An Elf on the Hunt Stopped Dead in His Tracks

A few weeks ago, Dunedain98 treated us to a wonderful scene depicting an elf hunting near a stunning waterfall. The build was made for a contest over on LEGO Ideas and shows a majestic deer standing on top of a cliff, while the hunter seems to slowly move closer in an attempt to take his shot, only to be stopped dead in his tracks in wonder.

The elf is from one of the previous CMF series and just happens to be the builder’s favourite minifig, so the build actually started with Dunedain98 wanting to build a scene for it. Oh, how the world might look if we all cared as much about our figures!

So there is quite a bit to take in with this build, but let’s start with the deer. If it looks familiar it’s probably because, as Dunedain98 mentions in the description, it is based off an older build that the ever-talented Grant Masters made back in 2019. The placement of the deer works perfectly as it seemingly stands as the king of the forest on the top section of the scene.

There is some impressive rockwork with slopes in different directions throughout the MOC which helps frame the most prominent section of the build in my opinion: the waterfall. It’s a stunning depiction of moving water with an awesome drop measuring almost 30 bricks in height. Making water look “natural” is always a bit of a challenge but Dunedain98 does a great job with it in this scene. The river below conveys a great sense of motion as well making use of trans-clear plates and cheese slopes to accomplish that.

The build even features a hidden little gem with a rather impressive cave, which can only be seen from the rear. It depicts a couple of dwarves walking through, perhaps searching for actual gems. That attention to detail is something that really impressed me as it requires a bit more thought when designing the build, with structural integrity surely being an issue when building at this scale.

Overall this is a great scene that is slightly outside of what Dunedain98 usually builds. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out some of the builder’s other work, you won’t be disappointed.


What forest details did you notice? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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