Lord of the Rings 9471 Uruk-hai Army Review

[Deathleech]

Indexed


Description
Set Name: 9471 Uruk-hai Army
Minifgures: 6, +1 horse
MSRP: $29.99
Pieces: 257
Price Per Piece: $0.12

Pros
*Good way to army build, especially Uruk-hai Orcs
*Extra wall pieces can always be added on to Helm's Deep set to make fort larger
*Extra horse included
*NO STICKERS!

Cons
*Eomer in set instead of second Rohan soldier
*Walls do start to look a little silly after you get several


Everything you get

This set seems like the perfect "army builder". It comes with 4 Uruk-hai Soldiers, 1 Rohan Soldier, and Eomer. Both Eomer and the Rohan Soldier are found only in this set as of right now. Eomer has light brown facial hair while the Rohan Soldier has orange facial hair. All figures have double sided faces. The two humans have a normal smiling face on one side and an angry action face on the other. The Uruk-hai all share the same double sided head, with one side having white paint markings and an open mouth, and the other side having a closed mouth and some brown markings from their discolored skin. All figures have print on both sides of their torso. Eomer's legs and all the Uruk-hai legs have print on the front, while the Rohan Soldier has solid brown legs with no print at all.

Eomer

New Horse

Rohan Soldier

Rohan Soldier alternate view

In terms of armor and weapons you get 2 Rohan helmets (Eomer's has gold accents), a human sword, a round Rohan shield, a spear, 2 Uruk-hai shields, 2 Uruk swords, 2 halberds, 3 Uruk helmets, 2 Uruk chest armor, and 1 Uruk black hair piece. I think it's worth noting that the Uruk-hai you put the hair on can NOT have the chest armor on at the same time since the hair is too close to the body. This seems odd considering the other Moria and Mordor orcs in other sets with the ears have hair that sticks out enough, leaving room for armor to go on the figures. I think it's also worth noting the spear is two colored with the staff being brown and the tip being silver. It looks really nice compared to the older spears!

Uruk-Hai Group Shot

Back/Other side of Uruk-hai face

Uruk-hai in armor

The set comes with a wall piece that can be attached to The Battle of Helm's Deep (9474) play set to make the fortress larger. In theory this seems really cool. The more sets you get, the bigger you can build Helm's Deep while simultaneously expanding your Uruk-Hai army! The only problem is, after 2-3 walls they really start to look too monotonous. I have 5 of this set and 3 seems to be all you would ever really need in terms of extra walling. Lego didn't make their Helm's Deep fortress set terribly huge so roughly 3 extra wall pieces seems to fit the length about perfect. While a minor gripe, it's something to consider.

Four walls together

This set also includes a working catapult/bolt thrower for the orcs, which seems to function well enough. I would of liked for them to include rope to tie to the grappling hooks that it can fire, but alas they did not. Really this is just another small complaint though. The set also comes with a horse which is definitely appreciated since it can contribute to building a cavalry of Rohhirium soldiers.

While the set overall seems to be very solid, there is one major issue I have with it. My biggest gripe is that it comes with Eomer. I would of much rather seen Eomer included in the Helm's Deep box and a second Rohan Soldier included in this set. As is, anyone trying to build up a large force of Uruk-hai from the Uruk-hai Army set is going to have way more Eomer figures than they will ever know what to do with. For a set that seems so centered around army expansion (lots of orcs in it, more walls you will want to get keeping to build on to Hel's Deep), it seems weird to me that they would include Eomer. Luckily the figure doesn't look TOO much different from the normal Rohan Soldier(s) and I will probably just end up using him as that.

Rating
Build 3.5/5
Pretty easy build, not a ton of pieces outside the minifigs, but that's what most people will be after anyways.

Minifigures 4.5/5
Six minifigures, all look fantastic. Plus you get a horse! Only problem is that Eomer guy...

Playability 3.5/5
Lotsa of figures to do battle with. Catapult on wall to shoot enemies with and orc shooting bolt thrower are kind of boring action wise.

Value 4/5
0.12 cents per piece is a little high, but you get 6 minifigures, a horse, a wall, and a catapult. Not bad for a license set with soo many minifigs.

Overall 4/5
All in all this is a pretty good set. It's not terribly expensive, comes with a good amount of figures to do battle, and also has the wall, bolt thrower, and horse as extras. While you really don't need the extra walls past 2-3, they are still appreciated. Eomer being included in an "army builder" set is really the only downfall to it imo. I would of much rather seen a second Rohan soldier included. Still a great set though.

[newpunk]

Nice review! I just finished building Gandolf Arrives and Shelob Attacks. I'm buying this set next since it's got great minifigs, some cool brick pieces and the price is great.

