Well I said we'd return to Papo to look at the Medieval Knight and similar Fantasy sections and that's what that is, this is! We're starting with the forts.
There were three rather nice forts on
display at the Toy Fair, in wood and/or card as per the Pirate ships we looked
at last time, along with a new one in the catalogue which is a bit differnet
and something for smaller scale collectors.
The three together, it's pretty obvious but
I'll suspect, assume and presume (to wind the usual suspects up) that they are
in separate price brackets, but the differences between the two left-hand ones
re- both playability and number of components/size probably mean they are
similarly priced at the higher end, the smaller, predominantly grey one to the
right having simpler components will be the true 'budget' one.
So let's look at it first; Mon Premier Château - My First Castle (code: 60006),
ignore the two little bags, we'll be coming back to them in a day or two. All
three forts were displayed with a mixture of both the knights and fantasy
figures from the full-height ranges so you could get an idea of size versus
scale and as you can see; even the larger monsters have plenty of room to
occupy the nooks and crannies of the castle and to move around the battlements.
This keep'less 'mile-fort' has a simple
slot-together construction, which leaves those little protrusions at the
junctions of walls and tower sections. You will also notice that both the height
of the battlements and the depth of the crenellations leave the fort equally
ideal for play with- or display of- smaller 60 or 54mm figures. And is that a
sticker sheet I see through the portcullis? I think it is!
The main difference between the other two
is that the one in the centre of the line up (60002- Le Château du
Maître des
Armes - The Castle of the Men at Arms) had two of
the larger towers at the front corners and a third as a keep, the other (60004
- Le Château des Chevailiers - The Knight's
Castle) has only one as a keep, with four more crusader-looking corner-towers.
However, you will have noticed the
positioning of the firing slits matches the slots for the connections between
the walls and tower/gate-house sections? I knew you had! The whole line is a
modular system and additional pieces can be purchased to build a complex as
large as your house or budget will allow;
60020 - Large Tower
60021 - Small Tower
60022 - Gate House/Portcullis with
Drawbridge
60023 - Pair of Long Walls with Tower
Connectors
60024 - Pair of Medium-length Walls with
Tower Connectors
60025 - Pair of Short Walls with Tower
Connectors
The men-at-arms' castle is also available
in a more playful dark gray paint-scheme with red highlights as 60052 - Le Château des Mutants - The Mutants' Castle,
within the fantasy range.
Penultimately (as far as this post goes) there
is this, described as PVC, I suspect that's shorthand/jargon; companies like Papo have long-since phased out true PVC
for safer alternatives, but as I too use PVC for tagging modern non-PVC's I get
where they are coming from. It's scaled to fit with the Mini range and looks to
be a neat little thing? There's also a rather nice French farmhouse and double
barn/outbuilding in the same series (33100)
There is one other fort in the catalogue,
new for 2018 and part of the tie-in with Isiploy,
called Le Château du Prince Philippe (60007) it is manufactured - like the pirate ships and arctic
play-set we looked at in February- in a heavy-duty card/craft-board. And it's
about time he got one of his own, that Lizzie-bet, she's got several!
While 60027 is a folding, ridged 'tray'
(wooden play-mat), over printed with a cobbled court-yard effect, this is
73x45cm and large enough for any of the forts, with some expansions.
I should finally add - the My First Castle is not part of
the modular system; having lower walls, its slots don't line-up with the
'system forts', likewise; Phillip's Palace is not compatible with any of the
others . . . and - from a health and safety of knights and men-at-arms point of
view - seems to have a few inherent trip-hazards in it's walkway-construction!
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