Featured set of the day: Mill Village Raid
Posted by Huw,
Today's selection has been made by Anders aka Brickset member Roebuck:
For as long as I can remember I have been very fond of animals. So I liked the castle sets with the horses and pirate sets with sharks, monkeys and parrots growing up. It was of course other reasons why I liked those themes, but the animal moulds was definitely a part of it.
I started early in my Lego days to try to get hold of animals with the limited funds that were available to me. One year I made a deal with my younger brother that I gave him 2 boxes of 6234 Renegade's Raft for his birthday, and he should do the same for me some months later. He was not thrilled with the idea and did not understand why we needed 4 of the same set in our limited Lego collection. I on the other hand saw this as a way to get 4 sharks the cheapest possible way.
So when the 10182 Cafe Corner dragged me out of the dark age years later around the time I finished my master's degree in biology I started to collect Lego animals that was made after the beginning of the 90s. It started with the goal of getting at least 2 of every animal mould in every colour that was minifig compatible. I had no interest in the bigger Scala animals or later Belville, the same goes for most minidoll animals with their round shapes and doll-eyes or other unrealistic looking animals like the zombie or robot sharks etc.
Anyway, animals are always a rare treat in sets, most do not have any and even in those that have they are almost never numerous, so every time we get a new animal in a set it makes me smile.
I will often buy sets with new animals even if they are in themes I usually do not collect to give Lego a pat on the back for a job well done. However now I do not settle for two apiece so the rest are bought from Bricks and Pieces or BrickLink usually not cheap. They are popular so there are a lot of AFOLs buying the new animal pieces because most of us know that this is the only set the part will be in for years or maybe forever so the price will only go up later.
How hard it is for designers to include animals in sets only recently occurred to me after seeing and reading interviews with the designers of the excellent 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay.
The set has a few animals, but definitely fewer that the original fan submission and the one that most people miss is the monkey from the old pirate sets. It came in an updated mould with a different colour in a couple of Ninjago sets in 2016 so unlike the old palm tree it should be within reach for the designers.
However, they had nowhere near as many "designer coins" as I like to call them to include it in the set. What are "designer coins"? Well from what I have understood every set or theme with a wave of sets gets a different amount of "designer coins". If they want a brick in a new colour, make a new print on a part, bring back a part no longer in production etc that cost "designer coins", but nothing costs more than making a new mould.
So finally I get to the point in revealing what is my favourite set of all time, a set that almost defying the laws of Lego regarding "designer coins", a rare bird and unique in many ways: 7189 Mill Village Raid!
It was designed by Nicholas Groves and released in 2011 in the second wave of the Castle Kingdoms sets. I bought it in a Lego store in Munich after attending a roe deer conference in Srni, Czech Republic. I had a few hours before my flight, so I managed to get to the Lego store and pick it up before heading home.
From what I can remember the wave it came in had a short lifetime on the shelf's for some reason. I was planning to get more than one copy and waiting for a sale, but they were sold out in the local toy shops before any sale could happen. Luckily I got a few extra animals on BrickLink, but not enough when I see the prices especially the goat fetch there now.
7189 Mill Village Raid is the only set to include the much sought after goat and it even has 2 of them. Some rumours say the goat mould was destroyed, so it takes more time and cost more money to make a new one and that is why we have not seen the mould since.
Another rumour state that Mark Stafford planned to include it with 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage, but there was not enough time to make it. That could also imply that the mould is broken: if that is the case they probably do not need to spend time designing the part from scratch, but still make the mould that takes extra time and cost money. We will see if it is in the ideas Medieval Blacksmith set, but I doubt it with the low budget of "designer coins" that ideas sets have.
Not only did it include the exclusive goat, but also the chicken/hen piece for the first time even in 2 colours to boot. We get 2 white ones that since has been in a few sets and 1 in dark tan that only came in the 6918 Blacksmith Attack in the same wave in 2011.
We also get the pig and horse in a new colour. The same pig came in one set a few years later, but the horse is the only one we have ever seen in a different colour other than black, white or brown, including the new updated horse mould namely light bluish grey.
There are other things that make this set fantastic besides the animals: take a look at the minifigs. Firstly we get 3 dragon knights. Most of the other sets in the Kingdoms waves had more lion knights than dragon knights so this was a great set for levelling the playing field for the two factions.
The rest of the figs included are even better with 3 very unusual civilian castle figs. A lot of the parts on them are unique to this set and civilian castle figs have been a rare treats over the years mostly it is 2 factions fighting at that is it.
