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 Post subject: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2015 2:45 am 
Loremaster
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Hey everyone!

It's been a couple of years away from the hobby. I left right before the first new models came out with the first film and came back just this last December.

I'm not sure if it would be worth it to buy the new rulebook or not. I have heard that it updates monsters and individual weapons, but what else can I expect? Should I even bother buying it?

If there is a discussion about this already, please point me to it.

Thanks in advance!

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2015 3:01 am 
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Try to find a used copy of the digest sized rulebook from escape from goblin town. I'm holding out/ hoping for the final all in one hobbit/lotr tome.

As far as the hobbit rules, well you would spend 80ish dollars on the book then need the 30ish dollar DoS supplement to get all the profiles. If you just want the rules update go for the small digest size rule book. It contains no new profiles but I picked up mine for 20ish dollars. Let me know what you think as my opinion of the new rules is wildly unpopular, I want to hear your take as one who stepped away for a while and is now coming back.
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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2015 5:33 am 
Elven Elder
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If you only want the profiles, you can find the AUJ and BOFA profiles for free on Black Library. The only profiles you would need to buy would be the DOS book. If you want the rule, which you really should get them, enough changed to warrant it, try and find the mini rulebook. I have both just because I found one of the big ones on ebay for 40 bucks.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2015 5:42 am 
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Thanks guys. I think that I'll be getting the mini rulebook seeing that I don't have any of the new models anyway. The only models that really impressed me were the Rivendell knights, Smaug, and the Mirkwood elves.

What does the mini rulebook look like, and how many pages is it? Does it say, "Your Journey Starts Here"?

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2015 8:26 am 
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To buy, or not to buy. That is the question.

The Hobbit SBG is the evolution of the LotR SBG. It's basically the same gaming system, just with alterations, a lot of additions, and certain corrections. The changes though are substantial enough to make the Hobbit rules a very necessary upgrade for any serious SBG fan. Monsters are more powerful, Heroes now have 7 Heroic Actions, Magical Spells have Channeled versions, weapons have more categories and are now more complex and realistic, etc. etc.

We own the hardback Hobbit rulebook. It is a really nice book, and we would certainly recommend it. The quality of the product is great. Just as a book by itself, its a nice addition to any library.

The book is 288 pages long, and contains all the new updated rules, including extra rules for playing Points Match Games with the new Warbands, and a list of generic scenarios to play. The book also contains all the scenarios for An Unexpected Journey (including a campaign), and a few of the major scenarios from the War of the Ring. Also included is a large Hobby section, and a tremendous Gallery, with display pictures of miniatures from the whole GW Middle-earth range. Under the profiles section, there are profiles for nearly all the An Unexpected Journey miniatures, from Thorin and Company to Azog and his Orc Trackers. Profiles are not included for the DoS and BotFA. (The DoS supplement must be purchased separately, and the BofFA supplement can either be purchased separately or downloaded as a free PDF from Black Library. A small PDF of the AUJ profiles can also be downloaded there.) Lastly, the back of the book contains the stat lines for all the LotR miniatures. This section is useful for a quick stat reference, but without the LotR Source Books, which contain all the individual stats and special rules, this section is rather useless. So to play the LotR with the Hobbit SBG you would need the rulebook and the corresponding Source Books.

Sadly, most of the Source Books are no longer available. The reason seems to be that GW intends to either re-publish them or else create a new Middle-earth Rulebook that combines the all the Hobbit and LotR profiles into one big tome, stopping this silly business of having to have a hundred and one books just to have all the rules for your collection. With GW's current position towards The Hobbit and LotR though, it is hard to speculate what they will do. You might wait for eternity for a big rulebook that will never be published, or you might waste your money with this book if a new one is released a day after. If you just want the updated rules alone however, then perhaps the small softcover Hobbit Rulebook from the EfGT would be a good idea.

The small rulebook contains only the updated rules, minus Profiles, Scenarios, Gallery, etc. (As mentioned above however, you can download the AUJ profiles online.) In all other respects, it is just a smaller version of the big rulebook. So if you don't want all the extras, the small rulebook is great. You can purchase it either in the EfGT Boxed Set or else second-hand on Ebay.

The small rulebook is 112 pages, and is different from the "Your Journey Begins Here" booklet also available in the EfGT Boxed Set. That booklet is just an introduction to the game. The small rulebook looks like its big counterpart, except smaller, just like the small LotR SBG rulebook that once came in the Mines of Moria was just a smaller counterpart of the big blue LotR rulebook.

Hope that's helpful! :)

Elladan & Elrohir

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2015 7:44 pm 
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It just has the name of the game on the cover with a pic thorins company in goblin town.
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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2015 8:20 pm 
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Elladan & Elrohir, that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Thank you for taking the time to write that out. When I ever get the chance to buy one and read through it, I'll let you all know what I think of the new rules.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:25 am 
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I was finally able to get a copy of the miniature rule book. I'm still looking through it at the moment but I thought that I'd write down my first impressions of it.

First thing that I noticed were the pictures that give examples on the rules. Instead of the actual models they use icons or images of the models face. I thought that that was odd, but doesn't really apply to the rules themselves so...

I really like the rules for the specific weapons such as picks and axes and the different things you can do with a sword for example. I think that this will add some great diversity to the game.

One thing that I don't quite agree with is that they got rid of the rules for destroying walls in a siege. What are you supposed to blow up with demolition charges?

Anyway, I'll continue to look through the book, and hopefully when I finish my gaming board, I can actually test the rules out. I haven't played a game in such a long time! My Helm's Deep is just sitting there taunting me, collecting dust.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:34 am 
Elven Elder
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Pretty much all of the rules for sieges were removed or at least very much downplayed.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit Rulebook- To buy or not to buy?
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:37 am 
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That's unfortunate. I'm still going to use the old rules for sieges then.

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