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This set I'm going to review is a very special one. It was one of only two sets that the faction Imperial Armada had, the other being the 6280 Armada Flagship (reviewed by Inconspicuous here). This is actually the closest we have to an Imperial Armada Fortress
Set number: 6244
Name: Armada Sentry
Theme: LEGO System / Pirates
Year: 1996
Pieces: 67
Minifigs: 1
Price: MSRP: $8.75. Average price for a used set on BrickLink is $16.19, a new set is $30.58
Resources:
BrickLink
Brickset
Peeron
I don't have the box for the set, neither do I have the instructions so I stole this image from Brickset to show how it should look:
Pieces:
Here we have all the bricks that comes in this set, not very many... But the colours are good I think, white, green, black and light grey, all very useful for MOCing. The small blue baseplate is nice too and the white wall pieces are a simple way of making a small outpost. This wall piece is 5 studs wide unlike the wall piece that came in this years 6242 Soldier's Fort which was 4 studs wide. I'm not sure if I like one of them better then the other, I guess they both are useful in different ways. Other interesting pieces are the brown ladder, the red boat and the black string, not uncommon but nice to have.
These are the sets most exclusive pieces. The green doors only come in this set and I must say I really like them. I wish TLG could start to use this type of doors again as I find them very useful in a lot of MOCs. I would really like one in reddish brown.
Here we have the accessories, two brown paddles, a brown musket, a dark grey cutlass, a lantern, four gold coins and a black flagpole with a red and yellow flag. Just perfect for one minifig I say. The red and yellow flag might be an indicator of that the Imperial Armada is based on the Spanish Empire. I think it looks a bit out of place with the white and green building.
Minifig:
The minifig of this set is only appearing in 3 other sets, the previously named 6280 Armada Flagship and 6249 and 6296 (maybe 3 more if you consider this to be him
). He seems to be the common soldier of the Imperial Armada and wears the typical morion helmet, made famous by the Spanish conquistadors. I wish TLG could make some of those in grey or some metallic colour, it would fit much better I think. His torso is quite detailed with buttons and belts but I'm not a fan of the colours. I think the red and blue makes it look more like a clowns dress than a soldiers 
.Building process:
We start of with building the boat. Not much of building although, you put the usual 1x2 plates at the bottom and the 2x4 plates on top of them. But it's nice that they are green.
the red colour on the boat isn't my favourite, I prefer the brown or the reddish brown since they seem more realistic.
Next up is the foundation of the small sentry, I guess this would have been built with reddish brown plates if it was made today but back in 1996 brown was still an colour almost only used for accessories and not for common pieces. But in my opinion black works well as wood too.
A little further ahead we can see how the main structure is built. Wall pieces in the sides and a black plate as floor. Simple but effective.
The finished product:
And here we have the finished set. The green doors and 1x1 cylinder pieces makes the model very good looking and the crane adds some playability.
Back view of the set. Here we can see the open back of the sentry and also where the flag and musket are placed. Nothing on the set sticks out on the back so if you would like to add more models at the back that's easy. You can imagine how this set might be only a part of a big port with lots of platforms, bridges and houses. If you raise the platform and change the colour scheme I think it would fit good as a module in the 6242 Soldier's Fort (My isn't built at the moment so I can't check
).
Here is a close up picture of the ladder and lantern at the side of the building. The ladder allows access to the upper floor and the lantern is useful at night so you don't walk into the sea.
Of course the doors on the sentry can open and close and here we have a picture with the doors open and with the barrel just being unloaded/loaded off/on the boat.
Bonus picture:
Being stuck on an remote outpost isn't very funny but Miguel was lucky to have such a good friend as José. Time for party!
Some final thoughts:
Playability: 5/10 Open and close the doors, raise and lower the crane. That's the play features in the set. But with a child's imagination I believe this can be a great set if you combine it with some other nice pirate sets.
Pieces: 8/10 Many useful parts. Exclusive green doors and nice minifig.
Price: 6/10 Hard to judge since it's not for sale any more from LEGO. BrickLink prices are not the best but still acceptable in my opinion.
Design: 7/10 Nothing wrong but nothing extraordinary either. For a faction's base it might be a bit small...
Total: 6.5/10 This set offers some good parts and a not very common minifig. I like the amount of accessories and most of the colour scheme. I bought this set of BrickLink for $12 (without box or instructions) and I'm satisfied with that. Many of the parts will be useful in MOCs and the minifig is nice to have (I've already gotten another one). Another reason for me to buy it was actually that it wasn't reviewed on EB and I really wanted to contribute to the community that has given us so many great reviews.
It's a nice and affordable set. Not something to go crazy about but more like a pleasant experience. Like coming home and having a cup of hot tea when it's raining outside. Thanks for reading my review!
/Etzel
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<----Thanks Joey! 
