DaleDVM

June sounds about right. Last year I picked up the new sets on May 18th at the LEGO stores here in the USA.

Yes Dazmundo they have made a tan antenna... but to fill a whole field of wheat you would need hundreds of the tan antennas. If I bought every antenna available on bricklink it would only fill a space 10 studs by 30 studs and did you look at the prices? Only 3 stores have more than 50 of this piece and the cost runs from 50 cents to a dollar a piece. That is a little rich to just make a simple crop. Some pieces are just too rare to be used in large numbers that is why I would like them to release it again and make it a bunch of them...

Wow Dazmundo! Maybe we won't be waiting until August for these after all. I expected a May or Early June release anyway but this is good news indeed.

I posted some of this in another thread. I am hoping for a UCS or exclusive jousting set. Something with tents and a grandstand. Including two to four knights with barding (hopefully the silver lion barding from the dragon knights prison set) and pages serving the knights. A few civilians spectating and selling food and some royals to watch the tourny. Oh how grand that would be! As for a civilian set. I agree a simple farmhouse or residence would be very welcome. As for a business I would prefer a bakery. A new molded piece I would love to have is a sack of some sort. Like a sack of flour or grain. We have barrels, boxes, crates, and chests but most brick built sacks don't look quite right. The bakery would come some baked goods and loaves of bread as well. A butchers shop would also be great but I know that is not very kid friendly. I find maritime sets great, but so far TLG never really has designed a good looking Cog. I would want ships that look correct for the period and not just copies of later era ships. I would enjoy an active port with associated buildings. However, since TLG has just now started giving us civilian structures. I feel they can and will do more with the landlocked variety before they move to more naval oriented civilian buildings. I would also kiss some booty for a tan antenna piece so we can simulate a crop like wheat growing. That would be sweet!

Personally I am hoping for a UCS or exclusive jousting set. Something with tents and a grandstand. Including two knights with barding (hopefully the silver barding from the dragon knights prison set) and two pages serving the knights. A few civilians spectating and selling food and some royals to watch the tourny. Oh how grand that would be! I think the LEGO company is very much aware of the minifig enthusiast market. Too bad it took 3rd party companies to wake them up to the fact that they were neglecting the very fans they try to serve. Now I feel bad for brickforge and others who put so much into their startups and now LEGO is actually copying them. I don't look at this as a normal set. To me it is a battle pack. Included in this battle pack is an awesome armored horse instead of a 5th soldier. You also get two lion knights with different torsos. You get the dragon knight with the chainmail and dark green cowl(the most useful and rare of all torsos in this line IMHO) and the mounted knight with the new armor and helmet. Then you throw in $5.00 worth of useful bricks. I will take these approximately 125 bricks for $5. I think it is a bargain. I will get more of this set than any of the others and so I for one am glad this is a "weak" set. To make it stronger would have upped the price and ruined it for me.

Wow. Thanks Aanchir for the links. It does make a good looking roof. It is so part intensive and my MOCs are so big I am not sure I could afford to use it like that. I can see now where it would be used behind the windscreen. Since I really only build Castle MOCs I never would have realised that use. I don't think TLG designed the part for use as a roof slope or they would have made it easier to use. Do you know if its primary use is for the windscreens? Making a new mold it would have to deliver atleast one very specific and useful purpose.

Thanks Stiel but I had realised that. My point is I highly doubt LEGO made a new mold to just hold that water piece on. For the life of me I can't really think of many uses for this piece that I couldn't have pulled off with a 1x1 plate and a cheese wedge. And yes I understand those two pieces would not hold the water on... To make the blacksmith shop and hold on the water piece I would just raise up the shop by two plates put in two normal 1x2 45 degree slopes and make the lowest dark bley stripe a full brick thick. No need for the new piece with very little change. The pieces use in the car on the other thread does not seem innovative to me either. I would imagine we will see a more inventive use of this piece very soon in one of the new sets.

