MEC Category A: Mordor Army Siege

[Artanis I]

The Missing Set - Mordor Army Siege

A gaping hole in the range of Middle Earth Lego sets is that of Gondor, and the siege & battle at Minas Tirith & Pelennor Fields. This entry is 1 of perhaps 3 sets to rectify that. (The companion sets would be something like "Grond at the Gates" "Pelennor Fields Battle" etc and contain a fell beast, mumak, Eowyn, Denethor, Grond, Haradrim + variations of existing characters.)

Mordor Army Siege contains a stretch of Minas Tirith outer wall, an orc siege tower, a battle troll (I would suggest a colour and/or print variation to what we have here), 4 orcs (2 new versions, & 2 repeats. Could easily just have 2 each of the new. 4 of the original would suck a bit), 2 Gondor soldiers (pikeman with White Tree shield, & archer/bowman) and Faramir in ranger garb.

As this is "supposed to be" an official set the obligatory flick-fire missiles have been included (where they should certainly not be) and working catapult. Multiple wall sections would be connectable to each other. (Yes, I know that the plates on the bottom are in the way... it was too much hassle to pull it all apart again to fix that!) Other play features include an "explodable wall" segment, weapon & armour storage on the tower, and the mobile tower itself. The tower roof opens up for easy access, and the door folds down & open (as you would expect!).

The tower can be picked up easily with one hand without falling apart, something I'm not used to forcing upon my mocs, but an official set needs to be solid, stable and not flimsy.

This is intended to be one of those "buy multiples of" sets. Who wouldn't want more (different) orcs, Gondor soldiers, Minas Tirith wall, battle trolls, rangers (swap out the head?) and materials for siege weapons? And the shield if done properly (I think you can get that shape without the stud?)

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If you are wondering about the parts from the minifigs, the Gondor soldiers are simply fleshified Crownies + Uruk-Hai armour. The heads are from POTC, and the shield is obviously a piece of printed paper sticky-taped to an old castle octagonal shield. I hope that counts as a "decal you have made yourself"! Faramir is a combination of Aragorn's torso & legs, Eomer's cape & head, + elf hood. The grey custom orc uses a Chima head & arms, legs & (reversed) torso from Moria orc + castle cowl. The quiver hides the green "triangle" on the back. The other orc uses legs, torso & helmet from Fantasy Era "troll" + Yazneg's head & arms.

The tower I originally built (but didn't get a roof on yet) was just way too flimsy & big, this version is about half the size, but I believe that if TLG made this set that the tower would be even smaller. The other tower is shown in the album.

You may have noticed that I underestimated the amount of white parts I had available... I was genuinely surprised, and to get the wall to this size was a huge stretch. As such, the appearance and stability suffered. It looks even more amateur than I would have liked! Fortunately I didn't build the Minas Tirith gate section as I had earlier planned...

Link to Flickr album

I hope you like it! Or at least the essence of it.

[LegoFanfromPR]

I like this set. Could be a great army builder.

[Borador]

I love how you put the Flick-Fire missiles in. Makes it look more like a real set. Ha.

An excellent build all around. Well done.

[Disco86]

The sections of this set look good. The walls of Minas Tirith are shining white with some Details and look plausible, as does the siege Tower.

But there is something wrong in here: Faramir was areay dead when the siege of Minas Tirith begun

[Artanis I]

Thanks everyone.

You are partly right, he wasn't in that part of the battle, but quote Pippin: "HE'S NOT DEAD!" And if you have any Star Wars sets you know that TLG will put a minifig in that doesn't quite belong!

[A Hobbit Fellow]

Nice set, it really captures the feeling of a larger Uruk Hai Army. I don't understand why TLG didn't make a Gondor vs Mordor army builder with one or so main characters. Great job!