While the Lion Knights' Castle comprises thousands of pieces and stands as one of the larger Lego sets ever created, it’s still only a small section of what would be a Minifigure-scale castle. After all, it doesn’t even have a keep. But despite the necessary limitations, the designers have done a marvellous job of hiding the set’s diminutive size (comparative to the real world). It can be hinged open to create a sprawling folly or closed up to create a self-contained castle that can be viewed from any angle. In both instances, it looks suitably sized and the absent keep isn’t missed.

I was particularly impressed with the techniques employed to get all these cunning angles done, and the entire building experience felt like a whole new level of LEGO model building had been achieved. Take a look at how the exterior wall is attached with hinges, but the flooring is a solid surface thanks to an expert-level understanding of the LEGO selection and geometry of angled plates.You’re treated to a walk down memory lane. If you’re a fan of Classic Castle, these sets that they’ve curated, detailing the evolution of LEGO Castles, from the original Yellow Castle, to Nexo Knights to the current 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle is a wonderful read. Because the build is split into two books, you can build this together with someone else, with each person focusing on one build. Once both halves are complete, you bring them and snap them together to create the Lion Knights’ Castle. Build [5]– So many cool techniques, and you’re constantly building different things, keeping it fresh I love how well this arch and ivy is done. It’s the little details like this that catch my eye every time.

There are also plenty of instances of Nice Part Usage (NPU) to be found. For example, this small water feature/cistern uses a minifigure energy blast for the falling water. The great castle on the horizon is home to the Lady of the brave Lion Knights. As a firm but just ruler, the Lady has established her stronghold as the natural gathering place for people from near and far. It serves as a place of trade and treaties, as well as a haven for those in need.Lion Knights’ Castle will go on sale on 3 August 2022 for LEGO VIPs, and 8 August for everyone else, and will be available exclusively from LEGO.com or your local LEGO store. If that weren’t cool enough, she also has a paper cape, with the Lion Knights’ sigil printed onto it, which just elevates her to a whole new level of awesome. And on the towers, fly flags bearing the Lion Knights sigil. So glad to see these make a return too.

But eventually, there’ll be a knob you can turn to raise and lower the drawbridge. This play feature works well, but I do kind of dislike the smooth tile used for the surface. This is a spot where some wood grain would have helped the look a lot. First up, here’s a look at the Lion Knights, who make a triumphant return and feature all-new highly detailed torsos and printed legs. The red, blue and yellow are just glorious to behold, especially when they make up almost half of all the minifigures in the set – it’s superb that you’re almost getting a small army of Lion Knights ready for conquest. There are a number of ways to display the castle, with the most impressive being the “fully open” view where all the sections are unfolded to show off the interior and exterior features. The trade-off is that this takes up a LOT of linear space.There are just the 22 minifigures included in 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle, and with such a quantity there’s barely a complaint to be made. For a set this large, it takes a character count this high to populate it and, furthermore, the selection made available here offers variety, colour, charm and play to really help tell the story within the set – one that is reminiscent of stories past from the LEGO Castle theme. Here you can see the bar that raises and lowers the drawbridge in place, with two more printed shields and other weaponry at the ready.