Many Hoth based sets have been released depicting iconic scenes. This set however consists of a generic trench and turret emplacement. While this set isn’t particularly interesting, it is built very well and can be combined with other Hoth sets for a larger display.

The minifigures

Han Solo: This set includes Han in his Hoth clothes. He wears a fur trimmed brown hood which looks fantastic, although he doesn’t come with a hair piece. His double-sided face print with both a cheerful grin and a serious expression look good. His torso is very well detailed showing a badge, belt and textured brown winter coat. The brown coat print continues down the legs on the front but not the sides or back; this is another example of a problem that dual moulding could have solved. Han carries a blaster pistol.

Rebel Trooper: The Hoth rebel trooper included in this set looks fantastic. The helmet piece works perfectly and you can position the visor over his eyes or on his forehead. He has a generic single face print and the white backpack piece looks good. I love the torso print; it has a detailed belt, a badge, and textured clothing. The legs are also nicely detailed with an extra layer of clothes over his upper legs and he carries a blaster rifle.

Imperial Snowtrooper: This version of an Imperial Snowtrooper has a new design of helmet that matches the movie perfectly. The eyes are printed on the helmet, unlike the previous design. The figure has the angry clone face print. In addition, he wears a different style of backpack to the rebel trooper; here a printed 1x1 tile is used which works surprisingly well. A well detailed print on the torso shows armour and buttons. He wears a cloth piece around his legs instead of a leg print, a decision that I quite like. The final type of blaster is included here, a medium blaster.

Side builds

Heavy Gun: I would presume that this is meant to be an E-WEB repeating blaster, but it doesn’t come with a power generator so perhaps it’s not supposed to be movie accurate. The heavy gun is built around a stud shooter so it can fire an actual blast which is cool. I dislike the look of the build because it’s bulky and lacking in detail.

Probe Droid: While this model is not as movie accurate as older versions of the probe droid, I nevertheless find this one fantastic. The droid is supported on a sturdy transparent stand that holds it a good distance from the ground. The main body isn’t tall enough in comparison to the movie but still retains the rounded shape and red eye. Its four arms have two points of articulation that allow for a lot of interesting poses.

The set

This set recreates the trenches of Hoth. Naturally the trenches should be built underground but that's not easy to do in Lego, the compromise was to build up the sides of the set like short walls which I think works perfectly. The set is built in three sections which have a combination of white, tan, dark tan, and grey bricks used for detail. There is plenty of space to display figures which I find important. Two of the sections can curl around the main one and change the look of the set.

The main section has nice details. A wrench and a shovel are stored on clips and a small energy generator adorned with a sticker is connected to the turret with a hose. A great action feature is included in the form of a gear on the back of the model that turns the turret remotely. The body of the turret is formed with two large pieces decorated with a sticker. Spring-loaded shooters can be fired off the turret which I appreciate. A nicely built up gun is at the top of the turret with a hatch for a minifigure to shoot from.

I think this is a perfect medium-sized set. It has good figures, a few action features, plenty of space to put figures and is a nice display model. $45 aud is a good price for it and I definitely recommend the set.

There is not much more iconic too Star Wars than the Battle of Hoth, therefore there have been many reincarnations of this scene. Hoth Attack is the most recent, and the smallest. It is practically a small trench, but I think its pretty well done.

Box/Instructions

The front of the box displays the set, in the middle of battle. The cold, Hoth plains are filled with explosions, that creates quite a attractive box. It features the Probe Droid flying above the model, and a snowtrooper getting blown off his E-Web blaster. The minifigure gallery shows off the three minifigures included in the set, excluding the Probe Droid. It also features the 2015-2016 Kylo Ren Banner across the top.

The back displays the features along with an image of Han Solo getting rid of a snowtrooper, by shoveling snow onto him. It also displays the accessories, in the top left corner.

The instruction booklet, was fair quality, and features the same image as the front of the box.

Parts

Most of the parts were white, and tan. There were a few light grey pieces as well.

Minifigures

Han Solo is a very cool minifigure. He has his thick brown parka, and hood. The hood has tan and grey printing. There is a lot of detail, with a rank badge, and some pockets.

A big debate in the Star Wars galaxy is, "What color was Han Solo's Hoth jacket, Brown or Blue?. This minifig has a brown jacket, which in my opinion looks cooler than a blue one would have.

He has a belt with his holster printed onto his legs. The belt finishes across the back of the torso. The leg printing is a little lighter in result too the grey legs.

He also has a double sided head, with one face serious, and the other smiling.

The Hoth Rebel Trooper was first seen in 75097 Advent Calendar with a different head. This is the first time he's been released in a actual set, but he is not considered new. He has a lot of ranks, on his coat, along with a belt. He has the same helmet as always, with the movable goggles, they can be posed on top of his helmet, or on his face like this. His back printing is covered by his backpack, which has also been seen on other Rebel Trooper minifigures. He has a little leg printing which is washed out by the leg color.

His back printing is well done, considering its covered up by the backpack. It has a tan vest top, and a belt underneath.

The Snowtrooper is the only minifigure included, that has been in other sets. He has been in almost all Hoth sets since 2014, Nevertheless he is a very nice figure with some great detail. His helmet looks just like the troopers in the film, with a printed visor. His torso has various controls printed with grey and red buttons. He has a custom backpack, with a printed 1 by 1 tile piece. The piece is also printed with some controls. He has a skirt piece, and some plain white legs with a grey hip piece.

