Box/Instructions

The instructions are mostly easy to read but they made the brown peices more dark than they should.

Parts

There are many interesting parts in this set like the wheel that is used to turn. The rock is rare. There are also many use full peices for your own designs. I love the axes and gold. On of the parts that I didn't like was the Line that the basket slides on this set is one of the olny things you'll use it for.

Minifigures

I loved the giant troll he is very nice to have. The dwarfs have a good design and I like there mini legs even tho they don't bend. The trolls also are pretty good and are fun to play with.

The build

The build isn't way to challenging but has some fun parts to it.

The completed model

I love the many play features on this set including the carts,catapult, the shoot and the wheel thing. It's easy to fit the dwarfs in most the areas. The castle also has good details. On the sides you could make your own add ons.

Overall opinion

It's a great set has many great play features and peices.

Ask me what the greatest faction to ever come out of Castle is and I will point towards Fantasy Era's Dwarves; specifically, I will point precisely at Dwarves' Mine because I think it's possibly among the best sets ever released for the Castle line, save perhaps for the famous Royal Knights' Castle (6090) and other popular choices for Castle's top spot. To me, the greatness of Dwarves' Mine stems from it being a perfect combination of the best of any LEGO set: it's unique without being weird, it's aesthetically coherent, it's got a ton of playability but without being "kiddish", and it's got an absolutely fantastic selection of Minifigs that are bound to please any fantasy fan.

A generous selection of seven Minifigs populates the mine, though, unlike the haphazard crew that comes with Drawbridge Defense (7079), the Minifig selection here is logical and pretty much what you'd expect. Four Dwarves work the mine, and the varied selection of beards, helmets, and torso pieces means that you're sure to find unique roles for all of them and won't feel any sense of repetition. Inevitably, you'll feel compelled to pick up the Dwarf Warrior Battle Pack (852702) - provided you're able to sell a kidney to raise the cash for one - but by no means will you feel shortchanged by the Dwarves included in this set.

Antagonising the Dwarves are a pair of Troll goons who, curiously, are sporting "Undead"-style helmets as opposed to the usual Troll ones that most of their other comrades are wearing, but I suppose a bit of variety is not to be despised. Backing the Troll invasion is a much-coveted Giant Troll. I can't say I particularly care for this colour scheme, but it's not offensive, and hey, it's a Giant Troll. An early precursor to the Cave Troll, perhaps? Who can tell?

There's no secondary build here: you get a huge mine and that's it, and that is by no means a bad thing. The build is loosely divided into three different sections: the central section where the large doors are, and the two stone columns on the left and the right. I say "loosely divided" because while all the sections connect together via Technic pins in a usual fashion, the mine doesn't really have the modularity that, say, Trolls' Mountain Fortress (7097) has, in the sense that one is free to rearrange sections to suit one's fancy as in the latter case. There's really only one way to put this bad boy together, and you're looking at it. The reason for this unusual rigidity (for a large Castle set, anyway) is due to the intricate interconnectedness of the various components of the mine. The various parts obviously do not function together in a 100% logical way, but the whole point of LEGO is to use one's imagination a little bit, right?

We'll consider the set from right to left, with "right" referring to when the front doors are facing us, as in the main BrickSet picture. This part is probably the one most divorced from the rest of the set and could conceivably stand by itself for display purposes, since, I suppose, it's meant to represent a mine shaft that brings to the surface whatever it is the Dwarves are digging for. The big wheel makes for a really cool mechanism, although the string can be a little fiddly at first.

In the centre is the visual nexus of the whole design: overlarge double-doors for the mine carts and the "throne" upon which the Dwarf Lord oversees the day-to-day operations, or whatever it is Dwarf Lords do. The reliance on a BURP to add mass to the top of the throne is slightly unfortunate, but the set up, on the whole, looks amazing and suitably fantastic that it distinguishes itself from any other Castle motif thus far. The dark blue/pearl gold colour scheme alludes to the Crown Knights, giving the suggestion that the two factions are allies; this is further corroborated by the work of the blacksmith near the front of the set, designing helmets and armour on a cute anvil that could not possibly be worn by Dwarves. This is a great bit of thematic continuity that works all the better if you have a couple of Crown Knights to visit with the Dwarves.

A lot of things are then packed into the stone column on the left, the base of which is a sort of lounge area for the Dwarves, if you will. The fireplace and table are humanising (Dwarf-ising?) aspects to the mine that make in seem that much more "livable". Of course, the contrast here is that this Dwarvish lounge is housed right beneath a comically large catapult that, sadly, cannot be operated via the wheels attached to the sides.

