The newest wave of the Lego The Hobbit sets are now available. The Brothers Brick have a great review of the star set, Lake-town Chase (79013). This set has 470 pieces, 5 minifigures, and can be found at $49.99. Lake-town Chase features two buildings, and a long boat. Interestingly, the long boat is made out of two smaller row boats. With a mast, and two shields hiding the seems. A nice barrel is included that helps tie this in with the previous Barrel Escape (79004) set. You can never have enough Lego Barrels.
These Lego Hobbit sets have proven to be slight spoilers for the films. Here it looks like there is some action scene and/or jail escape in the Lake-town portion. Which seems exciting, even though nothing like this happens in the books.
The weakest part of Lake-town Chase is the minifigure selection. By now most collectors will have a Bilbo, and maybe a Thorin. The last thing we need in a new set is a Bilbo and/or Gandalf unless they contain new prints/designs. It would have been great if one or two of these minifigures could have been town guards. What funny hats.
Make sure to read the whole review for the Lego The Hobbit, Desolation of Smaug, Lake-town Chase (79013) over on Brothers Brick: http://www.brothers-brick.com/2013/11/25/the-hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-79013-lake-town-chase-review/
Lake-town Chase