The Scouring of the Shire, Part 3: Maggot's Farm

Good morning gamers,

We're back for more Scouring of the Shire fun (Hey Reader)! We're playing the Maggot's Farm scenario which has exactly ten models in it - let's see if Maggot's famous dogs can keep the ruffians out! 

Maggot's Farm

The board is a 2' x 4' space with some wooded areas leading to Maggot's Farm. Centaur added some grazing animals to the landscape and one of his spare Ruffian models is our scarecrow (set up where the road to Maggot's land begins). The dogs start the game as sentries and are spread out within 6" of the scarecrow. The Ruffians will come on from the right side of the board on the first turn and Maggot might arrive starting on the turn after the dogs spot the Ruffians. The Ruffians win if four or more of them cross over the left board edge, while the dogs/Maggot win if they can kill four of them. If three get off and the other three die, the game is a draw.

Unlike other Sentry missions, this scenario gives the dogs a 6" detection range instead of a 3" detection range (or being hit but not killed by archery, per the usual) . . . which is huge. Because this happens at night, the dogs also cause Terror in this scenario (which is big) and I only hit on a 6 in this scenario with my shooting attacks (1 whip and 3 bows), which . . . isn't THAT bad considering our 5+ Shoot Value, but is also not great. With the lower Fight Value and only double the dogs' starting model count, we'll see how this goes!

Turn 1: Priority Good

Grip, Fang, and Wolf got a 4, 1, and 4 respectively on their sentry rolls, so Grip and Wolf padded a bit closer to where the Ruffians will arrive, while Fang stood still (sniffing for mushrooms, are we?). The Ruffians walked onto the board full - I didn't have any dogs within bow range, so why not move up full?

Turn 2: Priority Evil

I moved full again, seeing as how I was going to need to get models off the board and it was probably better to arrive together and try to outnumber the dogs instead of feeding them models piecemeal. Grip, Fang, and Wolf got a 6, 1, and 6 respectively on their sentry rolls, which means Fang was once again sniffing for mushrooms while his comrades were able to move their full speed towards the Ruffians, both angling for one side, hiding behind a tree hillock. With about 8" between my Ruffians and the nearest dog, I fully expect that Wolf or Grip will spot us on the following turn - especially if I have to go first . . .

Turn 3: Priority Evil

Well, look at that - we're going to have a game of it. :) One of my bowmen (bow-women, actually) moved half speed to shoot, while the rest surged forward. Grip, Fang, and Wolf got a 6, 4, and 2 respectively, which was tactically good for Centaur, since I repositioned Wolf for him further back. Grip raced to just within 6" of one of my Ruffians, but had a wood in between so he couldn't be charged on the following turn. Fang decided to leave off looking for mushrooms and see what his friends were about.

My archer took aim at Grip and . . . didn't get a 6. Rats. Grip sent up the call and now we're rolling to see if Maggot arrives . . . my life is getting hard.

Turn 4: Priority tied, Good

With the dogs having to move first (and Fang being woefully out of position), Centaur did the wise thing and repositioned his dogs to wait for me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could get my one Ruffian with whip within 2" of Wolf after they finished moving, but in a stunning turn of events, the whip didn't hit in the Shoot Phase. My archer who shot on the last turn decided to race up and join the rest.

Turn 5: Priority Evil

I got to charge the dogs and, because Terror is a thing, I only attempted a charge with my whip guy. He passed his Courage test (thankfully), but the whip didn't hit. The rest of my models moved around and stayed away from the control zones of the dogs. Maggot didn't arrive, but Wolf joined Grip in his fight (totally the right call - higher Fight Value and more dice is bad for Ruffians) and Fang tied down the next furthest forward Ruffian.

Fang killed a Ruffian, but my whip guy survived (oddly enough). I didn't win his fight, but at least he's got some help around him. I can only lose one more model and still have a shot at winning, so I really need to the next round of charges to go off . . .

