Evoker Village Attack

Building a Minecraft set is its own particular rhythm, and this one is a good example of it. Everything is squares and right angles and textured slopes, so you spend the build snapping together blocky terrain, little garden plots, and modular walls that separate into the three locations. It moves quickly, which makes it friendly for the 9-and-up age it targets, and the fact that the three builds come apart means two people can each take a section. It is satisfying in a tidy, methodical way rather than a challenging one, and the reward is really in populating the finished scene with figures.

The figures are where the parts interest really sits. The evoker is brand new to the theme, so that hooded head and torso printing is the piece collectors will care about, and the trio of vexes gives you those small flying mob figures to swarm the village. The iron golem is a chunkier brick-built figure rather than a single mould, and the Raccoon Adventurer and Undying Protector bring printed detail you will not find in most sets. On top of the cast you get a pile of the small printed and moulded accessories Minecraft does so well: a stonecutter, a lectern and bookshelves, a working bell, a hay bale, and garden crops like carrots, beetroot and wheat that add a lot of character for their size.