Friday 24 December 2021 – Almost simultaneous with the Battle of Bywater, Paladin Took leads an impressive force of Hobbits to Longbottom to oust the Ruffians from the area. The Tooks are launching a concerted attack to drive the Ruffians out of the Southfarthing once and for all. Well aware that the villainous Ruffians will not go without a fight they are resigned to violence to win the day. From the pleasantly wooded borders of the Southfarthing the Hobbits strike, intent on scaring the Ruffians off, while roving bands of Hobbit archers seek out small groups of Ruffians hiding in the woods.

This scenario is found in the Scouring of the Shire (2004) supplement, scenario number 5. It is the fifth of a 6-part campaign covering the events of the Scouring of the Shire.

Participants

Good (16 + 4 models)Evil (15 models)
Paladin Took6 Ruffians with bow
3 Hobbit Shirrifs6 Ruffians with whip
8 Hobbit Militia3 Ruffians
3 Hobbit Archers
1 Hobbit Archer with Signal horn
Farmer Maggot with Grip, Fang and Wolf
List of participants.

* Farmer Maggot is included here, as a bonus for Good for winning the first scenario of the campaign and because he can’t be included in the next scenario.

Paladin Took leading a band of Hobbits.

Objectives

Before either side deploys, starting with the Good player, each player takes it in turns to place an objective marker on the board until there are a total of five objective markers. No objective marker can be within 12″ of either the north or south board edges or each other.

Once either force has suffered eight casualties, the game might suddenly end. At the end of each turn after this condition is met, the Good player rolls a D6. On a result of a 1 or 2 the game ends (no Might may be used to influence this roll).

When the game ends, count the number of models from each side whose bases are entirely within 3″ of each objective marker. An objective is controlled by whichever player has the most models with their bases entirely within 3″ of it. The player who controls the most objective markers wins the game. If both players control an equal amount, the game is a draw.

Special rules

The country is alive with our hunters – At the end of each Good Move phase after the first, the Good player should roll a D6. On a 1 or 2, a Hobbit that was removed earlier as a casualty may be moved onto the board from the north, east or west table edge (the controlling player may choose). Newly arrived models may act normally, but may not charge on the turn they arrive.

Called to arms – At the end of each Evil Move phase after the first, the Evil player should roll a D6. On a 1 or 2, a Ruffian that was removed earlier as a casualty may be moved onto the board from the south, east or west table edge (the controlling player may choose). Newly arrived models may act normally, but may not charge on the turn they arrive. 

The game

The game board.

The game is played on a 4′ x 4′ (120×120 cm) board. The Hobbits are deployed within the wooded area. They may be no further than 12″ onto the board. The Ruffians are deployed within 12″ of the southern board edge.

Since Good can place 3 objective markers and Evil can place 2, Good seems to have a pretty big advantage. They place their markers as close as possible to the north side, so they can take control 3 of them early on. Evil places their 2 objective markers close to the south board edge, but just far enough so that the Ruffian archers can comfortably shoot at the Hobbits.

The Ruffian archers are ready.

Evil moves up and Good positions themselves around the objective markers in the first turn. Evil shooting fails.

Evil Priority, the Ruffians move up and the Archers stay behind. They miss again. But the Hobbit bowfire also doesn’t hit, due to the many obstacles scattered about.

Good Priority and this is a bad thing, for now the Ruffians can choose their movement without a counter. They realize strength lies in numbers and both groups join towards the middle objective marker. They’ve manoeuvred clear of the Hobbit shots. On the other side, two Ruffian archers hit their marks, one Hobbit Archer dies, as well as one of Farmer Maggot’s dogs.

Two raiding groups of Ruffians have left their strategy in the dark – until now.

Evil Priority and the first three Ruffians charge three Hobbits guarding the middle objective marker. The Hobbits are dismayed and Farmer Maggot together with his remaining two dogs move toward the bastard Ruffian archers that just killed a Hobbit and a dog. On the other side, three Hobbits also run toward the second group of Archers. A Hobbit reinforcement arrives from the eastern board edge, hoping to aid Farmer Maggot in his revenge. The same Ruffian archer that killed one dog now kills another one with his bow. In combat, the first Ruffian dies.

Lots of fighting at the middle objective marker.

Evil Priority, everyone surrounding the middle objective marker now gets in combats. No Ruffian reinforcements arrive and the Ruffian bowfire doesn’t land any wounds this turn. Three Hobbits die in combat, while the Ruffians remain unscathed.

