Customer Reviews

House of Staunton 3.875" Plastic Hastings Chess Set - Black & Natural

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a gorgeous set of pieces - I was blown away by the quality when I received mine. The design of the knight is especially beautiful. Don't be fooled by the word 'plastic'. These pieces are felted and weighted, and do not look at all like 'plastic', having a nice matt patina. Without touching one, the black pieces have the appearance of wood. Even the pawns feel quite heavy. They're also nicely finished and look and feel as if they'll last a lifetime.

I'm so impressed, I'm ordering another set in a different colour combination. The price is ridiculous. I've have paid three or four times what Amazon are asking for a set as elegant and as handsome as this.

If you appreciate fine chess sets, you can't afford not add this to your collection. As for me, this will be my main set from now on. Congrats to House of Staunton for having the inspiration.

Ordered on Sunday - arrived on Thursday. Quick shipment.
This is my first "real" set. I've usually used smaller sets made of wood, marble, plastic.
This set has a nice & wide base and includes a nice roll-up board that has a good size for these pieces.
The pieces are weighted, yet aren't too heavy. They definitely shouldn't topple over accidentally, but are not cumbersome to move.
The Knights are exquisite, very detailed, with nostrils flared open as if in the moment of attack.
The set comes with an extra Queen of each color (nice touch) and the red set is more of a wine/maroon color which I like. I was expecting a more vivid red, but this color is a bit subtle and seems to have a somewhat serious tone to it.
The Kings are pretty tall & easy to pickup as are all of the pieces. With the wide base, all have ample room between pieces to allow easy usage.
All in all, a very nice set at a great price (even including the somewhat high shipping price)

Beautiful chess set. Heavy pieces. Nice design.
Delivery was quick and everything was packaged well.

I just purchased this set. It arrived yesterday. If you are looking for a very good set to use. This is it. The pieces are weighted nicely. The set looks and feels great. Can't beat the $20.00 price!!! delivery charges are a little steep, but they are on everything nowadays. you even get a free vinyl chess board. I highly recommend this set.

Got this from House of Staunton in Sept 2009. The set looks impressive - knights are quite nicely fashioned, the curves of the tall kings, queens and bishops are good too. The matt finish looks nice. The vinyl roll-up board is made better than others I have seen in my chess club.

But overall, I was slightly disappointed with the quality (read "heaviness of the pieces"), especially if I compare with the "Rogue Knight Staunton" from [...]. And I do not quite like the embossing in extremely small letters "House of Staunton" on the base of the two kings and the sharp queen coronets. I have however seen inferior quality chess pieces, so you may ask me if my whinings are legitimate.

After 2 months of limited usage of the Hastings set:
1. The cross on top of the white king's crown has came off. I have tried to put it back with some strong industrial glue, but i fear that it will come out again. Specially when playing blitz, some over-enthusiastic opponent wants to give me a checkmate by knocking the white king down. The cross does look small and flimsy and this is exactly where the look and feel of the Hastings takes a beating compared to the Rogue Knight Staunton. Anyways, now I am wondering how to get a replacement white king from HOS, as I am no longer in the USA.

2. Two spikes of the queen's coronet broke. Fortunately I have 2 queens per colour.

Before buying, I did a lot of search for good plastic chess sets. Amongst the shortlisted ones, HOS impressed me with the layout of their website and the amount of information it offered. And I do hope HOS considers making their Hastings pieces a little bit more weighted than it currently is. 52 ounces from the current 42 would be ideal for a set the size of the Hastings.

Edit: I spoke to HOS and they will send me the replacement piece free of cost, but charge for shipping. Since I am no longer in the USA, the international shipping rates are prohibitive...

The knight is what really sets this set apart from the rest, it is simply fantastic! The weight, feel and playability of this set are excellent, and of the 25+ sets I own this is my favorite and most often reached for!
For this price, you certainly cannot go wrong. Quality is great!

I've been playing chess for 40+ years and was bowled over by the quality of this set and the care taken in producing it. Looks and even feels better than many wooden sets I've owned. Best possible value. In this age of declining standards and cheap merchandising, this is a very pleasant and unexpected surprise! Kudos for quality.

