The Scouring of the Shire Inspired Lists: The Shire Revisited

Good morning gamers,

Today marks the beginning of a three-part series where we look at the models we have in the Scouring of the Shire scenarios and design a list for use in Matched Play. Unsurprisingly, our first stop will be . . . the Shire. The quintessential "good guys" of Tolkien's famous tale, the Shire is often viewed as a non-competitive choice in Matched Play because they have low Defense, they're slow, they have (basically) no spears, and their heroes are weak. And perhaps because they are so heavily critiqued, Centaur has made it his mission to champion them and trounce us here at TMAT again and again with his "waistcoat brigade." Those dashing chaps are more than they seem - let's look at the models we have to work with (I've done some groupings - the list is quite long):

• The Four Travelers (Frodo of the Nine Fingers, Samwise the Brave, Meriadoc & Peregrin, Captains of the Shire);
• Three combat Hobbit heroes (Holfoot Bracegirdle, Robin Smallburrow, and Farmer Maggot);
• Six support Hobbit heroes (Will Whitfoot, Farmer Tolman Cotton, Hamfast "the Gaffer" Gamgee, Baldo Tulpenny, Lotho Sackville-Baggins, and Folco Boffin);
• Four "damsel" Hobbit heroes (Rosie Cotton, Paladin Took, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, and Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger)
• 12 Hobbit Militia
• 8 Hobbit Archers (and 1 Hobbit Archer with war horn)
• 12 Hobbit Shirriffs
• Bullroarer Took (who seriously limits our options for heroes)
• Gandalf the Grey
• ALLY - The Rangers: Aragorn - Strider
  
• ALLY - The Rangers: 3 Rangers of the North
• Bilbo Baggins
  

While the warrior count is very low (33 Hobbits + 3 dogs) and a few less bows than we'd actually want (we probably want 4-5 more), you CAN run the Defenders of the Shire LL at 750 points if you run all the models you have and do 6 weapon swaps on Hobbit Militia or Hobbit Archers. This will "only" give you 52 models, 16 of which (roughly one-third of your army) are heroes. Tactical benefits aside of having all those heroes, you probably want more bodies than that.

Photo Credit: The Scouring of the Shire

The scale of the Scouring of the Shire book is much smaller than the other sourcebooks (Fall of the Necromancer varies in its scope, admittedly), so it would make more sense for us to lower the points level in this post to something smaller than our usual 700pt list. Like we did for the Men of the West last year, I landed on 600 points - and this list is an homage to my good mate Centaur who, I know for a fact, will critique only one thing about the list below: the lack of Anduril. Let's dig in!

The List

We're allying today - and I will take partial responsibility for Centaur's use of an 800-point variant of this list at the 2022 NOVA tournament last September, since it was I that talked him into leaving the Travelers he loves so much at home and instead taking the grey pilgrim:

• Gandalf the Grey
• 8 Hobbit Archers
• Will Whitfoot, Mayor of Hobbiton
• 6 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 4 Hobbit Militia with axes
  
• 2 Hobbit Militia with weapon-swapped flails
• Holfoot Bracegirdle, Shirriff-Leader
• 6 Hobbit Shirriffs
• Farmer Maggot
• Grip, Fang, and Wolf
• 6 Hobbit Militia with axes
• Fredegar Bolger
• HISTORICAL ALLY - The Rangers: Aragorn - Strider with bow
  

600 points, 41 models, 9 bows hitting on a 3+ AND 28 thrown stones hitting on a 3+ AND Sorcerous Blast cast on a 5+, no D6+ models, 3 fast infantry and a free Might point for Heroic March each turn, 9+ Might points

Off the bat, I can say that if you prefer to use the Travelers, you can trade out Gandalf (our anti-archery, anti-magic guy who keeps Will Whitfoot's banner around longer with Strengthen Will) for Frodo of the Nine Fingers on a pony (more permanent banner), Meriadoc, Captain of the Shire on pony with shield (Courage boost not tied to a war horn), Lotho Sackville-Baggins (for F4 Shirriffs), and Robin Smallburrow (for another cheeky two-handing hero who can cause his warband to arrive more reliably). In general, I think this list works (and certainly worked for Centaur in the games leading up to NOVA) because Gandalf keeps Aragorn from getting locked down by enemy magic/archery, but I can see the desire for more buffs having its perks (especially F4 Shirriffs).

