Random set of the day: King's Mountain Fortress
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6081 King's Mountain Fortress, released in 1990. It's one of 8 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 435 pieces and 8 minifigs, and its retail price was US$58.
It's owned by 2660 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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18 comments on this article
Such a great set! Feels much larger than the piece count, great minifigures, and I actually don’t mind the raised baseplates.
This uses the same raised baseplate as the one we had a few days ago.
Wow, two epic castles from the golden age within a few days. I can build this thing by memory, I’ve built and rebuilt it so many times over 28 years. I remember seeing the glowing ghost for the first time and being absolutely in awe. Thanks for the great memories Huwbot!
First set to use that slope piece as a minifig dress/skirt, isn't it? Can't believe it took almost 30 years until we got a proper one! That waistline is rather extreme btw.
I still have this one in pretty much perfect condition from when I was a kid. I remember I was getting a bit too old for LEGO, maybe 12 or a bit older, but it was sooo cool, with the crossbows, newer knight helmets, that horse cloth (sorry, don't know what it's called), raised baseplate etc. I kinda had to have it.
The only thing I didn't like was the short wall to the left of the gate. As a kid, it always bothered me that this seemed like a vulnerable angle, and as a result the castle had to be on a cliff or something, as the low wall exposed the backs of half the defenders. Still, it was laid siege to many times, and I don't think it was ever taken....
I always figured the random set of the day was completely random and done by a script. If that's true, then what a coincidence to have these two landmark classic Castle sets almost back to back.
Wow, truly the best of times...
My favorite set from my childhood and I concur with all of the above. I also still have this set with all the figures and have rebuilt it numerous times. The play features and assortment of figures were so impressive for a relatively small set.
A great castle and the end of the old Lions fraction.
@dtobin123: I'm not much of a coder, but from what I've heard it's apparently surprisingly difficult to generate close-to-true random numbers.
Then again, it might be coincidence anyway.
Nice set. I was thinking about rebuilding this or 6086 (Black Knight's Castle) using only currently available Lego parts.
The biggest problem would be raised baseplate.
Guys, have you tried/seen rebuilding such raised baseplates?
I guess, such parts like Rock Panel (6082) could be used...
Would be interesting to see some ideas.
Like many, this was my favorite set as a kid.
I wished there was something comparable today to enable my son to share the same joy I had.
One of the earliest sets I ever got. Always had the knights from this and the knights from the dragon mouth castle fighting each other
Two extraordinary castles in the same week!! This week is the Castle week!! Unfortunately, this is the second best castle, as the first one is the one of the Black Knights!! However, it is a fantastic castle.
As the other one, I did not have as a child, but with money in my pocket I could buy and enjoy as an AFOL!!!
LEGO, produce this kind of castles again!! The Golden Era of Castles!!
This definitely strikes me as one of the weaker uses of raised baseplates considering that like half of the base doesn't really have any castle structure on it, just low parapets with a trench behind them. And the back wall behind the main gate is an insubstantial structure of arches and parapets that leaves the whole interior of that entrance slope highly exposed and renders the wall on the opposite side of that slope surprisingly useless for either shelter or defense against siege.
I don't tend to be fond of raised baseplates in general, but this application feels particularly weak to me. That said, I acknowledge that one of my earliest LEGO Castle sets, 6082-1, was similarly insubstantial in many respects.
Also confusing is why the upper chamber has dungeon-like bars on one side but doesn't even have a door sealing the other side. For that matter, what is that chamber even supposed to represent, considering there's a smaller and more enclosed dungeon the next level down? Are the bars to keep that part of the castle nice and spooky looking for its ghostly occupant?
On the plus side, this set had some nice figures/animals for its time, including a medieval lady/princess, a horse with a nice colorful caparison, and of course that classic ghost who's equal parts cute and creepy! But overall I'm glad LEGO sets including castles have shifted back towards structures you actually build up instead of around half the size and quite a bit of the price going towards a specialized, single-piece raised baseplate.
Good set.
The King is dead. Look at the minifigs- there's knights, soldiers, a Queen/Princess, but no King. He has to be the ghost!
The design isn't nearly as visually appealing as 6086, but this is a great classic castle for any fans of the theme.
This is my favorite of the raised base-plate castles. It's a bid of an oddity, and that's party of the appeal for me - it's not a standard square castle. I don't really think of it as full-blown castle anyway, as it's name suggests, I think of it as a small fortress built to guard some strategic mountain pass etc. I never had this as a kid, but it stuck in my memory, and was the one old castle I knew I wanted to buy when I got back into Lego. Aside from the great figures and animals already mentioned in previous comments, there is that unique black parrot...