A visit to Hobbiton (warning picture heavy)

A Visit to Hobbiton

… My family and I have been to the Hobbiton location set, just outside the town of Matamata, several times over the years, but this latest trip was by far the best experience.

When we first tried, back in April 2002, there was just my wife and I who had come on holiday, for the first time, from the UK. Having looked at websites at the time it looked as if you could visit the Hobbiton set. We arrived, back then, called at the tourist info centre at Matamata, only to be told it was private farmland and there was no access ! What a disappointment, we had come all that way, to no avail...

We still enjoyed the rest of our tour  and stay in NZ, and it led eventually to us migrating to this wonderful country.

But that was then, in 2002, and this is now in 2014 !

Even the tourist information centre in Matamata, has had a complete makeover! ... see below...

Several miles out of town, lies the sheep farm, where PJs scouts just happened to find a tree, by a lake with surrounding hills in just the right location and arrangement to suit their needs, and so history was made, at least in the film making world...

And so our guided tour commenced...

Initially everything was made out of temporary materials, polystyrene etc... this time it has been made out of real materials; wood, brick and stone,  to be a permanent film set and tourist attraction.

The last time we visited was just before the release of the The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, and whilst most of the set was completed at that time, there was still scaffolding around the Green Dragon and Mill so they were not accessible.

This time they were fully completed. Also, last time, my daughter, Rebecca, was only 6 or 7 years old, and had never really "got" the Lord of the Rings movies... this visit, now 8 years old, and having seen the Hobbit, and now "getting it" completely, she was fully engaged with the experience, and wanted to be everywhere and in every picture, which made it all the more fun for the rest of the family too. My son Chris, now 10, was of course fully up for it, and my wife too, has become a complete "MiddleEarth-o-phile" ... so we were raring to go... and thankfully so was the weather, with a glorious summers day, greeting us, to enjoy the experience with barely a cloud in the sky...

So without further ado... enjoy the pictures...

My daughter Rebecca, you will be seeing a lot of her...

The lane through which Gandalf rides his cart…

Tracey, my wife, gets in to the spirit...

The tour guide explained the movie magic; some of the hobbit holes were made 60% scale, so children could act as hobbits alongside adult size folk as humans...

Rebecca, is just the right height for a hobbit !

My family, Rebecca, Tracey and Chris.

Lots of little touches to bring life to the setting…

Real vegetables growing in the small plots

Chimney smoke, in the first movies was done by burning beeswax, but this only lasts about an hour… now for tourists, made using a smoke machine…

All the wood was aged using vinaigrette, and the mould is a mix of glue, paint, sawdust and yogurt, the yogurt is used because this will encourage real moss to grow over time…

I get to be in the odd picture, to prove I was there !

The above hobbit holes were added for the Hobbit trilogy of movies to enlarge the overall scene.

The tree above Bag End, with some maintenance work occurring...

The tree above Bag End was actually artificial. With thousands up thousands of material leaves having to be attached… and then painted !

The view across from Bag End, to the Green Dragon in the distance, across the lake... 

Bag End

The famous green door !

The fence above to right, is the one that Bilbo leaps over.

Passing the mill, to then cross the bridge, on towards the Green Dragon.

Into the Green Dragon we go !

As part of the tour we each get a free drink. Non alcoholic ginger beer for the kids, and beer, ale or cider for the adults.

Cheers !

It comes in pints !? I’m having one !

The menu

Impressive green dragon over the bar !

We each had a beef and ale pie. Absolutely delicious !

You were also allowed to dress up as hobbits if you wished.

At the back of the tavern there was also an outdoor area, that could be hired for functions; weddings and parties etc…

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, and did not want it to end. I could have been quite happy staying on as a gardener forever…

...and of course, we hit the gift shop with enthusiasm afterwards buying posters, mugs, the Key of Erebor, ginger beer and Southfarthing ale, and a school satchel. We could have got more but the credit card was starting to whimper !

So if you ever get the chance to visit, I whole heartedly recommend a visit to Hobbiton, also known as Matamata.

And of course, I am thoroughly inspired for more Hobbit gaming, modelling and painting ! I hope you are too !

Drink up me hearties... Yo Ho!

Just when you think you have a plan and its all sorted, a chance re-union and we're off in another direction again...
I mentioned in my earlier post about getting some Cherry blossom trees from good mate Roly. Whilst there, my son, Chris, and Roly's daughter, Monique, got chatting, and Pirates of the Caribbean came up...

So guess what ... once home, Chris was wanting to play a pirate game...

So we got out the pirate board, and came up with a scenario, using Legends of the High Seas rules...

