Tuesday 14 December 2021 – Lotho Sackville-Baggins is dead, murdered by the evil and utterly mad Worm. Now, with his presence revealed and all but Tookland under his sway, Sharkey begins to exercise his dominion with undisguised malice. Fredegar Bolger, loyal friend to Frodo, has been gathering dissenting Hobbits from the regions around the Brockenbores. However, spies have reported his activities to Sharkey, and now, with a band of his thugs, he strikes, keen to make an example of any dissenters. They attack one evening as the sun is fading, catching Fredegar and his friends in a candlelit hut. Only quick thinking and good fortune can save poor Fredegar and his fellows from torment in the Lockholes. This scenario is found in the Scouring of the Shire (2004) supplement, scenario number 3. It is the third of a 6-part campaign covering the events of the Scouring of the Shire.
Participants
| Good (10 models) | Evil (8 models) |
| Fredegar Bolger | Sharkey |
| Lobelia Sackville-Baggins | Worm |
| 8 Hobbit Militia | 3 Ruffians with bow |
| 3 Ruffians with whip |
Objectives
If four or more Hobbits can move off of the board, the Good player wins.
In any other situation the Evil side wins.
Special rules
Fredegar Bolger and Lobelia – If one of these models escape, they each count as three Hobbits for the purpose of calculating victory conditions. Sharkey wants to take these alive, so they can’t be shot at by bowfire.
The game
The game is played on a 4′ x 4′ (120×120 cm) board. The Good player deploys Fredegar, Lobelia and the Hobbits in base contact with the meeting house. The Evil player then deploys Sharkey and his Ruffians anywhere on the board no closer than 18″ to any Hobbit. Because Evil won the last scenario, the Evil player may make a free move with D3 Ruffians after deployment is complete, but before the first turn.
Three Ruffians get to move before the start of the game, so the ones with whips move up. The Hobbits try to find escape routes and gather together towards the board edge opposite of Sharkey & Worm. Sharkey casts Terrifying Aura.
Since the Ruffians are outnumbered, the Ruffian bowmen also move up to balance the numbers in future possible fights. One archer is standing at the right spot and doesn’t move. He successfully kills a Hobbit militia with his bow.
Good Priority in the second turn. Lobelia gets charged by a Ruffian and elsewhere, so does another Hobbit. The Ruffian archer that drew first blood does it again and kills a second Hobbit militia. Both Hobbits win the fight, one of them kills a Ruffian, Lobelia may not make strikes.
In the third turn, Good wins Priority again. The Ruffian bowman fails. Lobelia fends off her attacker once again, but another Hobbit is slain by a Ruffian.
Evil gets Priority and this allows Sharkey to Immobilise Fredegar.
The bowfire misses, two Hobbits win a fight, but Lobelia is slain by the relentless Ruffian attacker.
Good Priority in turn five, two Hobbits escape off the board. One Hobbit kills a Ruffian in a fight.
Evil Priority. Fredegar gets charged by Sharkey and Worm. Things are looking grim for the Hobbits, as all the Militia lose their fight and 2 of the remaining 3 get killed. Fredegar manages to win his fight, despite being unarmed. Being the last chance to turn this scenario around, Fredegar heroically wounds Sharkey, hoping to bring him down to 1 W and 0 F so that Worm will attack Sharkey. But unfortunately, Sharkey can use his only Might point to succeed with his Fate.
Evil gets Priority in what will likely be the last turn. Fredegar becomes surrounded and sadly dies by the enraged Sharkey, Worm and the Ruffian. In the turn afterwards, the final Hobbit dies by the hands of the Ruffians.
Aftermath
Evil victory – The surviving Ruffians may be used in either The Southfarthing or Bywater (Evil player choice.) That is 2 Ruffians with bow and 2 Ruffians with whip. Sharkey is down to 0 M, 1 W and 0 F, so I’ll roll for what’s recovered later.
Post-game thoughts
This was a much more tense and satisfying scenario than previously seen in this campaign! Fredegar’s heroic stand off against Sharkey and Worm will go down in the Shire history books, assuming there will be a Shire left after this campaign. Had Evil rolled 1 point lower on that Fate roll, Worm would have twisted his loyalty and attacked Sharkey, hopefully giving Fredegar the time to escape. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but it was still a cool and dramatic moment. It was fun to play with Sharkey and Worm for the first time.
The Ruffian archer that shot two Hobbits and finally killed another one in a Fight did good work and should earn a promotion. I loved the idea of this scenario (the Hobbits having a clandestine meeting, but being discovered and then surrounded). With the Ruffians being outnumbered the chances seem fair. Especially if Lobelia or Fredegar manage to make it off the board. The Ruffians have bowfire, superior movement, Fight and Strength. And they have Sharkey and Worm. But Lobelia and Fredegar counting for three balances this. So this felt like a pretty balanced scenario. Had the Ruffian bowman been less effective, Good might have won. I’d definitely recommend this scenario and rate it 4 out of 5 stars.
