Review: 6079 Dark Forest Fortress

[ciano]

I remember unwrapping this set Christmas morning in the late '90s and having my mind blown because it hadn't been on store shelves for years! Now it seems that this set is capable of amazing me endlessly - I do not remember it being this awesome at all! I may have to rebuild my old one now.

[Uvga]

Thank, this is really very good set with a lot of "items" in it.

Uvga

[theshadowknows]

Great reveiw! I love this set.

[Wout]

What a nice review of a great set.

The big baseplate is here a great addition, as it was not always in other sets.

It has so many brown corner castle walls and I'm afraid now they have a newer less stabilized piece for that, they will not make the old one and defenialty not in new brown. they would be nice to make a big tree.

[snefroe]

truly a great set! I love those minifigs, but never was fond of the raised baseplate, though...

[ssgdave]

Great review. I am fortunate to own this set and several of the other Dark Forest sets. These were had to haves in my early collection.

[Sir Dillon]

I've always wanted this set, but couldn't afford it when it was first released and don't think it's worth the overblown price it sells for today. Thanks for the review though, I enjoyed looking through the pictures of this lovely set.

[legotrainfan]

For me this set is outstanding. I think the Dark Forest line wasn't released in Europe. Sets were only available in the US. Please correct me if I'm wrong here! I'd love to own this fortress. I like its colours and don't bother about the raised baseplate, which some of you don't like. There are also quite many minifigs.

In contrast to the Forestmen line, the trees are brown and not black anymore. Some people dislike the black trees of the Forestmen line since they don't look realistic. I myself don't care so much about them being black or brown, but I must say that brown trees were a nice change.

Have you ever noticed the coachman's shield which does not correspond to the bigger shield attached to the coach? His shield is from another, previous line: the Black Knights. Strange. I suppose TLC didn't want to make new smaller shields just because of one set. They decided to use the old printing pattern of the Black Knights line instead.

[metalandi]

Have you ever noticed the coachman's shield which does not correspond to the bigger shield attached to the coach? His shield is from another, previous line: the Black Knights. Strange. I suppose TLC didn't want to make new smaller shields just because of one set. They decided to use the old printing pattern of the Black Knights line instead.

Yeah, i also stated that in my review. You could be right asbout that they didn't want to make a new shield, but rhere's something else interesting. In THIS set the dragon knight also has a black knight shield, but a big one. That makes me think that the 2 faction might actually be related to each other in some way.

[josykay]

Maybe the are related. There are several clues: The two mentioned Black Knight shields and both factions castle have a Wolfpack prisioner...

But there is also a poster showing Majisto on a dragon fighting Black Knights...

Edited June 3, 2010 by josykay

[legotrainfan]

Yeah, i also stated that in my review. You could be right asbout that they didn't want to make a new shield, but rhere's something else interesting. In THIS set the dragon knight also has a black knight shield, but a big one. That makes me think that the 2 faction might actually be related to each other in some way.

I've just gone through your review again. You provided us with that information right away. I should've read everything carefully.

I completeley forgot about Royal Drawbridge 6078 though I have got it myself! You're absolutely right! There's a big Black Knights shiled in that set! Very mysterious! Anyone here who can bring a bit of light into this unsolved state?

As to whether the Royal Knight helps the Dark Forest guys because he is loading the catapult, hasn't TLC sometimes done this? I mean aren't there other boxes on which you can see that a guy from one faction helps another faction? There might be some other cases of treason, but right at the moment there are no concrete examples in my mind. I could be wrong, though, and that Royal Knight has been the only traitor in the history of castle sets.

[josykay]

There is a Black Knight ship, that contains two Black Hawk soldiers as crewmen. That is very strange because the Black Knights were at war with the alliance of the Crusaders and Black Hawks.

[metalandi]

Probably TLG decided to add a touch of "peace" in some sets. Like, that they wanted to show the children that the knights don't neccesarily always have to fight against each other...do you know what i mean? I don't know, but i could see that as a possibility.