Some Hobbits desperately run toward the Ruffian controlled objective markers.
Lots of things happening all around the board.

Good Priority. Good senses they must do more or they’ll lose. Another Hobbit is send to reclaim one of the Ruffian controlled objective markers and a Hobbit reinforcement joins from the west side. But so does a Ruffian from the right side. The Ruffian bowfire is unreasonably effective and slays the newly arrived Hobbit archer. In the combats, the Hobbits are like butter and two of them get sliced. Grip, Fang and Wolf have now all been killed by the same nasty group of Ruffian archers. Good has taken 8 casualties (the Ruffians are still only at 1), meaning the game may end after any turn now. The Ruffians have taken control of the middle objective marker and now control a majority.

The newly arrived Hobbit archers gets shot down by the nasty Ruffian archers.

Evil Priority. The raiding Ruffians at the middle objective marker now spread out to ensure their victory. More Hobbits desperately leave their objective marker hoping to make it to another one in time. A Hobbit reinforcement arrives from the west board edge. The Ruffian Archer hit squad all hit their shots (no surprise there, they only require a 5+ after all *sarcasm*), but ‘only’ one of them wounds a Hobbit. The final Hobbit at the middle objective marker mercilessly gets hacked down. There are now 6 Hobbits out of the game, waiting for a respawn. A Hobbit archer actually kills a Ruffian for a change, during combat, rolling a 6 to Fight and a 6 to Wound. Farmer Maggot is engaged with two of the Ruffian bowmen that killed his dogs. Both sides roll a 3 highest, but Farmer Maggot carries a two-handed scythe and goes down to 2. Enraged, he decides to spend the Might point, wins the roll-off on a 6 and mows down both of his oppressors. Some justice, at last. The game doesn’t end yet.

Farmer Maggot takes his revenge.

Good Priority. Two Hobbits die in combat. The Ruffians spread out, hoping to both prevent the Hobbits taking up objective markers, but also to claim some more for their own. But then the game suddenly ends (probably because Good had Priority and thus the ‘Good’ dice was rolled, which of course resulted in a ‘1’). Interestingly, the game ends in a draw! Farmer Maggot contested with a Ruffian archer for the final objective marker, so both sides control 2 objective markers and the final one is tied. It seems that Farmer Maggot was key in ensuring the draw and his single point of Might made all the difference.

Farmer Maggot was key in causing a Draw.

Aftermath

What a game! The result is a draw. There are officially no rules for how this affects the campaign, so I’m thinking, since this scenario happens simultaneously with the Battle of Bywater, the net result of these two scenarios are what determines the ultimate fate of the Shire and the victor of the campaign. Which means it is still undecided and the winner of the next and final scenario, will also be the winner of the campaign!

The Southfarthing at the end of the game.

Post-game thoughts

This scenario really surprised me! Initially I thought this would be a walk in the park for Good, having cover of the forest, more models, models with Might and starting with the majority of the objective markers. So I was quite surprised when things went downhill so fast for them. The Ruffians shot and fought quite effectively, but in terms of fighting this shouldn’t come as a surprise. They are quite effective against Hobbits, because of their superior Fight, Strength and Move value. But when the two groups of Ruffian joined up to take the middle objective marker, that came as an unexpected surprise to the Good side.

If I were to replay this scenario I’d probably let the Hobbits take a more active role from the start, since there is no real turn limit, the Ruffians can sort of dictate the pace of the game. The inclusion of Farmer Maggot made for some interesting events happening. The steady killing of his dogs made it all the more dramatic and when Farmer Maggot heroically used his single Might point to mow down two of the culprits, which ultimately resulted in Good not losing the game, that’s what makes this game so much fun for me. I think having these personalities, as well as Might points, is very important for this game which makes a lot of the (original) Scouring of the Shire scenarios perhaps a bit less exciting because there are so few Heroes. I am curious to find out if the new version of Scouring of the Shire will be more fun as a result. More doesn’t always equate better though. One thing these scenarios do have going for them is the relatively small amount of complexity and different profiles.

In any case, this was a (surprisingly) fun and tense scenario, I really quite enjoyed it, which is why I’d rate it 4/5 stars. I’m hoping the Battle of Bywater will be just as good and interesting, or perhaps even more so, fingers crossed!

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