Revisiting The Hobbit

It’s been over three years since I bought a boardgame (as I’m trying to reduce my collection). That last boardgame was The Battle of Five Armies. It has sat unplayed, and it was time to remedy the situation. Learning a new immersive boardgame, with many rules, and that has a playing time of 2-3 hours, takes patience. I punched out the pieces, unwrapped the cards, and immersed myself in the rulebook. Having played Battles of the Third Age, I knew what to expect. 

 

But I needed a bit of extra motivation. Learning this sort of game requires several play-throughs because you’re going to make mistakes the first few times, and you’ll run into ambiguous situations where you’ll need to consult sources beyond the rulebook. (The internet has made this much easier compared to the old days when you had to snail-mail questions to the game company.) This meant devoting another 10-15 hours before I would be satisfied with having learned the game properly. To motivate myself I decided to re-watch Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movie trilogy.

 

I could be classified as a Tolkien nerd, at least in my younger days. I discovered The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings at age twelve. For many years, I would re-read Lord of the Rings, appendices and all, every year. (The Hobbit would be revisited less often.) As bits of Middle Earth lore became available be it through The Silmarillion, the Book of Lost Tales and Unfinished Tales, I devoured it. I learned the runes. I pored over maps and histories. I might no longer be a nerd because I haven’t kept up the last twenty years or so, but I do still re-read the books once every 3-5 years. I thought Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was overall good (although I had some quibbles), and my sister gifted me with a boxed set of the extended version. I’ve re-watched these on occasion.

 

In contrast, I was disappointed with Jackson’s Hobbit movie trilogy. I dutifully watched each movie in the cinema when it was released, hoping for improvement. Nope. All manner of side-stories were added to what seemed like a bloated spectacle aimed at making money. The Tolkien nerd in me was unimpressed. And now, dear reader, you’re thinking why on earth would I want to watch the movies again and how indeed might it motivate me? For one thing, the boardgame focuses on one tiny sliver of Tolkien’s story, the battle of five armies. (It takes up less than 5% of the book, but rages on for half of the third movie).

 

The truth is that I was in two minds about whether to watch the movies, and to help make the decision I decided to read some movie reviews. That’s how I stumbled upon the Smithsonian’s excellent piece: The Tolkien Nerd’s Guide to “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”. (I also recommend their guides to the first two parts, linked in the article.) I now had a glimpse of Jackson’s vision in situating the Hobbit movies in the larger context of the twilight of the Third Age of Middle Earth. That’s why the Ring plays a larger role, and there are those extra scenes involving Dol Guldur and the Necromancer. Jackson doesn’t quite follow the “true” story or its timeline. Everything is movie-dramatized to pack as much of a punch so the action and drama are amped up several notches.

 

While I still don’t like numerous parts of the movies (anything involving Legolas, the over-sizing of Smaug and his hoard, and some Laketown scenes), I now have a better appreciation for other deviations in the movie. Tauriel’s multi-faceted role now becomes more interesting in examining the politics of Middle Earth. Dol Guldur scenes are no longer annoying. The overplaying of dragon-sickness and the effect of the Arkenstone hark to the seven Dwarf rings and the Silmarils of the First Age. I also enjoyed noticing the different personalities of the Dwarves in the movies which are not found in Tolkien’s books. I’m pleased that Bombur gets some excellent scenes. And I enjoyed how the song “what Bilbo Baggins hates” was rendered in a memorable and clever way. I was also able to sit back and enjoy the over-the-top action (except when Legolas was involved) and even accepted Azog as prime antagonist. (In the books, Azog was killed years back; Bolg gets a tiny mention for the battle.) I also didn’t mind the Dune-ish tunnel-making worms when they showed up. Overall, I enjoyed the movies more this second time around, because I watched them with a different mindset.

 

I’m also enjoying the boardgame. It’s more streamlined than Battles of the Third Age, with a clearer rule-set, a shorter fate track with faster progress, and with improved game-play elements. As a stand-alone game, I am now more likely to pull it out and teach someone who’s interested compared to its predecessors. A little of the narrative richness is lost with a shorter and less fiddly game (i.e., without a bunch of extra rules for special cases), but it’s likely to get more play time instead of sitting on the shelf. I’ve played four games with each side winning two apiece. The game seems relatively well-balanced provided the Shadow player is aggressive from the get-go. (I learned this the hard way in Battles of the Third Age.) A Shadow player who sits back while building up forces has little chance in winning. A quick strike is required before armies are fully mustered but it requires risky play. This forces the Free Peoples also to take risks and makes the games much more interesting.

 

Above is a picture after Turn 3 in my fourth game. The Free Peoples rolled particularly badly in this game allowing the Shadow to easily take the Eastern Spur and the ruins of Dale, before wiping out Dain Ironfoot’s army at the Camp before the gates of Erebor. Bolg is approaching the front gate while Thorin is still on the Fate Track. The northern goblins have crossed the mountain pass and are following behind Bolg, as are several other Shadow armies. While the Elves have mustered in the south hoping that there is still time, Bolg in the next turn broke through the Front Gate into Erebor thus winning the game. (In the previous game, Bolg’s armies failed to break through at a later point, and Beorn showed up decimating them.)

 

It’s been fun revisiting the Hobbit. I re-read parts of the book after watching the three movies back-to-back over Thanksgiving weekend. I also re-read the Durin’s Folk appendix. And the last movie gave me the oomph needed to thoroughly enjoy the battles in the boardgame!