6769 - Fort Legoredo

Rating:
Pros: Lots of new pieces, sectioned set is almost like having four separate medium sets...cool!
Cons: No cons here but the very high price
Contents: 668 pieces including 3 horses and 10 figures
Price: $89.99 - Discontinued
Reviewed: 27-Jun-1996
Reviewed by: Joseph Gonzalez

Corporal Curly Joe Metz is not having a good day. To start things off, he didn't get out of the fort until well after noon. Once in town, he lost his companion, Private Rico, in a bar room brawl (the captain will have to bail him out again), got to the train station to pick up the new cannon and found that there were additional holding/shipping fees (he had to sell his rifle to cover those), and almost got into trouble himself with three rough-looking types.
Now, with the sun setting, he is at last on his way back to the safety and normalcy of life at Fort Legoredo. But at the crest of the valley, he happens to look below and behind him to notice what seems to be two riders (one distinctly dressed in black like one of the ruffians that tried to start a fight in town) in a mad gallop toward his direction. His heart picks up a pace as he cracks the reins over the horse and gets the steed and cannon moving with a renewed pace. It's at least another three miles from here through Thin Man Pass to the fort and there's a good chance Curly Joe can make it before those riders reach him. But his horse is tired, he almost feels like he himself is dragging that cannon behind him, and a gnawing, nagging thought keeps haunting his exhausted mind...Where is the third rider?

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When I heard Lego was gonna do Wild West, I almost wet my pants! Why hasn't this been done sooner? Well, the fort is here and as far as I'm concerned it was well worth the wait.
The construction of the set is a little odd: it consists of four separate wall units (built separately) which connect to each other on interior corners so you have four surface plates facing out and an interior square area with no Lego surface. I thought this was a little strange considering that similar structures (like early castle sets with flat bases - King's Castle in mind) had an entire interior surface of Lego plates and hinged walls (no hinges here) so that the structure could open from the back like a double door cabinet. The castle covered less surface space but you could pick it up as one piece and I wouldn't try that with this fort. I'm not complaining (maybe just whining a little); actually, building the set wall by wall is almost like having four medium sets inside one big one: you build one wall of the fort, marvel at those genius brains at Lego development and go to bed while you dream about how fun it's gonna be to build the next wall tomorrow. Or you could be a gluttonous fool like me and build it all in one night so you can start playing right now!
All sections have a second-tier platform or walkway for figs to peek over the wall. The first section (I'll call it east wall) is the front double-door gate which also has two third-tier lookout towers. The second section (north wall) is just a basic wall of the fort. The third section (south wall) is another double-door entrance which includes a hidden stone box (to hide money) and a second-tier lookout-type booth next to the gate. The fourth section (west wall) is undoubtedly the coolest. It has a holding cell (for unruly bandits and deserters), a strong box for rifles, and a neat one-piece stairwell to go up to the second level (the other wall sections have simple ladders for this purpose). But wait, that's just the first level!
The second level has an outside terrace and an inside lounge area. This lounge area consists of two chairs (each based on a trap door) at a table, and a mechanism which allows either of the seats' doors to drop open when the table is turned one way or the other. There is also another compartment to hide gold behind a fireplace hearth (you have to see this to believe it!).
New/unique parts...whoa, now there's a tall order to fill, pardner (oops, I got caught up in the mood)! The obvious parts that jump out at you (and had me wondering "how'd they do that?" when I saw the set in the catalog) are the "wood" pieces. These are basically the classic castle wall sections, but they're brown and molded to look like a row of six standing logs. The companion pieces to these are 1x2 and 1x4 brown bricks that are rounded on the edges and molded to look like two logs (as the wall pieces are). These are really cool and I dare say one of the most revolutionary ideas that have happened to the 1x2 brick since inception. There are also some brown single stud bricks but they do not have the rounded edges.
Other unique parts include two large barrels (almost twice the size of the old ones, but they don't have any lids), the sandy-colored base plates, the new flags (with stickers instead of being preprinted), a brown 1x4 3-brick high window frame which not only holds windows inside, but also hold shutters to open and close on the outside (maybe these have been around in town sets but I've never seen them include interior windows AND shutters), and two different 1x2 flat pieces that have preprinted dynamite sticks on one and a full house being spread out in playing cards on the other.
All figures have new body prints. The figures include six soldiers and four cowboys (I guess Indians don't come until 1997 while the company figures out how in the heck to make a Lego tepee). You have got to pick up a western set if for no other reason than the grey six-shooter pistols and new rifles (which allow a figure to hold them by the stock or by a vertical handle - like a pistol). Soldier pieces include the new ten-gallon cowboy hat (in blue) or the rebel-type cap (also in blue, and definitely my favorite) and three white kerchiefs to go on the back like a good soldier or to hang in the front like a bandit (or for high pollen count days on the prairie). All have white hands (gloves). The cowboys have the ten gallon hats in brown or grey and a black top-type hat. Two of the figs have black gloves and the other two have regular yellow hands. I won't get into the new weird faces that some of the "bad" cowboys have, but you've probably seen them in the catalogs. I must say that if their teeth are really that bad I hope a dentist is in future plans for the western town. Oh yes, another new minifig piece is the gold-plated bugle (couldn't stage a good old cavalry charge without one).
I guess I covered my only complaint about this set. Don't take it too seriously, the pros outweigh the cons by far. All in all, the set is an incredible piece of work and they have me wondering what they'll do for future sets of this size. As far as I can tell, this theme is going to be very hot and catch on fast as long as the company can continue to come up with original additional ideas.