The Soldiers, yer know the blue coats lead by Governor Broadside, were the original adversaries to the LEGO Pirates. Debuting in 1989 at the dawn of the Pirate theme and fading into obscurity after 1993, until their brief reappearance in 2015.
Their largest and most expensive set, 6276 Eldorado Fortress clocked in at 496 pieces (or 504 pieces according to certain sources) but the structure was much elevated in size thanks to its stone-textured base plate. The next largest, was 6267 Lagoon Lock-Up at 187 pieces, or 70412 Soldiers Fort at 234 pieces, if ye wish to take the most recent sets into consideration.
But alas! The soldiers never saw a set released sized between d Lagoon Lockup and Eldorado Fortress. A LEGO Pirate fan can dream… and create their own classic set concepts, can’t they? Well, that’s exactly what Marcin Mrowiński’s has done with”Imperial Bay“. Like Jason from The Brickstop, Marcin has explored the possibility of how a Soldiers set may be designed, if it were released circa 1995.
Marcin writes:
My favourite LEGO sets were always Castle & Pirates.
This time I present to you “Imperial Bay”.
Inside the tower you can find the “Marble Prison”. Building on the left has Guvernor’s Office where he can finally count all the collected golden coins.
The ever watchful soldier ensures piratical prisoners dare not escape the Marble Prison
Governor Broadside sitting on his commode
So what does it look like in real life?
It doesn’t end there! Marcin acquired the necessary pieces and actually built Imperial Bay using real LEGO bricks!
Not a bad set, huh? Would you dare say it’s better than 70412 Soldiers Fort from 2015?
Marcin writes:
Was finally able to build my MOC in real life
For the youngest audience the Marble Prison was the most interesting stuff in this set.
It has all the hallmarks of a classic Soldiers set…
A superb effort! But the Classic Pirates wouldn’t say “No” to another pirate minifig… like Governor Broadside… oh, and a boat for the pirates… with a sail too!
About the Builder…
Marcin appeared in the Classic Pirates Facebook Group one day to bring word that his magnificent Imperial Bay was available on Rebrickable. Before that, we’d never heard of the blighter! But we’re glad we’ve discovered him, for he has even more great builds in that classic set style. He even has an Instagram account albeit terribly underutilised, but perhaps with some encouragement, that may change.
What Do Yer Think?
Has Marcin succeeded at building a design in the style of a classic LEGO Pirate set circa 1995? will you be acquiring the instructions from Rebrickable and building it yerself?
Add Imperial Bay to your LEGO Pirates collection today!
Now my pretties, swim! Yes, swim to the Classic Pirates Facebook Group to discuss Imperial Bay in greater detail.
Or swim to the LEGO Pirates Forum and we shall discuss more builds in the style of classic pirate sets!
