BlueBrixx Weir Walk Extension for Castle Blaustein Set 105236

BlueBrixx's Weir Walk Extension for Castle Blaustein is built from 4,473 blocks, measuring 71.3 × 72.9 × 72.2 cm assembled. The build runs to 845 steps. Designed by Martin, from the BlueBrixx-Specials range. Age 14+.

You cannot build this on its own

The Weir Walk is an expansion, not a standalone model, and it comes late in the Blaustein sequence: base castle (set 102818), Keep (103406 or 107089), Outer Bailey (104185), Hall (104953), and then this.

The instructions assume all of that is already standing. Ordered on its own it is 4,473 pieces with nowhere to attach.

What a Wehrgang actually is

The German name for this structure is Wehrgang — defensive walk — and it is the walkway running along the inside top of a castle wall, behind the battlements.

It sounds like a detail and it is the whole point of having a wall. A wall on its own is an obstacle that an attacker eventually gets over or through. A wall with a walk on top is a firing position: defenders move along it under cover of the merlons, concentrate wherever the attack is developing, and shoot down at people who cannot shoot back effectively.

The walk is what turns masonry into a weapon, and it is why the height of a curtain wall matters less than whether there are men standing on it. Castles that lost their wall walks to fire or collapse were frequently taken shortly afterwards, with the walls still standing.

At roughly 71 centimetres on each side this is a substantial run of wall, and it is the module that makes the Blaustein complex read as a fortress rather than a group of buildings.

In the BlueBrixx range

Set 102818 is the Blaustein base castle and 104953 the Hall Extension. With every expansion built, the complex passes 33,000 pieces. Sets 105506, 105545, 105653 and 105654 belong to the separate Bear Rock Castle system, which does not connect to this one.

Specifications

Pieces: 4,473 · Designer: Martin · 845 steps · Age: 14+ · Series: BlueBrixx-Specials · Requires the Blaustein system
Model dimensions: 71.3 × 72.9 × 72.2 cm (28.1 × 28.7 × 28.4 in)