I have all of the castles past and present. The old raised baseplates are certainly interesting and definately work to enlarge castles for little added cost to TLG. What I really liked about them was the techniques they used to attach supports on the outside edges. It made for interesting builds when doing one of these sets by the instructions. That being said I have a storage crate full of just raised baseplates that sits totally unused. I build at a very large scale and am lucky enough to have brick for making my own terrain. Therefore I have little use for raised baseplates after I am done with the original model. I certainly agree that the castles made on plates or baseplates are better designed in general than those on the raised baseplates. Although a couple of the castles on raised baseplates were pretty good. Baseplate vs Plates... What do I prefer? I guess plates are the most useful to me. I like the modularity aspect of the King's Castle this year. I also buy baseplates by the case and they are always available if you want more of them. It is most useful for me to get plates of different sizes for use in MOCs. So I would have to vote for plates in the end.

I just made it to your post and I love the way it is coming along. It is a fantastic first effort. It definately has an elfy feeling to it. I love the balcony out back and all of the foliage. When I build a roof to sit loosly on slopes or even the cones you started with I try to make it 2 studs wider than you did. That way it has a slight overhang in the front and the back. The overhang is not only realistic but will hide any gaps between the wall and the roof and has a very nice aesthetic appeal. If you have the available round browns to do it give it a try and see what you think. Thank you for sharing your work with us!

So excited! I picked up a complete set of each of all of the collectable minifigs from all 3 series. Thank you bricklink! I also picked up 14 elves last week. Thank you Chicago for having so many LEGO stores! At a LEGO store building event last weekend I got 2 King's Castles and 20 Prison Carriage sets. 20 sounds like a lot but the metallic silver greathelm is not included in any of the 2011 Kingdoms sets and I wanted a lot more of them. Especially since they didn't include one in the battle packs. I also picked up one of each of the Harry Potter sets, a grand emporium, two winter bakeries, and two creator log cabins. All with a 30% discount from the building event! About $1100.00 worth of LEGO at $750.00 Woo Hoo! Unfortunately now I have to sort out all of those parts.

Here in the Chicago area in the USA the 4 local LEGO stores have all of the $10 USD and larger sets. The impulses were not on the shelves at all. I also saw battle packs on the shelves as well. I do think the King's Castle is going to be around for another year filling in that large $100.00 USD slot for Kingdom's. It will also balance out the large number of Dragon Knights in this years sets.

I wanted to take the time to thank everyone who posted in this thread. I loved doing the review and only wish I had better lighting at the time to show off the colors better. I do check back from time to time to see what the discussion is about the King's Castle. I bought 2 more of this set last weekend and I am now up to 4. It really is a great set for parts and since I got a 30% discount I couldn't resist the temptation. Also thanks to people posting modifications to their King's Castle sets. It is even more attractive when made a little larger. I do think this set will remain on shelves through this year. The second release of Kingdoms sets doesn't have a $100.00 USD set and this one would fill that nitch. King's Castle Siege had a similar 2 year run with the Fantasy Era sets. Hopefully all you castle fans can get as many as you want!

I haven't really heard any news but I wouldn't be surprised if the King's Castle stays on the shelves filling the place for the 100.00 set for another year. The King's Castle Siege was on shelves for a couple of years filling that role. Someone actually noticed the new slope piece way back in the thread, but to be honest at that time I had no idea what they were talking about. My question is, what is this new piece so useful for that LEGO made a new mold? If a slope is placed on the stud it doesn't look like it would line up with the top of the cheese slope type end... Anyone seen this piece used on other new sets or have an idea of its uses?

All of this dreaming and I still have to wait several months to get my hands on the new wave of Kingdoms sets. This thread is full of foul temptation... I for one will not fall prey to its evil! Back on topic. I just realised that the 2x1x2 65 degree slope was new in dark brown. We get atleast 16 of them in the barn.

