This is, in my opinion, one of those sets that just absolutely captures the Lego lightning in a bottle.

At its best, Lego is whimsical, gentle fun that tells a story and engages you through a compelling building experience. This set hits every single one of those notes.

It's a near-perfect piece count: big enough to feel a real sense of accomplishment, not so big that it ever tips over into punishing.

The order of operations is terrific - build some structure, pack it with detail, rinse and repeat.

The details themselves are tremendous, running the gamut from the adorable dog with a hidden bone, to the bevy of blacksmith's tools and gear, to the beautiful scenery packed in around the shop/home. And I'll never get over the simple delight of a lightbrick.

The finished model is beautiful. The Tudor details, the modular approach to the different levels of the house, the gorgeous roof.

This is simply one of the best sets I've put in my collection. Highly, highly recommended.

As a multiple decade Lego lover and owner of numerous high end kits, I felt it valid to share some thoughts on the Medieval Blacksmith.
When completed, this kits is simply marvelous. I’m very thankful that Lego brought this one to us fans from the ideas world. Just looking at it from across a room, one can see its many thoughtful facets of medieval time, that era and style of living. I smile just looking at it.
That said, I can not help but say that this was the most difficult kit I’ve ever built. That difficulty comes solely from the awful instruction manual. The print on the pages was NOT sharp and detailed and the colors all seemed to meld together making it almost impossible in some steps to differentiate the parts. I found myself using the photos on the box quite frequently.
Other than the poorly drafted instruction manual, this kit is a wonderful addition to my collection.

Auf den ersten Blick ein schönes, wenn auch optisch sehr verspieltes Modell. Das verspielte bezieht sich aber wirklich nur auf die Optik, denn (entgegen manchen Rezensionen) wäre das Modell zum Spielen völlig ungeeignet, da es eigentlich nicht bewegt werden darf. Dies liegt primär an der fehlenden Bodenplatte. Ich habe keine Ahnung, was sich Lego dabei gedacht hat, aber alleine das Modell mal gerade von einem Tisch auf einen anderen zu bewegen führt dazu, dass sich i.d.R. die nur mit zwei Reihen befestigten Randplatten am Boden lösen.

Es wurde auch definitiv Potential verschenkt. Zum einen, weil kein einziger Raum gefliest ist, vor allem aber weil der Leuchtstein im Kamin deutlich besser hätte zur Geltung kommen können, wenn man den Kamin bis oben hin offen gebaut hätte. Dadurch wäre das Licht bis zu allen Kaminen vorgedrungen, so bleibt es lediglich in der Schmiede. Sehr schade, zumal es technisch kein Problem gewesen wäre.

Über die Qualität der Steine wurde bereits einiges gesagt, aber auch die Klemmkraft (gerade der Bodenteile) lässt hier einiges zu wünschen übrig. Wenn schon keine stabile Bodenplatte dann doch wenigstens Steine, die auch halten.

I know this comes in late but I missed this set when it was available through Lego, I got it through BrickLinks instead. Beautiful set, wonderful building experience, it makes for a very intricate and large display piece. And I believe this set explains why the medieval town square got a bit of a cold reception, what with people expecting a build of this caliber. In truth, this blacksmith set is on one scale, and the castle and town square are on another, the two don't go together. It's too bad this set is retired, Lego could start a whole line of medieval buildings like this one. So all in all, don't judge the town square by comparing it to this.