The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game - Unboxing and Review

I had a very expected journey this afternoon as I made the 84 mile round trip from my little island up to the closest FLGS.  Waiting for me at the store was my precious....hmmm, I mean my copy of the The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game.  Yes, I know I could have ordered it but here in the Florida Keys, getting your mail is not necessarily a guaranteed thing.  Plus Joel, the owner of my "local" gaming store offered a good discount that made the drive worthwhile.

Though I feel like I'm coming down with the plague again, I couldn't resist tearing into the box and sharing a few photos of my Hobbity goodness.  Fair warning:  I did not feel like getting the good camera out so I snapped all of the shots with my iPhone.  I apologize in advance for the terrible photography for this post.

As you can see from the view of the inside of the box, this set contains lots and lots of goodies.  There is a rule book, a starter/scenario booklet, several pamphlets with assembly instructions, a game reference card, another card with the stats for Radagast the Brown, dice, rulers, terrain, and most importantly, quite a few plastic miniatures.  Although the box is jammed full of stuff, I will not know if it was worth the money until I examine the miniatures more closely.  Everything else in the box is just bonus material for me.  The minis are what I really want and if they are not high quality (for plastic), I will be more than disappointed.

The photo below shows the starter booklet.  It covers the basic rules via a fully illustrated introductory game.  The booklet then goes on to a scenario section.  The scenarios included are:

Scenario 1: The Breakthrough
Scenario 2: Rescue the Baggage
Scenario 3: Brothers in Arms
Scenario 4: Guard the Crossing
Scenario 5: The Wizard and the Burglar

The booklet ends with profiles for all the models included in the game.  Though I'm sure posting the stats would not make the GW folks happy, I did include a photo to dispel online rumors that suggest that the stat lines were not available in the box set.  As you can see, that is completely incorrect.  I suspect that what happened is someone confused the fact that point values for the miniatures are not included (TRUE) and either misread or assumed the same to be true for the stats.

The rule book, photographed below, goes into more detail about how the game is played.  It's only 112 pages, but quite a bit of information is covered including the new monster rules, new heroic moves, and special rules such as sieges etc...  I very much enjoyed the fact that though the book is a smaller size, GW still included plenty of illustrations, both for rules clarification and general aesthetics. 

Now on to the miniatures.  Below is the Radagast sprue.  Apparently he will only be included in the special edition box set.  I would imagine that what GW really means is that this pose is only included in this set.  I have no doubt that he will appear in some other form later during the release cycle.  As for this version, he looks great.  Though the face is pointed in the wrong direction in this pic, I can assure you he is detailed very well and looks almost exactly like the movie photography suggests.

As you can see below, Thorin and company are all included on the same sprue.  It's tough to discern the quality without assembling the miniatures, but from what I can see, I'm generally impressed with the sculpts and the amount of detail for plastic.  I can't wait to get them cut out tomorrow and assembled.  December is shaping up to be all about painting The Hobbit miniatures.

Now on to the goblins.  Without having seen the movie yet, I really can't comment on the accuracy of the goblin warriors.  I do know one thing....I'm not at all moved by the lumps, sores, and misshapen limbs of this breed of goblins.  I would have been perfectly OK with Peter Jackson basing the goblins of the Misty Mountains on those of Moria.  No problem though.  If I don't like them once I paint a few, I'll just use my hordes of Moria goblins instead.

Finally, here is the Goblin King.  He is quite the brute.  I measured him at around 2-1/2 inches tall (6cm) without a base.  I could be off by just a bit since I measured the parts while still on the sprue but my numbers should be pretty close.  Either way, he is a big boy.  I can't wait to see what kind of damage he can produce on the field of battle.

Although I didn't photograph them, there are several sprues of scenery included in the game.  From what I can tell, the planks obviously will make for a great addition to Goblin Town gaming but I think they would also come in useful for something like Mordor or the pits of Isengard.

Well, there you have it.  That's what comes in the box set.  My pockets are a bit lighter after coming home with my treasure but you do get quite a lot for the money.  I feel zero buyers remorse at this point.  I just hope the feeling remains the same after assembling and painting the included miniatures.

Thanks for reading...