Mountan Fortress disappointed

[GalacticTremor]

Im on a quest to complete my Castle collection from 1984-93. One set I need and excited me as a kid is the Lion knights Mountain Fortress. I appreciate it may go by other names. But I'm not a fan of it now. It seems such a waste of a build. It was unique at the time but now I look at it and I wonder what Lego were thinking. To confuse me even more it has red and blue flags instead of yellow and red. Plus the soldiers have chain mail which is another black Knights trait. What's your opinion and can you change my mind or do you agree?

[TeriXeri]

The Castle that always impressed me the most in catalogs was 6090 Royal Knight's Castle , but it's from 1995.

I did get smaller sets from that year, like the King , the Skeleton Surprise and the Drawbridge, definately one of my favorite faction of sets I actually had. 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2021 by TeriXeri

[GalacticTremor]

The Royal Castle isn't one I've given much thought too as I don't like the faction. However after just looking at it now I think it's a great castle with some cool elements. A great use of a raised base.

I would swap out the blue for red and then change the faction to either Black Knights or Lion Knights.

[fhomess]

I was a kid of the late 80's and into all things Lego Castle.  I adored 6080 and 6085.  6081 King's Mountain Fortress did more to usher me into my dark ages than any other set.  I felt the raised baseplate and relative lack of bricks made it feel like I got cheated out of a lot of Lego that should've been in a set of that stature.  I never had an issue with the chain mail... that struck me simply as more generic soldiers I could use however I wanted and a logical way to arm the troops.  I don't recall my reaction the red and blue flags.  I doubt I really noticed it much.  Looking back, it does seem odd that they had the same colors and the Black Knights.

[Grover]

When I was a kid I thought 6081 was cool.  Then I got the set, and despite a few cool things, like the drawbridge and the doors, and the hinged window that opened, I felt the castle was kind of lame.  You get a gatehouse that's small without a portcullis, a tiny tower in the back, and then this lame super low wall that surrounds a pit with very little modification possible.  This was one of the first castle sets that I modified heavily and wound up adding an entire wall around plus another tower in the back.

I think that 6086 was a much better version of 6081, although I think one of my favorites is still the Black Monarch's Castle.  From 1984, the King's Castle (6080) is great too.

[GalacticTremor]

I don't own 6081 but I one day will. To look for a positive I can see a little place for the ghost to live next to the gate.

But why does the tower have a hinged window with bars on it? It can't be a prison as there already is one.

I do like the double crossbow. It's a nice touch, and the tree helps to balance that side out.

[John Cromwell]

Concerning 6081, even though I don't own it, I like to think of it as a keep to a larger castle complex. i.e. the last line of defense if the castle were to be sieged. If you had collected all the previous Crusader sets that came before you could make a huge castle with 6081 being the center piece. However, I don't like the fact that it seems Black Knight troops have infiltrated the Crusader ranks (the chainmail and flags).

To quote a section from Steve's Lego Blog highlighting some of the positives from this set:

After six years of waiting for a new Castle the Crusaders are finally rewarded with a new castle (on a raised base, which was something of a novelty at the time). The Black Raven and Princess are unique to this set but whereas the previous castle featured 30 wall panels this set only featured four, the ghost should also be noted as a nice inclusion at the time. I always saw this as the keep and the previous castle as the outer wall and they go very nicely together, it should also be noted that this was the first moulded castle (many of which were to follow) and as such it was a trendsetter, the green added a great variation to the grey and as such this is one of the nicer looking castles from this era. 

17 hours ago, GalacticTremor said:

But why does the tower have a hinged window with bars on it? It can't be a prison as there already is one.

Better accessibility?

[natesroom]

That set is one of the ones i owned as a child.

[sander1992]

It is not an average castle (if you compare the set with Black Monarch Castle, Kings Castle and Black Falcon Fortress).
This is just a small fortress on 'rough' terrain. It is a nice addition to the Castle theme and a small step towards the fantasy approach in 1993.
The minifigs and flags are indeed mistakes, but not the only mistakes in Castle theme. And yet the black legs of the figures with the red/blue flags give the crusaders a darker tone, which I like.
The Battle Dragon, Royal Dawbridge, Dark Forest Fortress, and the smaller sets (King's Catapult and Battering Ram) have the same errors.

 

[TheLegoDr]

I loved that set. In fact it is the only set that has been built since I got it. So 30+ years?!

it is on my shelf. Crusaders and Black Knights, Falcons, Forestmen, Wolfpack. That whole era was top notch. I miss those days of my youth.

 

my friend Aaron and I would play with them and Pirates all the time after church on Sundays.

[Aanchir]

Honestly, a lot of the faults of that set tend to be reflected in the reasons I'm not a huge fan of raised baseplates in general. They added some neat terrain to sets that could spice up their appearance and play value a bit — but reduced the amount of building that went into them and locked them into a fairly rigid square or rectangular shapes. And while the central pit allowed for "subterranean" features like dragon lairs or dungeons, I can't tell you how much frustration I experienced even as a kid trying to fish fallen figures, bricks, and accessories out of the narrow openings provided to access those spaces!

