Hobbit Bringing a Revival

[Greendragon]

Well, obviously the Hobbit part one is out this winter, and obviously the lord of the rings is due for a new edition/box set. So we will see mines of moria disappear and the hobbit set come out - my hope as a long time LotR fan is that we see the system get a much needed revival, lots of interest. Bilbo being a central character, lots of lovely Smaug models dotted around, gamers everyone finding out what this third GW main system is all about and perhaps finally somebody to pit my Uruk-Hai, Goblin, Dwarfs or Wood Elves armies against! Is it just me that is excited or are there other LotR fans on here?

[Jobu]

I am pretty excited, but the cost of a finecast smaug makes me cringe. Just look at the great beast of gorgoroth.

[Greendragon]

Fair point there! I didn't think it was likely that we would get a plastic smaug in the Hobbit box set. I know we will get Bilbo, Gandalf and the Dwarfs. What else? Perhaps gollum and some goblins... all plastic? Or will they look to not replicate the moria box set and perhaps instead give us a few trees and some plastic spiders? Let the speculation begin =D

[bomblu]

I find myself wondering what GW have in store for us for the Hobbit release. However, using the book as a reference, there are next to no large-scale battles in the story till the end of the book with the battle of five armies. The only "large battle" i can seem to remember is the dwarves vs the goblins before bilbo meets gollum. So, will the "rules" cater for large battles (even though you generally have a force of 13 dwarves, gandalf and bilbo vs enemies) or will GW produce rules for smaller scale segments such as the dwarves and bilbo vs the three trolls? I can't wait to get to know more about the new minis and rules, hopefully we'll get something after 40k 6th is released.

[fracas]

GW has already shifted from wotr battles to sbg skirmishes

[bomblu]

GW has already shifted from wotr battles to sbg skirmishes

Well it could be a way of "preparing the LOTR gamer crowd" for the smaller Hobbit stuff? Who knows.

I'm also curious to see how the more "stylised" looks of the film characters will translate into the minis, particularly the dwarves.

Question: Were the first Fellowship rules scenario-based?

[Karak Norn Clansman]

The Hobbit will bring upon us a revival. I think some people already are brushing off their Lotr collections. My group have begun to do so, in little steps.

Me and my brother are certainly looking forward to it, not only because of the movie (based on Tolkien's funniest book, but hopefully with some small Silmarillion references for future movies or TV-series) or the new Gollum and Smaug models that are going to be released, and not only because of the multitude of Goblins, Elves and Dwarves that will arrive in miniature form, adding to the already substantial range. No, we're not excited not merely over this, but over the fact that we will receive Dwarves in barrels!

[Greendragon]

Dwarves in barrels! How could i forget!!

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

I think most of the fights in The Hobbit are the right size for the small end of SBG, and in light of that it makes sense that GW recently shifted their focus away from WotR and back to SBG. I don't think there's any need to revamp or tweek the rules for small fights.

As for what battles I think we'll get scenarios of? Definitely the encounter with the trolls, the first ambush by goblins, possibly Gandalf rescuing the dwarves in goblin town, the warg-riders chasing them down from goblin-town, the spiders in Mirkwood, and then of course the Battle of Five Armies. It's been a while since I read the book, but I suppose they could have some small skirmishes between Thorin & Co. and the Lakemen and Mirkwood elves in the lead-up to the Battle of Five Armies. Then there's the extra stuff that they'll be adding in surrounding the Necromancer. Really depends on how much the movie embellishes on some of these scenes.

I'm psyched for what the new movies will mean for the game, although I haven't bought GW minis in well over a year so I'm a touch worried about what it's going to cost me to get new stuff. I'm pretty determined to get Thorin & Co. (I assume there will be a set with all 13 dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf). Beyond that, it really depends on how much money I have to justify purchases. I already have a bunch of Moria Goblins, so unless I'm just blown away by the new goblin models I'm not too likely to get any, I do want some elves and Lakemen though.

[bomblu]

I'm psyched for what the new movies will mean for the game, although I haven't bought GW minis in well over a year so I'm a touch worried about what it's going to cost me to get new stuff. I'm pretty determined to get Thorin & Co. (I assume there will be a set with all 13 dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf). Beyond that, it really depends on how much money I have to justify purchases. I already have a bunch of Moria Goblins, so unless I'm just blown away by the new goblin models I'm not too likely to get any, I do want some elves and Lakemen though.

It's probably too early to assume this, but as far as i know the majority of LotR minis were all metal, I've got this gut feeling that the hobbit range would be mainly fine-cast, especially when you take into consideration that you'd generally have very few people purchasing more than one set of "Thorin & Co." Or could they release them as "blister packs" instead of a box of "15 main characters?" Hopefully even as plastic minis like the non-finecast warhammer minis - who knows? :P Though i'd love to try my hand at the game, particularly since it'll probably more "small scale" battles.

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

I think Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves will either be released as a finecast set, a plastic set included in the starter box (if there is a starter box), or both. In either case, I'd probably go for the finecast unless it's really, really exorbitant. The plastic Fellowship from the MoM boxed set were OK but inferior to the metals in terms of sculpt detail IMO, so I'd just as soon have the better-looking set. I suspect there will be plastic troop sets for elves, men, and goblins, and maybe a plastic troll set since GW have been doing more and more in the large creatures department in plastic. Beyond those, I'd guess most of the Hobbit releases will end up finecast.

[Karak Norn Clansman]

Dwarves in barrels! How could i forget!!

Now that is HERESY!