Good find. I never would have guessed that about the weather vane. I didn't even look at it twice to be honest. TLG really does some interesting engineering on these sets. My guess would be that these weapons are not really meant for inclusion in the sets. They were made for heroica and had to have attachments at the ends to they can be moved around in the game. Their inclusion in the blacksmith set is just a bonus. All of the other weapons included on the same wheel are pretty appealing to me. The new pics are very detailed. They are awesome. On the mill set: It looks like an absolutely fantastic parts set. Lots of browns, tans, and dark grey. The minifigs are even better than I thought. The mill mechanism is ingenius. I don't get a lot of non castle sets... Are those ball gears in the mill a new peice? The carriage set: The king looks incredible. The back of his torso is as good as the front. I was wondering how the hammer functioned. I'm not impressed but it does work. The Dragon's prison: The first thing I noticed was that the helmet was also in dark pearl. At the German toy fair last week it was still black. I like the new printing on the armor. Also those bars on the front of the prison look new to me. It is like a matching set of the doors but without a handle on it. The blacksmith set: That apron looks great I can see a whole lot of artisans plying their wares in an apron like that. The new weapons are growing on me, but not the bow...

Here is a breakdown of the cost per piece for this years sets. 6918 Blacksmiths Attack $9.99 104 pieces 9.6 cents per piece 7187 Escape from Dragon Prison $19.99 185 pieces 10.8 cents per piece 7188 King's Carriage Ambush $39.99 286 pieces 14 cents per piece 7189 Village Mill Raid $69.99 663 pieces 10.6 cents per piece In reality only the King's carriage ambush seems to be lacking in the value department. Considering the carriage set seems to have gotten the least warm reception, I predict it will not be a great seller. (Just call me Nostradamus) It is too bad... I really like the design of the carriage and the King. But how many King figs can a guy use? The rest of the sets seem to be quite a good value. I will be buying many multiples of all of the sets but likely only a pair of the carriage sets.

Last year the sets weren't supposed to be released until Late June or early July. Then they showed up in LEGO stores on May 17th. I had the King's Castle review up the next day. I think we will likely see these sets in stores by June here in the USA. The new shutter piece for the windows is really great. I hope it looks good when put onto one of the doors. That way you can have a solid door with a "peep hole". All of my shadier back alley dwellings will need one so it can be opened and a password will need to be given for access!

I have to respectfully disagree with people about the farm animals. It may be that the chickens and goats don't look like lego. Then again the horses didn't look like lego when they were first released. Neither do the cows, or the pigs, or parrots, or monkeys, or owls, or frogs, or spiders, or the cats. I think you get the idea. Simply put it takes a while to get used to the animal molds. Trust me they will grow on you. IMHO the thing that looks silly is a brick built animal sitting next to a horse, minifig, or other molded animal. Brick built animals usually don't look good at minifig scale. I hope they keep releasing more animals. I think they are great!

Wow this thread is growing by the minute. I am also in love with the new Kingdoms line. I agree with so many comments about the new items in these sets. Barding, new animals, grey horse, pitchforks, oval shield, new civilian torsos, new weapons. OMG! I love the new animals. I understand classic thinking that they don't look like LEGO. However, the horse has been around for almost 30 years. No one complains about horses any more but want to make brick built animals of all other sorts. The way I look at it. The molded animals fit in better with the horse and minifigs. At minifig scale most brick built animals look silly an not lifelike. In 30 years the molded animals will look completely like LEGO because they are LEGO. This may not be exciting for those who collected the city farm or the winter toy shop... but the brown ladder is a real big deal to me. My medieval world needs a lot of these brown ladders for sieges or peaceful uses like getting cats out of trees. I am confused about the comments about mismatched helmets, legs, and torsos? The soldiers don't seem to be mismatched to me? The dragon knights even have dark pearl weapons which can't be said for the battle packs.

I just aquired the collectable minifigs. I got complete sets of all 3 series. Thank goodness for europeans and their pricing. The first set is very hard to find in the USA.

