Build Report: 79007 Battle at the Black Gate

In today's build report, I'm visiting my favorite theme, The Lord of the Rings.

Battle of the Black Gate is one of the few sets from the Return of the King wave, which really lacked any Gondor influenced sets in my opinion, and with "King" Aragorn comes the closest to the White City we ever will get.

This set, which ideally you would need to build two times in a mirrored configuration to create the full gate, comes with a baseplate, Gwaihir, four bags of parts and two instruction manuals.

The first figures we come across are excellent renditions of Gandalf the White and Aragorn in his regal outfit.  I love the torso and leg prints on the recently returned king!

The first things we build are small pieces of rockwork.  While nothing spectacular by themselves, these will form the end pieces of the build and integrate the walls into the surrounding area.

Having put these together, we start on the first of the two main parts of the build, being the guard tower that comes with the gate.

A lever is installed in this tower to create one of the play-features of this set.

This feature, a raising portcullis, is then build and inserted to the front of the tower.

Some grisly details are scattered on the ground floor, Mordor isn`t your ideal vacation destination after all.

Next we get both the Gwaihir great eagle figure, and the fantastic Mout of Sauron, another excellent figure that was by far the forte of the theme.

The tower is then build up further, using corner elements to give it a slightly rounded yet angular look.

Using snot techniques, the wall resembles the opening at the bottom perfectly.

The battlements on the top floor are then build and added to the top level of the tower.

A small catapult makes up the main defence on the tower, ready to repel any attackers on the Dark lands.

Large and menacing pikes are added to the four corners to give the tower a sleek look like it does in the movies.

And the tower section is completed, allowing us to move on to the gate itself.

We also get an orc warrior with this set, including the lovely orcish helmets seen first with the uruk-hai from the previous wave.

A large dark blueish gray plate serves as the basis for the gate.

This is covered mainly in black tiles of various sizes, allowing a smooth opening of the gate itself as it hinges on the sidepanels later on.

The gate itself begins on a brown plate, onto which we are going to raise the black walls.

A large doorknob like device is added to this, as turning it will unlock the both halves and allow the gate to swing open.

This section is then placed on the bottom plate we build earlier and secured.

On top, brown plates are attached to create the walkway for the orc guards to pass over.

A nice system of hinge clips and teethed plates is used to make the battlements all spiky bits in style.

Finally, large pointed elements are attached to finish this look off.

We get a second orc guard as well with this set, to join his buddy in defending the entrance to Mordor.

The other side of the massive gateway also begins life as a few brown plates.

Following a more or less identical build up as the previous section, this is then build up and attached to the other side of the baseplate.

This is secured as well and brown plates make up the remainder of the walkway on top.

The same design is used to make it all look menacing and pointy next.

Now, we can start "dressing up" the build as the framework is in place, and this is done by the use of the snot technique.

Various plated and tiled sections are being put together to this end.

Attaching those to the front sides of the gate sections, a polished look is recreated.

And we lock the back side to have the gate in a closed position.

The same technique for the front is now also used on the other gate section, completing the gate itself.

We attach the tower to the side of the build.

And the full set stands completed:

Of course, some extra parts where included as well in the set:

I really like the Black gate, albeit she might look a bit small and unimposing.  Now, with the addition of the tower from a second set, this is already seriously remedied and makes it look all the more impressive. 

And of course, the Aragorn and Mouth of Sauron figures are top notch models!