The Hobbit Starter set:Escape from Goblin Town

So, I already posted the contents of the starter set, but a few more details have become apparent as some early sets have leaked out.  Well, there are apparently no POINTS VALUES FOR ANY OF THE MODELS IN THE STARTER SET.  Profiles, yes, points value, no.  Now I thought the price of the starter set was a bit high, but within reason as the set contains 55 models, scenery, rulers, dice and a mini rule book.
To put this into perspective:
Well, it is more than that. I personally spent $185.00 on the source books that were released earlier in the year so I could play with the latest army building changes and have all the point values for the models I already own. Well, I purchased the starter set so I could incorporate some of the starter models that I wanted to use/like into the armies that I already have, as well as get a handle on the new rules. If there are truly no points values for any of the models in the starter set anywhere in the starter set, then I will just send it back.  Let me tell you something Games Workshop, a starter set is not just for getting people into the game, you are revamping the game and a lot of us who are long time players are interested in those revamps.  Well, this starter set is not good for anything other then the couple of scenarios that you, GW, have in the set. How will this get people to buy more models?  Oh, you want them to buy the $85 dollar rule book?  They will not do that, you might sell one or the other but not both a rule book and a starter set.

Maybe that is your plan.

Hey all you vets, just get the rule book, don't buy the starter set.

Hey all you people interested in starting the game, don't buy the rule book, just buy a starter set. Which does not really lend itself to other purchases without getting the full size rule book or a LoTR source book, which you may not understand.

Updating later

SBG rules changes we know about

I will update this as I learn more:

There is hero synergy, i.e. two heroes next to each other increase each other effectiveness in some way.
There are The Hobbit specific scenarios in the new rule book as well as some from The War of The Ring period ( not rule book/company/formation rules)

There are four new heroic actions:
Heroic Channeling, which gives access to more powerful spells
Heroic Accuracy, which gives an accuracy boost to archery
Heroic Strike, which gives a boost in combat
Heroic March, which gives a movement boost

All monsters gain three power attacks: Barge, Hurl and Rend.
Apparently, Hurl gives you the ability to pick up enemies and throw them.
Rend is apparently useful against models with high defense.

Hand weapons such as swords and daggers allow you to Feint (no clue on what it does)
Two-handed weapons allow you to Bash.

The game remains fully compatible with the current source books.

Hobbit info

So, this is what the tubes with cats say: edited 11-20 fyi 1 euro is about 1.25 dollars

Escape from Goblin Town Limited Edition: 100€ (56 figures!)
Hobbit Rulebook: 65€ (288 pages)
Hobbit Paint Set: 35€
Custom Figure Case: 50€
The White Council: 60€ (4 fig box)
The Trolls: 65€ (3 figure box)
Goblins of the Misty Mountains: 30€ (18 figure box)
Goblin Town: 45€ (scenery set?)
Hunter Orcs: 30€ (12 fig box)
Hunter Orcs on Fell Wargs: 35€ (6 fig box)
Bolg: 20€ (clampack)
Narzug: 15€ (clampack)
Goblin Captain: 13€ (clampack)
Fimbul the Hunter (ft & mtd): 35€

Everything is plastic except the clampacks and the White Council. Yes, the Trolls are plastic.

LoTR:SBG will be renamed The Hobbit:SBG

There will be a new boxed set : Escape from Goblin Town, which will have about 48 miniatures a mini rule book and some scenery.  It will be about $100,

There will be some changes to the rules, but I do not know what they will be and they are supposed to be minor.

New FAQ and DMCA

Here are the new FAQ's.

some notes:
Command/Transfix/immobilize etc just became better, because now you can no longer support that model with a spear :( and special rules that need to be activated can not be used.

Gildor just became usable.

Kings Huntsman special became more useless.

Galadhrim knights move full through woods with charge bonus.




There will be a new LoTR FAQ very soon according to GW on Facebook.
Also the radagast images are being pulled down on all the LoTR forums.  Whoops.  Get it while you can.

Radagast in plastic

Thanks to some one ring members and a Russian site we have our first look at a new Hobbit mini. http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23932&start=40#p292755
You will have to click the link until I get the pics up.

Battle company blog and news

So, word on the street ( kids effect on my brain......I can only picture Murray from sesame street when I type that ) ........
anyway, The Hobbit minis from games workshop will be out on Nov. 3rd.  There will probably be a journey book ( ala The Fellowhip/TTT/RotK ) and maybe a new version of the core  rule book as well.  Looking forward to seeing what kind of starter set gets released.

Also, there is a battle companies blog.  It has the core upgrade/company requirements as well as some other  companies outside the originals.

Army construction

This has been brewing in my head for a short while. Our whole gang's army list creation meta is pretty similar. We tend to be competitive so our lists are full of F4(or higher) and high defence units. We have almost completely embraced this meta with some slight variations between us. Everyone used to play a themed army centered around one of the army list from Legions of Middle Earth, we also tended to max out on bows, except Fracas, who swears they are a waste.
The new warband rules have changed the meta a little, but it has had the largest impact concerning allies.  The new rules make it easier to have rangers in your minas tirith army, or have those cheap heroes without having to worry about the ally rules that were the backbone of Legions of Middle Earth.  What I have seen it do away with is themed armies.  Now there are shades in almost every evil army, and every evil army has easy access to nazgul without having to worry about ally restrictions.  Both are a cheap and effective single model that can go to any evil army and make a significant impact.  Shade in your easterling army? Sure.  How about that Harad army? sure.  I am not really sure what to make of this yet or if it will really change the style of play in the way that the deployment rules have, we shall see.....