Overall 5 bricks: This set has a great content and is a great addition for the Castle collector. All the factions of sets in the 1980's are present and the set had a good price for those days.

Building 1 brick: No building experience, just the assembling of 6 minifigures.

Parts 5 bricks: 2 Black Falcons, one swordfighter and one archer which also goes for the 2 Forestmen. One Crusader with an axe and a great Peasant figure with pitchfork. An extra remark for the great Forestman shield ! All well armed with shields so very good.

Playabilty 5 bricks: Three different factions and one civilian in this set gives a high playability and even more when you add them to other sets.

Value 5 bricks: you can estimate the value from different angles. Bought new in the eighties for some €5,00 5 bricks. Buy them new now for prices starting at some €85,00 is in my view too much and used some €35,00 which is a normal price. I paid in a package deal €5,00 so for me 5 bricks here.

Set #6103 Castle Mini-Figures: Though I am uncertain how many of the actual Mini-Figures I have still actually originated from this set, I have to assume that I still have all the figures even if I don't have all of the accessories.

This was a nice little Mini-Figure collection/battle pack style set from the '80s. It included two Black Falcons, a Crusader Lion, two Forestmen and a Peasant. I'm not sure how exactly I wound up with two of them, but I am absolutely positive that I must have had two, since I still have two Peasants and Four Forestmen. The accessories included with this set were utterly brilliant, unfortunately I no longer have the unique backpack piece that came with the Peasant and one of the pitchforks is gone. Also, one of the Black Falcons from the sets lost his shield at some point because instead of the blue boarder shield he's using the yellow boarder shield that came with the small knight's boat set. Which I plan on reviewing at some point even though I no longer own the set.

Overall I'd have to say that these style of sets were excellent and it's a real shame that LEGO only offers Battle Packs through their exclusive online store these days (with exception to the Battle Packs of Star Wars.), because I think these types of sets would still sell quite well in this modern age. If you can get one of these sets I highly recommend it, in fact I might just have to pick up a third one some day to have another of those nifty pitchforks and the Peasant's backpack piece. Does LEGO still offer the little feather pieces through their pick-a-brick function I wonder though? All but one of my Forestmen are stuck using the larger feathers from the spool because I obviously lost the smaller ones at some point.

I picked this up at a time when I was trying to get all the Lego sets out there... and to be honest, I'd still pick up this set. Though now days Lego will call such sets a Battle Pack or include other accessories in a package so there's a bit more a build that can be done.

This set offers a wide variety of minifigures for different Castle themes of it's time... including a rare or highly uncommon Peasant figure, Lion Knight, 2 Black Falcons and 2 Forest Men whom I was really into and collecting.

And being able to pick up and get Minifigure Collections/Battle Packs like this really allows for diversifying a theme, expanding or creating MOCs.

Building Experience:

Pretty nonexistent here, for obvious reasons.

Parts:

There are some stand-out parts here, especially for those of us who were just starting our "Castle" set collection. I remember being particularly enthralled with the "peasant's" pitch fork, sack, and hood, not to mention "Robin's" quiver and hat!

Playability:

While perhaps containing nothing that might be considered particularly groundbreaking, this set certainly sparked my imagination when I was a kid. In a way, I feel as though this set has what so many of the "official" and "branded" sets of today lack- the ability to allow the user to creative their own narrative. Who were the good guys? The bad? Who was left stuck in the margins? I whiled away many a rainy afternoon in the Sherwood Forest, deciding all of that (and more) with just this set.

Minifigure sets rarely make an extensive or satisfying build, of course due to the limited parts required. They also sometimes have a limited selection of characters or some nondescript types. A lack of imaginative females also features throughout. They are however great for a population boost, bringing playability to the young and collection value, MOC spares and minifigure madness to all - there's practically too many Lego people to build things for.

Minifigures:

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Lion Knights

• Alternate lion shield.

Theywere possibly over produced but are given balance here with just one guard. Awarded a shield and a large axe he is pretty decent. The shield torso is ok too. With the lack of greys for 'armour' the red and blue became a little excessive past the best sets in Castle. He possesses the reverse colour shield and why not?

Black Falcons

• Fully equipped knight.
• Full equipped archer.

This lot do well here. Somewhat Norman in look, they present a shield and sword carrying knight with a skirted helmet and an archer. Archers always being a good staple unit to form in the Falcons army. Red belts as usual no doubt indicating leather, the belt section used with different colours makes all the difference to an MF design.

Forestmen

• Stag's head shield.
• Complete 'Robin Hood' character.

Its 1988 and these were otherwise known as Robin Hood and his Merry Men. This seems like Robin himself for whose green hat the white or yellow feather seems reserved. The prints on the Forestmen are among the most favoured. They feature money pouch and cross stitch mediaeval v-neck tunics, a variant on the peasant. More the rough and ready fighter, 'Will Scarlet' has the excellent red arms and tabard print in square cut pattern. A brown bandit hat and red feather finish this brilliantly and he gets the sword and possibly the best piece of all, the stag's head shield! In green, two shades of brown and black, this looks earthy and perfectly represents the woodland dwelling band of robbers.

Peasant Farmer

• Pitchfork.
• Sack/ backpack.

Last of all this chap returns having appeared in Castle here and there in various forms and possesses a printed money pouch, belt and stitching on a grey tunic with blue arms. These arms could have been varied in colour for different characters but sadly were not. His britches are blue and cowl or hood is black. Another top piece is granted to him, the pitchfork, crowning him a farmer and nearly king of Castle minifigures.

Best Battlepack

This is a fantastic minifigures set, literally one of the best alongside the Space 6702. This accessories pack updates the previous one with a better array of characters and weapons and very welcome parts and pieces. Keen on the round circular shield, its expulsion seems my only gripe, having been left out of the last Castle MF box also. The Lion Knights choice is not their best offering here so not quite unmissable. This great collection is representative of a golden era of play sets in the 1980's. More dazzling individuals exist but this charming set made a well balanced group of extras. Worth seeking out perhaps individually if need be but look after those shields. Was castle ever better?