Weekly Set Review: King's Oarsmen

[architect]

Join the weekly Classic Castle set review discussion. Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc. Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

This week’s set is 6017 King’s Oarsmen.

King’s Oarsmen, a Viking inspired boat, was released in 1987. It is the first very small boat set; a castle set type that would be continued in the future. The set features a sail made from flags, two “Oarsmen”, and accessories.

[wlister]

As a set, this one was a nice army builder. Like many of the sets of this era the fig to parts ratio is excellent. I enjoyed the addition of this set to may collection way back then. The boat had some decent playability for its size. The flags as sails were a nice touch and the brown pikes are one of my favorite parts. I wish both figs had the lion printing, but you can't have everything. As a whole, a decent set for the amount of pieces it came with.

WL

[Jojo]

Hello!

King’s Oarsmen, a Viking inspired boat, was released in 1987. It is the first very small boat set; a castle set type that would be continued in the future. The set features a sail made from flags, two “Oarsmen”, and accessories.

This is a decent set, not great, though. And I never owned enough blue plates to build a lake or river back then :-) The flags were broken immediately.
Though I don't like those hull parts too much the set comes with a lot of useful pieces for its size.


Tschüß
Jojo

[architect]

King's Oarsmen had advantages and disadvantages. It was a nice smaller companion to Viking Voyager. I like the flag sail, the minifigures, and the pieces. The flags did seem to break easily. I dont know why the hull is blue - the same color as the water?

King's Oarsmen is a nice small set. It is not spectacular but incorporates a good quantity of reuseable pieces into a small set.

Ben E.

[dookie]

Blue hull to represent the water? waves crashing against the boat?

[lemon_squeezer2]

If that's true, then that must be one overloaded boat!

[Glencaer]

It's a good set. I like boats and ships within the medieval setting, but this is just a dingy.

The sail is a good use of those parts, flawed as they were. And I prefer the spears as oars rather than battleaxes. Overall a decent set and worth the price, but nothing to write home about.

-lenstu

[David Girard]

After thinking a bit about this set, I have finally made an opinion of it.

This set has a nice look. The size of the boat is small, and it seem to me that the presence of the veils is not realistic if we take in consideration the size of the boat. It's like if we put a veil on a bark !

However this set is nice and I like the drakkar style of it. Maybe Lego tried to make a drakkar. On drakkars there is veils !

Nice look, not bad, not memorable, but interesting because it's one of the first boat (like 6049).

[Formendacil]

From the vaults of the Classic-Castle....

We have "King's Oarsmen".

This is a good little set for figs and fig-related pieces. But the boat itself really doesn't do anything for me, and almost seems to smack of slapdash construction to me. Still, a set that would have been well-worth the money way back in the day...

Parts: 6/10
Playability: 7/10
Figs/Accessories: 8/10
Design (then): 6.5/10
Design (now): 7.5/10
Nostalgia: 6.5/10

Overall Score: 6.92/10

[ottoatm]

I've always liked this set... I don't know if it's accurate, I have a feeling it's not, but I imagined it as a little skiff to go back and forth across the moat of the King's Castle in attempts to negotiate with those war-mongering Black Knights or sneaky Black Falcons during a seige... it even has the white flags.

I like it, and even if you don't, you get two figs...

8/10

[wunztwice]

This is a nice little set. The part/fig ratio is great, as many of the sets around this time were. I doubt I will ever be able to understand LEGO's fig building for sets though. It makes mroe sence to me to have the figs the other way around, and the guy with plate armor have the cape, but whatever...

The playability is good. The use of flags as a sail is a neat idea, but I am sure TLC could have figured out something else for the oars. I am unsure of the historical accuracy of this set, but when it comes to these nice little sets I really don't mind at all.

[Athos]

I like this set. I'm pretty much a sucker for boats.

The blue does seem to be an odd color, given the color of water, but I think the blue and white color scheme works well.

Steve

[DARKspawn]

I never actually bought this set as a kid - the idea of a boat castle set didn't really apeal to me. To echo everyone elses comments it looks like a good source of minifigs & you even get a blue cape. I prefer the spears as oars too

[kelderic]

I like this set because it is such a good army builder. And it has a bunch of nice pieces. Does anyone know the price?

Kelderic

[architect]

I like this set because it is such a good army builder. And it has a bunch of nice pieces. Does anyone know the price?

Kelderic

It was $3.75 in 1987 http://www.classic-castle.com/sets/archives/6017.html
According to http://eh.net that amount would be worth $6.45 today according to the consumer price index.

Ben