But I'm not going to review that list today - nope, we're looking at Gandalf, Aragorn, and a host of angry Hobbits instead. By going with the historical alliance between the Rangers and the Shire, everyone (except Gandalf and the dogs) has Woodland Creature, which gives us some tactical options on tables where we have woodland terrain (useful, potentially) and we don't TECHNCIALLY need Gandalf for the alliance to work, but we're taking him anyway. Let's see what this list does!

Army Theory

As was mentioned above, this list is all about Aragorn and Gandalf - Aragorn is one of the most powerful heroes in the game, thanks to getting a free Might point each turn, "3s" in all the right places (3 Might/Will/Fate with 3 Attacks/Wounds as well) and has access to every heroic action in the game besides Heroic Channelling. Because he's so good, he's usually the magnet of every enemy piece of shenanigans, be that magical surpression (Nazgul, Barrow-Wights, wizards, Elves of various types), archery fire (crossbows, siege weapons, buckets-of-other-bows), and really big heroes/monsters (who may even be paired with magic or archery to soften him up). When you've got Aragorn and a bunch of halflings against an army that totes those guns, you want some kind of mitigation power to keep Aragorn going.

And there's none that compares to Gandalf. Gandalf has Blinding Light, which can be channelled to last the entire game so long as he's got at least 1 Will point in his store. This, paired with the ability to cast Protection of the Valar (which makes the target hero unable to be targeted by magical powers), means your opponent probably only has one method of dealing with Aragorn: taking him head-on. And THAT is a game that Aragorn usually doesn't mind playing - though if he had Anduril, he'd like it even more (I hear you, Centaur, I hear you). He'd probably like it still more if he had a horse, but alas, we're operating under scenario constraints, okay?

Gandalf also has Sorcerous Blast to slow down enemy models by knocking them prone (and potentially wounding them - or making them easier to wound if they get charged while prone), keeping enemy models from calling a Heroic Strike/dealing wounds to Aragorn with Immobilize, and regrowing his own Will points (or those of a friend, like Will Whitfoot) with Strengthen Will. Leave this wizard alone in the backfield for too long, and you could see a big hole being dug for you in dealing with this army.

Usually, buying these two heroes means you're going to be short on models, but when you need to boost your numbers to afford these big heroes, it helps a TON to have cheap warriors and Heroes of Fortitude to lead them. This the Shire has in spades - and all Shire lists begin with Farmer Maggot. Hobbits aren't fast (citation needed), but dogs are fast - and surprisingly hard to see because they're so short (and that Fang sculpt is crouching down even closer to the ground). Maggot is one of the best combat heroes the Shire has and is really dangerous if he's with someone else and can win the fight. Centaur, my son Gorgoroth, and I all chose Maggot as the Companion to our Ringbearers in Fantasy Fellowships and we can all say that he's a PAIN to deal with if he's not fighting alone (and even if he is, he can be a force to be reckoned with). With dogs who use his Courage rating and are fast enough to get to objectives, this guy is where it's at for 45pts (and he has nine additional warrior slots you can fill).

We also went with Will Whitfoot, who costs the same as Lotho Sackville-Baggins and is not very survivable (1 Wound/1 Fate with D3). However, he gives an army that wants to run Gandalf a very important edge: you can spend his Will points to have a 6" banner. This is perfect if you're not going to have Frodo in your line-up (prohibited if you run Gandalf), but also valuable if you have Frodo in there as well (who's going to object to two 6" banner rules?). If you'd like to skip the banner and get F4 Shirriffs with Lotho, you can do that (but frankly, without spears in your army, I think you want the banner).

