This, alongside the Redbeard Runner and the Octan Gas Station from 1992 were the first sets from the infamous 'Legends' line. They were also the only 3 sets to be shown in official catalogues, which rather confused me at the time, since they nowehere stated it was a direct copy of an older set, yet Istill remembered all 3 of them!
However this set in particular might have gotten the better of, since Minifigs aside (cross-reinforcements in the torso) it must have been 100% identical to the original.
Other sets in the Legends did a far worse job at this, since many moulds were discarded years ago such as in 'Mainstreet' or in almost all Technic Legends sets.
Even the re-release of 1998's juniorized-Town Police Station had it's 1990 fences replaced with the far more common standard fences from 1988.

I still regret not grabbing a copy of this when it was available. I must have assumed at the time that the Armada series would continue for another year with new sets instead of only releasing two actual sets in the line. I have the little one, but that only came with a single Armada soldier. I think it is high time that Lego releases a new line of Armada sets. They released new red guard sets in the early 2010s (before the Pirates of the Caribbean line) and then new blue guards more recently. Seems like high time for some Spanish-style soldiers!

@Atuin There were a total of 10 sets re-released in 2001. In addition to the ones you mentioned, there were also 6292-1 Enchanted Island, 10000-1 Guarded Inn, 10001-1 Metroliner, 10002-1 Railroad Club Car, 5599-1 RC Racer, and the Technic sets 8463-1 Forklift and 8464-1 Pneumatic Front-End Loader. The Guarded Inn was advertised as being the first in the Lego Legends series.

I've noticed that only the re-releases with numbers in the 10000s were labeled in Shop at Home catalogs as Lego Legends, whereas the others were usually labeled "Classic Favorites". I don't know the basis for this distinction, but by this standard only the Guarded Inn and the two train sets were officially Lego Legends.

One of the best 'not-pirate-faction' ships. The white and blue scheme is quite striking. Still hold up well today.

Why did the soldier ships always have to be like half the size of the pirates? Until 2010’s imperial flagship that is. This one definitely stands out with its white hull.

To those who own this set or the older version, are the white hull pieces susceptible to yellowing as much as bricks? I’ve always wanted to get this but I’m usually leery about buying older sets that are mostly white.

Got the original version for Christmas, still got old polaroids sitting around of me being so proud to have figured out how to build the thing at age five lol

@natro220 I’ve dealt with a number of them through work and have yet to encounter cases of yellowing myself, though I have seen instances online of this happening. The only real issue I ever encounter is scratch marks on the hull pieces. Suffice to say, I wouldn’t be too worried about it.

I'd actually like to see that Legends line idea revisited. I can imagine a few sets that would be fun for a re-release. I know the Metroliner was re-released in that line, and Fortlegorado was to. I never got either, but hindsight being 20/20 wish I had!

I got the older version of this and really loved it. I unwisely left it on display for a long time without dusting it, though, and it needs me to dig it out of the box and perform some TLC...

In my time of buying (many) lots, and rebuilding sets from them, I have had multiple copies of almost every pirate ship pre-2001. Except I have never even had one copy of this one go through my hands. One would think it would be far more costly given its somewhat rarity. In any case it one set I kept missing time and time again. That I never bought it directly from LEGO when I was just coming out of my dark ages showed my shortsightedness at the time. It is one ship I wish I got when I was collecting Pirate sets