Classic LEGO sets: Forestmen
Posted by Huw,
Here's another look at classic LEGO from yesteryear, courtesy of Daniel, The LEGO Chronicler:
The Classic Castle era of LEGO was a period fairly bristling with amazing sets. Today for our nostalgic look back at some classic sets your collection should contain, I would like to draw your attention to a fabulous sub-theme that is now so old that even its only re-boot (why only one LEGO!) could also be considered classic due to its age: Forestmen.
Although there is no indication that these guys were robbing the rich to feed the poor, given that LEGO presents them as nothing more than outlaws, these sets clearly draw aesthetic inspiration from Robin Hood and his merry men. The Forestmen sub-theme trickled out of LEGO over a four year timeframe from 1987 through 1990 with one major set per year with the exception of 1987. At the time of each set's release, they were intended to be a sort of novelty item thrown in amongst the more mainstream castle sets to provide outlaws for populating the castle world. To that end, each of the three major sets were designed to stand alone and provide everything the budding LEGO Maniac would need to lead a satisfying outlaw band in a single purchase. That being said, assembled all together after the fact these sets emerged as a fabulous sub-theme which can be used to create an awesome outlaw village deep in the heart of the forest. If you can add any of these sets to your collection you will not be disappointed.
1877 Crusader's Cart & 1974 Smuggler's Hayride
I am going to cover these two together since they are so similar and could really both be called "The Cart for the Outlaws to Rob". The only vehicle Forestmen sets, both consisted of pleasing little carts -- one about to be plundered, and one having presumably already been stolen. In addition to providing victims for the outlaws to mug, they both include great pairings of minifigures. Forestmen figures are hard to come by and both 1877 and 1974 are great sources along with being fabulous little sets.
6054 Forestman's Hideout
Moving along the set list by size rather than chronology, we come next to the smallest of the Forestman's structures. Consisting of a fantastic little tree accessed through a realistic looking hole at its base, 6054 was always the hideout near the edge of the forest overlooking the king's road in my childhood stories. From this covert perch, the Forestmen could then swoop down on unsuspecting travelers. Hinges allow the tree to be opened for inside play and the blue hinged roof can double as a fabulous getaway hatch should the outlaws be cornered. A printed target and two Forestmen's shields round out this excellent mid sized set.
6066 Camouflaged Outpost
The first of the Forestmen sets was designed to stand alone forever in the event that the infant sub-theme did not prove popular. In light of that, the first thing that stands out about 6066 is the astonishing number of minifigures: six fully armed Forestmen are included, providing a respectable outlaw band in a single purchase. This is a trait that continued with the remaining sets in the theme. On top of that, unlike today where generous amounts of figures usually means sacrificing the rest of the set, 6066 also includes a great structure. Designed to look like an abandoned ruin nestled up to a tree, the walls and roof fold away to reveal the hidden interior of the surprisingly large outpost. Thankfully the Forestmen did not end with this iteration, but if they had, this set would have provided all that was needed for a superb outlaw band in one outstanding offering.
6071 Forestmen's Crossing
This set has a unique distinction. It is one of the only sets which includes the old brown bridge piece and actually uses it to span a body of water. In other sets such as 6278 and 6273, the bridge serves merely as a shortcut between structures. But here, on the rare printed river baseplate, LEGO gave us an actual bridge crossing an actual river to connect an expansive tree with integrated ladder on one side to the multi-level structure on the other. Based on the pieces included, as well as the pictures on the instructions, this set was intended to be the secret location where the outlaws stashed their cache of stolen gold: a sort of "outlaw vault." The large hinged stone doors even look like vault doors.
Once again the set includes a generous selection of minifigures including the exclusive Forestwoman! Alas my copy of this set goes down as my most tragic experience with the dreaded "missing piece in a new set" nightmare as that figure didn't make it into my box! Talk about a shot to the heart! My loss notwithstanding, this is an exceptional set that along with looking great offers a lot of play possibilities due to the river crossing.
6077 Forestman's River Fortress
The key word in the name of this set is Fortress. Unlike the other Forestmen sets which are intended to be hideouts or outposts that rely on stealth, this set is the outlaw's stronghold, the place they flee to and make their stand against the King's men.
Designed to look like it is built out of a hollowed out tree in the middle of a lake, this set is bursting with playability as evidenced by it being the epicenter of many hours of happy play for me as a kid. The rear of this set opens to reveal an interior with a dank prison. The doorway of the fortress can be sealed off with a working portcullis and the top features a turret structure from which the outlaws can rain arrows down on their assailants. Once again a generous six fully armed minifigures are included.