We also took Holfoot Bracegirdle - and THIS guy, like Maggot, is a must-have for any Shire force. S2 Shirriffs are not good, but S2 Shirriffs who are two-handing with their clubs are really good. And if they can two-hand without suffering the dueling penalty, they're even better. And if Holfoot is nearby, they can do just that - great addition if you ask me.

Our final hero was a struggle for me - I had 10 points left over and wanted to get armor for Aragorn (5pts), but didn't have anything else I could get for Aragorn besides an Elven cloak. While a horse for Aragorn would have been awesome (or upgrading Will Whitfoot to Farmer Tolman Cotton), I decided to throw in a cheesy hero at the end in the form of Fredegar Bolger. This guy is . . . well, he's pretty bad. I mean, he's basically an unarmed Hobbit Militia with a Fate point. He's not great - not great at all.

Except, he's a one-model deployment drop. And in most scenarios, placing one unimportant model on the board and saying, "Okay, you go" is a valuable way to feed your opponent no information about your battle lines while getting to see more of his battle plan. In scenarios where you pop up all over the place, you don't really worry about where this guy's going to show up - he'll just walk around, doing his thing, threatening your opponent however he can. And at the end of the day, he was 10pts - no big deal.

Sure, I could have taken the armor and Cotton. Sure, I could have skipped the armor and gotten Old Bilbo to get Ringbearer shenanigans. Sure, I could have bundled all of Whitfoot's warriors into the other warbands and gotten Anduril (okay, I probably should have gone with this one, I admit). But no, we've taken Fatty Bolger instead - come at me bro, I don't care! Let's talk about strategy now.

Gameplay Strategy

Maelstrom & Object Missions (Pools 1 & 3)

We have six warbands to deploy in maelstrom - and one of them is a one-model-drop with Aragorn. He is, without a doubt, the last warband to be deployed every time. With the knowledge of where the rest of our army is (most of which have 0-1 Might point to modify rolls), we're basically just going to take whatever we're given - but because we're rolling so much, we're unlikely to get a roll we don't like. Aragorn can modify his roll with his free Might point so he can March up our largest clump of troops if he needs to, but mostly we're just going to take what we get.

In Hold Ground, our goal is to get up to the center of the board quickly, but not necessarily with Gandalf's warband. Gandalf has all the archers and if he's got a good firing lane, they can take their time getting to the middle (harassing as they go). Ideally, Maggot's dogs will race ahead (maybe with Aragorn to aid them) and contest the middle (or threaten it), but we're okay with having our Hobbits advance as one big blob and the dogs waiting to race around the flanks if we need to. Gandalf should get Blinding Light up and channelled on Turn 2 if our opponent has a significant shooting presence and Aragorn will probably be Marching, but besides that, we save our resources and wait to engage until we're all together. Then we pull out the stops, two-hand with our Shirriffs, banner with Will Whitfoot, and sail in with Aragorn and his dog escorts. Job's a good one.

In the other two scenarios, Marching is fine, but we don't need it at the beginning. Your Hobbits should show up all over the place, contesting centers of board edges in Command the Battlefield so you can have models in each quadrant from the start. Aragorn probably wants to be near Gandalf for protection, so you'll want to have someone else (if possible) arrive with Gandalf so Aragorn can March them to the rescue of whoever else you have (while Gandalf's archers guard the quadrants you arrived on). Getting your army together might be difficult, but make your opponent pay dearly for any loses he tries to inflict while Aragorn and Gandalf clear out the enemy from enough quadrants that you can win. In Heirlooms of Ages Past, spreading out is also fine - it will help you check objectives quickly and force your opponent to spread thin as well. Once the heirloom is found, consolidate.

