Friday 14 May 2021 – In the year 2911, a great cold descended upon Eriador. It was not only streams that froze in the chill embrace of the winter winds, but also the mighty rivers that bordered the Shire to the north and west. Even the Baranduin (or Brandywine) was locked solid. In this window of vulnerability, a great many packs of White Wargs, driven south by hunger, crossed the frozen barrier. They savaged the patrolling Rangers of the North and began to wreak havoc in the Shire. Fortunately for the Shirefolk, Gandalf, the Grey Pilgrim, came to their aid once again.
This scenario is found in the Scouring of the Shire (2004) supplement, scenario number 10. It is not part of a campaign, as it is a stand-alone scenario part of the appendix.
Participants
| Good (17 models) | Evil (9 models) |
| Gandalf the Grey | 1 White Warg Chieftain |
| 8 Hobbit Militia | 8 White Wargs |
| 4 Hobbit Archers | |
| 4 Hobbit Shirrifs |
Objectives
The Good player wins if the Warg Chieftain is slain and all other Wargs have either been killed or fled the board.
The Evil player wins if the Good player does not achieve his objectives before being slaughtered to the last Man and Hobbit.
If the Wargs are driven off or slain, but all the Hobbits have died, the game is a draw.
Special rules
Surprise Attack – The Evil player has Priority in the first turn.
The Leader of the Pack – The Wargs must always move at full rate directly towards an enemy model. The only exception is if they end their move in base contact with an enemy model (ie, have charged an enemy) in which case they may move how they wish. In addition, whenever a White Warg is removed as a casualty it is kept to one side. Whilst the Warg Chieftain is still in play, the Evil player moves up to two White Wargs (slain earlier in the game) onto the board from any edge at the end of his Move phase. Newly arrived models may not charge in the turn that they arrive, but may otherwise act normally.
While the Warg Chieftain is still alive and on the table, the White Wargs do not take Courage tests of any kind (although the Chieftain will). Once the Warg Chieftain has been slain, the White Wargs return to the normal rules for Courage and so will start taking tests when five Evil models have been slain.
Dead of Night – It is a moonless night and there is no light save for that given out by the fires that burn in the centre of Whitfurrows. Gandalf and the Hobbits may not charge, shoot at, or target Wargs with magical powers unless they are within 6″ of their target. In addition, any models within 6″ of a fire (or 12″ of Gandalf if he is using the Cast Light magical power) can be seen clearly from any distance.
The game
The game is played on a 4′ x 4′ (120×120 cm) board. In the centre four large bonfires are lit.
The Good player deploys the Hobbits so that there are four Hobbits within 3″ of each fire. He then deploys Gandalf within 3″ of any of the fires.
Afterwards, two Wargs start on each table edge. One of each pair must be in base contact with the edge and the other must be 6″ in from the table edge. The Warg Chieftain may be set up on any table edge, up to 6″ in from the edge.
The Wargs move in and Gandalf casts a Channelled Blinding Light, using 1 free and 1 profile Will point. With the scene now illuminated, most of the Hobbits get to throw rocks because they can now see the Wargs approaching. One hobbit archer kills a Warg and another hobbit successfully hits the Warg Chieftain with a stone, but his Fate prevents him from taking a Wound.
Evil retains Priority in the second turn. The Wargs charge and the remaining Hobbits help their brethren. The Wild Warg Chieftain calls a Heroic Combat. His rolls are poor (two 1’s and one 2), but fortunately for this hungry animal the Hobbits roll no better. He eats both Hobbits whole and charges another Hobbit. However, he once again rolls poorly and loses to the single Hobbit militia. He does remain unscathed though. In the other fights, another Hobbit militia dies, but so does a Warg.
In the next turn, Good gets Priority. Realizing the only way to stop these Wargs is to slay the Chieftain, Gandalf uses 3 Will and rolls a 6 to Sorcerous Blast the Chieftain. However, the Chieftain rolls a natural 6 and therefore resists the spell – and regains the just spend Will point.
The Chieftain spends his final Might point to once again call a Heroic Combat, slaying both a Hobbit archer and then a Shirriff. In the other combats, two Wargs are slain and one Hobbit militia.
