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Posted (edited)

Well I finally got it today, after the S@H shipping took forever...

I really love this set, it's full of great parts at a decent price.

Castle Chess Set

852001

Pieces: 265

Price: $49.99

First, the box

chess0001.jpg

Same old same old...

chess0002.jpg

chess0003.jpg

Now the Pawns

First, let's look at the human pawn. I love that helm, it's great to have in numbers. That torso is also my favorite of the new torsos...the classic shield, and the classic sword *wub*

chess0004.jpg

The undead pawn...well, not much I can really say. These are my first black skellies...so it confuses me why they're the pawns. I figured they were the higher ranks or something. Each comes with a mace (which I'm REALLY not a fan of...) and one of those nice little round shields *y* The heads aren't as stand-out as the white ones

chess0005.jpg

The rook

Same old same old...or not! As you've already heard, these are not glued! You can use all the parts (just like an Eskimo!) and I have to say, they come with some nice parts...dark blue cones for the "human" rook, and dark red cylinders with the undead one.

chess-new0006.jpg

chess0007.jpg

chess-new0005.jpg

The Knights

They really screwed up here |-/ For the first time they could have included a REAL knight, and they do the same old crappy 4-piece nonsense! I mean sure the horse headgear is nice, but it should have been ON A HORSE. With a knight...with the pointed visor :'-( And yes, the slopes are the new smooth kind

chess0009.jpg

The Bishops

These guys are nice...not too much to say here. I wish the undead one had SOMETHING on his torso though. For the human, if you don't see the staff, don't worry! They're in a little indent behind the king and queen.

chess-new0003.jpg

chess0012.jpg

chess0015.jpg

The Kings

Again, not much to say. It's nice to be able to get the king in a cheaper set. Nice sword and crown...but they really make the pearl gold armor look like crap. They should've made the pearl gold armor chrome gold to match everything else, and the pearl silver armor match the new helms...(pearl silver armor in the joust set, none in here).

The human king has a viking torso to match his viking head, and the necromancer has the same Imperial Guard torso as in the Skeleton Tower set.

chess-new0004.jpg

chess-new0002.jpg

The Queens

Again, not much the say. The princess (who's a beauty *wub*) is the same as in the Skeleton Tower set as well. The undead Queen is...well, a skeleton (white) with armor and a cape. Nice staff though. I have to admit, the armor makes her look kinda busty :-D

chess0011.jpg

chess0014.jpg

Torsos...

chess0017.jpg

---

Overall, I love this thing. Great way to amass armies! Only problem are those ugly skeletons |-/ But those can be traded away X-D This is a must buy even if you're just a casual fan of the theme!

Figs: 10/10 (no kidding!)

Parts: 7/10 (horses would've been nice...but bonus points for no glue!)

Price: 7/10 (could've been a bit cheaper, but not bad)

Playability: 10/10

Overall: 34/40

Edited by Starwars4J
Posted

Knights on horses, yeah.... *wub* Definitely too cool for TLC. :-P

Thanks for that nice review, no glue rules! *y*

Posted
Only problem are those ugly skeletons

Sorry, but I love the new skelies! *wub* I think the face is a lot meaner than the old ones, and the arms are actually better, IMO, since you can pose them. *y*

Anywho, great review, and thanks for the pic. 4J. ;-)

Posted

See, I appreciate this. ;-) (if you remember what I'm talking about)

Good review. I was a little surprised by the black skellies as well, since I see them more like elite soldiers. Still, I suppose it's nice to have more of them (for those who like the new skellies ;-)). The queen is going to have her torso and hair replaced and her cape removed, because I need those pieces. Besides this, I love everything here. I'm going to order off Shop at Home this wonderful set next week, along with the Skeleton Tower. Thanks for the review, it strenghtened even more my desire for this set.

Shakar

Posted (edited)

Thanks for the review! *y* *y* I love the fact that it's not glued! Does anyone know if this will be in stores? Especially people from Australia/New Zealand? Thanks.

Edited by iamded
Posted (edited)

Thanks very much for the review. Still not sure if I want it or not...

Thanks for the review! I love the fact that it's not glued! Does anyone know if this will be in stores? Especially people from Australia/New Zealand? Thanks. *y* *y*

Love that positivity! :-P It isn't going to happen, but I would love to be wrong.

Edited by Sinner
Posted

Sorry....but is the torso and the legs glued ?I bought a viking queen (from the chess set) seperately but the torso is glued to the bottom brick.

thanks

Posted
Sorry....but is the torso and the legs glued ?I bought a viking queen (from the chess set) seperately but the torso is glued to the bottom brick.

thanks

No glue whatsoever on any of the figs

Posted

Thanks for the review. It seems your hands were shaking from the excitement in a few of those pictures. ;-)

I most likely won't get this. I'd love to have the crown side, but I'm not much of an army builder, and don't have much desire for all those skeletons, so I can't really justify the price... :-/

Posted (edited)
Thanks for the review. It seems your hands were shaking from the excitement in a few of those pictures. ;-)

Actually I used a tripod :-/ The lighting conditions were so bad I really needed to open it up. I wanted to keep a low ISO (100) for the sake of picture clarity...

I might try to retake some pics today, but I'm not sure there's much that can be done if the press of the button is what causes the blur

Edit: fixed ;-)

Edited by Starwars4J
Posted
I really like the bishops. They look very good and are a new addition to the Castle figs.

Oh yes, the Bishops rock! And don't forget the awesome new staff pieces... *wub*

Posted
Oh yes, the Bishops rock! And don't forget the awesome new staff pieces... *wub*

Actually those are just the "torch" pieces, also used as skateboard wheels, I think they've been around for a bit.

Posted

Great review SW4J, my first impressions are that tlc missed the boat on this one. The set itself looks good but its such a shame that they couldnt come up with a new knight and rook, if they had then i believe this would of been a classic.

Posted

Many tks SW4J for this great review !!

Sure the rooks and knights are not brilliant but I think its a minor flaw (for me at least !!) What really doesn't make it for me at all are those black skellies !! I would have loved to have white skellies >:-(

Since I am using my black skellies as generals, I don't need that many !! Also I totally ditched those MFs with a skellie head - thats just plain stupid to me !! They are supposed to be undead so explain me this: the head is decomposed but not the body and hands ??. I will just buy white skellie bodies and have more of those ;-)

I love the human pawn !! I need to equip each of my MF with swords and shield !! The other MFs will be guards and archers ;-)

The bishop is a neat addition as well 8-

  • 2 months later...
Posted
Should I feel guilty for ordering this with the express intention of NEVER playing Chess with it, just stripping it for parts and fig's? I mean, I feel kind of bad...

Dr. S.

Yeah, doc, I guess the guys from the chess association would send out their chessy cats

to hunt and checkmate you.... :-D

Alice%20CheshireCat-Small-Top.png

Posted

Nice review SW4J. What really attracts me to this set is NO GLUE! Yay! That means I can use all those parts and figs for anything I want. It would have been better if the skelly pawns were white, but I'm still seriously considering this set now for army building purposes. Hey TLC, where is our STAR WARS CHESS SET??? :-D

I have a question: Are the black and white squares glued to the baseplate as with previous chess sets?

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