Games Workshop dropped quite the Hobbit Day reveal yesterday for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. With War Of The Rohirrim coming to theatres later this year in December, we're also getting a thematically linked new Starter Set featuring a clash between forces of Rohan and the Hill Tribesmen intent on burning Edoras to the ground.

Battle Of Edoras Set // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

The set is called Battle Of Edoras and comes with a whole host of new plastic miniatures for both sides plus the rules and such to get you started in the game. If you're someone who has been lamenting the look of the classic plastic Warriors Of Rohan, have no fear because they are revamped and looking lovely!

Leading the way, we have the forces of Rohan who are led by two of the sons of Helm Hammerhand.

Haleth // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Haleth is the older son, a strong and skilled fighter in close combat just like his father. He comes with a hefty-looking axe which is a nice change of pace amongst the characters of Rohan and you get both a mounted and foot version of Haleth for use in-game. I like the look of Haleth himself and whilst I'm not a fan of the lighter colour for the horse's armour, the two miniatures are pretty great.

Haleth is backed up by the younger son of Helm, Hama. Whilst his brother is a keen fighter, Hama is more of a warrior poet and adept with the bow.

Hama // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Once again, Hama comes as both a foot and mounted character and is looking rather swish. As something of a fan of archers, I think I like Hama more (even if Haleth comes with a cool axe!). I can see him riding around the flanks of the enemy army, picking them off with keen-eyed shots from his bow.

These characters are backed up by a brand new set of sculpts for your Warriors Of Rohan.

New Warriors Of Rohan // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

There are twenty-four of these new sculpts for the Warriors Of Rohan in the starter set and if you're a bit of a Rohan fan, you'll note that they follow very similar cues to the original plastic set. A lot of the poses are directly based on the older plastic set so they should fit nicely in with your existing collection.

These warriors come armed with spears, swords, shields and bows and will be a solid core for your Rohan army. I would hope that as well as the warriors, we're also going to be seeing some updated plastic riders to go alongside them. I also hope this is going to be the start of a revamp of all of the older plastic sets for the game in the next few years.

Intent on the destruction of Rohan, we have Wulf of the Dunlendings and the Hill Tribesmen.

Wulf // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

We'd already seen the miniature for Wulf as part of an earlier preview a few weeks ago. I still like the miniature although I will most likely be painting the swords in traditional metal rather than the black that you see here. I don't often go down the Evil route with armies for Middle-earth as I prefer the characters for the forces of Good but the War Of The Rohirrim could be tempting me!

Next up, we have a miniature for General Targg.

General Targg // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Targg is a trusted advisor of Wulf and Freca, a ruthless commander and fearsome fighter. I think I like everything about Targg apart from his hair. For some reason (and it might just be this perspective of the miniature) the hair seems a bit too "normal". I sort of imagine Middle-earth characters with quite long hair. It could be tied up at the back but we shall have to see! I won't discount the miniature based on hair!

Wulf and Targg are going to be leading a brand new set of plastic miniatures for the forces of Evil. See what you make of the Hill Tribesmen.

Hill Tribesmen // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

This set comes with twenty-four miniatures to match the Warriors Of Rohan and they are armed with spears, swords, axes and bows. You'll also find Tribesmen with flaming torches, eager to burn Edoras to the ground. A lot of the miniatures can have different weapon options so you can build these to suit your needs.

As well as being great miniatures for this period of Middle-earth's history, the Hill Tribesmen could also ransack the realms of Rohan alongside Saruman and the Uruk-Hai if you prefer.

Rules & More

As well as the miniatures, you will also get the new edition Rules Manual which will contain all of the updated rules and a Quick Reference Guide for your first few games. You will also get the Scenarios & Profiles book which will come with the rules for using your miniatures from the box and scenarios to play with them.

Rulebook & Scenario Booklet // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

The set also comes with terrain in the form of plastic Rohan houses. These are ready to be burnt to the ground! You will also get a 3x3 paper playmat which is double-sided so you can set this up and start playing your games quickly.

All of this is no doubt going to be coming out during December (or near enough!) alongside the War Of The Rohirrim film. Do you think you're going to be picking up this set?

What do you make of the new miniatures?