Well, after months of staring at the pictures in the catalog, I finally got
my hands on two of the three new Dark Forest sets, courtesy of Shop at Home.
The third set (the Hemlock Stronghold) will not be available from S@H until
5/10, so look for another review on or around 5/13... :-)

I don't have the official review form, but will try to include as many of
the sections as I can remember...

First the facts:

6079 - The Dark Forest Stronghold

461 pieces, including 13 brown half-arches (tree branches), 14 large green
tree leaves, 12 brown corner wall pieces, numerous brown 1x3 and 1x2 plates, 
several brown 1x2 bricks, and even a few 1x1 brown bricks.  Other pieces of 
note:
  1 gray (!!!) castle wall section
  1 brown backpack (horse feedbag)
  1 green raised baseplate (ala the Neptune Discovery Lab)
  2 1x5 gray diagonal bricks (as in the Royal Knights Castle)
  2 6x6 gray corner plates (as in the RKC)
  several black 1x1x5 bricks
  1 spellbook
  2 horses
  3 vines
  several gray 1x3 diagonal bricks

Seven minifigs:
  1 skeleton
  2 dragon masters
  1 Errol Flynn (sleevless brown shirt, red feather in a green cap)
  1 forestman with brown mail shirt 
  1 forest maid/youth (you make the call) w/ torso identical to the
    old forestman leader
  1 forestman w/ red sleeves (but a brown collar and a quiver strap)

6024 - Bandit Ambush

58 pieces, including 3 brown half arches and tree leaves, a black spear,
a cooking pot, and a small BURP.

Two minifigs:
  1 forest maid/youth w/ torso identical to the old forestman leader
  1 forestman w/ red sleeves & brown collar

Both sets have the standard extra 1x1 cylinder plates and extra feathers,
and neither has any (shudder) decals.


General Impressions:

The Bandit Ambush is a cute little set that gives you two forestmen
at a fairly reasonable price.  There isn't too much else to say about
this set.  The black spear is nice, though it was previously available 
as part of a DargonMaster polybag.  If you really want brown tree 
branches, this set is a better buy than any of the others they have
appeared in (the two large DragonMaster sets and the two larger Dark
Forest sets).  Otherwise, I view this as supplemental parts for the 
Dark Forest Fortress.  To it's credit, it does have a catapult (a hinge,
a 1x6 plate and a cooking pot) that launches 1x1 cylider bricks, so it 
does make a decent advance guard post for the fortress.

The Dark Forest Fortress, on the other hand, is an excellent set.  As a 
collection of pieces, it is really well thought out.  The alternative
models pictured on the back of the box really give proof of this.
The featured model is even better.  It contains a horse cart with a 
secret compartment, two dragon master antagonists, a skeleton in a 
tree-top prison cell, a working catapult (one ladder clipped to a
second and relying on the flexibility of the ladder to launch 1x2
bricks), an interior stable with lowering ramp, a spacious interior
fort that is easily accessed through the back, and a tree that falls
on any cart silly enough to drive through the road down the middle of
the baseplate.

Comparisons:

Comparison with the original forestmen are inevitable, so here are my
impressions.  Last week while waiting for the new sets to arrive, I
built the four old forestman structures.  For reference, I don't own
either the Smuggler's Hayride or the Crusader's Cart.  I am not going
to offer an opinion as to whether the new sets or better or worse.  
They are different in a number of ways, many of which are good.  

The new Dark Forest minifigs are more varied -- instead of all having 
green legs, they sport brown, grey and green.  Some have feathered
caps, others have the brown and black "hats" of the wolfpack.  And 
overall they seem "grittier" -- I hear that children associate facial
hair with evil, so maybe that's why.  Two of the minifigs have straps
across their chests -- presumably to hold their quivers to their backs.
In the featured models, none of these figs are wearing quivers, however!
Instead of being primarily bowmen, the dark forestmen sport swords, 
shields, axes, and spears as well as the occassional bow and arrow.
Unlike the old sets which occasionally skimped on the feather wheels by
giving forestmen triple plumes (ack), the new sets feature a feather
wheel for every hat that can take a feather.  I should also mention that
the "forest maid" torso, the shields, and the green/brown hats are
identical to the originals.  So there is one "original" forestman in
the DFF, if you feel the need to build it that way.

The new sets also contain skeletons -- which I believe add to the play
value of the sets.  And unlike any of the previous forestmen sets,
the DFF contains _two_ antagonists.  IMHO, this increases play value
significantly for kids who don't collect numerous series, and is a good
thing.  Also, the DFF contains both a structure and a cart, again adding
to the play value of the set in a standalone capacity.  

The old forestman structures all opened up in some way.  By contrast, the 
DFF is a fairly static structure.  However, it does have an open side that
really represents the "back" of the structure.  It is not a castle that
sits on a hill, assailable from all sides.  Rather, it is a hidden 
structure next to a forest path and protected from the rear by deep
woods.  In this context, the skeleton and the tree that drops to block the 
path both fit the tone perfectly.  It is a very different tone from that
of the original forestmen who seemed much more friendly and lived in a 
"well-lit" forest.

This set is less imposing than the Forestmen's River Fortress, but more 
so than the other three original structures.  It has a lot of pieces to
build trees with, but fewer for building fortresses.  This set also has 
the new raised baseplate, which I feel is a very good compromise between
flat baseplates and the awful CRAPP.  It would be interesting to put two 
of these baseplates next to one another to have a path that truly snakes 
through the woods.  Unlike the CRAPP, which is very difficult to use with 
other baseplates, two of these plates could be combined in several 
different ways, each of which has interesting possibilities.

>From the point of view of play value as a standalone set, the DFF is
significantly better than any previous forestman set.  It has two
antagonists, a skeleton, both a structure and a vehicle, two horses, 
a variety of weapons, six distinct minifigs, numerous moving parts, a
spellbook, a chest of gems, three gold goblets, etc.  It is easy to
take some of these pieces for granted and forget that they were not
around for the earlier forestman sets.  It is also nice that the trees
are all brown now, rather than black -- IMO a considerable improvement. 

I think the DFF stacks up very well against any one of the four original
forestmen sets.  It is too early to tell, but it may well turn out to
be my favorite.  Here's hoping that Lego releases several more Dark
Forest sets, and doesn't pull another Wolfpack on us. 

BTW, I should note that the most interesting part of the DFF was the
inclusion of a _GRAY_ castle wall section.  This is the first set to
contain this piece since the King's Mountain Fortress.  I have been
holding my breath, waiting for Lego to switch back from castles that
are primarily black to primarily gray, and this piece strikes me as a 
little hint to castle fans that such a switch may be in the works.  Or
maybe this is just blatant wishful thinking!  :-)

I hope this info helps somebody.  I will be glad to answer any specific
questions anyone has.

Now off to watch Robin Hood (the Errol Flynn version) for some inspiration!