Overall 5 bricks: this middle set in the Dark Forest subtheme is very good. It offers a hideout for the outlaws including a small prison and a tower with a small catapult. You also get a great big catapult a small mobile treasurebox and 4 minifigures and a skeleton. It's very complete and very playable. If you can buy it be sure to get it with the original instructions, on the rear page it shows alternative building possibilities. Not a cheap set because it is like all Dark Forest sets hard to get but if you are a Castle fan and like these "Robin Hood" themes get it if you find it. As long as there are more people who want it (535) than who own it (419) you know it's worth it.

Building 4 bricks: You start with the basepart which is built one 2 big rockparts, one is built on a small turningplate to open it. The basefloor is empty except a pillar with a sword and a torch. First floor is a prison wit a rockpart on the back and a ladder which has a double function : door and stairs to the second floor. On the second floor is the watchtower with in front a turret and a catapult on the back. The tower is camouflaged with branches and green treeparts both big and small. The second mission is the catapult built on a turntable, not too difficult but thanks to the big hinge and the used branches and leafes a great result. In between the hideout and catapult a great looking waterwell with pump.

Parts 5 bricks: Great parts in this sets starting with the 2 wonderfull outlaw minifigures, esspecially the blue sleeved one. The 2 Royal Knights and other outlaw are good but more common with all sufficient weapons with an extra remark for the outlaw shield. Overall great parts like the rocks, the branches and leafes. All parts give you the opportunity to change this set in several ways, like shown on the instructions and if you use your fantasy. Other good parts are the big black hinge, the ladders and the light grey parts used for the well and pump.

Playability 5 bricks: All present to play with in several ways. Multiple ways to built it and the present content will give every young Legofan a great time. A hideout, 2 catapults and 4 Knights for a good battle. 5 Bricks well deserved !!

Value 3 bricks: Because it is hard to find it's expensive for a set this size. Average value is according to Bricklink €52,50 which is double the value new. If you a Castle and Forest fan it is worth it, for the average Legofan or for parts certainly not. If you find it be sure to get it with instructions and the blue feather.

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Pros

• Pro 1 Awesome looking set for the mid/low price range bracket
  
• Pro 2 Looks like a $30 set for $24
  
• Pro 3 5 minifigs, with one of them that can be used as a prince of thieves and one being a cool skeleton.
  
• Pro 4 the large building pieces are always good to make various alternate buildings
• Pro 5 building it was fun and somewhat challenging
• Pro 6 lots of alternate building options
• Pro 7 Ladders are a nice touch design wise. Nothing I hate more than a floor physically impossible for the figures to get up on. You'd have to imagine that there is a way for them to get up there which I see as a design flaw.
• Pro 8 Nice looking well, a little out of place but a great little touch.
  
• …

Cons

• Con 1 While the design looks cool on paper, the floor layout is pretty bland, first floor, second floor, third floor with nothing much going on on either
  
• Con 2 Bottom floor doesnt really have much going on, no furnishings or decor
• Con 3 Bottom wall slides open which is interesting but really serves no purpose.
• Con 4 Not a lot of core building block pieces
  
• …

Great set to have if you had the chance to get one. Its a great set to have if you wanted to get a decent sized castle and you dont want to fork over a lot of money to get one. You get the feeling that you got a great deal on this set and it should have cost more. A lot of the castle sets in this price range gives you that feeling that you didnt really get much for the price in the years to come

i love this set love it i like to make the guys with pointed hats Robin Hood and Little John i do not now if the set was made for them to be robin hood and little john well this set is big and awesome
if you like big sets and fun sets git this one.

This set is another classic example of LEGO getting the set name wrong; to call this small tower a stronghold would be laughable, however that is not to say the set isn’t good, no a set cannot be judged by name alone. However when you look at design that is when a set can be deemed ‘bad’, so is this set bad? Well in my opinion yes and no, but mostly yes.

The set lack cohesion it is clearly divided into three parts and yet none of the parts really connect together or complement each other, it also lack quality as the tower itself is very poorly built and despite the bottom half being a hideout and the middle part being a jail neither of them really look like they are filling the roles assigned them. As for the large catapult I like its design but don’t like its inclusion in the set I would much rather they invest the bricks in building us a tree or small river to make the baseplate seem more worthy, as there is a lot of spare space in this build and we already get a catapult at the top of the tower, two is just overkill.

Thematically the set is a letdown as well, why are the Royal Knights attacking with a chest of gold? Why is one of them using the catapult on the other? Why is there a stone fountain in the middle of the forest? It’s all a bit of a mess.

Good parts about this set come in the form of the minifigs and the water fountain in the middle however that is not enough to lift it up from the mediocrity it is wallowing in.

If you like this review or if you wish to see images of alternate builds for this set and other sets for this faction click on the link to find it and all reviews of the Castle sets

http://legosteveblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/lego-dark-forest-1996.html

It's a real shame the Dark Forest theme was under-developed as I think it has real potential. This return to the Robin Hood sets featured such advances as brown tree pieces and minifigs with beards, moustaches etc.

This particular set is an outlaw outpost built across a gap between two rocky outcrops. For a start that seems a strange place to build a base. Not only is it vulnerable to attack from underneath, but there's nothing to stop anybody just walking into the gap and stealing the treasure chest or any other goodies the merry men choose to stow away there.

There is a small prison cell and above that battlements where a small catapult is built. A larger catapult on a turntable is standing a short distance from the main model, and there is a well-designed drinking fountain. Overall plenty of useful pieces, but a pretty slapdash main model. Also, a few more of those newly-designed Dark Forestmen would have been nice instead of medieval soldiers.