7037 Tower Raid and 7040 Dwarves' Mine Defender

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ClassicCastlesetsftw
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Post by ClassicCastlesetsftw »

I now have the tower raid and 2 dwarve mine defenders and I would say that I like them both. The Dwarve Mine Defender is a good army builder if you do not have many orcs or dwarves but i would agree that it doesn't come with very man weapons.

The tower raid like many have said has a lot of playability and is a really good all around set, with mine they gave me an extra set of handcuffs. So if you want some minifigures then buy 3 dwarve mine defenders, if you want some cool pieces( like the orc armor and shield) and a lot of play then get the tower raid.
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Crusader
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Post by Crusader »

My younger son got this for Christmas and we put it together yesterday. It's a great little set. I wish Lego would make more sets in the $10 range. You seem to get a lot of set for the money.

The blades and the catapult work very well, and the scale is nice too. My son commented on the lack of weapons, and he's only four. It does seem an odd decision on the part of the set designers. I think we both would have happily traded the rather over the top flag, for one more orc sword and one short sword or dwarf hammer.

But as I said the Mine Defender itself is cool, and now we have another dwarf and two more orcs to add the ranks.
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Post by Azaghal »

They Have A Cave Troll wrote:^ I see the defender more as an anti-troll (the big cave troll) weapon. Since the big dumb dumbs would just walk right into the pointy bits 8)
Funny you should mention this - my brother and I were watching Junkyard Wars today (this is relevant, I promise :wink:), and one of the challenges was to build a machine that could bore through a cement wall. As it happens, one of the machines resembled this set very strongly (the winner, in fact), and so we realized that this set could represent Dwarven mining equipment repurposed for war. Very clever on TLC's part, in my opinion.

Oh, yes - said brother has this set, and likes it a lot.
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KingDavid
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Post by KingDavid »

I like the Dwarves' Mine Defender. I bought two of them, as well. However, I can't decide whether I like it as much as the Knights' Catapult Defense set. I love the sort of wheels they use on those, but the knights' catapult has a more solid frame and some nice blue and gold parts that are good for adding onto my castle with. Anyway, I think everyone should have a Tower Raid set. The prison tower is neat and functions well (if you knock down the wall, the floor falls out from under the prison cell and the captive troll warrior is freed) and the rolling siege tower rocks. It's like a larger version of the ones the skeleton archers ride on in the giant chess set. It also comes with two sets of handcuffs (shackles?), or at least mine did. I still can't justify getting a second set at the moment, though, even if they are on clearance at Wal-Mart for $25.00.
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Post by Rick-Ricks »

I bought a mine defender for myself. And I got another one for christmas as long as the Tower Raid. The only problem I found was there was no way of propulsion. I actually used the Siege Tower for a Quikwars game. I was going to have it pulled by a captured centaur but I decided I wanted him for my team so I switched it for a pair of horses.
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Post by Teherean »

Yay! I have them both!
I really like tower raid. It provided me with my first orks! The building is sturdy (apart from the first floor) and the set has a good piece inventory with e.g. a lot of grey 1x1 bricks and 1x6 studdless plates. (good brick-value ratio).
I am less enthausiastic about mine defender, because the dwarf has no weapons. This is however totally made up by the awesome 2 orks, fully armed, that come with it.

I was very pleased after building both. they also combine well.
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Sir Prog
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Re: 7037 Tower Raid and 7040 Dwarves' Mine Defender

Post by Sir Prog »

I just picked up the last DMD at Target yesterday, and I too was surprised by the mechanics of the catapult. As well, the price was conveniently affordable, which I CANNOT say for the Troll wagon or whatever it's called. But the dwarf figure is an excellent addition to my trope. :)
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RoyT
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Re: 7037 Tower Raid and 7040 Dwarves' Mine Defender

Post by RoyT »

I dont have tower raid so no comment there

However, I did just purchase the mine defender today.......

I thought it was terrible. Basically I brought this for the minifigs and the flag. I really hate the catapult on the thing.. it just doesn't make sense for me to put a catapult on a machine whose purpose is to grind/cut/smash (whatever) rocks from a mine. I remodified it with the pieces that came with it and made it without the catapult. Also the thing that makes the saws turn while its moving didn't work for me. The wheel never moved when i put that blue "elastic band" on it and attached the other end to the saw mechanism. I also made a slight variation to a drawf's helmet from the remaining peices that was leftover that fitted on top of that antena stick the drawf is suppose to handle.
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Re: 7037 Tower Raid and 7040 Dwarves' Mine Defender

Post by Ye Olde Republic »

Pictures or it never happened! :lol:
Seriously, do you have pics of what you did because it sounds as if you turned it into 'power dwarf miners' and your MOC pages seems to be empty.
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RoyT
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Re: 7037 Tower Raid and 7040 Dwarves' Mine Defender

Post by RoyT »

Ye Olde Republic wrote:Pictures or it never happened! :lol:
Seriously, do you have pics of what you did because it sounds as if you turned it into 'power dwarf miners' and your MOC pages seems to be empty.
my MOC page is/was empty cause my lego is not with me. Its in Ontario and I'm in Alberta. Basically this set is the only thing i have here in Alberta.

here is the revision (after spending a few hours figuring out how to post a picture online):

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/139654
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dyntar
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Re: 7037 Tower Raid and 7040 Dwarves' Mine Defender

Post by dyntar »

Well I have both of these sets. of the 2 sets the mine defender gives me my second dwarf figure.[thats a bonus] I already have the troll ship. that had my first dwarf . and all the trolls look too much alike for me.... [well until I get this years sets and get the chief and the female one.]

The tower raid has a great siege engine. but the floor in the tower collapses too easily. i have mixed feelings about these 2.. but the hand cuffs swayed it it favour of the tower siege set. :D [ for some reason i got a bunus set of cuffs]
Both are great sets. but the tower siege set has more playability by itself.. if you already have orc/goblin sets the dwarf mine defence is better.
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DO+1
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Post by DO+1 »

Crusader wrote:It's a great little set. I wish Lego would make more sets in the $10 range. You seem to get a lot of set for the money.
It does seem with 10 dollar sets that you get your moneys worth, such as Catapult Defense,it has 4 :twitch: figs in a TEN dollar set. KCS has ten for 100 dollars.So I could get 3 CD and get 12 figures for 30 dollars,not to mention the awesome catapults :lol:
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