The Scouring of the Shire, Part 11: The Bounders Strike Back

Good morning gamers,

This scenario is OLD - back when Centaur and I got into the game in the Fall of 2010, this scenario was available for download from the GW website, with directions on how to adjust the game for alternative participants. With very few models in our collections - and none of them from the Scouring of the Shire - we had a lot of fun seeing if Merry and Pippin from the Fellowship (20pts) could beat up 10 Orcs (60pts) . . . the game was a lark, but we also learned how limited Merry and Pippin are as characters.

Today's scenario features 5 Tookish Hunters and 12 Ruffians (standard load-out of 6 vanilla, 2 whips, and 4 bows) and we're basically doing a deja vu scenario to the Maggot's Farm scenario where about half the Ruffians we have here try to get across a similiarly-sized board with only Maggot and his dogs to stop them (mostly his dogs, though). Oh, and Centaur gets 20 traps in this scenario . . . lovely.

The Bounders Strike Back

The Ruffians start 12" up the board and as such, they started as far up as they can. To win, I need to get 5+ Ruffians off the far board edge. Centaur wins if he can kill 8 of them - he started with his Hunters as far forward as they could go and scattered the traps as a way to hem me in. The raised portions with the trees are all woodland terrain and we have some trees for cover . . . but not much. Critique us if you want to, but I'll tell you now that adding slower terrain cover would have both advantages and disadvantages for the Ruffians - more on that later, though.

With Centaur automatically claiming priority on the first turn, we began the grind fest!

Turn 1: Priority Good

Centaur's archers advanced at half speed and then told me to go. Three vanilla Ruffians were used to trigger three traps, one of which failed to trigger on a 1 (a snare), while the other two (a tripwire and a snare) successfully killed their Ruffians! While this was a devastating start, I identified that I should be able to navigate the board while only triggering 3-4 more traps, so hopefully that's all the losses I'll be taking from those . . .

. . . but of course, the Tookish Hunters have bows, so I lost a whip guy to an arrow that round as well. Ick . . .

Kill Count: Ruffians 0/5, Shire 3/12. Traps remaining: 3 Snares, 4 Tripwires, 5 Pits, 5 Dummies.

Turn 2: Priority Evil

Centaur got to react to my movement this time and I triggered two traps - one dummy trap (which stalled a guy, but that was all) and a tripwire that knocked one of my guys prone, but didn't wound him. Like I did in Maggot's Farm, I'm not bothering trying to out-shoot the Hobbits - I'm just running. Critique me if you must, but 4 bows vs. 5 bows with a lower shoot value just didn't seem like a good way to keep my army alive . . . and I need almost half of my models to make it across the board.

While the traps were kind to me, the bows weren't - two more losses. Yuck . . .

Kill Count: Ruffians 0/5, Shire 5/12. Traps remaining: 3 Snares, 3 Tripwires, 5 Pits, 4 Dummies.

Turn 3: Priority tied, Good

Centaur decided to be LAME (read, totally smart) and stood still with his archers, so I navigated through the traps, careful not to trigger any - I can only lose two more models before I'm out of leeway, so it would be good if I didn't lose anyone else . . .

. . . so naturally, 5 bows that hit on 3s and wound on 5s would clear out two more models . . . brilliant.

Kill Count: Ruffians 0/5, Shire 7/12. Traps remaining: 3 Snares, 3 Tripwires, 5 Pits, 4 Dummies.

Turn 4: Priority Evil

I moved a generic guy forward and triggered a dummy trap with one of my guys, then moved everyone else as far forward as I could, including charging two Hobbits. I forgot, however, that Centaur hadn't moved . . . so my whip-guy was promptly surrounded by five Tookish Hunters . . . uh oh . . .

In a stunning turn of events, he died - and with his loss, I only had four models left and the game was over!

Kill Count: Ruffians 0/5, Shire 8/12. Traps remaining: 3 Snares, 3 Tripwires, 5 Pits, 4 Dummies.

Victory for the Shire! In the Attack on Tuckborough scenario, Centaur will be able to automatically claim priority once per game (and since he starts with priority on the first turn, this means he's guaranteed to go first twice). Sid's Might in that scenario has suddenly become very important . . .

Conclusion

Like I said in the Maggot's Farm scenario, I think the Ruffians need more guys for this scenario to be competitive. It's possible that if there were more trees for cover, I would have lost fewer models to bows - five bow casualties was a lot, but if you have five bows that have a 50-67% chance of hitting (3-4 hits/turn) that wound on 5s (one-in-three conversion of hits to wounds), you're still expected to lose a guy each time you shoot - and since I need to walk for at least six turns (though realistically seven or eight), having only 12 guys to start with makes it darn hard to actually get five guys off - without the traps killing anyone or slowing them down. If there were trees scattered around the board (which we talked about), I'd have to spend time going around them AND it would have made avoiding traps a lot harder since Centaur could place them between tree stands and force me through difficult terrain. It's a double-edged sword, which gets easier if there were, say, four more Ruffians to work with (bringing my ratio of models to get off to total models closer to one-third of my starting force).

Tiberius Scenario Rating: 4/5 stars. While I was a bit frustrated with the light bench, the scenario was actually quite fun - the traps provide an interesting change to the landscape and changed the way I moved my guys a lot. Having Tookish Hunters on the other side was also good because for the first time ever, I couldn't count on having the higher FV when I engaged - and that changes everything (but also means I need more guys to start with). I triggered no pits in this scenario - Centaur put them on the board edges just in case I tried to screen my approach that way, which is the sort of clever thing Centaur would do.

Next scenario is Brockenborings, which will feature some of the OG Hobbit heroes (Lobelia and Fatty) - can the escape from the meeting house without being captured by Bill Ferny and his gang? Or will Bill Ferny disappoint me yet again? Find out next time - and until then, happy hobbying!