It has several other uncommon parts as well including the Slope, Curved 10 x 1 in tan that only are in this set. In addition, it is one of the last sets to include the old chrome gold coins introduced with the pirates back in 1989.
The buildings themselves look great and fit perfectly beside the fabulous 10193 Medieval Market Village made a few years previously by the same designer. Of course Creator Expert sets and similar have more advanced building techniques, parts etc, but then it is important to remember that this was just a normal retail set made for kids that gave us something out of the ordinary.
I hope that we one day get a new wave of castle sets that include at least one civilian based set with a lot of animals that fit in perfectly with the amazing 7189 Mill Village Raid and 10193 Medieval Market Village!
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44 comments on this article
Love this set. I'm glad I got it many years back before it blew up in the aftermarket. The castle theme needed more of these civilian settings. Great review.
Awesome Lego set...one of my favorites of all time!
This is my white whale, and the animals are a big part of why. I really should've bought it at the same time as Medieval Market Village, but even that I slept on until the aftermarket, and I could justify spending a lot on an aftermarket set once, but not twice... looking forward to the Medieval Blacksmith set!
How I wish I had come out of my own dark ages a few years earlier, so that I could have picked up the Castle sets between around 2009 - 2013! I think I was just about getting re-interested in Lego in late 2014, so missed all of these incredible sets.
Totally agree that 7189 Mill Village Raid is just a brilliant set. Great animal selection and just fantastic-looking all-round. Good choice! :-)
Why, exactly, the goat mould would be destroyed?
The animals are a big reason for me as well as why I am so fond of the old Castle and Pirates sets.
I did my Master in biology as well, so I can relate ;-)
My dark ages ended only some years ago, that's why I never had the chance to purchase this set and the Medieval Market for a reasonable price. Such a shame.
I really think LEGO should do animal sets like Playmobil (German toy brand) does. Maybe that would cover the costs of these expensive molds better.
I love the conviction in your pursuit of the animals, and this set is great! Never knew it existed. I'm not big into the Castle theme but some sets you've got to just respect! Like the 'designer coins' idea too. Brilliant article!
This is definitely one of my most wanted, though largely because I want to fill out my medieval world with something other than castles.
Tell you what Roebuck, I ever acquire one, you're welcome to the animals! I kind of prefer the brick built chickens like those in 10193
I still kick myself for not picking this set up years ago when I saw it new on the shelf at a closeout store at 30% off. I don't even want to know what the current aftermarket value is.
I do have Medieval Market Village still in the box, which I would love to build, if I ever summon the fortitude to break the seal. An updated Castle theme would be so welcome. Great article. Thank you!
I wanted this set since I got back into Lego back in 2012, but I waited for a discount and it got discontinued. I finally got it last year, brand new in box, although it cost me more than RRP, and I didn't regret it. A very nice build and set, although the goats are a little blockier than more modern animals are.
This set is a true classic. Not only does it include some very rare animal molds, but it's also one of the very few Castle sets to focus on civilians.
LEGO should really bring back the Castle line with more sets like this.
Great set and sadly another one I missed out on.
Anybody that has one of these, are you interested in trading? I have a decent amount of boxed and used Lego sets from LoTR and various other series I wouldn't mind trading away for this one.
Wonderful set that saved me from an almost-dark-age! Not because of teens, but because I turned 30 and realized I owned a ridiculous amount of Lego. Somehow I managed to convice myself that I was getting too old and the madness had to stop. This set changed my mind and now I'm collecting and building like never before. Thanks for a fun article!
I forgot that goat piece even existed honestly.
Missed on that one too because it had a very short shelf-life - but I got the 10193. Castle is not my theme at all (although I really like to see what castle moccers are doing) but I also like sets with animals - I also missed on the farm sets. I really do not understand why Lego has such a difficult time giving us more animals. There are a few showing up in the CMFs from time to time. Why not simply just do animal packs (and keep them on the shelf forever as they are always needed). Many toy companys sell just that: a box full of animals. They could do: (1) company animal part pack: all the dog and cat moulds ever done; (2) farm animal part pack: horses many colours, cows many colours, pigs, goats, chicken, create a new sheep and rooster mould; (3) wild animals part pack (north): skunk, bear, wolf, deer, puma, owl; (4) wild animal part pack(south/safari): lion, elephant, rhino, giraffe, zebras, leopard, flamingos, crocodile(not very rare but still - for completeness), ostrich, warthog, chameleon, wildebeest, monkey, parrot, camel; (5) aquatic animal part pack: shark, turtle, dolphin, octopus, manta ray, fishes, shells, crab, lobster(uncooked). Maybe I missed a few but you get the idea.
