My god, I think this cost me £11 - £13, an impulse buy surprised by its being marked down. I would never have bought it otherwise. Extending the Forestmen collection did not seem justified at the time but this is more a model thats a very worthwhile purchase for Castle in general and just happens to be occupied by merry men. I felt it suits a lake better than a river but either way its a bit of an ancient ruin.

Minifigures:

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• The grey stave or lance for combat or boat steering.
• Stag's head shields.

Barrel Boat

First up a brilliant little barrel raft can be made using sideways building even though the top plate is precariously on only two studs but strong technic axles link the barrels up. A man with a stave is placed on top to steer it on the water and a brown chest full of yellow gold pieces can be transported across along with people. A sword also clips usefully on to the side.

Watery Grave

Out on the pond slant bricked tree roots and stone foundations are arranged opposite a tiny strip on green plate land. The trees corner slants look particularly good. A secretive open arch is built around the back for covert raft hiding while the front is much more built over. Five black singular bars are placed in a row in the middle like a sinister cage, this is not looking good for someone. Various tiles and a hinged brick suggest the access available and then the sinister watery dungeon is confirmed: a lone Lion Knight guard is imprisoned standing in the water. Grim. A sword is clipped inside for poking him aside a grey plate floor and then hinged black drawbridge that reaches the shore, not really necessary for a more defensive 'reached only by boat' design but this extra function is much fun and always welcomed by interactive children.

That covers the sinister water torture dungeon section and if it were on a river, flash flooding would quickly drown the prisoner. This is why an AFOL mind is not always helpful when reviewing a toy but children are not dumb and will often see abnormalities.

Overgrown Tower

Its quite grand this build and include various diagonal panels, black for tree and grey for stone, on the corners making a nicely shaped cross section. A very large area of tower wall and thick tree trunk is made completely separately so it can fit on to the hinges and slide across the tiles for access. That poor prisoner looks like he is being built over in the instructions! Here rather strangely arches come across back to front and make a more skeletal stone structure central to the building. It denies a middle floor and yet fills the gap where play takes place. These buttresses can be played in its just an unusual play interior when opened up but how about that, all the Forestmen sets are closed up in this way without open backed dead space. Smart arched windows style the front and dark grey stone prints improve the panels. The drawbridge gets a grand pillared and built arch entrance and the roof is completed with a winch and string operated portcullis in long black tiles. This smoothly drops down to securely lock out an attack and is a great element of the overall model. A spear is also clipped up here, weapons always clipped nearly everywhere in Castle for impromptu fighting. An offset side studded brick is built unsymmetrically at the front to add foliage and there is plenty more and a vine added around the many arched branches to make a good visual impact. A hinged brick holds a red and white double flag to show off who has captured the tower and the merry men's shields smartly adorn the front posts. Meanwhile a tree has grown on the bank and holds the smart archery target.

Alternative Building

The other builds shown are not too bad with another castle style tower in a lake and a long fortified bridge not managing to better the main design or add much more to the concept. The trees are so a part of the structure, they are not easily made separate but I could envisage one large tree being built with one decent castle or tall tower.

Capture The Flag
The top has some decent battlements and you could point out some strange design choices in the build such as the back to front interior structure cluttering a better used space or the slants on the ground floor that just sit there without obvious purpose but I think this is nitpicking. The odd interior structure is well made with arches and the whole model has a great feel of age and abandonment to it. Not obviously a merry men's typical dwelling place, as opportunists they just happened to have moved in and taken command and this is where it best succeeds as a play ruin or lake tower for any characters in Castle scenarios. Like many model castles you can just replace the shields with any others you like and make changes to the design and so its a wonderful and unique model for the subtheme but especially the Castle landscape and play.

Now we come to the largest of the Forestmen’s sets; their Fortress, I loved the way this set was fully enclosed and yet could be opened from the back and accessed, I also loved the small raft made of barrels and the little tree at the front with a target on it, plus you have to admire the bravery of the lone Crusader assaulting the fortress.

Overall this is a nice set, I like that it’s on a blue baseplate, so that it feels like it’s on a river or surrounded by a moat (a reason to use boats for once) but the interior detail of the fortress is extremely lacking, there’s only a small platform for space and one little dungeon (submerged in the water), after that there is nothing else. A nice set, beautiful looking and full of figs, its just a shame these nothing to enjoy on the inside.

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/2011/10/lego-forestmen-sets-1987-1990.html

If I have to pick and choose which of the Foretsmen sets were the best, I'd have to say it was this one.

For starters, the set is based on a blue base plate, clearly indicating a river or lake locale for the Tree-Fort. The Fort itself has a small draw bridge to make it harder for Knights to get to and attack and the Forestmen can easilly defend it. The back of the Fort build swings open to allow for access to inside and play. Tree branches and elements on either side make it look as if they've built their Fort from the inside of a tree.

There's a small tree on the bank with a printed target piece for target practice. A very well designed river raft and treasure chest feature in this set. There's a pair of the uncommon Forestmen Shields with stags.

For those who collected up the Forestmen sets, this set was just great to have.

I've just recently acquired this set and i have to say its amazing... It took me some time to put it together but the final result was worth it. A full covered fortress with a small dungeon, draw bridge, and sliding door, raft, treasure 6 minifigs, all of which a man can only wish for. Plus, the whole fortress is covered with leaves and brunches, which gives it a true camouflaged look, which i think is pretty cool and well combined.

Again 5 out of 5.

The Forestmen sets were so good that they should all be rereleased. I like the forestmen hats and the shields with the deer on it which you don't see often. This set is nicely well built and yet you can still play with this. I really like the fortress and it has water around it except for a little bridge. The Forestmen were an amazing theme, and this is the reason why.