Hobbit Releases – Dwarves in Barrels, No Smaug

December is here, and with it (soon) the new Hobbit movie. Time to have a look at GWs strangely neglected “3rd Game”, the Hobbit Strategy Battle Game. Aside from the Space Marines Ultimate Codex, Sigmar’s Blood, Escalation and a few other things, the Hobbit is (among) the time of the month. There’s some nice Elves in the mix. No Smaug, and Dwarves in Barrels?

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#1 – New Hobbit Releases

First up, I will say that the new plastic kits look quite lovely. I could see myself with a box of Mirkwood Rangers, and the Palace Guards are decent too.

Two plastic clampacks Legolas and Tauriel are nice too.

Finecast, being with it is, is lower on my list of things I’d by, especially those Spiders with those hyper-thin legs (in Finecast…hmm).

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#2 – Barrels out of Bond

The really strange thing… no Smaug (but Dwarves in Barrels).

The rumours that there would be no Smaug have been out for a while now. I don’t really understand why Games Workshop didn’t make a Smaug model.

• Yes, he probably would’ve been too large if they did him in the scale seen in the Hobbit Movie Trailers.
• Yes, the game is probably on the way out anyway you look at it.
• Yes, there probably would’ve been limited uses for Smaug in the Hobbit game itself.

Who cares? I do not doubt for a second that a (plastic) Dragon “named” Smaug would’ve been an instant-hit, Hobbit or no Hobbit, for collectors painters and fans everywhere.

At any rate, I am sure he would’ve sold much better than Barrels out of Bond, a collection of Thorin’s Company (+ Bilbo) in Barrels, no? That one certainly has absolutely no in-game-uses beyond a single scenario in the book. For 40 quid? Finecast? Don’t tell me Smaug wouldn’t have sold better, even if they’d only did a Smaug-head as a miscast lump of Finecast.

Seems like a huge missed opportunity. Don’t you think?

Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Z.