In the object scenarios, we have more control over where we deploy: Hobbit Archers should be staring at the Prize in Seize the Prize with Gandalf protecting them (and supplementing with his magic), while Aragorn Marches the army forward and contributes some shooting of his own. The dogs can move up 11" on the first turn, but chances are good you'll just barely be within 6" of Aragorn if you do that (and you might be asking to die). Still, if your opponent is taking a slower approach, this would put the dogs easily within the path of the objective on Turn 2, which could be really good for you. Get it if you can, use magic/archery to keep the enemy back, and slowly progress towards the enemy board edge (using your dogs as carriers if possible).

In Destroy the Supplies, you can have archers positioned near each of your supply tokens, but Aragorn should be leading Holfoot and Will Whitfoot to punch through the enemy ranks as quickly as possible. You'll want the banner to keep the Shirriffs going (and ideally one Hobbit hopping into Aragorn's fight so Aragorn's fight gets a banner reroll) and you'll need the two-handing boost to deal damage. This leaves Gandalf and Maggot (and Fatty, I guess) to handle the objectives - Gandalf will probably be floating from objective to objective providing support, while probably ALSO needing to be within casting range of Aragorn . . . yeah, this is a tough one for you.

Finally, in Retrieval, you can make a wall around your objective with archers, Gandalf providing cover fire protection for them as needed. Aragorn will be once again leading the charge to punch through the enemy lines to get to the objective. All this, however, will probably be a ruse - your dogs are the ones you want pouncing on the objective and dragging it off. If Aragorn needs to get it, this is the one time that not being mounted might have its perks.

Control Missions (Pools 2 & 5)

Do you know what the best thing is about having 41 models at 600pts? Chances are good you're going to outnumber your opponent somewhere. With Aragorn in the mix as well as Gandalf, we have INCREDIBLE control we can exert at the start of the game if we "death ball" up in the center of the board. Holfoot and his Shirriffs deploy near Will Whitfoot and his boys (naturally) with some of Gandalf's archers ready to back up to cover rear objectives if we need it (Fatty probably close behind them), while the main thrust of the army follows Aragorn to sail through the center objective (if there is one), fan out to cover the side objectives (sending Aragorn one way and the Holfoot/Whitfoot combo going the other way if we have to), and threaten the rear objective. Eventually, we'll meet resistance - but chances are good that from the get-go, we can have the enemy on the back foot no matter which scenario we're playing (Domination, Capture and Control, or Breakthrough).

In the other control missions, we have to be a bit more careful (but our gameplan is basically the same for all). Aragorn is going to March as much of our army up as possible, since we need to cross a LOT of ground in Reconnoitre and Storm the Camp. In both scenarios, we're okay with our Hobbit Archers eventually falling behind, but we'd like them to move up as far as we safely can to make up for their 18" range. Our dogs are our scoring pieces, able to threaten the enemy camp or get across the board edge if they can keep to cover. If the enemy tries to cut them off, move models up to support them - Heroic Combats with Aragorn, Sorcerous Blasts from Gandalf, and bowfire from your archers if they're in range. Do what you need to do - and keep Fatty in the rear, yeah? :-)

Divide and Conquer is different: we need three warbands on one side and three warbands on the other. This means that if we want Aragorn and Gandalf together, they probably need to be with Maggot (which is fine). Alternatively, we can dump Gandalf and Maggot with Fatty and have Aragorn March up our Shirriffs and banner to the middle. I don't know which one is better, but I don't think doing other pairings is a great idea. Whichever way you run it, you want to press the center hard, using your archers to whittle down numbers as quickly as possible so that you have less work to do with Gandalf and Aragorn when the enemy does finally arrive.

Killing Missions (Pools 4 & 6)

Like we talked about with the Corsairs, we're going to be "that guy" and sit back and shoot for the killing missions - I mean, seriously, with the exception of Contest of Champions, there's no reason for us to go charging in, guns blazing, into the enemy! Blinding Light in To The Death and Lords of Battle will help keep our losses low at the start while our archery works down the enemy and scores us some early kills. Once Sorcerous Blast enters the mix (ideally knocking second-rank infantry into those mounted heroes that are trying to not loses their horses to bowfire), we make the deficit even greater. One volley of thrown stones if we're lucky might see still more casualties get racked up - and then Aragorn and the Shirriffs sail in . . . yeah, I'm feeling okay about all this.

