The Scouring of the Shire, Part 7: The Burning of Woody End

Good morning gamers,

It's scenario seven, baby, and we've got a flash-back to the War in Rohan village scenario today (which was actually based on the mechanics in this book because . . . you know . . . Scouring came first). We've got a 4'x4' board with over 20 Hobbits and slightly more Ruffians and it's all about setting things on fire! Also, for the 20+ viewers who saw the article without the photos in it last Thursday before I reverted/rescheduled it . . . my apologies - I was camping and forgot. Let's see how the scenario went . . .

The Burning of Woody End

The board has five Hobbit smials on it (the one in the center is a "great smial" - not a good smial, but a great smial) - the Hobbits deployed within 2" of a smial and the Ruffians deployed within 3" of any board edge. The Ruffians are trying to burn the smials by being in base contact during the End Phase of each round without shooting/fighting that round. On a 5+, the smial burns. Unlike the War in Rohan village scenario, the Ruffians can also set the smials alight with flaming arrows (needs to wound against D6 - that's 6s To Wound with the bows and 6/4+ with the whips). Hobbits can then attempt to put out the fires at the end of their Move (NOT during the End Phase), giving up their opportunity to shoot to roll a D6 and put it out on a 6 (or set it hopelessly ablaze on a 1). The game lasts for 10 turns - and with some very interesting heroes in Baldo Tulpenny and Rowan Thistlewood, we've got a great game ahead of us!

Turn 1: Priority Good

On Turn 1, the Hobbits adjusted their lines a bit, fleeing from the smial at the bottom-right and all the Ruffians that started in that area. I think this was wise - four Ruffians got in base contact with the smial to try to burn it. My Ruffian archers loaded their bows - they have three smials that are in range of their bows, so I shouldn't have to move them all game . . . hopefully they don't disappoint me.

In the Shoot Phase, the Hobbits were clearly mad because they killed four Ruffians - EEEK! One was touching the smial that was abandoned in the Move Phase, one was moving towards the center (carrying a whip), and two were on the road headed for the main smial . . . my numbers advantage is now gone. The Ruffian bows didn't set any smials on fire.

The good news for me was that one of the Ruffians attempting to set the smial ablaze got a 6, so I've got one Hobbit hole on fire!

Kill Count: Ruffians 0/21, Shire 4/25. Smials alight: 1.

Turn 2: Priority tied, Evil 

My Ruffians continued to press for the center, attempting to set ablaze one building (top-middle of the photo) and set another smial alight with arrows. Due to some poor measuring on my part, Rowan Thistlewood ended up falling short of the center smial - oh well.

In the Shoot Phase, the Hobbits killed 2 Ruffians - and my bows didn't set the smial alight. Rowan Thistlewood was also shot and lost his Fate point and a Wound this round - yikes!

We actually had a Fight Phase, with both sides trading models equally at the bottom-left (one Hobbit and one trapped Ruffian dying) and one Hobbit dying at the top-right. Despite several attempts to burn it, my Ruffians can't burn the smial they were touching . . . this is what one gets for hiring cheap labor.

Kill Count: Ruffians 2/21, Shire 7/25. Smials alight: 1.

Turn 3: Priority Evil

I continue to press ahead, doing what I can to get two more smials alight and clearing out Hobbits that are guarding the center smial - also, I killed a Hobbit with a whip! The Hobbits respond and do what they can to keep my Ruffians at bay. There was some dispute about whether or not Rowan could set a smial alight with his special rule - we decided probably not because it wasn't said that he could, but know that even if he'd set the center smial alight, the game wouldn't have changed much.

In the Shoot Phase, Rowan was targeted again and this time fell to an arrow . . . rats. Elsewhere, my Ruffian bows successfully got a flaming arrow to catch on the Hobbit smial on the right side of the photo - huzzah!

In the Fight Phase, I managed to kill two Hobbits - which is good, because they're shooting me to DEATH today!

Kill Count: Ruffians 4/21, Shire 10/25. Smials alight: 2.

Turn 4: Priority Good

On Turn 4, I did my best to skirt the objectives and make my way to the middle smial with the body of guys I had on the top-right. In the Shoot Phase, I lost 2 Ruffians to bow-fire, which was not good. One of those guys happened to be my last model near the smial that you see on the left side - which means I'm gonna have to leg it there with my other dudes . . . perfect.

In the Fight Phase, the Ruffians did their job and killed the last defender of the bottom-right smial - so they can do their job, apparently.

