Packaging - ****
This is a pretty basic white box here, since DF is a small company that wisely decided to spend its money on product and not packaging. So why the high score? Because the set is packed in custom-fitted styrofoam, which means that storage is not only simple, it's safe. This stuff is not overly delicate, but it is not something you want to toss around, either. It's immensely useful to have a box that fits everything neatly and securely for when you aren't displaying your rivers.

Contents:
I'm adding a new category here to clarify just what the Cavernous River and Walls set includes. With this set, you get essentially two kinds of elements: you get the river itself, with the separate wall pieces, and you get other accessories for your setup. There are 8 river pieces -- 3 curved pieces, 1 T-intersection, 1 4-way intersection, 1 river dead end, and 2 straight river pieces. Each river element is exactly the same size -- slightly under 4 inches along each side. There are also 4 removable curved walls (for corners), 4 straight walls,1 "dead end wall" (essentially a circle of rock open at one end), and 4 cavernous arches (which serve as either stalactites or stalagmites). With the walls in place, the pieces are about 2 inches high. By placing the walls where you wish, you can completely enclose your river, or you can leave some areas open and unbounded. The set also includes 4 skull "icon totems," 1 makeshift wooden bridge, and 1 stone pool formation. Whew! There's a lot of stuff here.

Pictured here is also a small raft that some crafty cavern dwellers have made from an old discarded door and bench -- this was a little promo item sent to people who pre-ordered this set, but it won't come with all sets. I included it because (a) I forgot to take it out before I took the picture, and (b) it says a lot about Dwarven Forge and the neat little freebies they like to include.

Sculpting - ****
This product stands and falls with the quality of the sculpt -- if the sculpt doesn't work, nothing can make this sort of thing worth getting. And this sculpt more than works. This sculpt is nothing short of breathtaking.

The floor and walls are all magnificently detailed rock (actually the product is painted resin, but it LOOKS just like rock), with cracks and bumps and lots of neat stuff to look at. Not being a spelunker, I can't pretend to know the right terminology to describe exactly what I'm lookin' at here, but the pictures do the work for me. This stuff looks coooool.

The water is clear resin, and DF went with still cavern pools here rather than rushing rapids or trickling brooks. You can see the riverbed, you can see bits of moss and algae and fungi and other assorted muck at the edge of the water -- you can even see how the water gets deeper and deeper, the various ledges that descend into the depths. In some places you can see pale sightless cave fish swimming around. There are stalactites and stalagmites everywhere, not to mention the moveable arches, and some of the rock formations are coming right out of the water at the shoreline. It all looks extremely realistic and ornate. 

The skull totems are creepy little signs of some kind of civilization down here, as is the little bridge that's been roped together out of crudely chopped up wood. (Actually, the bridge is designed to look like it's been built out of discarded benches, which DF releases separately as furniture for their dungeons) The wood grain is wonderfully detailed, as are the ropes holding the thing together. 

The modularity of the walls and the arches allows great flexibility in what you come up with. You can make "rooms" and halls of many sizes, though the walls can't go just ANYWHERE. There are "loose" rocks and other formations sticking up in places, the floors of a cavern are uneven, and the walls obviously have to be clear of such obstacles. The edges of the river pieces are deliberately designed to accommodate the walls, but you'll have to experiment around a little to find other places where they'll work. 

The chief advantage of having removable walls is that you can use any river element anywhere you want, in any direction, without being left with a random, mismatched line of walls dotting your cavern. If DF had simply sculpted the walls on the floor (like every other set they make), you'd be far more restricted in the ways you could combine river pieces -- this was a real stroke of genius on the part of Dwarven Forge. It greatly increases the options you have available in coming up with ways to set this up.

After all that praise, I do have to point out that the sculpt is not perfect. Some of the floors are not completely lined up perfectly; in most configurations there are no problems, but occasionally there is a small gap or height discrepancy. It's subtle, and not common, but it can happen. I note it only because with an expensive, high end item like this, you notice even the small flaws. In the pictures I've included, you can get a sense of how well the floors usually line up, but you may also spot a few places where things didn't quite match up perfectly. 

I suppose I could also mention the seam in the water from where the river pieces match up, but there's really no way to avoid that with a modular river system, so I don't count it as a problem.