Interesting topic. I have been collecting since the early 80's and in my LEGO world factions keep evolving over time. My take on most of the factions are similar to the original poster except where modified below. Primarily I allign factions based on numbers more than any other factor. By the early 90's I had over 150 black knights and I had to have most of the other factions ally against them for a decent battle to take place. Good guys: Classic Castle, Crusaders, Black Falcons, Forestmen, Wolfpack vs the Evil: Black Knights and Dragon Masters. I also painted some of majistos hats and made wizards of different colors for each of the factions. Today I have such a large amount of trolls, skeletons, fright knights, and vladeks forces (almost 1500 in total) that I ally most of the other human factions against them. Currently I am torn where to place the dragon knights. I have almost 200 of them and if placed on the good side they will tip the balance of power to the good side. I always like the good guys to be outnumbered. After all it is more heroic when you are outnumbered. The Dragon Knights appear to be evil with their dark color scheme. The new sets also have them attacking the civilians. I always took the crownies as a rich merchant and trading kingdom. They have a good alignment but care most about profits. That is how they can afford those gold accents on their castles. The dwarves are natural allies of the crownies as they care more about gold and gems than anything. The new lion knights are the epitomy of good guys to me. White, red, and gold accents and possible religious fanatics. I will have all of my lion factions as a kingdom ruled by many different family members of the same royal family.

If the chickens come in a couple of colors that will make me very happy. Variety is the spice of LEGO. We should have official pictures very soon. The toy fairs will be taking place over the next couple of weeks so it looks like we will not have to wait too long.

Thank you for the very nice review and great pictures. Brings back memories. I got this set at release and hated it. IMHO The Dragon Masters began a slide in quality of sets that continued through the fright knights line and culminated in the awful KK1 series. After purchasing the fright knights sets I went into a dark age. No offense to the reviewer but I personally think this is one of the worst castle sets of all time. The large gate on the front has gaping holes in it and looks in no way strong enough to hold in a dragon. The build is chuck full of POOPs and really short on useful parts. The Dragon head looks utterly ridiculous. The only thing I thought was redeeming was the tree in brown built into the terrain. That was a nice touch along with the figs. I can't believe so many people actually like this set in the poll. Perhaps it is nostalgia? I started collecting during the 80's when castle had some really good sets and this set just didn't make the grade when compared to those classics.

It has been a while since I have commented here. Some awesome armies and thanks to all who posted photos. 300 spartans are expensive looking, but 301 that is just over the top and I will not stand for it! Magnus I certainly hope there is a harry potter head in amongst Godrics troops?! I do love their color scheme. The forestmen with the armor are great. I actually have a matching unit of them. Chongcheng that is an oppressive number of crownies. I fear your other factions will be forced to live under the boot of crownie rule far into the future. I will have to post some pics soon. Unfortunatley I spend most of my time fixing my broken MOC for brickworld and not enough time messing with my armies.

I want to thank everyone for the interesting discussion. A big thank you to clouette for the photos of the new sets. Now waiting 6 months for them to come out is going to be torture. A new horse mold would be welcome by me. I think it is very possible for them to trim the hard edges of the horses head and body and still keep a similar size and shape to allow saddles and headgear to fit the new horses. As for the sets 6918 Blacksmith Attack: Great little set with a new peasant torso. Bucket and chicken is nice in a cheap set. I wish the dragon knight had the cowl torso as this one is the most versatile and the hardest to get in quantity. Preliminarily it looks great. 7187 Escape From Dragon's Prison: The barding is the big deal here. Looks like a decent number of figs for the price as well. I find it strange they included a visor helm. Will it come out in the new pearl grey? Will we get a oval dragon shield? I guess one can hope. I hope the pieces for the prison will be useful ones. The flickfire missile... oh dear, I threw up in my mouth... Still a win in my book. 7188 King's Carriage Ambush: This looks to be the most elegant carriage ever released. The two horses are pure win. I could have done without the gold wagon wheels. The trees are a great addition and I can never get enough of them. Looks to be a nice little set. 7189 Mill Village Attack: May I quote Usher? Oh My God!!! This is just pure sweetness. Obviously MMV is selling so well that TLG is rolling out some more civilian stuff. Could AFOL castle fans ever get better news? Chickens, Goats, Buckets, Pigs, more peasant torsos, and a new pitchfork! Or perhaps the old pitchfork? Who cares it is a pitchfork! OMG! As for this reminding me of the town farm set. Ummm NO! The problem with the town set was that is was made almost exclusively of huge POOP pieces. While this set has some walls it also has a large amount of brown and tan log pieces. I think this will make a good parts pack and the figs and animals are just heavenly! I can't wait to get multiples!