Medieval Gate

This set is heavily inspired by the "Medieval Castle 31120" set.

Parts and design language used overlap strongly, this was done with intent.

The goal was to create a Castle themed set, with a lower price point than 31120 while still being a fun stand alone set.

The gate is meant to be both:

- A stand alone piece that looks like something Lego might release, with enough features to be a valid stand alone product

- Something that can be attached to the existing set 31120 without looking out of place

Contents:

- gate with portcullis

- 3 minifigures (2 black falcon guards and 1 forest woman/druid)

- 1 hooded crow

Play Features:

- portcullis works as smooth as set 31120's drawbridge; 60% of the time, it works every time

- the technic pin can secure the gate in either the closed (down) or open (up) position

- the entire gate can be connected to set 31120 on either side

Pieces Gate: 335

Pieces Minifigs: 29

Pieces Crow: 8

Pieces Total: 364

Extra info if you're into reading:

I've built the thing and have played around with it.

The entire gate can be easily picked up with one hand in multiple ways, as it is sturdy and light enough.

A relatively large 2 x 14 tan plate ensures rigidity that the build required, both for moving it around easily and for the portcullis to be smooth.

If the portcullis gets stuck - which of course it never does - you can raise the top ladder and easily push it down with a finger.

The archer minifig includes a quiver, 31120's archer sadly didn't.

You can attach this to 31120's main part, however, you won't be able to open it in a 90 degree angle. IMO it looks best when attached to 31120's turret/prison part.

In my mind the age rating would be 9+, and the MSRP would be $29.99/29.99€.

The age rating is based on the Medieval Castle set 31120.

The MSRP is based on the fact that there are currently sets of similar part count for that MSRP available.

It was fun to try to use an existing design language and add my own twist to it.

Improvements/changes could include:

- thinner but a bit longer walls to fall more in alignment with set 31120's design; walls there are 1-2 blocks, here they are 3-4, resulting in a much chunkier look

- replacing the 2 "Plate, Round Half 4 x 8" (22888) Olive Green pieces at the entrance with 2x (30565 "Plate, Round Corner 4 x 4" + "Plate 4 x 4") Olive Green pieces - the reason I used the former is because set 31120 used those and I wanted to use as similar parts to that set as possible

- possible removal of ladders to reduce cost (would reduce piece count by 6)

- the forest woman/druid minifig was admittedly just thrown in there as a basic medieval/fantasy themed villager without much thought given to it