To draw inspiration from GW's two main lines.

Anyhow, I might have to work some extra to save up a special sum for the Hobbit release in order to buy as much as I want and then store those for when I have time to paint the miniatures. The prices are already on a damnably high level, but they're sure to climb, sooner or later.

[BramGaunt]

I personally don't expect a full blown release of a The Hobbit game this year. I do expect a set of miniatures and a book to replay the most famous szenes from the movie, but I think they might keep the 3rd Edition of the Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit tabletop for a major release next summer inbetween movies.

[Greendragon]

Fair point Karak, I think a lot of gamers I've spoken to are planning on getting it as a christmas present to justify the spend. I'll get it anyway as I do with all starter sets, from a business point of view in order to demonstrate the set, so I am excited to crack that box open. Has anybody thought about what the Beorn models will look like?

I have been thinking perhaps they will do a box set for the first film consisting of the Dwarves, Trolls and Goblins and a box for the second film featuring the men of lake town and Smaug, thoughts?

[BramGaunt]

I was under the impression that the complete story of the book would be wrapped up with the first movie, and that the second movie would deal with the White Council and the "defeat" of Sauron in Barad Dur

[Karak Norn Clansman]

I do not know what they will do with the movies, but I'll probably like it anyhow.

Beorn's men might look a bit like GW's Regiment of Renown Beorg Bearstruck and the Bearmen of Urslo: http://www.geocities.ws/oldsage.geo/bbmu-bearmen.jpg

I wonder if Games Workshop will re-advertise the Battle of Five Armies in the same vein as the Hobbit releases, perhaps with a few releases based on movie creatures? http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...Id=prod1100084

[Dr Grant]

I've thrown my opinions into the ring before but seeing as we're refreshing the viewpoints with a new thread I'll go again.

I think we'll get 2 journey books for the Hobbit, one this Christmas and one Christmas 2013, accompanied by a load of new figures in both plastic and finecast.

I think the dwarf company will be a finecast box (if there's a starter box released I agree with Whitworth that there'll be different plastic sculpts in the box) and perhaps Gandalf and Bilbo will be released as a finecast duo pack like that 'old friends' box that was available for a while back in the day. However, it's probably more likely that they'll both be individual finecast 'foot and mounted' packs for about £20.

I still think the trolls will be a plastic set priced and packed like crypt horrors etc.

The narrative of the hobbit is definitely spanning both films, the Dol Guldor sequences will be cut alongside the narrative of both films. The ousting of the Necromancer form Mirkwood happens concurrently with the Hobbit, not after it and this is how we'll see it portrayed in the movies.

As for Smaug, we won't see the model until Christmas 2013, God only knows what the price/ratio of plastic to Finecast is then but I'm hopeful of a plastic model in keeping with the recent Karl Franz figure. If they go the Finecast route then that'll be the final push I need to buy that FW Warpfire Dragon :-)

I'm most curious to see what they do with the BRB, that's obviously out of date now with all the old profiles and they must be planning on a facelift for that soon. I just hope they don't tinker with the rules mechanics too much, one of the things that appeals to me most about the SBG system is how stable it is, lets keep it that way.

As far as interest goes I, along with 100 other gamers, was at the UK LOTR doubles tournament last weekend and can safely say that the excitement level for the Hobbit was huge. I tried to coax anything out of the studio staff but the only thing they'd give up was that they were 'very excited', damn non-disclosure agreements... :-)

Roll on December!

[Peregrin]

I was a bit disappointed with the big push we saw from GW in March for about a month, only to have essentially dead silence since then.
I've still got some painting to finish, but the last White Dwarf had hardly even a reference to the LotR line. I was hoping for something a little steadier.

[Dr Grant]

Couldn't agree more, that one issue was great and I'd hoped for increased coverage until the Hobbit but 'twas not to be. I said the same thing to a GW staffer recently and he said "but we've just had a 3 month feature!." That was beyond laughable, the tale of 4 gamers boded well (non-studio armies, personal viewpoints, collecting/painting tips from 4 perspectives) but after the first month was pathetic, I think the second month (can't be sure as I didn't buy it) had 2-4 pages and the last month was even worse, all we got was a page worth of battle report, it was hardly worth including it.

It's such a shame as the guys doing it were clearly big LOTR fans (so much show that they continued the article on the blog) but they were just given no space. I fondly remember the first TOFG article from about 12 years ago (the Warhammer one with Wood Elves, Bretonnians, Beastmen and...something else), every month we got really detailed descriptions of what each player was up to, games they'd played, conversions they were doing, it was a really hobbyists article and a great inspiration. Sadly that kind of article doesn't fit in with White Dwarf's current manifesto to force feed readers the latest releases.

However, the worst casualty of this change in focus have been the battle reports which, very worryingly, seem to be being stripped down to the very minimum necessary. This is a major blow as the BR was the one article that was always worth reading however poor the rest of the content was and has been the final push that finally stopped me buying the mag for the last few months.

Anyhoo, back on topic, I think we'll get a few month's of decent coverage around Xmas but then sadly I think it might well tail off again, particularly towards the end of 2013 before the same pattern repeats again the following year. I certainly don't think we'll get the kind of dedicated coverage the game used to get around 2001-2006. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong though.

[Dog of destiny]

In terms of scenarios, I recon they will include Beorn's attack on the goblins while Bilbo and the dwarves sleep in his hall. That is bound to be something that the movie goes into more detail on than the book. Would make a cool scenario, IMO - Beorn and a few Beornings fighting swarms of goblins nad wolves...