Sign in to follow this  
Etzel

Review: 6244 Armada Sentry

How would you rate this set?  

42 members have voted

  1. 1. On a scale from 1 to 5

    • Poor
      0
    • Below average
      1
    • Average
      16
    • Above average
      12
    • Excellent
      13


Recommended Posts

thindexedgif.gif

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 :laugh:

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:

6244-1.jpg

Pieces:

legoreview6244001small.jpg

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.

legoreview6244002small.jpg

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.

legoreview6244003small.jpg

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:

legoreview6244004and005.jpg

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 :tongue: ). 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 :sceptic: .

Building process:

legoreview6244006small.jpg

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. :classic: the red colour on the boat isn't my favourite, I prefer the brown or the reddish brown since they seem more realistic.

legoreview6244007small.jpg

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.

legoreview6244008small.jpg

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:

legoreview6244010small.jpg

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.

legoreview6244011small.jpg

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 :blush: ).

legoreview6244012small.jpg

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.

legoreview6244013small.jpg

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:

legoreview6244014small.jpg

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... :tongue:

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. :classic: 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. :laugh:

Thanks for reading my review! :classic:

/Etzel

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The color scheme (white/grey with green accents) of this set is great. You made me wonder what an true Imperial Armada fortress would look like...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the review Etzel! :pir-classic:

This will fit in nicely to the index. For a little set, the Armada Sentry is pretty nice. I love those Armada minifigs. :pir-wub:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very good review, Etzel!

Can someone please put this on Classic-Pïrates.com? Due to my current situation I don't have the time or means to do so right now, but I will do so next week if someone else isn't faster.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I picked this set up off ebay a few months ago and ended up reselling it. The set design is nice and I like everything about it except for the way the doors lead into the water. Adding one more row of studs in front of the door would have worked wonders. This is really a small issue though because the set works so well alone. The crane and dock with the boat and small building is perfect for a kid to enjoy and rebuild into lots of different things.

The real problem I had with it though and the reason I got rid of it is because it just doesnt fit in with the other sets. I have quite a few imperial sets and the colors of this one stand out too much. Maybe if we had more armada sets to put this with it would have worked out much better.

Overall I would give it a 7 out of 10. If the colors fit in better with the other lego pirate sets or if it had a few more armada sets to match with I would bump it up to a 8 or possibly a 9.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very nice review! Although, i would have rated this set a bit higher (in an above average rank) since its small and simple and yet so great in all it simplicity... :)

The color scheme (white/grey with green accents) of this set is great.

I agree on this, and this is the reason i rated this set a 4 out of 5, instead of 3! ;)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I voted "average". Those Spanish Armada sets are both better for parts (some of which are great) than as actual sets (same goes for Armada Flagship). I like the colors and the green doors are classic. I really have no idea why the whole Spanish theme was so "rushed" - I mean, only 2 real Armada sets, both of which could've looked much better with some additional work. The minifig is great, like all Armada minifigs, and I don't mind the red and blue colours - I always thought these soldiers were supposed to look "rich" - hence the medallions and other stuff we see on other minifigs. So the bright colours are fine here.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really like this set. Nice blue baseplate. Good mini-fig, a boat, and GREEN DOORS! Everyone loves those green doors!

-martinsuper

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice review, I recently purchased this set on eBay, unfortunately it didn't come with any instructions so I'm going to use your review to build it :thumbup:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@Ratshot: Maybe Peeron has also instructions.

Nice review from a nice set. I found only 1 soldier a bit too less for this set. @ soldiers would be better.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
@Ratshot: Maybe Peeron has also instructions.

I don't like Peeron that much, thanks for the suggestion though

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I don't like Peeron that much, thanks for the suggestion though

I didn't have instructions either so I used Peeron, here is a link: Instructions :pir-wink:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I voted average. The color scheme is okay but, I don't like the fact that it is the only fort for the armada faction. That faction was so small and I would have liked to see something a little more interesting besides just this set. That being said it is a good set for its size and it does have some nice pieces so a 3/5 I think is fair. :pir-classic:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It is a good set to have. Lego should have made more Imperial Armada sets like this one, with some variations and more minifigs.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.