"Tell Me About Escape From Goblintown" Topic

First, I'm normally a historical gamer, and I don't so much hate GW as I just don't pay much attention to them, since they don't sell historical figures. I am, however, a great fan of The Hobbit, having read it many, many times over the past 48 years. I even watched the movie, and will probably watch the next two. So, I was excited when I saw GW's Escape From Goblintown set, which includes all the dwarves, Gandalf, and Bilbo as well as lots of goblins and other things. Still, it is $125. USD What am I getting for all that money? There are rules, it says. Are they good/useful? What are the figures made of? Over in historicals land, I sometimes hear highly negative comments about Fine Cast (?a resin, I think)and am reluctant to waste money on wretched figures. Other comments/reviews of the set?

Grelber

They're plastic, not Failcast resin. The figs are quite nice, but a lot of the cost comes from the goblintown terrain (basically a bunch of plastic plank walkways & scaffolding) which may or may not be useful to you. Many of the figs can only be gotten through that boxed set, although the goblin warriors are available in their own box at $35 USD for 18 models. Pretty easy to find individual sprues on the secondary market, though – the Goblin King, the "heroes" sprue, etc are common enough on ebay, although not particularly cheap.

Scott "Goalsystem" Pyle has blogged quite a bit about the minis from the set, and other LotR plastics:

four-color-figures.blogspot.com

Can't speak for the rules, but if they're close to the older LotR ones they're probably pretty good.

The minis look like they were left under a heat lamp right before they went to cast them

If that's intended as a criticism, you're simply wrong. I've painted several sets of them, both on spec and on commission. Ugly as they are, they're well-cast, have plenty of detail and 18 unique sculpts, require no assembly beyond basing, and they match the look of the movie goblins to a T – if you don't like them, it's Jackson you have an issue with, not GW. They may not be what I ever envisioned Misty Mountain goblins looking like, but they're nice figs for use as postapocalyptic mutants, crazed degenerate cannibal cultists, and similar nastiness.

The dwarves, hobbit, and Gandalf figs in the boxed set are more conventional designs and are arguably some of the best plastics GW has ever released.

Oh i have no doubt they are film accurate. Thats part of the reason Im not going to ever watch The Hobbit (that and the fact it sure as excrement doesnt need to be 3 films long.
The could be the best cast minis ever made, I still wont buy them. Theyre as ugly as the afforementioned excrement.

The comments about the resin from GW are a little dated at this point. When I got some of the finecast figures when they first came out I was hugely disapointed in them and swore them off forever.

Since then I've painted quite a few for customers and they either changed the formula or learned how to cast it better. The newer stuff I have done is very nice and I wish I had some of my older flying models in it instead of metal.

Many thanks for all the information! I assume the rules are similar to the LoTR rules I already have because many recommended their use with Dark Age figures, like Vikings. I guess "limited edition" means I should buy one of the three sets available in my home town, before they are all gone. Since they've been on the shelves for a month or more, it seems like I have some time, and don't have to race out in the next couple hours to buy the figures.

Grelber

White Dwarf Dec 2012 has a replay of Goblintown, to feature the then new Hobbit rules. If you're familiar with LotR, you can get a strong sense of what's been added in The Hobbit. The magazine doesn't give away the subtleties (that would ruin sales, of course), but you can see where they've taken the rules.

Personally, while I was an avid fanboy of GW's LotR miniatures when it all started, they raised the prices beyond what I was willing to pay. Now, I look at the rulebook for the Hobbit, realize that it will all be reprinted next year anyway, and just shake my head. It isn't for me anymore. And if GW can find a way to discourage *me*, they've accomplished something.

Grelber, the rules are the same but with a few tweeks added on. The only problem with the rules in the boxed set is, no model point costs are included. There are a couple of ways around this, but it is annoying. If you bought the big rule book, I did, they have point costs for all the current models in both the Hobbit and LOTR ranges.

Xin

Grelber,

if you like the LOTR game and you liked the movie, ESFGT is a great re-entry set. As others have noted, the minis are very nice renderings of the wizards, dwarves, and the goblins in the movie. I was very impressed with them and think they are the best executed LOTR plastic minis out so far. The ones that need assembly snap together very nicely. Painting the goblins and terrain to table ready standards was very easy. (I have two sets and painted 49 of the beasties last Tuesday – easy to do).