Paint - ****
The paint job is just about perfect. There's not even a question of bleed or unevenness -- it's all done with such realistic effect you can barely tell you aren't looking at actual weathered stone. As before, the pictures really show off how good this looks. Some of the fungi under the water is a sort of glowing blue aqua color, which is a great touch since it gives the river a slightly unnatural look, and because it adds some color to what might otherwise have been a somewhat monotonous palette. There really is as much detail in the rock under the water as there is on the surface. The paint at the deepest point under the water is extremely well done -- it looks a little like rock disappearing under cloudy water into darkness, or like kelp or algae waving with the slowly flowing water. Either way, it's remarkably effective. A lot of care and attention went into this. 

Accessories - ****
I suppose I COULD count the moveable walls as accessories, but since they are (somewhat) necessary to the set, I won't. Still, DF could have easily left out the bridge, the totems, the little rock formation, and called it a day. These little touches make the set even more fun, and if you don't have any dungeon dressings of your own, you get to spice up the place a little and give it a touch of atmosphere. I can't really think of anything else I would add, either -- at least, nothing that the set feels incomplete without.

Fun Factor - ****
Off the charts. If you have a kid who likes these kind of things, you can't go wrong. True, a lot of kids are going to care more about the figures than the environment they're in -- but coming up with new ways to arrange these elements is a blast, and the set is a fantastic backdrop for an imaginative kid with some miniature figures. It helps that the pieces are so sturdy that they can handle a lot of use. I accidentally dropped one of the arches (about five minutes after opening my set) and it survived without a scratch. Over at the DF forums, there are several people who have posted pictures of the setups their children have designed, or games they've played with them, even children as young as four or five. Not only is it fun, but this set also offers children a creative outlet, a chance to use their imagination, to refine their coordination as they manipulate the pieces, to develop their sense of spatial relationships. It's downright educational! Plus, they can fight dragons or stormtroopers or Dr. Octopus, and who doesn't want to do that? 

Value - ***
Well, the price is definitely high, at $140. There's no denying that. Also, it is a big hit for new collectors that the Cavern Set (itself $120) may feel like a necessary companion set. (The McFarlane monster figures or dragons, for example, require a lot of ground space you won't really have without the Cavern set -- so if you want a place to display them, you'd be better off with that than the River set). 

But even if you only get this one set, it's still a high-end collectible, more comparable to Gentle Giant statues and busts than to plastic toys found down the street at Target. So given the high price, why the high value score? Well, partly it's because the product itself is so well-executed it darn well MERITS a high score. But it's more than that. What sold me on this stuff originally is the modularity of it. Those Gentle Giant and WETA statues are neat, sure, but once you've had them for a year, they pretty much are what they are. You want a new one, you gotta buy a new one. 

But these sets never get old -- when one setup gets dull, you can simply re-arrange the elements and get a completely brand new environment. It's like a Lego set disguised as a museum model. You can make whatever playset you want for your figures, and when you get tired of it, you can make a new one. It's easier to store than a huge playset, it's more versatile than a huge playset. You get a brand new product every time you want one, and it never gets old. 

I did take a star away because if you want to game or to display figures on this, you're gonna almost certainly need more land, and that means you're gonna want the basic Cavern Set. For that matter, if you want REALLY elaborate river setups, you're going to want at least two Cavernous River and Walls sets. That detracts slightly from the value score. But only slightly. 

Overall - ****
This is a breathtaking set. Almost anyone who sees my Dwarven Forge displays stops to examine them, the professionalism and artistry involved is so immense. Aside from looking fantastic, they are flexible and fun, and there's really almost nothing like it on the market. One thing that really grabs me about this set in particular is the clear resin water, which is something I've always thought was neat to look at. When I was a kid, my favorite displays in history and science museums were the little models that had buildings or natural environments that included clear resin water like this -- it just seemed like magic to me. This set captures it perfectly.

Where to Buy:
Dwarven Forge is a small company, and they decided recently to make their products available only directly through their website. This cuts down on costs, and on the time it takes to get new product out, and 2006 has seen a record number of new sets from them as a result. It also means you have to get this through mail order (right now they use UPS, at least for orders in the US) and it means you have to go through DF and can't support a favorite local dealer. It's a shame, but it does keep things simple. Luckily, they offer a wide variety of shipping options.

This set can be found on their website. Browse around while you're there, and see the other cool items they make! 

For now, this set should be around for a little bit -- but DF does occasionally sell out, and it can take a few months for some sets to come back in stock. Luckily, the company is extremely customer-conscious -- they want 100% satisfaction, if for some unusual reason you have a problem with a piece, they'll replace it immediately, and so forth. In general, they will stand by their product, and I've never had a problem with them.