Chris wanted to play a game where a pirate crew, would land at port, have to sneak into town to the  tavern, and recruit more crew and get out again. He would play the pirates.

I got to play the Royal Navy defenders. There would also be 2 loose 'Thugs' who would attack anyone in range, and 4 prospective new crew near the Tavern who would be 'recruited' once they were in base contact with a Pirate. The pirates and crew would then have to get back to their ship...

The town awaits, as the pirate sloop moors alongside the jetty...

[please excuse the white board ends -  damage to board during storage was half way being fixed]

Unsuspecting Caribbean town... Port Royal?

Chris the Pirate!

Gotta have the right musical accompaniment!

Pirates hit the jetty

 4 pirates come ashore...

The 'thugs' are noted by green tokens. The 'recruitables' are marked by yellow tokens... We played by the sentry rules so navy could not activate until 'triggered'.

Marine musket gives fire...

Pirate 1st mate shoots at thug...

Hand to hand action starts to hot up...

It's not looking good for the pirate captain...

Melee up the side alley...

2 more pirates come onto jetty, from the sloop, looks like the lads need a hand...

Recruitment starts, in town square...

More action on the dock...

One second, recruited.. the next second, shot!...

3 vs 2 against the pirates, its not looking good...

The game ended with all the pirates killed! But the Navy midshipman and a marine also fell...

It was a fun little game, and yet I couldn't help think the game would have played better using a different skirmish set of rules... and I got thinking about Empire of the Dead.

Don't get me wrong, I like the core LOTR SBG game mechanic, used in LotHS, which works well for large skirmish battles... but having played Empire of the Dead, I think that rule set is better suited to these smaller 'gang fights'...

Empire of the Dead, although for a gothic horror, steampunk setting, can still handle the pirate setting as it has rules for medieval weapons and muskets etc, and a few custom tweaks can be added as necessary - perhaps adding the Fame and Fortune points for the heroes, and heroic actions, as I like those elements of the SBG game..

EotD also has more interesting rules for hiding and sneaking about, wounding effects in combat (not just alive or dead), and I think the single model activation in turn works better, plus there's an over-watch type shot mechanism... All of these factors I think would make for a better pirate game experience.

So we'll give that a whirl and report back...

Of course this little bit of C18th fun, had me reaching for my scratchbuilt Brig, in an effort to finish it off properly... here's where I last had it... shown from an earlier game, quite some time ago... usable but not finished yet...

Since this pic was taken I had added more cannon firing ports to the hull sides, and also a mermaid-like figurehead below the bowsprit, see below pics.

Also, I was never fully happy with the sails and fighting tops - it seemed wrong the sail was in the way of the crew man accessing the fighting top from the rigging ladder (to be added)..., attached to mast, behind him.

So I trimmed back the sails, adding a slight curve to their undersides and added the railings round the crows nest and fighting tops...

I think it looks much better now, and models wont accidentally fall from on high either if the table or boat takes a knock!

Next I need to add the rigging - that's going to be a fiddly job no doubt! Any tips from folk who have already done it to their models ships - I'm all ears!

I had also made another addition to my terrain collection - I ordered a set of cargo/stores made by Infinity, from Slave to Painting.... I can see these being widely used through many settings - LOTR, EotD and of course Pirates!

Foundry pirate for scale...

Just need to get them trimmed and painted up....

Cherry blossom, a tree so beautiful, it belongs with the Elves...

Good mate Roly has been enjoying a hobby jaunt in the Orient recently, as can be seen in many of his current blog posts...

As part of this adventure in a new setting, some suitable terrain was required and Roly sourced some model Cherry Blossom trees, I believe, from a Hong Kong based ebay trader...

Having made what he needed to create the setting he was after, he found he had an excess, and very kindly offered me a spare pack...

Like Roly, I always love good terrain on the tabletop, and these were a wonderful addition to my own terrain collection, and recent DIY trees I made from bottle brushes...

I based them on 60mm discs cuts from 3mm MDF. Used hot glue to attach to the base, then added my usual tea-leaf brown flock, with PVA/brown paint (50 /50 mix), then green static grass to finish. I am tempted to add some flower clumps too...

I couldn't help but think their bright colourful display was very in keeping with an Elven setting, and feel this is probably how I will use them most. It also inspires me to try and make some suitably Galadhrim dwellings to go with them... I may have a look over the PC game; The Battle for MiddleEarth II, for a little inspiration and ideas...

Interestingly too, I do feel that the way PJ et al at WETA envisaged the elves, draws somewhat from oriental themes, in their long bows, curved elven blades and banded armour, so perhaps the match up with Cherry blossom trees is rather apt!

Galadhrim defend their home land