprised and hopefully you did not buy this set. I have known what this set was for at least two months even to the point that I knew what details were in the barn and what were not.

Honestly that is what these forums are for to educate you so you do not buy something you don't want and then all you have to do is just wait for a review on the said set before buying.

If you have bought the set and do not like it you probably should start your own thread because your opinions are going to come out wrong in this thread that has alot of people praising the product. you are only going to lose your credibility and neutrality in trying to explain yourself as you defedn yourself against others who think they are right in thinking the product exceptional.

[Bricks2000]

I was really looking forwad to this set. It suffers from lack of detail. The only reason to get it is for the animals. The buildings are very plain compared to the market village. There should have been some fences for the animals. I can't get over how plain and colorless this set feels. It's called mill village raid. Where's this village at? It would have been better if they increased the price on this and gave us a home for the villagers and a ton of detail. Why does my opinion have to be a rant because I didn't jump on the bandwagon and praise a subpar set?

At least we have some civilian sets. If you hate this set, than back away.

[Haltiamieli]

I was really looking forwad to this set. It suffers from lack of detail. The only reason to get it is for the animals. The buildings are very plain compared to the market village. There should have been some fences for the animals. I can't get over how plain and colorless this set feels. It's called mill village raid. Where's this village at? It would have been better if they increased the price on this and gave us a home for the villagers and a ton of detail.

I think it's very, very unfair to compare the Mill Village Raid to the Medieval Market Village, at least as far as the details of the build go. The latter was an exclusive set marketed towards AFOLs while the former is a set from the normal Kingdoms line and as thus made first and foremost for the kids, Lego's main customers.

As an AFOL I may be a bit bummed that the mill itself is so small and there isn't more everything. But these are things that have to be sacrificed in some measure to make this set marketable towards kids (affordable, easy enough to build etc.). Considering these realities of life, I think this set is a surprisingly successful compromise. Frankly, I never thought Lego would reach so far towards AFOLs in main line Kingdoms. I hope the gambit pays off and we'll see more civial-themed sets in the future. Maybe you will find something that will please you too, then. :)

[r1chard]

I was really looking forwad to this set. It suffers from lack of detail. The only reason to get it is for the animals. The buildings are very plain compared to the market village. There should have been some fences for the animals. I can't get over how plain and colorless this set feels. It's called mill village raid. Where's this village at? It would have been better if they increased the price on this and gave us a home for the villagers and a ton of detail. Why does my opinion have to be a rant because I didn't jump on the bandwagon and praise a subpar set?

My take on this is this: We should respect each other's opinion on the set, be it positive or not.

People who like this set, praise this set, gives its pro's, the good stuffs.

People who don't like this set, say why they don't like it, giving the cons.

At the end of the day, in my opinion, this is good because we see both sides. We decide if it's a good buy or should we pass.

If people only see praises, then we may not see what's lacking, what needs to be improved, what TLG may consider when creating sets. We don't think alike, and let's celebrate that.

As for my opinion on the set, I think this is a good set. The pro's being the animals and of course the mill's mechanism. Though I must say that the barn (compared to the building in MMV) is small and plain And I expect more on the minifigs. I think when you finished building this set, you should not put it side by side with the MMV, because at some aspects (look/design) they don't jive. I guess we could insert the question "Where's this village at?" here. And I agree with the addition of the fence, just like in 7684. Who doesn't like it with the fences?

Will I buy this set? I'll check first if it disturb my sleep pattern

Thanks for the review!

[narbilu]

When will this set be available in the Netherlands... Legoshop still says "not available in this country"

[Captain BeerBeard]

Thank you r1chard for being so open minded and understanding were I'm coming from even though we don't agree 100%. You made a lot of good points. Respect!

[Invader Zim]

Phew, glad things calmed down there the last couple posts. For a second I thought this was going to turn into a Star Wars Forum style flame war.

[Donut]

Phew, glad things calmed down there the last couple posts. For a second I thought this was going to turn into a Star Wars Forum style flame war.

Nah, I don't this would have turned into a flame war as everyone was very civil and respectful towards each other's opinions (for the most part).

Captain BeerBeard, you make a valid point about the lack of detail. Being that this is LEGO, you could always modify it to your personal liking.

[Parrothead Rasmus]

Gorgeous set (and review, if a review can be good-looking :).

Not a castle collector, but this years new sets are pretty tempting... thanks for the review.

[Piranha]

This set is garbage. What is the point of the windmill? What is the point of the empty barn? The minifigures are lame. Are they supposed to be updates to MMV? Good review. I'm really not going to waste any money on this.

