Tuesday 08 June 2021 – It is on a bright spring day that Odovacar Bolger and some friends make the ill-advised decision to take a picnic under the branches of the Old Forest. All of Odovacar’s companions are Brandybucks and, though they have heard tell of the dangers of the forest, are scornful of the dark and sinister tales with which they were raised.<br><br>Once in the shadow of the Old Forest, with the face of the sun lost above the leafy canopy, their joyful picnic turns into a night of terror. Without warning, the path on which they entered the forest is swallowed up as the trees wake from their slumber. It would seem that only a miracle can save the Hobbits now.
This scenario is found in the Scouring of the Shire (2004) supplement, scenario number 11. It is not part of a campaign, as it is a stand-alone scenario part of the appendix.
Participants
| Good (10 models) | Evil (0 models) |
| Tom Bombadil | – |
| Goldberry | |
| 8 Hobbit Militia (one of which is Odovacar, here represented by the model of Fredegar Bolger) |
Objectives
The Good player wins if at least one Hobbit escapes the board by exiting via the west board edge.
The Evil player wins if the Good player does not achieve his objective.
Special rules
Ho Tom Bombadil! – From the fourth turn onwards, the Good player may roll a D6 at the start of each turn, before Priority is established. On the roll of a 4+ or greater, Tom has heard the pleas of the frantic Hobbits and may move onto the board from the eastern edge. After Tom has arrived, the Good player can continue to roll in subsequent turns – if a second 4+ is rolled, Goldberry moves onto the board from the eastern edge.
Desperate panic – The Hobbits must always test their Courage at the start of their Move, exactly as if their force was Broken. If a Hobbit fails, the Evil player may move him stead, exactly as if he had been Compelled rather than using the normal rules for retreating.
The Trees are moving! – At the start of each of his Move phases, the Evil player rolls a D6 to determine how many trees are moving that turn. The Evil player can nominate to move as many trees as the number rolled. Each tree moves D6″, but is not slowed by terrain or obstacles. Restless Trees have the following profile:
| F | S | D | A | W | C | |
| Restless Tree | 1/- | 2 | 5 | 1 | – | 8 |
The trees have control zones, and so can charge and be charged as if they were normal models. Should a Restless Tree win a combat, it will not strike. Rather, it will envelop a single defeated model. If there are multiple trees engaged in a single fight, the Evil player may choose which one captures the loser. Represent which tree has enveloped which model by placing the victim on its side in base contact with the tree. Enveloped models may do nothing until they are released and suffer a single Strength 4 hit at the end of each Fight phase. Trees may only envelop a single model at once.
If a Restless Tree is charged while it is enveloping a model, that model is instantly released and placed within 1″. If a Restless Tree is wounded, defeated in combat, or is targeted by either the Hey! Come Merry Dol! or Refreshing Song magical powers, it releases any enveloped model and instantly retreats D3 directly away from the source of the attack.
Restless Trees that have enveloped a model may be targeted with shooting attacks without that model (or in fact any model expect other trees) being considered to be ‘in the way’. Sorcerous Blasts or other damaging spells aimed at Restless Trees with an enveloped model will not cause any damage to the enveloped model. Trees are never knocked to the ground and cannot be affected by Immobilise, Transfix, Command or Compel magical powers.
The game
The game is played on a 3′ x 3′ (90×90 cm) board. About half of the board should be difficult terrain, but there should be several clear ‘paths’ that run from one board edge to another.
The Evil player divides the board into 12″ x 12″ sections and places 3 trees in each section. No tree may be placed within 3″ of another tree.
When this has been done, the Good player places Odovacar Bolger and the Hobbit Militia 6″ of the centre of the board.
Most Hobbits fail there Courage test in the first turn, moving then towards the Eastern board edge. On the hill, movement was limited however, so not too much happened. Three Restless Trees are activated and two move in to charge. One tree backs away, while the other successfully envelops a Hobbit. He doesn’t get killed though.
In the second turn, more Hobbits pass their Courage and they rush towards the Western board edge. However, 6 trees get activated and four of them get into a combat, including against Odovacar. He and two other of the Hobbits get enveloped, one of them dies immediately and the enveloped Hobbit from the previous turn also gets killed.
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-large”><img src=”https://aiwendil.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_20210608_152125-1024×768.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1984″/></figure>
Good retains Priority in the third turn and this time all remaining Hobbits pass their Courage test. Just two trees are activated, one of which who manages to get into a combat. The tree loses the combat and backs away, but Odovacar is crushed under the roots of the tree he was enveloped in. Perhaps he should have heeded the warnings and not picnicked in the middle of the Old Forest, although, I do feel sorry for him and his companions!
In the fourth turn, Evil gets Priority which allows two threes to get in combat and hinder the Hobbit movement. Fortunately, Tom Bombadil does immediately show up, hopefully it’s not too late! One Hobbits gets enveloped and dies.
In the fifth turn, Good regains Priority and Goldberry enters the board. Unfortunately, three Hobbits fail their Courage test and are lured into charging trees. One of them gets enveloped, but survives.
In the next turn, Tom Bombadil has almost become in casting range. Meanwhile, the very brave Hobbit who succeeded in all his Courage rolls so far carries on, but does get charged by a sneaky tree. Elsewhere, another Hobbit gets into a combat and dies. That means only 3 Hobbits remain, one of whom is enveloped.
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-large”><img src=”https://aiwendil.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_20210608_154530-1024×768.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1988″/><figcaption>The brave Hobbit</figcaption></figure>
In the seventh turn, Evil regains Priority, but due to slow tree movement, the brave Hobbit can’t be charged. He just barely can’t leave the Western board edge yet. Meanwhile, Tom Bombadil frees an enveloped Hobbit with his Refreshing Song and Goldberry’s passive ability allows the just freed Hobbit to move without having to make a Courage test.
In the final turn, Good gets Priority and the brave Hobbit (just) passes his Courage test, running off towards his home. He was the true MVP, although if he would have failed, Tom and Goldberry would likely have ensured the Hobbits a safe return.
Aftermath
Good 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 was a very fun scenario! Aside from Tom Bombadil and Goldberry (who don’t have very difficult profiles), there’s only two profiles: Hobbit militia and the Restless Trees. So not so many special rules to keep track of, which makes it quite suitable for solo play.
Seeing the terrain move around every turn was certainly a lot of fun and very thematic for the Old Forest. Most turns are quite eventful and even though the Hobbits feel very squishy and slow (especially because of the difficult terrain and the fact that there’s a 42% chance they are moved by Evil), only one needs to make it off the west board edge safely so there’s tension the entire game. The movement of the trees being determined by D6’es also makes it quite unpredictable which is nice. If I were to nitpick I’d say there’s quite some dependence on dice rolls (Priority can be big and having Tom and Goldberry arrive makes it much easier for Good). That said, due to the limited number of models there’s actually not that many die rolls to make which is nice. The scenario certainly didn’t outstay its welcome for me.
If I had to think of a way to game the system here maybe you could have the Hobbits try to stay as close as possible together and together move towards the Eastern board edge to wait for Tom and Goldberry. That would probably ruin the game because then Evil has almost no chance. But seeing how that would be so against the nature of this scenario I don’t think this is a problem. The intended way to play this scenario feels fairly balanced and especially fun! I’d rate this scenario 4.5 out of 5 stars.
