LEGO Creator 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle boasts three strong – and playable – builds, but this fan-designed redux gives it a displayable edge too.
Like all sets in the Creator 3-in-1 theme, 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle has three potential builds as standard: in this case, a castle, a jousting tournament, and a medieval town. It's one of the best value Castle sets on shelves right now, striking a tempting balance between play and display. But with a little reworking, it can become something else entirely.
Typically, modern LEGO Castle sets lean more into minifigure-scale models, like the just-retired 10305 Lion Knights' Castle and the Castle-adjacent
Or at least there was, until Rebrickable user The_Astral_J adapted 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle to become Horse Knight Nook. The alternate build uses only pieces from the LEGO Creator 3-in-1 set, with roughly 200 left over, to transform the model into a set that steers away from play and more into a medieval-themed bookshelf display piece.
Where the official three builds of 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle provide space to play out various castle-themed scenes with the six minifigures, the book nook streamlines the model into a long diorama that hinges in on itself to slot in between books. Even when displayed extended on a shelf, the flat landscape puts the various medieval features into prime viewing spots.
That includes a cooking area, with a cauldron roasting over the fire and a table laden with food, with a mock-Tudor wall and tiled roof overhead that evoke the aesthetic of 21325 Medieval Blacksmith. The other end recreates the 'entrance' to the castle, with a door that opens to allow minifigures to pass through into the building itself.
There's also a beer keg at one head to complete the castle's exterior, as well as a tree and various faction colours to add pops of colour throughout the model. The reverse side, or the 'interior' of the castle, is a little more plain, but there are still fun miniature dioramas to pick out, including a dungeon, a study, and a throne room for the Horse Knight King.
When folded up, all of these details fit snugly together to create a dense medieval alley. The use of towers at different heights makes this custom build really pop in its book nook form. Looking from the front, the narrowness truly evokes the sense of an old-fashioned street, while the open-topped towers are great spots to display the more detailed minifigures, like the knights and the king.
The chains used for a drawbridge in the original model are drawn across the model, adding extra depth between the two sides of the book nook. The heights are an interesting way of keeping as much of the enclosed space visible as possible. That's something the official LEGO book nooks struggle with; it's hard to see much of the train in 76450 Book Nook: Hogwarts Express, for example.
When in situ on a bookshelf, the castle book nook is a cosy display piece that's much more aesthetic to slot into place than any of the more play-focused original versions of 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle. What's more, the build itself is delightfully well thought-out, focusing on each miniature scene in turn, slowly piecing together dioramas to form the larger scene. It's an artful style of building that marries construction with storytelling, rediscovering the world of the horse knights.
For a more mature and polished tribute to LEGO Castle, look no further than The_Astral_J's Horse Knight Nook. You only need a single copy of 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle to bring it to life.
31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle is available to buy now for £109.99 / $129.99 / €119.99 from LEGO.com, in stores, and from third-party retailers like Amazon, Very, John Lewis, and more.
This copy of 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle was provided by the LEGO Group for the purposes of this feature.
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