[legotrainfan]

There is a Black Knight ship, that contains two Black Hawk soldiers as crewmen. That is very strange because the Black Knights were at war with the alliance of the Crusaders and Black Hawks.

I suppose you mean Sea Serpent 6057. I've got that ship and you're right: It's surprising that two Black Hawk soldiers are part of the crew.

Probably TLG decided to add a touch of "peace" in some sets. Like, that they wanted to show the children that the knights don't neccesarily always have to fight against each other...do you know what i mean? I don't know, but i could see that as a possibility.

It must be that way.

Edited June 4, 2010 by legotrainfan

[Destroydacre]

I suppose you mean Sea Serpent 6057. I've got that ship and you're right: It's surprising that two Black Hawk soldiers are part of the crew.

For what it's worth, the picture on the instructions shows the Black Knights on the boat and the Black Falcons on the shore. It looks to me like they just threw them in to give you someone to battle against.

[josykay]

For what it's worth, the picture on the instructions shows the Black Knights on the boat and the Black Falcons on the shore.

But at the end of the instructions the Black Hawks stand on the ship...

Edited June 5, 2010 by josykay

[Palathadric]

Incredible set! Again I will say, I do not understand why Lego only made three sets under this theme. All three were very good, and this one was the best! I love the minifigs. I do not understand why they gave the Dragon Master a grey helmet and an ancient shield, but it's got to have some story behind it, eh?

Yes, I definitely think the Black Knights and Dragon Masters are related. Their large shields are exactly the same, and the small shield of the Black Knights is almost the same as the emblem on the torsos of the Dragon Masters, there must be something there, no?

What probably happened in this set is that the Royal Knights crushed the last pockets of resistance amongst the Dragon Masters, so the Dragon Masters are allying themselves with the Forestmen as their last resort in their fight for survival. Either that or one of the Dragon Masters did an incredible thing to sneak into the Forestmen's midst and is going to use their catapult against them, while the other Dragon Master is wearing a grey helmet he stole from a Royal Knight to disguise himself... Nah, I'll go with the first interpretation.

[Ardelon]

I see the use of Black Knight shields here and in the 6078 Royal Drawbridge as a kind of final shout out to the Black Knights. I presume the Black Knights were off the shelves at that point, so there was no other way to get Black Knights shields in a legit set anymore - I myself got my only big ovoid Black Knight shield from the Royal Drawbridge set, and I won't complain about that. In-universe, I treat the Dragon Masters as a faction that split off the Black Knights and decided to follow Majisto. The dragon crest suiting their new name and allegiance just fine, they decided to keep it, only recoloring the dragon to a more "realistic" green, to show they deal with real dragons. The few Dragon Masters above maybe simply didn't have time to adopt the new shields.

Back to the set, I like the exclusive baseplate and the more realistic brown trees (though this isnt such an issue, the black trees of the Forestmen were ok too), as well as the fact we get all the DF figs in this set. I prefer these minifigs to the Forestmen, these new guys look grittier and more realistic (OK, maybe I take realism a bit too seriously ) next to the rather cartoonish forestmen.

Shame TLG only made 3 sets. As I wrote recently in respons to SirSven7's Wolfpack review (to those who haven't done so already, check it out!), I see parallels with Wolfpack, "which was also scrapped after three sets to make way for a fantasy-style faction with dragons and a magical character..."

[Palathadric]

The original forestmen, the wolf pack, and the dark forestmen all hold a special place in my heart. Maybe it's because they aren't really a part of the main struggle. They aren't exactly waging major wars against anyone like the Dragon Masters are doing against the Royal Knights, etc. They're just there in their hideaways giving everyone who runs into them a tough time. They were just a minority and it's always easier to feel sympathy and more love for the "Davids" than the "Goliaths", right?

I agree with you, I prefer the look of these forestmen to the original ones.

[smitty9999]

I really like this set. It provides the feeling of an outpost in a forest. The main building is on the small side, but I think it has great play value. At the time of release, other castle sets didn't provide much in the way of living quarters and this set is a nice touch with the small table and goblets as well as the stable and room below the jail.