He makes use of the angry clone head, which you can see here.

He comes with a E-Web blaster, which in my opinion is the worst version yet. It doesn't stand up straight, and isn't movie accurate. It is built around a stud shooter, which looks very bad.

The Imperial Probe Droid may not be considered a minifigure by some people, but it is considered one by Brickset. This is a new design for this character, and does not feature the antennae on top. He has a trans-red eye in the front, and four hanging legs. He is propelled in the air by a transparent base.

The build

The build took about 20 minutes, and was strait forward. It can get a little confusing where to put all the random white pieces, but if you take your time, it will not be a problem.

The completed model

The model has one main feature, and a couple of details.

There is a sloped tile piece, with a sticker. The sticker has a duct and a vent printed on. There is also a trans-blue circular tile piece on a black plate in front.

Behind it, there is a wrench hooked on the back with a vent duct piece attached to the back.

The big gun turret is the star of the set. It has two white cylinder pieces with stickers.

There are a lot of white sloped bricks around the bottom.

There are two spring loaded shooters underneath the top.

The top can open up, to put a minifigure in. It can't be closed all the way, when the minifigure is inside.

There is a knob on the back of the model. When you turn it, the turret rotates. There are gears underneath the turret, that make the feature possible.

There is a shovel on the left side of the turret, for keeping the trenches clean, or warding off unwanted guests.

The rest of the model is really just a bunch of hinged plates. They have a lot of tan plates to replicate the dirty snow.

Since they are hinged, you can fold it into a tinier set. There is a hook that holds the model together when folded up.

Overall opinion

This is a cool set. It was the one I wanted most from the Winter 2016 Star Wars range. It comes with some cool minifigures, and I think it will look cool next too 75098 Assault on Hoth.

In preparation for the UCS Assault on Hoth, some more scenery for your expanding Echo Base diorama.

Box/Instructions

Standard mid range small kit box with a nice set image on the front. Han Solo is the figure of choice for 1:1 image on the top. The back has the 'holo tech spec' of the Golan Arms turret from both sides. The main picture shows set which, for some bizarre reason, has Han using a shovel to throw snow at a Snowtrooper. Han old buddy, a spade is no match for a good blaster by your side, kid! There's a picture with the weapons included and 3 showing the turret features.

Parts

The expected price per piece ratio for a kit of this size. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary in the assortment. There are two bags in the box. Bag 1 contains Han Solo and the lower snow base below the turret. Bag 2 contains a Rebel Trooper, a Snowtrooper, the Arakyd Viper Probe Droid, the E-WEB cannon and the Golan Arms DF.9 anti-infantry battery.

Minifigures

The kit come with 3 minifigures.
Firstly we have the standard issue newer Snowtrooper. He comes equipped with a black blaster rifle, kama and backpack. The head is the standard 'angry clone' head.
There is also a generic Echo Base Rebel Trooper with a backpack and a black assault rifle.
The best of the set is the Han Solo in Hoth gear. For those who missed out on the polybag version a while ago, this is your chance to get Han in the brown coloured gear. He comes equipped with a black compact blaster pistol and his head has dual sided printing with a smiling and worried face.

The build

Total building time, 15 minutes.
Yes, there are stickers. I know some folks hate these but they are large and easy to apply. One details the turret front and the other is the top of the control panel for the power conduit.
The base has two sets of hinges in it so it can be put into a variety of configurations. It also folds back on itself to clip around the turret.
The use of brown, grey and white try to convey the trenches of Hoth but the grey looks a little incongruous in places. If the brown is to represent mud, where did it come from on a frozen wasteland like Hoth? The base has clips with a shovel and a spanner.
The DF.9 anti-infantry turret can be rotated by turning a disc below and goes all 360 degrees. It has two of those spring loaded missile launchers with red missiles. The top hatch opens and you can set the trooper in the front. To be honest, this turret could've been done better with a little more thought but it's okay for the set.
The BlasTech E-Web cannon has a built in stud shooter. This is probably the ugliest version of the cannon to date and not good at all.
Finally we have the Arakyd Viper Probe Droid. This isn't bad but it could use a comm antenna and the leg issue can be resolved with the spare parts in the set.

The completed model

Not a bad set to add to your expanding Hoth dioramas. It stands 12 cm tall and 25 cm long if you fully extend the base plates out in a line. Otherwise you have a 15 x 12 cm irregular area.
It looks quite nice in with other kits but the grey in the ice is a little out of place. You would also hope that the designers would stick to a single version of the DF.9 and keep it at that. Also, with better versions of the E-WEB already made, this one is unforgivably bad.

Overall opinion

Not a bad set but not the greatest. Good if you're building a Hoth diorama or working your way up to this year's UCS Assault On Hoth. More fodder for Echo Base but nothing spectacular either.

I came across this set marked down to 20 euro and still it wasn't a no brainer for me. It would have been if a tauntaun had been included or a few more stormtroopers. On its own this set just seems to have a high price per piece, and playability is an issue, with just 1 stormtrooper and droid.

In that price range you can get cooler sets. Another issue is that an almost identical probe droid SW712B was included with a magazine. The only difference is the hidden internal piece holding the "hat" of the droid. So on the outside there is no difference.

What won me over was the Hoth setting, which is my favorite part of the movie. Also turning the turret via a knob and gears is also a very nice touch. This set should also combine well with other Hoth sets.