As pointed out the box has 36 minis (18 different mini designs), 3 heroes, the Goblin King, the 13 dwarves, Gandalf, Bilbo, (and maybe Radagast). The rules are revised from the LOTR set. The changes are relatively minor including some increased detail for weapon effects, 3 new attacks for monsters, and some changes to archery. The boxset has the profiles for all the minis in the box and various scenarios. It does not have profiles for any models not in the box nor the point values for the minis in the box. These are easily attainable via the net. PM me and I can point you to useful sources.

Here is my blog entry on the goblin side of the box:

link

Lost Pict

LostPict,
Wow! Loved wandering around your blog! I'm an old Tolkien fan, as I mentioned, and also enjoyed reading Conan stories. So, I really liked the Conan segments of your blog, as well. Another thing I appreciate is the limited approach to magic: no wizard's duels with bolts fo flame slaying hundreds at a time. Much closer to the PigWars game I ran several years ago where a nithing stick gave one side +1 for combat--magic or psychology, you decide. I checked out the Angry Badger website--their platforms could be used for Laketown, or one of the prehistoric European lake villages. Anyway, a good time was had by me, at any rate.

It gives me lots of new things to think about, that's for sure.

Being a cheap weasel, who has never paid for TMP membership (sorry, Bill), I don't think I can pm you. Could you write me directly at: edgington52 at comcast dot net ?

Grelber

Here's some more pics of what comes in the box set:

link

The last pic of the platforms only shows two of the four ramps that come in the set. I left two out of the image as they were the same as the other two.

Pictors,
I completely disagree with the finecast/failcast quality getting better. I will say that in the beginning just about everything you bought was problematic and now it is hit or miss. The quality is still bad. Arms, weapons and poles are too thin and are bent. The finecast gimmick is an abject failure in my mind. GW should stick to plastics, which I think they do a great job with.

Oh i have no doubt they are film accurate. Thats part of the reason Im not going to ever watch The Hobbit (that and the fact it sure as excrement doesnt need to be 3 films long.
The could be the best cast minis ever made, I still wont buy them. Theyre as ugly as the afforementioned excrement.

So, he doesn't own them, hasn't painted them or assembled them, won't buy them, hasn't even seen them in person, hasn't played the game, hasn't seen the film and deliberately won't see the film… and he seems to be under the impression this state of affairs supports an opinion that would matter to the OP or anyone else interested in the film or the game.

Pfft.

Now, back to reality.

I'm keeping an eye on this set, too. I have the LotR Mines of Moria set, which is terrific, but considerably cheaper. I'm rather hoping a local shop I know of will drop the price of their copies (they have a tendency to go into deep discounts very quickly on GW one-shot products). I will say that if the rules match the LotR rules, it's a fun and easy to grasp game. I can even see them being used as the basis for a light RPG/Dungeon crawl type game.

Let us know what you decide, and keep us posted on your progress if you take on the project.

Wow, the tone isn't particularly soft at this forum. Reminds me of the 40K one ;) I am new here but no need going easy on me.

Anyway, I did a little review of the box when it was released. Count the number of times the word "nice" is used and you'll win a little prize (seriously).

The models are well done, and as with most freshly produced sprues, the mouldlines are within acceptable parameters = you'll HAVE to go around the model with a scraper or a file, but not overly much.

The price is "adjusted" due to royalties/license, I have been told by redshirts, but that doesn't really say anything.

If you want it, buy it. I am a fan and bought me one, the Radagast model really made it worthwhile, but the general design of the goblins really aren't my cup of tea, the older ones were very suiting for the Lord of the Rings-universe.

The goblins in the Hobbit are way more disgusting and in a way more childish, though their detailed mutations are very explicit and "adult" – a mixture that could very well be described as pubertal.

link

EDIT: Spelling

Thanks to all for the additional information. I enjoyed checking out Evil Bob's and Llamakorv's links. I think I'll go ahead and buy the set, though it will take a while for me to save up the money.

Grelber

Let us hear what you think about the set when you've collected the required amount of funding!