Kill Count: Ruffians 0/4, Shire 1/6.

Turn 6: Priority Evil

Well, we failed our first Courage test, which sealed a ditch-effort plan for me. Without the ability to get more than one 2-on-1 fight, it seemed better to have the whip guy try to tie down both dogs (hopefully whipping one on the way in). He again passed his Courage test, but his whip failed to wound (it did hit, though). Since my Fight Value is low, I can Whirl with this guy with no penalties and if I can just roll well and Centaur doesn't, my whip guy will have a chance to clear two dogs. Fang was charged by one model while the other two surged forward to hopefully get a break-away. Oh, and Maggot showed up - lovely . . .

Alas, Wolf killed the Ruffian with whip, but Fang lost his fight and didn't die (because dogs in our scenario games basically never die). One more lost model and I can't win . . .

Kill Count: Ruffians 0/4, Shire 2/6.

Turn 7: Priority Good

The dogs got to go first and Grip and Wolf decided to team up again against the furthest-forward Ruffian (again, totally the right call) (thanks mate!). Fang tied down the other forward-racing Ruffian and Maggot advanced towards the Ruffian invaders. Once again, I had a ruffian fail a courage test to try to double-up against Fang, but it wasn't to be. The other archer just moved forward, being out of position to even attempt a charge.

Well, the dogs did their work well and killed both of the Ruffians they were engaged with. Only two Ruffians remained on the board, so there was no way that Evil could win - victory to the dogs! By winning the scenario (the first scenario that hasn't ended in a draw!), Centaur will get to include Farmer Maggot and his dogs in the Battle of Bywater scenario (the final one). If I had won, I would have gotten 3 extra Ruffians which . . . seems a bit less than equal to me . . .

Kill Count: Ruffians 0/4, Shire 4/6.

Conclusion

I love 15 minute scenarios - it's quick and fun! The objectives were straightforward and it's possible things would have been better if I tried to shoot for as long as I could, but Ruffian archers aren't great - and with the scenario special rule that made all archery hit on a 6, the expected damage is only 1 wound every 6 turns if I got out-of-cover shots every turn . . . yeah, I don't think so.

Tiberius Scenario Rating: 4/5 stars. This scenario would be perfect if there were 2 more Ruffians. Maggot and his dogs are 45pts and with the Ruffians costing 5-6pts each, a balanced points value would be 8 Ruffians (3 vanilla, 2 whips, 3 bows), not six. You can only lose 2 models before winning is in jeopardy - and if the dogs didn't cause Terror, the game would get easier. But the Terror on the dogs is thematic and can be offset a bit by just adding 2 more Ruffians. If everything else had played out the same as this scenario did, I would have still had 4 Ruffians on the board and I was closing in on being 12" away from the board edge. It would still be hard, but it would also be far more doable (and I could have risked failing more Courage tests in order to try to get better numbers in the matchups I had).

Centaur's Scenario Rating: 4/5 stars. I think Tiberius is right: either the Ruffians need more bodies (+2 sounds about right), or they need to lose the -1 penalty to shoot (as they need to be able to remove a dog before the dogs start mauling them), or they need to add the +1 to wound for it being night, like we have in Clash by Moonlight). If your archery is at least wounding on 4s there's a decent chance that if you get your 6 to hit, and that means you have a good chance to do some removal before you're set upon by F3 models. I do think, though, that there are a lot of ways do to the dogs wrong: having played for over 10 years with Shire, I know that you have to concentrate their attacks, give yourself time to engage at the right time, take advantage of terrain, etc. So I think it's actually decently balanced: lots of choices can lead to victory or defeat.

Hopefully this was enjoyable for you all! We'll be back in two weeks with the Old Mill scenario (one where the Ruffians would appear to have a pretty big advantage). Can Centaur pull one out of the bag with nothing but Hobbit Militia? Find out next time - and until then, happy hobbying!