This one’s appraisals:
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Sandstone Expansion: Okish, but not really. It’s tier 1 so it’s basically only useful in single player mode. Even then, it is missing most wedge options, which leaves it feeling very incomplete. What it actually adds is very limited. Corner stairs are good, but not as good as a spiral stair design could have been. The two wide open wall is a good concept, but it runs into the problem that a single wall height still feels extremely cramped. The market window is nifty enough as is the windowed roof pieces. Everything else is basically just different texture. Which would be well and good, except it neglects wedges which makes it far less desirable in this one’s opinion.
For a cosmetic set that can’t really see use except in single player, it’s not really good.
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Stormglass Cathedral. Very good. As tier 3 it can have a purpose in play that isn’t just Lego mode. Altho two pieces are a full foundation thick for some reason (the 2x2 gate and window) it is otherwise very nice. The pieces blend well with the base set so the lack of some wedges (foundation and glass roof) isn’t as much an issue. Ceiling glass is excellent. The corner stairs are still not spiral and thus sorta funny. The corner alcoves are good for sculpting a room. As are the many pillar options. There are also some decorative bits and window tops as well as new floor patterns, partial as well as walls.
The two tall archway is so close to being excellent. On one hand, it allows a wall directly above stairs with no head bump. On the other, it blocks building on one side of the top, so one end side must be outward facing, which painful crimps the entire piece.
Overall, it could almost be a full build set on it’s own and is definitely recommended.
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Turanian Tents. It’s good. But just. What it adds to the game is extremely limited. The rounded corner walls are a pain in the clucking @$$ to place. As are the rounded tops. This one adores the tent aesthetic. The cloth roofs are great. But there are very few of them. Huge numbers of roof pieces are missing, so builds will be extremely limited. The walls and market window are gorgeous (also, some pieces use silk instead of hardened brick, which is perfect). The corner pillars are interesting but largely decorative. The inverse vaulted ceiling works surprisingly well for a stand alone. This one is very unhappy with the limited roofs, but does not find the limited extra ceiling an issue. There is a quarter dome top that has trouble placing all four and requires a square base, with no dome top for the rounded walls… There is a more rounded corner staircase, progress…
In total, this one doesn’t actually recommend it. While it is gorgeous, it is extremely limited, the missing pieces are keenly felt, and many pieces are just a pain to place. In the most basic of senses it can be a “complete” set on it’s own, it has some foundations, walls, doors, stairs and roofs… But only for very basic builds.
Of all the sets so far, this one loves the look of the Turanian the most, and finds it’s extremely incomplete nature (both in polish on implementation of snap points and in regards to the painfully absent pieces) to be the most vexing. If it were not so gorgeous, this one would not find it so extremely vexing. A set this one wants to build with, but even if all the pieces cooperated, it would still be so much less than it should be.
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