Due to their age and excellence, all the Forestmen sets command a high price on the aftermarket sites and Ebay. They are also unfortunately not good candidates for part sourcing because their rare figures are incredibly expensive to acquire individually, and you can't really take shortcuts on the minifigures in this case. However, as each of the larger sets were designed to stand alone and provide a respectable outlaw band in a single purchase, the good news is that you really only need to add one of them to your collection in order to have a good representation of the theme.
Want to buy the sets mentioned in this article?
Many are listed on eBay at the moment, both used and MISB. The links below will show available lots at eBay.com.
- 1877 Crusader's Cart
- 1974 Smuggler's Hayride
- 6054 Forestman's Hideout
- 6066 Camouflaged Outpost
- 6071 Forestmen's Crossing
- 6077 Forestman's River Fortress
The commission we receive when you buy or bid at eBay via links at Brickset directly contributes to the running and upkeep of the site.
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32 comments on this article
Great review of this great theme! it, has been, and still is high on my wish list of old lego (right after classic space). I do think you missed the point of the two wagons however, as far as I understood from the instructions and the pictures, they are more smugling vehicles, used to transport their loot, or even smugle a forrest man into or out of a castle, with the secret compartment in the crusaiders cart which fits a minifig!
but still, forrestmen rock!
Great look back and another fantastic addition to this retrospective.
However my heart just sank as I'm currently bidding on a 6066 on ebay that was reasonably priced....for now!
Cheers!
^ Whoops, sorry! :)
My original Forestman is so old he got cracking down both sides of torso and one wrist. Got him with a set not shown, a small black arch of minifig like height (1x4 maybe 3 brick high on a green 2x6 flat, maybe a 2x4 green) that was pretty much an Archery Practice set. Should have been packaged in a small box.
Another treat to my childhood in these days were the IDEA books for variety as Castle and Pirate had similar parts.
EDIT - my tiny set seems to have been earl '90s. Oh well.
I know these are still really popular among collectors, not quite as highly desired as classic space but still up there, but I think a big part of why they were phased out without having been rebooted in a long time is that they are pretty much a sub theme to the castle/knights kingdom themes and I think that TLG's latest run of castle themes have been more focused on warring kingdoms. Outlaw forestmen would add a third faction to this (which I personally would have liked) that I think TLG might have thought made it a little convoluted.
One of the first discoveries I made after coming out of my "dark ages" is that Forestmen minifigs go for a lot on the second-hand market.
The second discovery is that I THOUGHT I had a lot of them...
Loved the Forestman's hideout as kid, being from Nottingham it was so "Robin Hood" for me, my mother recently sent all my old Lego up to me, and after the Kings Castle (grey bricks, circa 1983) this was the next thing I built, and to my surprise everything was there!
Not sure where you get your names of sets from, these will be Robin Hood lego and 6060 will be the Major Oak until my dying day.
The first sets I ever got, had bricks before this but these are my all time favourite sets.
And my Mum gave them away to a local playgroup.
I absolutely love these sets. As a kid I had 6066 Camouflaged Outpost. I just clicked on this set in Brickset and was amazed that its under 300 pieces. Why can't Lego produce sets like these with a small piece count? I mean, take 79011 the small hobbit set in the most recent wave. That piece count is in the 200's but why do we just get a small wall! I'm not comparing prices here, just that with a small piece count the Lego sets used to be great.
Awesomesauce! Forestmen is far before my time and my dad was in his Dark Age, so I don't have any of these. These sets look great today, which is a sign of how great they were then. If we could get a new Forestmen theme in 2015, I would jump for joy. Doesn't Castle skip years?
6 minifigs and a great model? I with LEGO was like this today: Either 6 great minifigs or a great model, but almost never both.
My sister and I had the smaller hideout and the river crossing as kids and they were easily some of our most prized sets. Only complaint with the river crossing set is that they printed white dots onto the baseplate to make it easy for finding where the first few bricks go on. However, if you MOC anything else on it you have to find ways to cover up the ugly white spots. I might have to see if I can dig these out for my kids
As a child 6071 was the set I played with the most. It's the set that got me hooked on LEGO. Great read thanks.
Awesome article. Forestmen and Black Falcons are my favorite subthemes.
I got 6066 Camouflaged Outpost when I was 6 for my birthday. Absolutely loved it! I also consider it a Robin Hood set too.
I got 6054 as a kid and have bought 6066 and 6077 later on. I've also got the pieces to build the two forestmen sets of Idea Book 260. \o/
6071 and the two vehicle sets was never released in Sweden though =( (I bought an expensive river base plate later on for the smithery in 260). The name of the theme in Sweden actually was "De laglösa" which translates to "The Outlaws".
