6086 Black Knight's Castle

6086 Black Knight's Castle is a LEGO Castle set released in 1992. It contains 569 pieces. It includes a castle of the Black Knights, four horses and twelve minifigures, including four knights on horseback, four archers, two guards, a ghost and an imprisoned Wolfpack bandit.
It was released as 6086 Dungeon Master's Castle in the United States and Canada for 1992-93. In 1994, LEGO changed the name of this castle set to "Black Knight's Castle" in these markets, possibly due to the fact that TSR (now owned by Wizards of the Coast) owned the trademark on "Dungeon Master" for their Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game.
== Details ==
The castle was built upon a raised ramp baseplate. Most components of the castle were built on the top of the baseplate, except the gatehouse and some walls at the side of the ramp. The tall gatehouse stood at the start of the ramp and included a working drawbridge and a portcullis.
To the right of the gatehouse ran a wall along the top level of the baseplate and ended in a two-story tower which sat on the next corner. From there, another wall ran along the neighboring ridge of the hill and ended in a small timber-framed residential building whose ground floor was built on the top level of the hill but featured support structures that extended all the way down at the outside of the hill. This building contained a table on the ground floor and a storage space for a treasure chest below the slanted roof. It also had a small bascule bridge at the rear end. The rear side of the whole castle didn't feature an actual wall and was protected by crenelations that ran on the top level of the baseplate to another tower, similar to the one at the opposing corner. This tower housed a glow-in-the dark ghost figure that resided in a hidden chamber at the top floor behind a brick built door. The wall that connected this tower with the gatehouse was the only one that was built on the actual ground level of the baseplate and consisted of arcs instead of wall-panels.
The pit on the top of the baseplate served as prison or storage. The rear part of it was closed by a latticed hatch, while the front was covered by plates with a round water well in the center, which had an actual hole that led into the pit.
The figures could be given a wide range of armor including two types of infantry helmets and two types of knights helms (including those with swiveling face-plates), and two types of shields (the common triangular shields and new taller oval shields). There was also a wide range of weaponry such as axes, bows, crossbows, spears, lances and swords. The four mounted knights have the new oval shields and new dragon plumes, two of them have the older fixed grill helmets and plate armor "printed" on their torso (whose style debuted in 1984), while the others had the newer helmets with movable visors and also an additional torso breastplate (whose style debuted in 1990).
== Notes ==
* This set featured in three television ads
** The 1992 ad for the United Kingdom showed the Wolfpack sneaking into the castle and escaping with the loot on their 6038 Wolfpack Renegades wagon, while the Black Knights were at war with the Lion Knights over the castle.
** The 1992 ad for Canada and USA shows the castle's knights sailing on 6057 Sea Serpent to attack the 6075 Wolfpack Tower, returning to the castle with the Wolfpack prisoners.
** The 1993 ad for Japan and the European Union shows the castle's knights and soldiers (plus the 6009 Black Knight) attacking the 6082 Fire Breathing Fortress for treasure.
* This was the second and last major castle of the Black Knights faction. The first Black Knights castle was the 6085 Black Monarch's Castle from 1988.
* This was the first castle that used a one-piece lattice Part 6046 for the portcullis instead of a brickbuilt one.
* This is the only set that included included the large yellow dragon flag and the white dragon plumes.
* This is one of two sets (the other being 6074 Black Falcon's Fortress) to use the yellow Dutch wall section, which is for the residence portion of the castle.
* The minifigures were quite varied, with many different torsos and armour in different colors.
**The mounted knights span two generations, two of them have the fixed grill helmets and plate armor "printed" on their torso (whose style debuted in 1984), while the other two have the newer helmets with movable visors and also an additional torso breastplate (whose style debuted in 1990). 
**Interestingly this set was the first use of the grill helmets since the 6085 Black Monarch's Castle (1988), and one of the two times that it was combined with the dragon plume and oval shield (both debuting in 1992) with the other instance being the 1547 Black Knight's Boat (1993).
**The Yellow Knight is very similar to the one in 6009 Black Knight except for the dragon plume color, saddle, and lance. The Yellow Knight has appeared on the covers of the 1992 USA catalogue (with a spear in lieu of the lance), 1992 European catalogue (using his oval shield as a surfboard, and 1994 USA catalogue (omitting the torso breastplate).
**6086 and 6009 (released in 1992) were the last sets to include the torso breastplate in combination with the helms with the swiveling face-plate visor for the knight minifigures, until this combo was reintroduced for some key figures in 2007 (the Golden Knight and Lead General of the Crown Knights), and again in 2013 (for King's Knight seven and White Knight). Between 1992 and 2007, Lego preferred more intricate helmets without movable parts (though a knight in 6090 Royal Knight's Castle (1995) and Princess Storm (2000) have swiveling face-plate visors), and decorative torso prints instead of the extra breastplate armor.
***6086 and 6081 King's Mountain Fortress are the only sets to have more than one knight with the combo of the movable visor helmet and breastplate.
== Minifigures included ==
== Gallery ==
P1040871.jpg|Black Knight´s Castle
P1040868.jpg|Inside the castle
P1040869.jpg
== See also ==
;Castles that use the same baseplate
* 6081 King's Mountain Fortress (1990, Crusaders)
* 6082 Fire Breathing Fortress (1993, Dragon Masters)
== External links ==
Category:Black Knights
Category:6000 sets
Category:1992 sets
Category:Castle