In hindsight, I'm much more interested in the more "modular" approach earlier (and later) castles have generally taken using pins and/or hinges to link walls and towers together into a larger structure that allows for easier interior access. Especially since we've now seen LEGO do a much better job creating brick-built terrain in various themes without relying on prefab bases, even when it involves "shortcuts" like BURPs/mountain bricks. Some examples I'm fond of include the sets like Battle for Ninjago City, Jungle Falls Rescue, Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle, and Skull Sorceror's Dungeons, which also illustrate just how much more room this approach allows for "gear functions", hidden entrances and exits, or other play features that would be much less viable in a solid, prefab "mountain" base.

I'm hopeful that future LEGO castles might take advantage of some of these possibilities to achieve a similar balance between the imposing vertical structures of a lot of 90s LEGO castles and the more elaborate and customization-friendly builds and playable interiors that have shown up in so many more recent themes.

[John Cromwell]

16 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Honestly, a lot of the faults of that set tend to be reflected in the reasons I'm not a huge fan of raised baseplates in general. They added some neat terrain to sets that could spice up their appearance and play value a bit — but reduced the amount of building that went into them and locked them into a fairly rigid square or rectangular shapes

True, but you can't argue that the greatest castle set of all time (according to many) was 6086 Black Knights Castle, which was built on a raised baseplate.

[Mafortune]

23 hours ago, John Cromwell said:

True, but you can't argue that the greatest castle set of all time (according to many) was 6086 Black Knights Castle, which was built on a raised baseplate.

Agree 100 %, and the main reason is probably that 6086 was built around the raised baseplate while mountain fortress and fire breathing fortress were built on top of the baseplates.

The marvelous Eldorado Fortress from the pirates line is more in line with 6086 in this respect.

[John Cromwell]

Just now, Mafortune said:

6086 was built around the raised baseplate while mountain fortress and fire breathing fortress were built on top of the baseplates.

Sadly Lego couldn't seem to replicate what made 6086 great in later sets.

Eldorado Fortress is definitely one of those rare, shining examples of great Lego architecture.

[GalacticTremor]

The error with the flags in 6081 drive me mad but in my own story that I have created I have decided that 6081 was an abandoned haunted castle high in a mountain region long forgotten about. The female maiden is the Queen of the black Knights and she has found the ghost of her deceased husband the black monarch in the castle and so she has claimed the place for the black Knights. Unfortunately her guard were ambushed in the haunted forest by Wolfpack and the lion knights have dispatched a small force to retake the castle which is who we see in the set now occupying the castle. It's a bit of a push but I have come to accept it as a reasonable explanation.

[Lukandros]

Hello! Think is an “ok” castle but great... I did have Black Monarch’s Castle at the time, so I was not on list to sets I want... still is not 

Besides the cool parts I wanted I could have it in other sets.

either way check this out:

this is more likely :)

Since I never have this set I combine what I like from this with Black Knights Castle:

 

 

[PacificDuck]

As an adult I've been collecting the missed sets of my childhood and I have to agree with you.  6081 is ok, but it pales in comparison to many of the other castles and especially my all-time castle favorite of 6086

[GalacticTremor]

On 1/22/2021 at 12:56 AM, Lukandros said:

Hello! Think is an “ok” castle but great... I did have Black Monarch’s Castle at the time, so I was not on list to sets I want... still is not 

Besides the cool parts I wanted I could have it in other sets.

either way check this out:

this is more likely :)

Since I never have this set I combine what I like from this with Black Knights Castle:

 

 

I love what that guy has done to improve the castle. It is true that the left side is poor. I like how he has put in similar features to tie it in.

[Lukandros]

On 1/22/2021 at 12:38 PM, PacificDuck said:

As an adult I've been collecting the missed sets of my childhood and I have to agree with you.  6081 is ok, but it pales in comparison to many of the other castles and especially my all-time castle favorite of 6086

Yeah! 6086 is my favorite... and I still have it. Because this forum... I decided to build it with as Black Knight’s faction style.

Please take a look.

4 hours ago, GalacticTremor said:

I love what that guy has done to improve the castle. It is true that the left side is poor. I like how he has put in similar features to tie it in.

Yes... pretty cool!
 

What was the original attachment for the set?

I see it designed for this.

Edited January 25, 2021 by Lukandros
Adding media.

[GalacticTremor]

On 25/01/2021 at 4:35 AM, Lukandros said:

Yeah! 6086 is my favorite... and I still have it. Because this forum... I decided to build it with as Black Knight’s faction style.

Please take a look.

Yes... pretty cool!
 

What was the original attachment for the set?

I see it designed for this.

Lukandros, I'm a fan of your castle. It makes more sense. 

[Lukandros]

On 1/27/2021 at 6:28 PM, GalacticTremor said:

Lukandros, I'm a fan of your castle. It makes more sense. 

Hello! Thanks!  I am glad you liked it.

Please check this videos for a better look 👀!