Escape from Goblin Town - unboxing and review

I wandered down to the really friendly and not-so-local gaming store. When arriving, I noticed that there were no particular rush, the 40K-players were there as they always are, and a couple of *normal* persons came in and bought a boardgame. Still, my personal hype was making me feverish, and I said to myself: Llama, you are now behaving like a fanboy. The cold helped me somewhat, and the snow took some enjoyment of going home with the large box under my arm, but still, I was smiling.

Review of the Hobbit - An unexpected Journey: Strategy Battle Game - Escape from Goblin Town
From here on known as Escape from Goblin Town, or EGT.

I also picked up a box of Hunter Orcs, or Jägerorks as the Germans say. Or in Italian: Tutti de Orci de la Jaegari de la Bombastico de la tutti de Fredi.
    Hah-hrrm... back to the review:

Content (4.6 out of 5)


- Two sprues of goblins - they were larger than I had expected, but look nice. A total of 36 goblins here plus:
- The Goblin King, a goblin captain and a tiny little goblin which looks really nice. A total of 3 goblins in this sprue (including the King who is based on a 40 mm base).
- The companions-sprue. The dwarwes are sized very well: They are matched well with the regular dwarwes (perhaps even a tiny wee bit smaller - which is something good, keeping it closer to 28 mm rather than 32 mm). The dwarwes are all characterful as we have already seen in White Dwarf and elsewhere, and they are especially nice when compared to the Fellowship-sprue that came with Mines of Moria - every dwarf have lots of detail and I haven't found any obvious flat surfaces like those on, for example, Aragorn in the Mines of Moria-box.
     It might be an unfair comparison, but it is an enlightening comparison. The Thirteen Dwarwes are nice models, can't say any more of it, except that old Balin has quite a boring stance.
- Inch-ruler! Finally! In this country it has been impossible to find. It goes to 23 inches, in two separate pieces that can be fixed together.
- Dice and bases. Your normal GW-stuff.
- Radagast. In plastics - I had a feeling that it would be in F-cast and thankfully I was wrong. Radagast is a really nice model with lots of detail.
- Rulebooklet. Not as nice as the MoM rulebook, but still a nice little publication. But what was most interesting: Images of High Elf Cavalry and new [plastic] Great Eagles!
 - Two sprues of goblin town gangways and wooden plateus.

- And a walkthrough and a little pamflett with tables on, which got my liking.

---   ---   ---

Dwarwes - 5 out of 5.
Gandalf and Bilbo - haven't really got an opinion on these two for some reason.
Goblins - 4.6 out of 5. They are disgusting and I like it - but it is obvious these won't be everyones cup of tea. Perhaps after the film, though...
Goblin Town gangways and platforms - 4 out of 5. Well produced and designed like almost everything out of GW, but I was a bit underwhelmed personally. I can totally see someone getting a geek-overload on these sprues, especially if combining them with the separate, larger Goblin Town-kit.
Radagst - 5 out of 5.
Other - 4 out of 5.


Price (1.2/5 when compared to historicals, 4.7/5 for a GW release)
Price was okay. I payed 900SEK for this one, which would equal to circa 104 EUR or 135 USD. Or 139 AUD, to those of you complaining you get quote: "shafted" [end quote] over there/down under.

Timing of GW (4/5)
Great timing. I hope some new people will hop onto the hype after the movies or perhaps a parent or two will buy their son(s) a bunch of Lord of the Rings/the Hobbit-stuff and miniatures. This part of miniature wargaming could use an injection of addicts, at least in my part of the world.

All-in-all...
... I give this four point five Llamas out of five: L L L L l out of L L L L L.
    Why not the five?
    Well, number one:  The rulebook wasn't really all that - not even close to what I had hoped for, and not near what I had expected. I had low expectations on the abridged rulesbook, but not even these were met.
    You do have the large 288-page rulebook available if you want the good stuff, I flipped it through in the shop and found it was filled with hobby stuff and was better than I had expected.
     Number two... hm... no, the rulebook is my only gripe. I would of course have liked it to be a few euros less costly, but you got a whole bunch of stuff. Not much more to say on this matter.


Happy hobbit-gaming, gentlemen!

EDIT number 5: 139 AUD is actually quite good for Australia. The official GW-price is around 200AUD so yes, you get "shafted" in Australia, no doubt about that. Your complains were warranted.