Heroica: 3858 Waldurk Forest

Purchase:
I have been keeping my eyes peeled for some of the June Lego new releases and had stopped in Target on June 9th to see if they had anything new.  I was pleasantly surprised to see they had the new Heroica game series on an end cap with plenty of box stock and a display case showing parts of the game.  They had all four current game chapters:  Draida Bay for $14.99, Caverns of Nathuz and Waldurk Forest both for $19.99 and Castle Fortaan for $29.99.  I did not want to spend $30 without knowing what I was getting into and the Draida Bay set seemed very basic and was missing some of the special features (like weapons) that the other sets had.  I liked the look of the Waldurk Forest set so I picked it up!

Build and Details:
The Heroica sets are designed to be modular, expandable RPG games.  As such, the game board comes with a number of tiles that represent "rooms" that add atmosphere to the map and connecting path ways that allow you to re-arrange the map as you see fit.  This allows for a great number of combinations and the ability to heavily customize your board.  The "rooms" are composed of two 6x6 green tiles with a pine tree, two 6x6 green tiles with a low round tree/bush, two 6x6 tiles with the same low round tree and an additional plant, one 6x6 grey tile with two pillars forming a gateway and the final encounter room:  The Dark Druids ruined temple complete with statue, waterfall and pool.  There are also two long green connecting paths, two short green paths and five short grey paths.  The total piece count is 225 pieces and includes a fair amount of unique bricks including a variety of new weapons, micro-figures and magic doors made of transparent blue axe pieces.  The game also includes three Hero micro-figures (Barbarian, Druid and Ranger), three werewolf micro-figures, the dark druid and four spiders.  Each Hero has a color coded "Hero Pack" that holds their 4 health bricks, any defeated monsters and collected potions, weapons and gold.  There is also a Store which holds weapons that can be bought and spare gold.  The game comes with a single healing potion and strength potion along with a golden chalice and two treasure chests.  Assembly is simple and takes about 15 minutes. One of the first impressions I had when I finished building the game board was its small size.  It measures a little over 1 square foot when assembled.  I did not find that the size was a negative though as it allows more room to expand and combine the other sets while not needing a huge table.  The only complaint I had with the construction was the small transparent blue dish shapes that represent magic spots on the tiles are a pain to remove, even with the provided "crowbar" tool.  There are no stickers.

Game Play:
Game play is fairly straight forward.  The instructions come with two pre-made "missions" that have a specific game board layout including monster and item locations.  In the normal version, game play lasts about 10-15 minutes and each player controls a hero and the monsters are static and not controlled by anyone.  Each hero has either a melee or ranged special power and four hit points.  Game play involved rolling the provided dice for movement and attacks.  The dice has a shield icon on it that when rolled allows Heroes to use their special powers depending on the phase its rolled in.  If rolled during movement, Heroes can activate ranged powers, if rolled during combat, Heroes can activate melee powers.  Rolling the dice for movement allows the player to move 1-3 spaces, four if the shield is rolled (this can be done instead of using a ranged power).  After movement, if you are adjacent to an enemy you MUST attack them.  Rolling the dice for attack determines if you defeat the monster and/or how much damage you take, all in one roll.  Monsters are all one hit point and the various types of monsters do damage ranging from 1-3 hit points to the Hero.  The game is won when a Hero either moves into the end target space or defeats the monster on the target space.  If your Hero lands on or moves through a chest, gold piece or potion, they pick it up.  Opening a chest involves rolling the dice to see if and how much gold you get and if you take any damage from traps.  Three gold can be used to buy a weapon from the store.  The healing potion heals two HP and the strength potion defeats all adjacent monsters.  You cannot move through the magic doors unless you roll a shield icon while adjacent or if they are moved by a Hero who has landed on a "Magic" spot.  Magic spots are represented by transparent blue dish pieces placed on movement spaces.  If a Hero ends his turn on a magic spot, they may move any magic door to a dark grey movement space.  The game manual also details other game play options including options where a player controls the monsters and an Epic option, both which I will explore in depth at a later time.

Pirates of the Caribbean: 4191 Captain's Cabin

Purchase:
I bought this model at a local big box retailer for $11.99 which seems to be the standard price.  I loved the original Pirates theme as a kid and an adult but didn't get back into really collecting Lego's again until after they had discontinued the original theme a few years back.  I usually don't get terribly excited by the licensed movie sets like Prince of Persia, and I wasn't looking to start collecting another theme, so I stayed away from the PoC sets for a while.  But while I was waiting for the new June releases to come out, I figured I would buy the entry level set for Pirates of the Caribbean just to give me something to do in the mean time and to try out the set.

