Please note: I lost most of the images that were in the original article, so this is now a mostly text-based report.
Friday 22 October 2021 – Bilbo Baggins, Hobbiton’s best-known eccentric has disappeared in the midst of his eleventy-first birthday party – right before the eyes of one hundred and forty-five Hobbits, no less. Leaving both the Ring and Bag End to his nephew, Frodo, Bilbo has resolved to travel to the Last Homely House east of the sea and west of the mountains, the Elven safehold of Rivendell. His appraisal of the difficulty of the journey is perhaps less than realistic, coloured by his comparatively easy passages of days past.
Though Bilbo is still hale of body and hearty of spirit, there are more perils on the road than the mere exertions of travel. Sauron’s shadow has grown of late, and many foul creatures lurk between Bilbo and his goal – not that he is aware of them, of course, for he thinks the journey quite safe. Fortunately, though the Elves and Rangers are present in fewer numbers than even ten years earlier there are still those who have made it their task to keep the old Hobbit safe from harm…
This scenario is found in the Scouring of the Shire (2004) supplement, scenario number 12. It is not part of a campaign, as it is a stand-alone scenario part of the appendix and is the final scenario in the book.
Participants
Good (11 models) | Evil (32 models) |
Bilbo Baggins (does not carry the One Ring) | 4 Warg Riders with Orc bow |
Aragorn | 4 Warg Riders with Throwing Spears and Shield |
3 Wood Elves with Armour and Elven blade | 4 Warg Riders with Shield |
3 Wood Elves with Armour and Elven bow | 4 Moria Goblins with Shield |
3 Rangers of the North | 4 Moria Goblins with Orc bow |
4 Moria Goblins with Spear |
Objectives
The Good player wins if Bilbo exits the board from the Rivendell board edge (opposite from where he started). If Bilbo is slain, the Evil player wins.
Special rules
Wanderers of the Wild – From the second turn onwards, the Good player may roll a D6 at the end of each of his Move phases. On the roll of a 2+, one of the Rangers of the North has arrived and may move on from the board edge as determined by a second D6 roll. Once all of the Rangers have arrived in this way, a further roll of a 2+ indicates that Aragorn has arrived in exactly the same way.
In the same way, from the second turn onwards, the Evil player may roll two D6 at the end of each of his Move phases. On each roll of a 2+, one of the Warg Riders has arrived and moves on from the board edge as determined by a second D6 roll.
The game
The game is played on a 4′ x 4′ (120×120 cm) board. It is fairly hilly, so as many areas as possible are elevated terrain. The board is covered with trees and bushes.
Bilbo starts 12″ within the southern Bree board edge. The Wood Elves are then deployed at least 12″ away from Bilbo and the Moria Goblins are then deployed at least 12″ away from Bilbo and 6″ away from the Elves.
Bilbo moves up, the Wood elves position themselves better to protect Bilbo and most Goblins move up so that they can hinder Bilbo at a later point. Some Goblins do come out of hiding, which means the Elves are able to shoot and one of them successfully kills a Goblin with shield.
In the second turn Good retains Priority and a Ranger arrives on the east board edge. One Warg Rider enters from the northern Rivendell board edge and another from the southern Bree board edge. The same Elf that killed a Goblin last turn kills another one this turn with his bowfire.
Then Evil takes Priority and the Goblins swarm the Elves while a Warg Rider charges Bilbo. Two more Warg Riders enter from the western board edge and so does a Ranger of the North, who decides to walk and fire his bow, hits, but fails to wound a Warg. In the combat phase, two Elves are killed by Goblins, but Bilbo is unharmed and the Warg Rider charging him is slain by the Elves.
Luckily, Good reclaims Priority in the fourth turn and three Elves form a shield around Bilbo. The final Ranger enters the board from the eastern edge and this time only 1 Warg Rider enter from the Rivendell board edge.
In the combat phase, an Elf kills a Warg Rider and so does a Ranger (who did use his only Might point to do so).
Good has Priority once again in the fifth turn. Aragorn and 2 Warg Riders enter the board. Bilbo gets in a combat with 2 Goblins but wins the fight. No casualties this turn.
Evil Priority, one Warg Rider enters the board. One Ranger uses his only Fate point to prevent his death, another Ranger uses his Might point but kills a Warg Rider (but the Warg stays on the board). Bilbo uses his only Might point to win the fight, but doesn’t wound. Elsewhere, 1 Goblin is slain and two Elves.
Good gets Priority and since Evil doesn’t have Might there is nothing to prevent this from happening. Pretty much everyone gets in combats except for Bilbo. One more Warg Rider enters the board from the western edge.
Two Rangers of the North fall in battle, but the final Ranger kills a Warg Rider. Aragorn performs lacklustre, needing 2 Might points to win the fight and then needing another Might point to kill a Warg Rider, so he is down to 1 Might. An Elf kills a Goblin.
Good gets Priority. Bilbo moves up and the remainder of Bilbo’s protection forces follow him. The Goblins are too slow to catch up, but the Wargs do manage to get in fights. Aragorn kills a Warg Rider with ease and joins a fight with an Elf against a Warg by using his free Might point to call a Heroic Combat. But Aragorn can’t help the Elf from getting eaten by the single Warg. The last remaining Ranger of the North uses his only Might point to kill another Warg Rider, but this time the Warg stays on the board.
The game likely won’t go on for much longer. It is turn 8 and almost all of Good’s forces have been killed. Good does retain Priority and so Bilbo makes a run for it, but is likely still at least two turns of full movement away from Rivendell’s board edge.
The final Ranger of the North is slain by two Wargs, the final Elf also goes down. But Aragorn does kill a Warg Rider and a Goblin.
It’s now just Bilbo and Aragorn vs a whole troop of Goblins and Wargs. Evil gets Priority at last, but Aragorn uses his free Might point to call a Heroic Move. Aragorn then calls a Heroic combat using his final Might point, since Bilbo is up against two charging Warg Riders. But Aragorn disappoints again and loses his Fight and takes two Wounds. Bilbo then has to fend off two Warg Riders on his own, but fails and receives 4 Wounds. Were Bilbo to successfully use all his 3 Fate points he would still have a chance, but no, only 1 Fate point succeeds and Bilbo is slain on the road to Rivendell…
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
I enjoyed this scenario quite a bit! I liked the random placement of the reinforcements, enjoyed the scenery and rulewise it was simple and quick enough to play to not feel like a chore to play (which can happen sometimes with too many models or rules on the board, especially when playing solo).
Aragorn disappointed and I think that was crucial to Evil’s victory, otherwise Bilbo might just have made it to Rivendell. I do think despite the lack of Might, Evil does have the advantage in this scenario because of their higher mobility and greater numbers. The rolling didn’t seem to favour Good or Evil in my playthrough, though Good did have Priority more.
I think the scenario is balanced a bit better in the new 2019 edition of Scouring of the Shire, where 3 Elves are added and the Warg Riders enter slower. The change from Goblins to Orcs wouldn’t change much since the increase in Fight value only matters against Bilbo and not against any of the other Good models. So I think the scenario will likely have been improved there, but even as it stands it’s quite a fun scenario. I’d rate it 4 out of 5 stars.