LEGO Kingdoms - The Green Dragon Clan

Good day lads. My name is Dux Von Drake Bafis. I am a marquis in Dragon Estate, a march on the border of Imperial City. Beyond our gates are the Mountains of Laruz. My troops are stationed here to protect His Majesty Kingdoms from invaders of the east.

This is my faithful wife, Lady Dursina. She is a daughter of Sir Dominic Dracov -- a knight and Protector of Dragon Clan. Yup, she's taller than me. So what?
Damian Domigo is my adviser. He is a Dragon Mage who knows ancient magic. Rumors said that he owned a dragon but I never saw one, so far.
These are the Dragon Old Guards. They are well-trained with halberd. They are strong that they can use a halberd with one hand. They served my father for many years. Now they are my finest bodyguards and protect our Dragon Estate from unwelcome intruders.

Sir Dominic Dracov, a knight and Protector of Dragon Clan.

Me with Sir Dominic. When in present danger, he is the one who rides out and investigate what is happening at the border. He wears heavy body armor and wields a lance and a black sword. He also carries a large shield. His black stallion is the fastest in this land.
This is our Dragon Black Vanguards. They are masters of spear. With medium breast plate, they move swiftly in combat. They faces are hidden behind full face helm and only I know their true identity. When I'm out from the estate, the Vanguards escort my horse carriage.
Finally, these are my Dragon Marksmen. They are armed with metal crossbow and wear light chain mail.

As a marquis who hold a title Dux, I can raise an army of 20 men. But so far the Dragon Clan is consist of 10 soldiers. I am about to recruit a few more men to garrison the border. That's mean there are another ten mouth to feed and a bagful of goldleon (gold coins use in our kingdoms) to pay these men.

To raise income for my army, I provide escorts to travelers who want to travel beyond the border. The Dragon Black Vanguards also serve His Majesty to protect precious cargo convoys.

Sometimes we conduct black operations by sneaking into enemy's land and steal their harvest and goldleons. Mostly our enemies are the brickmen of the sea - the pirates and the Vickins ( a tribe of axe men).

The Black Falcons

Lego Castle theme attracts me with its castles, knights and horses. After all, it's about medieval times full of adventures and mystery although it did not represent actual history.

"The Black Falcons" is the name given by Lego fans for Lego Castle sets that featured a crest with a black and white bird against a black and white background, split down the middle, with a blue or gold border. Mini-figures that have the bird emblem on their chest often come with black helmets, blue torsos with black sleeves and black legs; sometimes with red hips. Several sets have mini-figures with gray helmets and gray legs though.

Compared to other Castle Classic themes like Crusaders ( with Lion crest ) and Black Knights ( with Dragon Crest ), I favoured Black Falcons the most for its black and blue colour combination; which for me, it represents law enforcer; something more like police force during medieval era. Perhaps you had seen the movie about King Arthur starring Sean Connery and Richard Gere? I think the title is 'First Knight' but that movie was several years ahead since The Black Falcons sets were produced within year 1984 - 1992.

I used to divide my Black Falcons mini-figures into 3 groups based on type of helmet they're wearing ; neck-protector as Guard (infantry) - usually armed with spear or halberd, chin-guard as Archer or Crossbowman - equipped with bow and quiver or crossbow, and lastly grill helmet as Knight which wield lance, shield and short sword as secondary weapon.

Left: Guards (foot soldier) , mid : Archer with red hips, right :Knight with breastplate torso and yellow feather on its grill helmet.

As far as I remember, the one and only castle I ever had was set 6074 Black Falcon's Fortress (1986) but I only had it in 1989 - the most expensive Lego set my dad ever bought for me. The construction of the castle was quite complicated for a 9-year boy like me so my brother helped me to build it. The unique characteristic of the castle were its octagonal corner pieces and the yellow Tudor wall. The set included with 2 Guards, 2 Archers, 2 knights and 2 horses ( 1 white, 1 black).

Today's price for this 24-year old set ? Up to USD 1,380.00 for mint in sealed box (MISB) set.