This is one of the few sets I have not parted out and just this week I found a great alternate build on rebrickable. Stay in, build lego and stay safe
I think, with all this "Designer Coin" talk, a fun project would be to do some detective work finding all the new colorations, decorations and molds for specific themes to find out, relatively, how many "Designer Coins" they get. Then we could guess what to expect from product releases in the future.
I do hope the IDEAS blacksmith has a goat, give us stickers instead of prints if you have to to save desiner coins, we all need that goat!
I wonder for what reasons the goat mould was destroyed if true (and accident sounds most likely) but we need more of them as well pigs and hens.
Mmm...the 501st Battle Pack campaign worked, maybe we need a GiveUsTheGoat campaign, I need goats too, lots of them!
Always wanted this, but I never got any of the Castle sets. My brothers did give me some of their 2013 sets, but they’re nowhere near as cool as this.
this set was released shortly after ending my dark ages and I bought one. looking back, this is definitely a set i wish i would have purchased multiple copies of just for the animals alone
Cool write up, thank you.
I didn't buy new LEGO for 16 years between 2000 and 2016 so missed out on all those Castle/Fantasy era sets.
While Nexo Knights was a theme I did collect, it's been 2 years since a Castle theme, and Elves ended as well (which I didn't collect but sometimes wish I did as it had some great villages)
I know Ninjago summer 2020 has Fantasy era elements, and Hidden Side has a Castle, and there's a 10000 vote IDEAS Forestmen castle as well out there.
I hope the IDEAS Blacksmith will cause a Castle revival, if not sooner for 2021.
Goats Goats Goats Goats Goats! I was in need of cash 2 years ago and for a brief moment had all of my animals up on Bricklink. My mother, of all people, asked what I was doing. I told her, and she told me that if the goats are worth more as Lego than in real life, I'd best not sell them. Her reason, real goats eat food that costs money! LOL Yes, I grew up on a farm. hah.
I too like to collect Lego animals though I am not a completionist. My Bricklink wanted list is full of dogs, cats, pigs, skunks and jungle animals.
This set is great. I was not aware of it until recently as it came out during my dark ages.
Those damn goats...
This is one of the sets I have yet to open, and I'm hesitant to do so because of how much it's increased in value. That usually doesn't hold me back, but as I've been running out of play and display space, I've started being a little more selective as I pick from my inventory. I love, love, love the Castle themed sets and do wish we could see more of them.
Always loved this set. Those chickens and the goats! Exquisite!
Is the goat the G.O.A.T. of all animal pieces?
Lego, I love you, but sometimes you are so irritating. Bring back goats and bring back monkeys!
I grew up raising goats and wanted these goats baaaadly, but not at brickliink prices.
Great write-up, I am in the same boat as far as collecting animals, though certainly not as complete as you are! The recent increase in animals with CMFs and the price hikes on CMFs have made it more difficult for me.
@HOBBES The ends to which I would go to get even half of the animal packs that you came up with know no bounds. And to make them available indefinitely? I would have no food, but plenty of Lego animals
GiveUsTheGoat!
Beautiful set. But I like your article even more. Thank you. Very interesting.
Great set and article
Never mind about goats; I want to hear more about the roe deer! What on earth is a roe deer conference?
The elusive goat!
I confess that I bought 2 of this set, along with 4 of the MMV...!
Bring back Castle Lego! (Please)
I was lucky enough to pick up 5 of these sets during a fan convention weekend (bought 2 and then made another trip back to the store to get 3 more). I immediately added all the animals and figs into my large castle layout I had on display and also immediately regretted not buying more! It's one of my favorite castle sets both because it's a great source of animals and civilian figs and because it's such an anomaly in castle sets.
Great review of the set btw, and always interesting to learn more about the Lego design process and the amount of "designer coins" they have.
@catwrangler said:
"This is my white whale, and the animals are a big part of why. I really should've bought it at the same time as Medieval Market Village, but even that I slept on until the aftermarket, and I could justify spending a lot on an aftermarket set once, but not twice... looking forward to the Medieval Blacksmith set!"
i got lucky, and got it buy it now on ebay for a reasonable price.
they could do them as people packs too: farmers with farm animals, explorers with animals from various places they explore, city people with pets.
Man, I thought I knew a lot about Lego, but I don't know what "designer coins" are, or what they reference to. Can someone explain? I googled it and everything. Thanks.
One of the best Castle sets!
I’ve always wanted to get this set.