What remains hidden by all of the pictures of this set is what's behind the mountain facade, and what lies behind is actually pretty significant. A track is connected that runs through the front doors and to the back, where there is a kind of sorting tower or something where the Dwarves can pick up the crystals they want and put them into a basket that connects the back to the front with a bendy piece that the basket runs along. The basket then dumps the crystals into a chute in the front which, um, returns the crystals back to the mine carts and through the doors again, which makes the purpose of this loop a little mysterious, but whatever: it's still cool. It gives the mine a lot of fun playability, even if the mechanism isn't entirely sensible.

The whole package amounts to a coherent Dwarvish "base" that serves a number of functions, and it's honestly difficult to find a set comparable to this one, either in terms of theme or what it sought to accomplish. This is an absolute must-have for any fan of fantasy LEGO and definitely among the best sets released in recent memory. My advice? Make this mine yours.

Just a fabulous Castle Set from Lego the Dwarves' Mine is. Plenty of fun, cool play features and a nice enjoyable build with good details throughout. It's designed to be a Castle and quarry for the Dwarf King built out of a mountain-side. The King's Throne room overlooks his Dwarven subjects from his miners, to a black-smith and a rail system which runs through the Castle. Just FANTASTIC!

CENTER SECTION - 2 large double doors (which open and close) with gold details (nicely designed), King's Throne Room with throne and two shields adorning the front of the balcony left and right, King mini-figure with gold winged helmet/gold goblet/red gem, above the throne room outside are two battle axes(copper colored) and then atop you see part of the mountain with 2 torches left and right.

RIGHT SECTION - Atop you have a working wheel/pulley system that hooks to a bucket and runs 3 levels top to bottom (top is where the large wheel is with ladder out front/2nd level un-adorned with a ladder out front/1st level is a quarry (cave) where a Dwarf miner can be working (Dwarf miner mini-figure has a pick-axe and copper helmet). The set comes with gold and silver ore so you can set up the cave with this and have the Dwarves dig them out and place them into the bucket or carry over to the rail section.
Now in front of the quarry we have a neat little black-smith's work station. Comes with black anvil, 2 barrels to hold weapons, a large hammer and also a silver breast plate and helmet. Dwarf Black-Smith mini-fig. has a black hammer and silver helmet.

LEFT SECTION - Atop this section is a large catapault (nicely designed) with a large bolder detailed to be aflame (snap down on the front of it to send the boulder soaring. Good distance you can get on this). 2nd level is unadorned but a wench system runs through it. 1st level out front has a slide for the ore (but I rather see this as a pretend conveyer belt actually). Now at the 1st level behind, we have a nice area where the Dwarf's take a break from their work. In here we have a small black fireplace with red coals burning, a barrel with a large chicken(or turkey)leg, and a small table with a gold goblet.

RAIL SYSTEM - Another great play feature. This rail runs through the front and back of the castle. Comes with 2 mine carts that tilt left and right to empty ore(nicely designed). The rail runs through the double doors and towards the back is another section that has a small tower with ladder. Atop this is a curved wench system with a bucket you can slide from the tower to the left of the castle through the 2nd level to dump ore onto the slide/coveyer belt. This bucket/wench system also can dump ore through the back small tower onto awaiting mine carts which then can also bring ore to the front of the castle. Might seem limited but provides a fun play feature to keep your Dwarves busy as well as your child's imagination. Also at the bottom near the conveyer belt/slide is a mount to hold a tool (hammer, pick axe, weapon, etc.)

This set also comes with a Dwarf warrior with silver winged helmet, shield and battle axe. A large Cave Troll figure with spikes atop head and back and large stone club plus 2 Troll warriors, one with shield and both with copper colored swords.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this set for it's playability, details, fun rail sytem, multiple levels and great mini-figures. Young and old alike will enjoy this Castle set immensely. Might be the best of the Castle kits from Lego the past 2 years or so.
Final note, this build is for your 7 year old on up. Can use help on this at certain stages. Not a difficult build but just make sure all things are tight and lined up properly.

GREAT LOOKING Castle...loads of fun! JUST FANTASTIC!

This set will be and is already a classic LEGO castle set. This set contains every elements that surprises you:

a) The theme is great - this is the first ever mining set for castle
b) Design of the set is cool - cool door, cart and track, and the rest of the mining system
c) Lots of new LEGO mini-figures - helmets, dwarves beard, and trolls are all new
d) No stickers: everything is printed.

it is very, very, very awesome!

rare and cool minifigs!

missing [not come with] important piece

lots of rare pieces

cool giant troll

cool door function

cool cart tracks and carts