[Buttmunch]

Yeah, its a decent set, but I agree, Eomer should have been in the Helms Deep set. Heck, they should have swapped him and Haldir. Haldir looks just like the rest of his elves so he could have had the potential for army building because of that. They had to ruin a perfect set for that didn't they?

And I think 4 of these would look much better if you take the exploding section of the Helms Deep wall and moved it in the middle of the 4 of these. The gate is really more in the middle of the wall anyway so techically the exploding wall should have been the expansion set and the regular wall part of the set. But I'm glad they did it this way. But it would take some slight modification to make it more accurate that way, but well worth it.

[tbequ88]

Nice review. Can you post a pic with the walls attached to helms deep? I'm still debating whether or not to get more than one of this set and would love to see what it looks like with two or three extra wall sections. Thanks.

[unclephn]

I know a lot of people don't like the fact that after putting together 2 or 3 or 4 of these sets, that the walls start to look redundant, but is that not a perfect opportunity to recreate a portion of Helm's Deep? I would keep 2 of the walls as-is, then combine the parts of a third and fourth set to perhaps make a bigger wall, and add some variation.

I dunno, I just don't really see it as a 'con'. I see it more as an invitation to create a portion of Helm's Deep yourself.

Nice review, though! I appreciate the amount of insight you've provided, which is what reviews are all about!

[Deathleech]

And I think 4 of these would look much better if you take the exploding section of the Helms Deep wall and moved it in the middle of the 4 of these. The gate is really more in the middle of the wall anyway so techically the exploding wall should have been the expansion set and the regular wall part of the set. But I'm glad they did it this way. But it would take some slight modification to make it more accurate that way, but well worth it.

There is a slight problem with this. As it's meant, the walls fit together nicely with the exploding portion right next to Helm's Deep and the rest next to that. If you move the exploding part to the middle though, you have to change the very top blocks a bit. You either secure the parts in position that are suppose to explode off so they don't fall off nearly as easy, or you leave them turned the other way and you have some weird looking spacing/formations.

I also tried to put a wall on the other side of the Helm's Deep set near the gates. I was trying to build it a little deeper instead of just wide , but unfortunately the Helm's Deep portion of the castle is much higher than the wall and there is a huge, noticeable dip in wall height. It looks off.

I know a lot of people don't like the fact that after putting together 2 or 3 or 4 of these sets, that the walls start to look redundant, but is that not a perfect opportunity to recreate a portion of Helm's Deep? I would keep 2 of the walls as-is, then combine the parts of a third and fourth set to perhaps make a bigger wall, and add some variation.

I dunno, I just don't really see it as a 'con'. I see it more as an invitation to create a portion of Helm's Deep yourself.

Oh, you definitely can. To me though, it's not even so much the walls start to look redundant and the same, it's that after about 4-5 sets it just starts getting super long and looks awkward next to the Helm's Deep set. In terms of the minifigs though I feel like I still could use at least 4-6 more sets just for them.

While the Uruk-hai Army set is a nice compliment to the Helm's Deep set, and a nice army builder at the same time, I feel like the portions are off. After a couple sets you will be about done needing walls, but you will still want many, many more orcs! That is really my main complaint with the wall. Sorry if I didn't make it very clear in the review.

[nick91884]

The great part about LEGO is that you dont just have to build them as is and if you buy 5-10 of these for the minifigs you dont have to build the wall sections as is, but possibly bulk up helms deep to be taller and more robust.

[SpaceNinjaDino]

I'd vote for switching Eomer and Haldir between the two sets as well. But doing so might have taken the horse with him. I actually would go for that sacrifice since I care more for the Elves.

Getting 3 repeats of the set makes sense for the given Helm's Deep. It is a very clever strategy one I hope to see more of.

I think it would be a good idea for LEGO to release instructions for an "Ultimate Helm's Deep" which requires 2 Helm's Deep sets and 6 Uruk-hai Army sets. And if LEGO didn't, I wish fans would do such things. Basically an archive of alternate models and enhanced sets that are based on the restriction of known set pieces (or repeated).

Getting as many of these sets as you can still make sense just for the figures. Plenty of people sell sets on eBay minus figures so you can cushion the cost that way.

It would be ideal if LEGO could release a "Uruk-hai Ladder" set which would be a ladder, 3 Uruk-hais (2 shields), an Elf, and a few other bricks for $12!

[jeremyp4]

The great part about LEGO is that you dont just have to build them as is and if you buy 5-10 of these for the minifigs you dont have to build the wall sections as is, but possibly bulk up helms deep to be taller and more robust.

I like your thinking... it would be cool to add some height to Helm's Deep