Build and Details:
The model comes in a small box with a cardboard backed set of instructions, a collector card and a poster.  The model itself comes in at 94 pieces and has three mini-figures.  Build time took less then 15 minutes and was straightforward.  The instructions where simple.  My biggest complaint about the set is the globe.  Its composed of two pieces that push together (snap would be too strong of a word) around a cone piece that ends up inside of the globe.  The fit is VERY loose and wobbly and the seam on the globe looks rough.  Otherwise you do end up with lots of fun and uncommon pieces.  The circular map, torch, gold colored bricks including a goblet, cone bricks and 1 stud low circular bricks all lend to the value of the set.  You also get three long bones, a skull and four skeleton legs.  The two "ships in a bottle" are great pieces too and almost make the set worth buying by themselves.  Once assembled, the globe and table are both decent look detail pieces that add a lot of character to the set.  The cabinet with the bottles has some nice detailing with black and gold risers between shelves and the gold highlights on the top and bottom.  The bones add the classic Pirates of the Caribbean look to the set and finish off the detailing.

Mini-Figures:
The set comes with three high quality mini-figures:  Jack Sparrow and two zombie crew-members.  The Jack Sparrow figure has a headpiece that comes packed separate for protection.  Its very detailed with the long hair, headscarf and trinkets in his hair.  He has a double printed head, one with a concerned look and one with a happy-go-lucky look.  His torso is double printed and has some nice color and detail.  He has a sword and his famous compass which is a printed 1 stud flat piece that fits over his hand.  The set comes with a spare compass also.  The two zombie crewmen both have double printed torsos and the zombie with the longer black hair  and red shirt has a double printed head and comes with a gun and sword.  The bald zombie is bare chested and comes with a sword and scabbard that goes around his shoulder and hangs at his waist.  The scabbard is a great detail and fits the sword also. All three figures have tons of printed detail and look great, with the small exception of the bald head on one zombie which looks a little awkward with the exposed head stud, which contrasts with the otherwise exceptional detailing on the characters.

Play and Special Features:
As an entry level set, there are no real special features in this set.  This set is more of a mini-figure and accessory set than anything.  It gives you some great detail features to use in other pirates sets (the globe and table would look great in the 4193 London Escape building or in the cabin of 4195 The Queen Anne's Revenge) or even other theme sets.  The furniture does give the characters something to interact with and play around and as mentioned above, the whole set can be used to improve the look and playability of other Pirates of the Caribbean sets!

Pharaohs Quest: 7307 Flying Mummy Attack

Completed models with instructions.

Purchase:
I have had my eye on this set for a while since I liked the bi-plane model, but I just wasn't really interested in getting into the Pharaohs Quest theme.  I stopped by one of my local big box retailers that carries Lego's and saw that they had the "7307 Flying Mummy Attack" on sale for 25% off as a substitute for one of the City theme models they had run out of.  Never needing too many excuses to buy a Lego set, I took advantage of the $14.99 sale price and picked it up!

Build and Details:
This is a smaller set, taking up the lower middle range in the Pharaoh Quest Theme.  It comes in at 125 pieces with three mini-figures.  The set is made up of two primary models, the bi-plane and the obelisk.  The obelisk is made up of 26 pieces (28 if you include the "Soul Diamond" that sits on the top) and is a simple affair with two stickers on one side for decoration, a couple plants at the base and an area at the top for the soul diamond to sit.  The bi-plane is a fun model.  I really liked the stickers, they added a lot of character to the model including the name of the plan on the side "Spirit of Luis".  The engine is very well done, using a Technic gear to add detail.  The cockpit is simple with a control stick and a simple wind screen.  I didn't like that the yellow block that the engine mounts into shows in the cockpit.  The machine guns on the top are a nice touch and the rest of the model are fairly well done. The bi-plane includes a grab arm that tucks up under one of the wings and can drop down to grab the diamond from the top of the obelisk.   Both models use the uncommon colors that the Pharaoh Quest Theme are known for.  There are a lot of stickers on this model, so if you have shaky hands you might be in for a treat.

Obelisk with Soul Diamond on top.

View of bi-plane showing detail of engine, British insignia and guns .