Our strategy for Clash By Moonlight is very similar: we have Blinding Light to eventually make the enemy's archery ineffective, but as we've said in various posts, we don't want to pop this up until our opponent would be within range anyway - making ourselves targets from more than 12" away isn't desirable under any circumstance. The difference between this scenario and other scenarios is that losing a single vulnerable hero (Will and Fatty are 1 Wound/1 Fate D3 heroes, Holfoot is a 2 Wound/1 Fate D3 hero, Maggot is a 2 Wound/2 Fate D3 hero, Aragorn and Gandalf are pretty tough) can set us back in the VP counts, potentially for the rest of the game. As such, we need to deal damage to the enemy as much as we can, with an emphasis on getting heroes killed. Our strategy is going to be simple: get Aragorn in and break the enemy before we're broken. Gandalf and the Shirriffs can help and hopefully the archers will chock up a few kills too. As much as possible, we want Holfoot, Will, and Maggot in controlled locations of the board - not out of the way (we need them), but not exposed either. Ideally, though, our opponent doesn't have a credible archery threat at 600pts and we can sit back and let him come to us (those stones are LETHAL in this scenario).

Contest of Champions changes this strategy some, since we can't sit back and shoot. Thankfully, we only have 9 bows (including Aragorn) in this army, so we're okay if we HAVE to start up front. Aragorn's going to start with a channel to charge through, Gandalf, Will, and Holfoot near him providing support with their models. Gandalf's job is simple: keep the enemy army leader on the ground or Immobilized and NOT killing anyone. Aragorn then races in, Heroic Combats, gets some quick kills, and our army breaks giving us the win. We'll die quickly, but so long as our army leader kills 3x the number of models the enemy does (which could be 3:0 if Gandalf does his job), we'll win. Gandalf isn't going to run out of steam quickly and with Maggot's boys to hold one flank and Gandalf's boys to hold the other, we can hopefully make sure that Gandalf doesn't get wrapped.

Where things get interesting is when we move to Assassination and Fog of War: our opponent is likely going to pick one of our vulnerable guys (Will or Fatty) to kill, since a stray arrow can do the job (or a stray Black Dart, as I discovered while helping Centaur practice for NOVA last year). We want to count on that, keeping Will near Gandalf for anti-magic protection (if sniping magic is in play) and anti-archery protection (if that's in play). Aragorn goes headlong into action, threatening our opponent as quickly as possible since he's worth a few VPs in Assassination but isn't worth any VPs in Fog of War. Gandalf's magic can help us too, letting us get damage on our desired target from a safe distance (he makes a pretty decent assassin if he's had time to cast Strengthen Will a few times before the fighting starts) and having a staying power that will be hard to challenge.

In all six of these scenarios, be sure to find the deepest, darkest, hard-to-get-to corner/section of your board edge and tuck Fatty there - there's no scenario at all where he's helping you here (but tucking him away could force your opponent to push heroes too far to try to reach him and gives you a late-game Stand Fast! that might help you).

Conclusion

The Shire is amazing - and if you've never played them, you really should give them a try (even if it's just proxying models to do it). I've played I-don't-know-how-many games against these little chaps and while their vast numbers can make you feel horrible and stressed, every game against them is exciting, funny, and makes you think, "you know, I might lose this game, but I just killed 15 guys in one turn and feel pretty good about myself."

Next time, we turn to the nemesis of the Shire, Sharkey's Rogues. While I was originally going to skip this one, an exploited loophole in one of the scenario conditions allowed me to actually get enough models into the "required models" counter so we can run a 600-point list. Chances are good you can already mock up the list if you go back and read our what-models-do-you-need post, but how they play at 600 points is a really interesting test of player skill and craftiness. Check it out next time - and until then, happy hobbying!