Lego castles?

[pasiman]

Hi, i want to buy two castles for my kids and for myself so we can play with them. My english is not very good so i hope u understand my next question: What two castles are best? Example kingdom series has castles with blue  towers an red ones so they need to be differend colors. Not same color because we want that those castles are enemies.

[leafan]

Welcome.

It's very subjective but if I were to mix the playability of newer sets with stark colour themes, I'd go with the following:

Blue Guys:

https://brickset.com/sets/70404-1/King-s-Castle

Red Guys:

https://brickset.com/sets/70404-1/King-s-Castle (Or alternative, but smaller and matching the reds you get in the first set: https://brickset.com/sets/70403-1/Dragon-Mountain).

I prefer the older sets myself, but these will be more complex and have more play actions.

They will also not be cheap, but that is true of any legit Lego Castle these days.

Edited October 23, 2018 by leafan

[Aanchir]

Are you concerned at all about price? That could have an impact on whether to go for older or newer castles.

Also, based on the idea of wanting two castles that are enemies… is it important what sorts of figures they come with (like, would a castle with mini-dolls and a castle with minifigs, or a castle with flesh-colored minifigs and a castle with traditional yellow minifigs be a deal-breaker)? Or are you planning to repopulate them with new armies anyhow?

My personal favorite castle is 41180 Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle. Lots of gorgeous interior details that you don't tend to get in traditional castles (even though I've always been bothered by the lack of them). That said… it is not ideally suited for housing an army. Most of the interior features are tailored to the needs of an individual witch or sorceress, not a monarch and their entire court of knights and subjects. To remake it for an army, you'd have to basically refit the whole interior, which strips it a lot of what makes it unique compared to other castles anyhow. If you are to go to that effort, it loses some of its advances over other castles that have fewer interior details to begin with.

70323 Jestro's Volcano Lair is another nice evil castle, and when you strip away some of the more theme-specific stickers and the Technic bits elevating the turret and throne it feels very purely medieval fantasy. It also has a really wonderful interior (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and a very spacious dungeon).

But of course, as a counterpoint to both examples, they are somewhat "dollhouse style" (open in the back), while I know some people feel a "real" LEGO castle should be enclosed on all sides. In any case, probably good to bear in mind that these two examples are perhaps some of the biggest "evil" castles you are likely to find besides the much older and less detailed 8877 Vladek's Dark Fortress.

I did not get Vladek's fortress (I made the mistake of narrowing my interest in Knights' Kingdom II to the buildable figure sets only right when the playsets actually started to get good), so I can't speak at length to its quality. I do know that it's big and can be made even bigger and more complete by combining it with 8802 Dark Fortress Landing. Again. though, the mid-2000s were a kind of a transitional period from the heavily simplified designs of the early 2000s and a steady increase in complexity that people really began to notice around 2007. With Vladek's Dark Fortress you see some relics of the simplified, gimmicky, late 90s/early 2000s design (3x4x6 tower bricks, 1x8x6 stone-textured doorframes from the earliest Harry Potter sets, 4x6x6 sloped wall panels, 3x8x6 wall/window patterns, somewhat conspicuous use of mountain bricks, etc). That said, the overall appearance is fairly strong as far as colors go, and it's disavowed itself of some of the worst trends of the 90s and 2000s like extremely gappy walls or reliance on ginormous raised baseplates for a substantial portion of its implied size.

Interior-wise, from what I can see in the instructions, it has stairs, a forge, a dungeon (albeit with few walls or bars) with a fireplace/furnace and several scorpions (maybe more of a torture chamber?), and a crystal ball. Pretty sparse compared to what we're used to even in today's sets, where at the least a throne room and enclosed dungeon are expected As a bonus, Vladek and his shadow knights have clearly defined scorpion heraldry that shouldn't be too difficult to accumulate since Knights' Kingdom sets in general are in low demand among army builders except for those creating their own custom armies. The original price per piece is very respectable compared to more recent castle sets, at least before accounting for inflation. Today's aftermarket price to get these sets new has grown considerably, but the price of used ones on BrickLink sans box and/or instructions seem extremely reasonable considering their age (caveat emptor, of course). Overall I get the sense that for a more generic Castle layout without heavy fantasy elements like witches or monsters this may be your best bet.