Overall I am happy with this purchase.
The quality is good. It is not extraordinary but remember this is a $30 set.
But for the price tag it is an excellent value.

The colors are a bit different than in the picture: the white pieces are brighter than in the picture.
The vinyl board is green and cream color (darker than the white pieces) with the company logo on the far right corner.

Shipping is reasonable as it did come in a fairly large box.

Frankly, if you look at the catalogs and other offering, to get a set of this design in wood you have to shell out a lot more money so you for the price you get a nice large regulation size set, excellent design.

The biggest problem I have with this set is that it wet my appetite and now I want to get a high end one....

I was excited to get this chess set. After reading the reviews, I had the impression that it was made out of very dense, top of the line plastic, intricately carved, with the finest attention to detail. I was expecting the pieces not to be molded, but to be lathed and machined...

I picked up the box containing the pieces and was very pleased with how heavy it was. I finally opened it and was immediately a little disappointed. First, nobody could mistake the material for anything other than plastic. A relatively quick examination of the pieces reveals the line from the mold, and they simply have the look of plastic pieces. The rooks are completely smooth, which accentuates the mold line and there are a few minor imperfections on some of the pieces (mostly on this mold line). The density and quality of the plastic is nothing extraordinary, although definitely not cheap either. I must take note of the fact that the label on the box said something along the lines of 'Hastings Chess Set 4" King', which is odd because I ordered the 3.875". The chess pieces look identical to the ones in the picture, so I'm nearly positive it actually is the 3.875" set.

Having gotten over the fact that someone didn't slave over its creation for days on end to produce the most outrageously amazing plastic chess set ever created (as the manufacturer's description might make you assume), I took another look at it. This time, I appreciated it a lot more. In fact, every time I have used it since (maybe 5 times now), I have liked it more. I now adore the set and am very glad I bought it.

The pieces really are gratifyingly heavy. If they were any heavier for their size, I think they would have to be completely hollowed out and filled with lead. The center of gravity is nice and low, so you can bump the top of a piece relatively hard without it falling over. The bottoms are covered with felt, which doesn't seem like it will wear away any time soon, and definitely adds to the feeling of quality in the pieces. The knights are quite cool. It looks like there was actually some manual labor involved in the creation of the mane and ears, and the overall style of the knight is pretty much perfect. I like how wide the chest is--it is the first knight I've seen that actually gives the muscularity of a horse any justice. I think I would have preferred the rooks to have some sort of stone pattern instead of being smooth, but they're not bad. All of the other pieces are very well done. I got the black and natural color combination and am pleased with my choice. I was hoping the natural wouldn't look cheap, and it doesn't. A roll-out board was included with my set and it is surprisingly nice for what it is. The chess set really looks awesome when it is set up on it.

I think this set gets a well-deserved 4/5 stars. A 5/5 would be the chess set I was expecting. I do believe that for the price ($30 plus a ridiculously high shipping cost), it would be extremely hard to find a better set. This is as good as anyone could reasonably expect from a mass-produced plastic chess set.

it's a nice and heavy, well designed set, with a nice matte finish to the pieces as the boys here are saying... the knight is especially pretty to look at. and you get a very nice free vinyl board. it's all club regulation, so it's probably perfect for playing in clubs or tournaments. but be aware, it IS just a plastic set, with noticeable mold lines on the pieces. the king, with the fragile looking little plastic cross on his crown looks especially flimsy and a little cheap. if you really care about the set looking and feeling really snazzy, maybe you ought to consider springing a bit more for a nice heavy wood set that will set you up for life. i'm not saying this set isn't durable; i would imagine this set will last a lifetime unless you keep dumping heavy books on top of the chess bag when you toss everything in your car... but if you get really serious, you'll probably want a nice wooden set eventually.

also, you'll need a 24" chess bag, so you might as well order one now. you can't possibly keep the set or carry it around in the packaging it comes in. the $14 bag i got was cheap; it looks like the zippers will die in a year or two. maybe you ought to consider paying a bit more for the staunton bag. hopefully it's better made.