The Hobbit

The Hobbit is a popular book by J.R.R.Tolkien, although it perhaps better now known in the mainstream thanks to the trilogy of movies based on the book by Peter Jackson (which is strange since the Hobbit has been around for DECADES [since 1937 to be precise] as a book, even predating the Lord of the Rings books, while the movies are recent).

A little known fact is that this is the book that started it all.

Tolkien originally wrote this book as a bedtime story for his children. One day, Tolkien's buddy CS Lewis (yes, THAT CS Lewis) found out about, read it and said that he should publish it. Tolkien did so and the book's growing success was part of the reason he expanded on this setting and wrote 'The Lord of the Rings' books, the codifier for every high fantasy setting that has come after.

The plot

The story follows the tale of Bilbo Baggins (the hobbit of the title) as he joins a band of dwarves in their quest to find a legendary treasure in their ancient lost city, which their forefathers were driven out by Smaug, a great and terrible dragon who is the terror of the lands. This journey sets off a train of events which would eventually lead to Tolkien's most famous work, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Bilbo finding the One Ring and returning with it to the shire, Sauron in his guise of the Necromancer being driven out of the mirkwood and left for his true lair in Mordor, and many of the characters in the Hobbit that would go on to be in LoR undergoing significant personal growth and changes.

The films

It was not surprising considering how popular the Lord of the Rings trilogy was that at some point the Hobbit would be made into a film. As the work on it commenced it was announced that the Hobbit would be split into a two part movie, which surprised many but they went with it. It was when it was revealed it would be a trilogy itself that cries of annoyance rang through the air, along with jokes about the producers and the film studio execs outdoing the dwarves or the dragon in terms of gold hoarding.

The first movie featured an awful amount of walking and future plot building. It had one redeemable feature, kickass glimpses of Smaug (the dragon).

The second movie ramped things up although it had frankly hilarious scenes like Orlando Bloom (Legolas) doing his best Eldar Harlequin impressions through long scenes of acrobatic juggles and jumps that just made the orcs seem utterly pathetic. There were rounds of applause for his displays in the cinemas for Emperor's sake. Smaug the dragon was awesome, despite being a wyvern unlike in the book or the original release of the first movie, until they made him look like an idiot with the Dwarves and Bilbo running rings around him and not dying in the process (In the book all the Dwarves were terrified of Smaug and never even entered his line of sight, to quote them "Nothing can escape Smaug once he sees it." The filmmakers also forgot/ignored how heat works).

Like with the LoR trilogy, the first two movies are building up for a nice big epic battle in the third installment.

Sadly it was shit as the third movie stank monkey balls featuring more Legolas bullshit, random giant earth worms, protagonist plot armor so thick a black arrow couldn't pierce it, even more CGI and cringe worthy dwarf elf romance that goes nowhere with Kili's death (not a spoiler; he dies in the book which, remember, has been out for decades before most of us were born).

Games Workshop wargame adaptation

Games Workshop has produced a new version of their Lord of the Rings miniature game, titled, to no-one's surprise, The Hobbit (Strategy Battle Game). The game however has failed to shake the very foundations of creation as was intended and for the most part is a cash-in with the very excitable teen boys who are over-bowed by the abilities of acrobatic elves (Thranduil model is faboulous) and wisecracking dwarves from the movie settings. Smaug also got an awesome model but he was a game-breaker, too big for any carry case and came at a price that would make even Forgeworld blush.

Use your old models. New "evil" guys are pushovers. Game uses models from Lotr SBG but has changed rules. Monsters were buffed and can now hurl models with low strength value across enemy ranks knock them to the ground and suffer STR 5 hits. Elves seem OP but every elf fgt will cry if you take the Shadow Lord Nazgûl into your army (6's to hit, come at me bro).