Good retains Priority, Gandalf once again tries a Sorcerous Blast, but needs to spend a Might point to set it off. Meanwhile, the Chieftain rolls another natural 6 (using 2 Will this time), meaning the spell once again gets resisted, but the Chieftain does lose a Will point.
Good once again retains Priority. Gandalf and some Hobbits charge the Terrifying Chieftain and win the Fight. The Chieftain receives two Wounds. In the other combats, one Warg is slain but two Hobbits go down. 8 Hobbits have now been killed, meaning 8 are still standing.
Evil gets Priority, allowing the Chieftain to quickly make an escape and charge two Hobbits rather than Gandalf. All Might has been spend and Gandalf just manages to make it to the combat with the Chieftain. In that Fight, the Warg Chieftain wins and eats the two Hobbits. Their hunger must have subsided by now but they may as well make some kills for later. In the other combats, three Hobbits die but no Wargs. Things aren’t looking so good for the folk of the Shire!
Evil retains Priority and the Chieftain, sensing his chance, ties up Gandalf by charging him. The rest of the Wargs close in on the three remaining Hobbits. In those combats one Hobbit and one Warg are killed. In the duel between Gandalf and the Warg Chieftain, both sides roll a ‘5’ highest. With no Might points to spare, Gandalf has a small advantage with his Elven-made weapon. But the roll is a ‘1’ and Gandalf loses the Fight and takes two Wounds.
Good retakes Priority and Gandalf uses his final Will points to cast a Sorcerous Blast. Unfortunately, the spell doesn’t go off and because his Will store is now reduced to 0, his Blinding Light goes out…
Gandalf loses his Fight against three Wargs and receives two Wounds. Fortunately, Narya saves him from both. The heroic Hobbit Shirrif that killed a Warg last turn now wins his fight against the Chieftain and another Warg, but unfortunately doesn’t manage to land a Wound. No casualties this turn.
The Chieftain only needs one more Wound to be taken down. With Good winning Priority, Gandalf cast another Sorcerous Blast with his free Will point, which hits, but the Chieftain once again resists with a natural ‘6’, making him again immune to the spell.
Good is so heavily outnumbered that there is no advantageous way for them to rearrange the combats. And it is in this combat that Gandalf and the final two Hobbits perish, making this a clear victory for Evil.
Aftermath
Evil wins the game. Since this is a standalone scenario part of the Appendix, the outcome doesn’t affect any future scenarios.
Post-game thoughts
This did not go the way I expected it would based on reading and viewing other people’s reports on this scenario. I think I was rooting for Evil because I thought they would be the underdog in this scenario. That panned out a little differently…
Anyway, I certainly enjoyed this scenario a lot. I think the setting and theme is really cool and it was a pretty tense game with some important decisions to be made. The special rule that says the Wargs had to move and charge every time also made it a good scenario for solo play since it makes them behave more AI-like. I also liked that I could use my snowy terrain mat for the first time. I think it sets the mood well, if only I could have a way to cover the rest of the terrain in snow without giving a mess.
The Warg Chieftain was very much a beast with Strength 6 and 3 Attack and 3 Wounds. He also had formidable Magic resistance because all 4 times he tried to resist spells he rolled at least one natural 6. That is really due to luck though. If that hadn’t happened the Chieftain may have been defeated which could have changed the entire game. The Wargs would then no longer automatically pass all courage tests, meaning they could be Broken and no more new Wargs would appear.
In hindsight I did possibly not play Gandalf / the Good side as optimally as possible. Perhaps rather than Sorcerous Blasting every turn, other spells like Immobilise or Command could have been useful. However, with the Magic resistance rolling by the Chieftain that wouldn’t have made much difference in this particular play of the scenario. Maybe I should have had the Hobbits all bundle together and gang up on the Chieftain since defeating him is the only way Good can win the game. Yet the Chieftain does cast Terror and with Priority not always ensured, this is not always possible (but more so than I played here).
Having made these caveats I’m interested to see how replaying this scenario would change things. I look forward to playing it again in a very slightly adjusted version in the Scouring of the Shire (2019) source book. I’d rate this scenario 4 out of 5 stars.
