Hobbit: Escape From Goblin Town: Jake's Take

[CptJake]

I took advantage of the Warstore Black Friday sale to order the Escape from Goblin Town LE set.

I'm not a big GW guy, but I do have the Mines of Moria set and my daughter and I enjoyed painting it up and playing out the scenarios, using the included rules and other fantasy skirmish rules.

So how does this set compare?

The 'get started' guide is set up a little differently.  The Moria book has an assembly guide, a how to set up a game, and then uses increasingly complex scenarios to teach the rules, and also has a painting guide which shows figures painted by someone who never touched a paint brush or at least tries hard to give that impression.   It is clearly set up to get someone new to the miniatures hobby started without intimidating them.

The new book skips the assembly (the set DOES have B&W assembly guides printed on separate sheets of paper) and walks the player through turns of a single scenario to teach the rules, but then includes a buch of other scenarios.  No painting guide and all the models painted in the book look very well painted.   Maybe not as 'newbie friendly' as the Moria set for the 'get started book' but since I'm not a newbie that does not bother me.   I do like it.


The actual rulebook is a digest sized book like the one from Moria, and is filled with the typical GW photography and pictures from the upcoming movie.  No surprises here.  What DID surprise me, and not in a good way, was the lack of forces/troop info.  The Moria rule book had pretty much all the characters and troops from the three LOTR films, their stats and point costs.  This book has NONE.   The 'get started' book has the stats for the figs included in the game but no points.

Now, I fully understand why some folks will think This Sucks.  And they have a major point.   GW is saying 'shell out your bucks for the hard cover rule book or get bent'.  Having said that, it really does not bother me.  I figure the points from my Moria book will do just fine for what I want to do, and I'm much more scenario driven vice points driven anyway.  Heck, I'll most likely use these figures with other rule sets as well.  And I'll use some historical minis as Rohan troops if I feel like it.   Is GW gonna stamp my meal card No Dessert and bend my dog tags?  I think not. 

I really like the terrain that came with the Moria set.   It allowed you to set up Balin's Tomb like in the movie, giving you columns to hide behind, piles of stuff to break up movement, a big door for a troll to smash open, a well and all the other cool stuff.  Plus it was fun and easy to paint (my daughter painted most of mine) and stores easily.  The terrain in this new set is just not as cool. It consists of a bunch of 'wooden' platforms and some poles which would raise them off of your playing surface to elevate them.  The detail is good and they look easy and fun to paint, but they are just not as interesting, and if you glue the legs onto them will be a bitch to store.   Having said that, I think combined with my Moria set it will make a fun set up for some goblin bashing fun (or for some hero bashing fun if you roll that way).

The figures...  I like the new set.   I liked the Moria set too.   In both you get a small group of good heroes and a goblin horde to ruin their day.  Moria came with a nifty cave troll, this comes with a Big troll sized Goblin King.  I think this comes with more goblins than the Moria set did, and includes a couple goblin characters besides the Big King Dude.  So from that perspective you get more figures than the Moria set.   Since again, I'm not a points oriented guy, and the points costs are not included, I have no idea how many points a player who wants to play LOTR at his GW shop is getting with this set.  And I don't care, though you may.

I forgot, I did get the Radagast figure, and you get a card with his stats and a scenario using him.  You also get a ruler that is a two piece plastic thingie.  I guess it is functional...   Dice and some printed assembly guides are also included. 

All in all, I am glad I got this.  As we were looking through it this morning my daughter was very impressed and is excited to help paint it up.   That alone makes it worth it for me.  We read The Hobbit together a couple of years ago (she is 10 now) and have watched the animated movie a few times (gee, they put the whole basic story into a single movie that was enjoyable...  Go figure).

It has good and bad points I tried to bring out.  I used the Moria set to compare as I thought it appropriate and it happens to be a set I have.    I am happy with my purchase.

Jake

[CptJake]

Here is a zombie hunter she painted (I helped with the face):



and here is our Moria terrain, she did most of the base gray and dry brushing, I did the books and some of the details, she did the doors too if I remember correctly:












She also helped make the piles of rubble from the sprue that came with the set.

[CptJake]

Wow, looking at that terrain really does highlight how boring the terrain in the new set is.   The Moria stuff has a lot of character!

Jake

[CptJake]

Well, it wasn't too hard.  Mom is an active duty soldier, Dad was and still works for the Army, two older brothers (one 22 one 21 now) so she has grown up loving military stuff (she LOVES to climb on the tanks and stuff at the museum on Ft Stewart)



stomping Sadaam:


She likes to shoot, ride the horses and the motorcycles, love Disney princesses and thinks Dad's toys soldiers are cool.   She loves to help paint and seems to especially like to help with basing/terrain.  Give her some glue and static grass and she is in heaven.  In fact, she helped do a lot of my Rorke's Drift terrain too.  

I try to get figures she may like, so LOTR from the movies and books she enjoys, cool strong females like the one she painted above, and some animals (since she loves animals).  After that, it is just patience and accepting that what she paints or helps with may not be exactly as I intended, but will be something we did together.

[CptJake]

Mine wants Skylanders for Christmas, along with Just Dance 4....   

[Doomhippie]

To get back at the topic: it is a nice set. Especially the dwarven miniatures are really great. I also like the Radagast model, though I have pictured him a little more like the metal figure that's around.

And the terrain isn't that bad, it's actually very versatile, you could use it for pulp adventures just as well. Overall 100 Euro for 50+ models and terrain is a pretty good bargain.

[Conquistador]

Well, it wasn't too hard.  Mom is an active duty soldier, Dad was and still works for the Army, two older brothers (one 22 one 21 now) so she has grown up loving military stuff (she LOVES to climb on the tanks and stuff at the museum on Ft Stewart)



stomping Sadaam:


She likes to shoot, ride the horses and the motorcycles, love Disney princesses and thinks Dad's toys soldiers are cool.   She loves to help paint and seems to especially like to help with basing/terrain.  Give her some glue and static grass and she is in heaven.  In fact, she helped do a lot of my Rorke's Drift terrain too.  

I try to get figures she may like, so LOTR from the movies and books she enjoys, cool strong females like the one she painted above, and some animals (since she loves animals).  After that, it is just patience and accepting that what she paints or helps with may not be exactly as I intended, but will be something we did together.

Obviously an outstanding father of an outstanding child!

Great teamwork there!

Gracias,

Glenn

[fourcolorfigs]

To get back at the topic: it is a nice set. Especially the dwarven miniatures are really great. I also like the Radagast model, though I have pictured him a little more like the metal figure that's around.

And the terrain isn't that bad, it's actually very versatile, you could use it for pulp adventures just as well. Overall 100 Euro for 50+ models and terrain is a pretty good bargain.

Agreed. This set is a winner. I am 60% through painting Thorin's Company and they have now supplanted the LotR Dwarf Rangers as my favorite dwarves of all time! Super-character and execution on these. And I really like the scurvy (apologies, Scurv;-) look on the goblins.  Can't wait to set to work on those too!