More than once, I've dreamed of being in a toy store that have never existed in reality, looking at Forestemen sets that have never existed in reality. :-S
This was the only theme where my parents actually bought all of the sets. They still have the pieces and instructions in their big bin of Legos in their basement. My favorite is the bridge crossing. We must have played with them for countless hours.
I have The Camouflaged Outpost. I love the theme. In my personal opinon, Sets of the 70's and 80's had a big emphasis on LEGO itself. In the way you take it apart and build a new set. Not just a fixed model as you see today. However, I do like some sets today. (Creator, Creator Expert, Ect) :D
Nice review. Fond memories of these sets, as they were right before my Dark Ages set in (late 80s). Got a few of these, but never got the Crossing and the Fortress sets, so it must have been at that point I stopped buying LEGO. Seeing them here has definitely re-kindled my interest in them; but the "Brickset Effect" will no doubt push the prices up! I did manage to pick up a dozen or so Forestmen off eBay for a good price a little while ago, so will have to make do with them for now!
Awesome post! Sadly the only forest man I have is in the Vintage Minifig pack - you AFOL's are so lucky to have been there for these.
Could you take a look next at the old Adventurer's line? Egypt and Amazon specifically as Dino Island and Orient Expedition are still fairly modern. Thanks!
How about 1680, Hay Cart with Smugglers? This was the third of the Forestman carts and the only one of the carts that I had. I still have it, along with Forestman's Hideout, Camouflaged Outpost and Forestman's River Fortress. Luckily my parents had some foresight and stashed them all in the attic.
Nice article, but in this I'm really missing 6079 Dark Forest Fortress. I didn't know it excists till we got internet @home. The first time I saw it was on eBay. It was one of my first 'buys' on-line. Boxed as well. Together with 6046 Hemlock Stronghold and 6024 Bandit Ambush.
The forrest men are my all time favourites. So much more fun as the enemy of Knight's instead of a 'good' knight/'bad' knight thing. I hope somewhere in the future, TLC will come with a remake or so.
Great article! What a fun read!
This is by far my favorite theme. And it is what got me back into buying Lego as an adult. I have bought these sets either as incomplete sets or built them by buying the key parts and putting them together which has been fun instead of buying them complete but used on eBay. My best find was to win a box of random Lego in an auction on eBay and end up with parts to make the forest woman and get the black feather (Is this the rarest Lego part ever?) I have built the 6066 Camouflaged Outpost in its original colors and in brown and green. Just awesome all around.
These were my favorite sets as a kid. I just wish many of my torsos were not cracking.
Still waiting to have one of the forestmen sets in my hands! :(
I hope Forestmen gets a revival soon... Maybe even as part of the current Castle lineup!
I'm really enjoying these articles, thanks to everyone involved for doing them.
I got 6066 for Christmas when I was five years old and was absolutely blown away by it. As mentioned, it came with six minifigures (SIX!) and one of them was the black armed forestman with the black feather in his cap. That color scheme made him look more menacing to me, so he was obviously the leader of the pack, and my favorite minifig until Captain Red Beard hit the scene. The way it was hinged to open so you could access the inside was astonishing to me at the time and proved that Lego had really thought out the design with playability in mind. This was the set that got me hooked for life. Unfortunately all I have left from it is the baseplates, a few miscellaneous pieces and one red armed minifig :( Take good care of your sets, kids!
Although I don't own any of these sets, I still very much enjoy the read. I just wish these articles would feature home-made photos of (parts of) the sets instead of just the box image. This would clarify even more just what makes a certain set special.
But again, great articles that take me right back to my childhood! Some 80's Technic sets next? ;-)
I was more than happy to get 6054 into my hands. It is awesome. Still I would like to have the 6066. So far I got only the "green only" forestman and the one with red sleeves. At least I would like to have the blue one. Two years ago we visited Legoland in Denmark and I bought
http://brickset.com/sets/852769-1/Vintage-Minifigure-Collection-Vol-5
For those that are interested in the unique Forestwoman - this might be a solution.
The reissue forestwoman is also in
http://brickset.com/sets/5000439-1/Vintage-Minifigure-Collection-Vol-3-(TRU-edition)
TRU did an abbreviated release that spread the females of the original volume 5 set out but also gave up the yellow classic spaceman and bluecoat =-(
An other great list. This is one my favorite subthemes. I was lucky enough as a kid to have gotten all of these expect for 1974 and 1680. 6054 is one of my all time favorites. As a kid these was one of my most played with set and is major reason why I'm now a collector.
Having seen this post I've won two auctions on eBay, one for a set of set of 7 Forestmen minifigs for a very reasonable £1.12 per minifig and a 6066 for £23. They should go well with my Castle 375-2 .