Mini-Figures:
The mini-figures are the "Jake Raines" character with flight helmet and goggles and two slightly different and very unique flying mummies with head pieces, spears and wings.  The mummies are the same except for a slightly different head (one shows two eyes and a mouth, the other just one eye).  The Mummy head pieces are in a dark blue with eyes painted on the sides and drape down over the front of the mummies shoulders.  The wings go around the neck under the head just like backpack pieces from other sets.  The wings are very long and have pretty detailed printing with red, dark blue, gold and khaki coloring.  The "Jake Raines" character is back printed with an eagles head with a banner below it that says S.M.H.

Front of Jake Raines character with flight helmet and goggles.

Front view of the flying mummy with only one eye.

Front of flying mummy with the more detailed head (two eyes and mouth visible).

Back of wings and back printing on the Jake Raines mini-fig.

Play and Special Features:

As this is a fairly simple model it is limited to one special feature.  The "Soul Diamond" Pharaohs' treasure is a blue/green diamond on a dark blue 2x2 plate that sits on top of the obelisk between four gold angle pieces.  This allows the top to be open enough for the grab arm on Jakes bi-plane to snag the diamond and carry it away.  This makes for a simple but fun feature of this model!

Bottom detail showing drop arm tucked under the lower wing.

Drop arm deployed with the diamond snagged.

Technic: 8068 Rescue Helicopter

Side view of Rescue Helicopter

Purchase:
I swung by a local toy retailer that tends to carry a pretty random collection of Lego's in the hope of finding some  of the more rare sets that big box retailers don't carry.  I was actually pleasantly surprised to see that they had improved their selection quite a bit and even had some Technics sets, which are almost impossible to find in the area!  The three sets they had were 8065 - Mini Container Truck (which I already own), 8067 - Mini Mobile Crane and 8068 Rescue Helicopter.  I decided to go big and pick up the Rescue Helicopter as it was a very nice looking model and I have a love of all things airplanes and helicopter!  My first impression on looking at the box was that it seemed like a small box and the back did not do a very good job of explaining functionality.  In particular I had doubts about the tail rotor being linked to the main rotor and other core motion functions.  I purchased the set for $39.99 and went on my way.

Front view of Rescue Helicopter

Build:
At 408 pieces, the box was pretty full.  The model had 12 of the larger "panel" pieces used to give the model its shape.  The model took about an hour to put together and the build was quite fun.  There were a couple times were the instructions did not specifically point out where small pieces went and it took a few minutes to figure it out by comparing the page to previous ones, otherwise the instructions were fine.  The  model also has 10 stickers, all which are of moderate to large size and of odd shape that go on panels with lots of angles and curved surfaces.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the model was larger than I thought it would be and ends up being a very well built and substantial model.

Primary and alternate model instructions.

Details and Functions:
Of course the best part about Technics is their various functions.  This model has four functions.  The three landing gear elements retract via a gear knob on the side.   This function is very smooth and well done using a worm gear to provide a 90 degree mesh with a small gear that then provides movement via a shaft to unique four point knobs that provide another 90 degree mesh and actually move the gear up and down.  All three gear move together and are very sturdy when deployed.  My only complaint is none of the gear pivot (mainly the nose landing gear would need to pivot and the others stay fixed) so the model does not really make turns on its gear.  The next and most important feature is the rotors.  The main rotor (which is very nicely built and feels well proportioned) and the tail rotor both spin together via another gear know located on the same side and directly above the landing gear knob.  This action is completed by three 90 degree gear meshes using the small 90 degree yellow gears.  The action is smooth and solid.  The tail rotor guard is made out of the flex pieces and due to this it doesn't quite line up right around the rotor itself, but it otherwise looks fine and I don't know if there was really a better way to do this.  The other functions are both very simple, a spool with string and a hook at the end is attached to the same side as the other two two gear knobs and provides the rescue feature and on both sides of the main cabin are doors that swivel up on hinges.  The detailing is nice, especially in the cockpit where there are two adjustable seats, a detailed control panel (using two more stickers) and the panels that make up the body of the helicopter provide just enough shape and enclosure to really define the helicopter and give it a solid look and feel.

Tail rotor and guard.

View showing gear in down position.

Detail of cabin with door in the up position.  The bottom left knob is for the gear, the top left is the rotor action and the rescue lift is the top middle one.  You can also see the gearing for the main rotor.

Detail of landing gear function.

Alternate Model:
The alternate model is a much smaller and less substantial light helicopter.  It only uses a small number of panels and has two functions.  The functions are the rotor assembly and another crank to lift cargo.  I have not built the alternate model.  If your interested in seeing it, let me know and I will put it together.

Overall I was very pleased with this model.  It was fun to build, had lots of great detailing and functions which makes it great looking and fun to play with.  I would highly recommend "Rescue Helicopter"!