Kill Count: Ruffians 5/21, Shire 12/25. Smials alight: 2.

Turn 5: Priority Good

I didn't get a lot of pictures of this round - but here's how everyone looked as they ran around the board. As you can see, my guys are really spread out. No one died in the Shoot Phase.

Kill Count: Ruffians 5/21, Shire 12/25. Smials alight: 2.

Turn 6: Priority Evil

My ruffians have decided that they're going to split fire since we have to get these smials burning. My other Ruffians continue to press across the field, dodging traps and trying to get that smial burning as quickly as possible.

I managed to get the top-right smial alight with my flaming arrows (though I didn't get a picture)! The center smial and the far-right one still need to burn, but we're making head-way. Unfortunately, the two Ruffians closest to the right-most smial and one of my archers were shot . . . what's new, though, right?

Kill Count: Ruffians 5/21, Shire 15/25. Smials alight: 3.

Turn 7: Priority tied, Good 

The Hobbits near the top-middle smial got the fire put out and I'm back to only having two smials burning, rats. My Ruffians continue to do their best to split fire, but with only five archers remaining, I'm going to be hard-pressed to get these to burn.

In the Shoot Phase, nothing much happened - two more Ruffians died, but that's just to be expected right now.

Kill Count: Ruffians 5/21, Shire 17/25. Smials alight: 2.

Turn 8: Priority Evil 

My situation is pretty dire - four bows and four melee guys trying to set three smials alight in three turns isn't that promising. I stuck to the plan, tried to get into Hobbits to get some kills on the top-right, and I'm hoping I get two lucky strikes with my arrows.

My archers . . . bombed it. In return, I lose an archer in the Shoot Phase and nothing of interest happens in the Fight Phase. I'm in trouble . . .

Kill Count: Ruffians 5/21, Shire 16/25. Smials alight: 2.

Turn 9: Priority Evil

The board is pretty empty - I've got three bowmen left and I've tied down the Hobbits on the top-right as best I can to try to get it to burn before the game times out.

In the Shoot Phase, I lose yet another Ruffian with bow - that's not good.

In the Fight Phase, Baldo calls a Heroic Combat (1/1M), I majorly whiff my roll, and he goes wrapping around one of my other Ruffians. In the rest of the Fight Phase, another Ruffian and a Hobbit Archer die - this flank has basically fallen.

Kill Count: Ruffians 6/21, Shire 19/25. Smials alight: 2.

Turn 10: Priority Evil

I raced my non-bow Ruffians out of charge range of the Hobbits to have one more try at burning a building. In order to try to win, I choose to split my fire with my Ruffian bows . . . neither of them catch a building on fire.

In response, yet another Ruffian bowman is killed and in the End Phase, I can't set the final building alight.

Kill Count: Ruffians 6/21, Shire 20/25. Smials alight: 2.

Victory for the Shire! In The Old Storehouse scenario, Baldo Tulpenny will get +3 traps (Centaur's choice of type) to put on the board . . . lovely . . .

Conclusion

This scenario was fun - more on that in my rating below. I think my modular board made it harder for Centaur to win (since four of the smials were touching the board edges), but with so few models on the board - and all of the Hobbits being able to shoot with good shoot values - it was actually quite hard to set anything on fire and KEEP them on fire. It's a good, balanced scenario and I think it would hold up if you played with different army participants.

Tiberius Scenario Rating: 5/5 stars. The scenario is similar to the village scenario from War in Rohan, but with the smials everywhere (and a turn limit), there isn't an option for barring access to the houses and breaking to end the game. The ability to burn buildings with flaming arrows was also a great touch and the whole game was fun and always felt like it was in the balance.

Centaur's Assessment: This one was an interesting one, because on the one hand I feel like the Ruffians really benefit from starting in the four corners, using the smials as cover, and just crushing the few hobbits near them and setting the buildings on fire before moving in on the center. On the other hand, if the hobbit player stacks their archers in 1-2 places (like I did), you run the risk that you won't actually get one of the smials on fire on the periphery, which means you have to foot slog to the one you missed, and that could also lead to a lot of casualties. So there's a lot of things going on here, lots of ways to approach it, and a lot of things having to work one way or another, all of which is great. 5/5, would definitely play again, :)

We'll be back next time with the Uprooting of Bagshot Row - where many a flower will be overturned by ill-natured men! Until next time, happy hobbying!