Finding a contrasting "good" castle should not be hard — most of the biggest castles in more recent Castle/Kingdoms waves are "good" castles with grey walls that will contrast well with Vladek's black ones regardless of their roof or accent colors. I think as far as use without major modifications goes, I'd soonest recommend the 70404 King's Castle. While it's often spurned by AFOLs for its similarities to the previous 7946, it has some strengths that its predecessor lacks. Namely, it has a slightly larger perimeter, its stickers (abut the same in number as its predecessor) play a less defining role in its appearance, The introduction of Sand Yellow foundation bricks and more Warm Gold accents brings a bit more color variety without heavily infringing on its historical plausibility. It has a taller gatehouse, a more detailed throne, and a more enclosed throne room (although consequently, one that allows less light in… one of the perils of realism in LEGO castle designs). And perhaps best of all, it can be easily expanded with the modular elements of either the original King's Castle (though you would have to make some color substitutions) or 70402 The Gatehouse Raid.

In this case, though, AFOLs' initial distaste for this set may not be as much to your benefit as with the much-maligned Knights' Kingdom. Because this is one of the most recent "King's Castle" sets it is also one of many people's first choices in a new castle (also, even many who hated the sets had fonder feelings for the heraldry associated with them). It's perhaps for this reason, or perhaps because a lot of resellers didn't jump on it, that there are not so many copies on BrickLink and most tend to be considerably pricier than Vladek's castle. But I guess it's your call how much you'd be willing to pay.

Hope these suggestions help! I'm sure people with more experience with the older LEGO Castles will have valuable suggestions as well, even if more of those might need to be souped up with stuff like a throne room that they initially lacked.

[TeriXeri]

Knighton Castle has been the last big Castle set released, it has neon orange colors into it's interior so it's not really classic, but it does still have a throne room, bedrooms, dining room, and weapon room, and plenty of space to pose figures on the walls/towers, and it can open up for more playability.

Jestro's Volcano Lair is also very nice, and more evil.

Edited October 23, 2018 by TeriXeri

[pasiman]

Im concerned about price little bit. About 300€/castle is good max price so 2 can cost 600. Im going to buy more soldiers in future so there is 2 large armys someday. I dont know answer to that what sort of minifigs   Example new 70404 cheapest prices is from 196€+ shipping in bricklink and there is 2 Vladeks and cheaper is about 260€. Here in finland  1 new 70404 price is 299€. 

Edited October 24, 2018 by pasiman

[BrickJagger]

5 hours ago, pasiman said:

Im concerned about price little bit. About 300€/castle is good max price so 2 can cost 600. Im going to buy more soldiers in future so there is 2 large armys someday. I dont know answer to that what sort of minifigs   Example new 70404 cheapest prices is from 196€+ shipping in bricklink and there is 2 Vladeks and cheaper is about 260€. Here in finland  1 new 70404 price is 299€. 

I personally think that 7946 King's Castle is a better set than 70404. After buying both sets, I feel that 7946 is a better build and it looks better on display. 70404's colors are kind of garish and the castle itself feels empty once you've built it. I'm pretty sure that 7946 goes for a bit more on the secondary market, but it's worth it. Vladek's Fortress is a solid pick, its one of the best villain castles Lego has released along with Jestro's Volcano Lair. Both of those sets have a bit of red but are mostly black and are far apart from 7946 on the color spectrum. Hope that helps.  

[pasiman]

Hmm...there is one used 7946 here in finland with all pieces and instructions and price is 90€. I wonder is used good present. I can buy original box from bricklink. Cheapest new in bricklink is about 190€+shipping from eu an new is always new. My number 1 choice is 7946 and 2nd Vladek or volcano lair. That second one is still question. I cant decide 

Edited October 26, 2018 by pasiman

[lego tripper]

I can't believe no one's mentioned 7094 yet.

imo it beats both 7946 and 70404.