6268 - Renegade Runner

Rating:
Pros: A good addition to your Pirate collection
Cons: Could have used some more pieces to fill it out a little better. (Stop the skimping madness!)
Contents: 171 pieces including 4 mini-figs
Price: Discontinued
Reviewed: 04-Sep-1996
Reviewed by: Joseph Gonzalez

For too long now the pirates' brigade of ships has known too many defeats. It seems that at recent battles the Imperial Navy has been aware of their moves and waiting with ample forces to face the raiding schooners in costly battles. After many long nights in conference at the Blushing Crow tavern, the outlaw captains at last came upon a solution to their problem. The reckless pirate Brandy Peppertongue is crazy with a berserker rage and almost no crew will serve him, but it is that very trait that will serve the pirates well.
Equipped with his own ship and a small complementing crew of like-tempered mates, Brandy scouts ahead of the fleet, checking into ports long before the schooners arrive to see if there are Imperials lying-in-wait. If the coast is clear, the schooners sail in. If there is trouble, Brandy's small ship, the Hook and Stump, will quickly sail out and warn the arriving fleet to head back. Brandy has always been able to fend for himself, and with a ship this small most captains won't even give it a second look. But heaven help the fool unwary enough to stop the Hook and Stump to check their cargo or question their captain!

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The pirate ships are favorites of mine and in between waiting to save up for my next big set, this was the perfect set to keep me busy. This is a modest model and it's a shame that Lego hasn't made any more ships of this size because it is a perfect starter set for folks that don't have quite enough for the larger $50 or $90 ships.
The set is a small ship equipped with a cannon and crew. Ship colors (aside from standard brown, grey, and black) are a blue stern and rudder and a red aft section and figurehead. There isn't much room for a hold except for a very small sheltered area under the two-tier aft section so the ship is basically open. A ship's wheel to control the rudder is noticeably absent; however, using the small reared-up dragon piece (usually found perched on top of a dragon master helmet) atop a 1x1x1 peg as a figurehead was a neat/creative touch.
No particularly unique pieces here but it was nice to get the ship sections without buying a large set. These front and rear sections are the same size as the medium ships (12 studs across as opposed to the large ships wider 16-across sections), minus the mid section that makes medium ships a little bit longer. With these front and rear specialty pieces and a bucket of standard bricks, you can build your own larger ship although homemade masts are a problem to consider.
One peeve with the set is that I don't like the main sail sporting the skull and crossbones so boldly because I'm thinking if this little ship is out on his own on a spy mission or something, he is gonna get clobbered if he has to run up the main sail for any reason. There are even two other Jolly Roger flags included with the set (small and a large). Now I know pirates can get a little bit cocky, but smearing black and white insignia all over such a small ship is just asking for trouble. Also, all other Lego ships have some kind of system to allow cannons to slide back and forth for shooting out either side of the ship, while this ship has the cannon based on a stationary rotating disk so the cannon just spins around in one place. This detracting feature also allows the company to skimp on bricks and omit the firing hatches that swing open or closed to allow the cannon barrel to jut outside the ship for firing. Come on guys, it couldn't have taken but maybe twenty more small bricks to touch that up!
All in all I consider the Renegade Runner an above average kit and hope Lego will think about making more ships this size in the future, though not necessarily for pirates because they always get those giant schooners anyway. How about some simple merchant ships?