Set Review ➟ 79008 Pirate Ship Ambush
Despite rumours to the contrary, I seriously doubt anyone really believed the Lord Of The Rings theme was finished after a single year. However, none of the early rumours pointed to anything remotely similar to a ship in this theme. The fact of the matter is that the pirate ships used by the army of the dead are only a marginal (though not unimportant) part of the story as a whole, but a ship allows for a different kind of construction from what we have seen so far in this theme. The piece count is relatively low for the largest set in a theme, but the set contains a number of rather large pieces (the hull parts and sails) that give the set a considerable volume. In addition, the set comes with no less than 9 minifigures, many of which are exclusive to the set.
So who are all these characters in the set? Well, if you saw the last part of the LOTR trilogy you will probably remember the dead. The dead men of Dunharrow had sworn allegiance Isildur, but when he called on them for the last alliance of elves and men, which wrested the one ring from Sauron’s hand, they hid in the mountains. For their treason they were cursed until they would answer the call of Isildur or his heir. When Aragorn reminded them of their duties they followed him. In the film they appear as green glowing ghosts that end up devouring their enemies much like the Marabunta.
Finding the pirates may take you a little longer as in the original book they were called Corsairs. That is of course just another (less well known) name for pirates, but it is curious that LEGO has chosen to use the word pirate in the set. These pirates were a mix of descendants of Gondor which had rebelled and the people of Harad to the south and so not friendly to Gondor which they helped Sauron to attack.
The Build
The elements for this set come in 6 separate bags, but plus several larger hull pieces that are loose. The sails and the instruction booklets and stickers come in separate bags.
The ship is quite large, roughly 60cm long and 35cm tall.
The first bag includes four minifigures, Gimli and Legolas plus two orcs with a nice printed pattern. It also includes a catapult, to attack the ship. As you can see in the image below, the entire base of the ship Is built with this bag and the hull pieces, and the sip will only become a few centimetres longer at the end of the build when the cabin is finished and two wings are attached to the back.
The catapult is of a different design than the ones we have seen in LOTR sets so far, but it is curious that the motif of the horns that face each other (decoration on the top) appears in the ship as well.
The weakest point in the design is the way the ram is attached to the hull. From the cone forwards a rod holds all the elements together. From the cone backwards, an axle passes through the round bricks and connects them to the hull. However, the connection between the cone and the round bricks is quite weak and the cone comes off with a certain ease.
Another strange thing I discovered as I built the model was that, like any ship is water, it rocks. As you can see in the animated gif below, the base of the ship is not stable. Unless a fair amount of pressure is applied the base of the ship is slightly arched upwards and so every time you try to add a piece the ship moves a bit, This instability makes the build a bit of a wobbly experience.
Step 2 adds much of the construction of the bow of the ship, including the interesting mechanism for the anchors. These can be lowered turning the handle in the centre. The mechanism works well and is, at least to me, the most interesting one in the whole construction.
Steps 3 and 4 finish the sides of the ship, including the “crossbow bases” that can be seen in the previous image. In the film these hold large crossbows, but in this set they have been substituted by flick missiles. Not my favourite choice, but they do add a level of playability to the ship that a static crossbow would not give.
Shields are added as decorative elements. These have nice look and feel and are printed parts!
These beautiful shields attract attention away from what is another not so nice part of the construction; the gap below the second shield counting from the left:
The LBG brick that can be seen is one of two bricks 1x1 with 1 stud that hold the black slope in place, but the slope doesn’t quite cover the brown studs on the top of the large hull element and one of the 1x1 bricks with 1 stud could be faced backwards to fit a chees slope in the ugly hole that is left. This same construction (with the hole) is also used at the front of the ship. Even so, the overall look of the ship is very good.
It isn’t until step 5 that another minifig appears. This time it is a corsair (pirate) who is quite easily recognisable as Peter Jackson. It is nice to have Peter represented in the set, even though in his cameo in the film he manages to get shot after about 5 seconds. He comes with a nice double sided head and detailed torso printing on both sides, but I am still puzzled about the bread…
This step also includes the roof of the cabin and wheel (notice the facing horns at the front). I’m not extremely happy with how the mast is fixed to the roof though. While in the case of the two main masts the axle connector sinks over the axle and is directly connected between the studs on the brown round brick, in this case the axle connector comes nowhere near the round brick. A shorter axle would have been nicer, even if that means a slightly weaker connection depending on how the axle is inserted—if you place the axle first, only half a length will stick out, but if you put it into the axle connector before inserting it the connection is much better, plus the axle connector itself provides clutch power.
In the 6th and final step, the king of the dead and two of his soldiers appear, together with Aragorn.
Each torso is a small work of art and they are all different. There are also 2 different heads with double face printing to increase the individuality of each character. The olive green helmets are a nice tight fit, especially the kings helmet/crown.
The Verdict
As with any set, the Pirate Ship ambush has its pro’s and con’s. However, I believe the pro’s very clearly outweigh the con’s and then some. This is my first LEGO ship in over 3 decades and as such I was thrilled to build it.
The set comes with many minifigures and they are all very detailed. I was especially delighted at the detailed and completely different patterns for the dead, and the inclusion of Corsair Jackson is the icing on the proverbial minifig cake. The set contains a small number of stickers for maps and some wooden decoration which add to the set, but in a discreet way. The printed shields are simply beautiful.
Only the mid sail can turn—the other two are fixed in their positions. Is that a drawback? Well, quite honestly, I’m considering immobilizing the main mast. I like it better that way. It is a pity however that the sails are only printed on one side: the rear is a plain light brown, but again, not really a surprise.
The fact that my ship rocks slightly really isn’t a con or a pro, although it puzzles me slightly. However, the overall impression is very good, the anchor mechanism is really nice and the creative use of chain elements in several places adds to that impression The ship captures the image of the pirate ships of the film quite well.
1988