I would have to disagree, what is the point of a windmill? Well try here. The barn isn't empty, there is hay inside, also very spacious so you can um I don't know put the animals in there maybe??? I don't know you were expecting to be in a medieval barn. The figs have front and back printing and are superior to MMV figs. ( I actually own both sets) This is a farm set not supposed to look like a tavern or inn which obviously would be more detailed. It is supposed to have that country "feel". Also MMV is aimed toward adults this is aimed toward kids you can't compare them in any reality, that would be like comparing a Modular building to a simple City set.

Finally at long last what us fans have been crying for is more civilian sets and when we get one we should be happy.

I was really looking forwad to this set. It suffers from lack of detail. The only reason to get it is for the animals. The buildings are very plain compared to the market village. There should have been some fences for the animals. I can't get over how plain and colorless this set feels. It's called mill village raid. Where's this village at? It would have been better if they increased the price on this and gave us a home for the villagers and a ton of detail. Why does my opinion have to be a rant because I didn't jump on the bandwagon and praise a subpar set?

MMV like I said it a totally different ballpark. The fences that you are referring to would have driven the price up, just BL them. well they could always do a peasant home later and yes they should have given the set a different name like Peasant Farm or something. There is no bandwagon here, just everyone opinions and the majority like the set.

I think it's very, very unfair to compare the Mill Village Raid to the Medieval Market Village, at least as far as the details of the build go. The latter was an exclusive set marketed towards AFOLs while the former is a set from the normal Kingdoms line and as thus made first and foremost for the kids, Lego's main customers.

As an AFOL I may be a bit bummed that the mill itself is so small and there isn't more everything. But these are things that have to be sacrificed in some measure to make this set marketable towards kids (affordable, easy enough to build etc.). Considering these realities of life, I think this set is a surprisingly successful compromise. Frankly, I never thought Lego would reach so far towards AFOLs in main line Kingdoms. I hope the gambit pays off and we'll see more civial-themed sets in the future. Maybe you will find something that will please you too, then. :)

Yes very well said

[joshuaj]

i have one problem with this set. That is the use of plain yellow bricks to symbolize hay. I mean cant TLG do something better than just plain bricks...

[Haltiamieli]

i have one problem with this set. That is the use of plain yellow bricks to symbolize hay. I mean cant TLG do something better than just plain bricks...

TLC used yellow bricks as hay also in City farm sets of 2009-2010, but in Medieval Market Village they used tan bricks, which works better in my opinion. Apparently they think kids like yellow hay better and adults prefer tan? Personally, I'm quite fine using tan bricks and not that interested in anything more, like a "hay piece" with a print/sticker or special mold.

[Captain BeerBeard]

i have one problem with this set. That is the use of plain yellow bricks to symbolize hay. I mean cant TLG do something better than just plain bricks...

I agree with that. I left that out in my rant. Haha! I was wondering why there was yellow bricks just sitting around.

[Tugarin]

I just picked up two of these sets (having taken advantage of the current TRU sale in spades) and I must say that this is by far my favorite Kingdoms set to date. The MMV is amazing (and technically not a Kingdoms set either) but as it is aimed at adults it lacks many of the fun play features and storyline associated with a normal LEGO set.

Concerning the lack of detail there is enough in the barn when compared to your typical medieval grange. A trapdoor in the hayloft and a working winch (almost wrote wench... the MMV has one of those) make for great play features adding to the role-play-ability of the set. The new farm animals are what prompted me to wait for a sale to pick up multiple sets. I am seriously considering at least one more set as the animals are that much of a bonus to an otherwise well made set.

If you're unhappy with the basic design of the mill or the barn the set provides enough variety of parts and a good color selection to build a commoner's farmhouse as an alternate build. I believe expecting LEGO sets, especially system sets, to be full of realistic detail is ignoring the purpose of LEGO and the design philosophy that drives TLG. Compared to your average LEGO City set we've been blessed to get full structures and not just facades in the last few years.

I hope that TLG is seeing a significant number of these sets being purchased and is receiving positive feedback concerning the civilian Kingdoms sets. The more of these type of sets produced the longer I will keep collecting this theme.

[Ogre]

I really like this set. The animals and minifigs are great.

BUT...

For the price, I think a bit more 'detail' could have been tossed into the mix, such as some fences, a cow, or two...heck, even a couple of the old 'tree stump' pieces to represent the 'clearing of the land'.

*shrug*

I don't know...it's a very nice set and as I said, I DO like it...I just think that with a little more thought and effort, it could have been EVEN BETTER.