Good morning gamers,
We're almost through the Scouring scenarios - and today, Centaur gets to use one of his favorite heroes: Farmer Cotton. The Hobbits have the Ruffians surrounded - can they keep most of their heroes alive and quarter the Ruffians? Let's find out!
Old Cotton's Farm
The Ruffians begin surrounded and the Hobbits have surrounded their circle of models. The southern ambush has Frodo and Merry in it, while the northern ambush is led by Sam and the Gaffer. Several Hobbit Archers have perched themselves on the smials on the northern side. The Gaffer's flowers are all near the southern side (to up the damage there).
Turn 1: Priority Good
Centaur advanced and I counter-charged. Rowan is fighting alongside a friend on the far-right of the northern side - I'm just buying time on the southern side.
Rowan called his trademark free Heroic Combat and kills his guy to get into the Gaffer. Merry also called a Combat (1/2M), but lost.
In the Fight Phase, Rowan beat the Gaffer by boosting his roll (1/1M), but only dealt 1 wound.
Kill Count: Ruffians 1/15, Shire 3/13.
Turn 2: Priority Evil
Frodo called a Heroic Move (1/1M) and tied basically everyone down on the lower side - this isn't good . . .
I reacted as best I could, but I'm outnumbered badly. The Hobbit Archers have given up their high positions and have decided to fight on the ground - a wise plan.
Rowan and Merry (2/2M) called Combats and they both worked, with Rowan killing the Gaffer. Sam called a Strike (1/2M), so Rowan avoided him - though he was supposed to get into a hero, so slight misplay there.
The misplay didn't matter because Rowan lost his fight. Cotton boosted his dueling roll to win and then killed his foe. Merry lost on a roll-off and suffered a wound (1/2H). Basically all the other Ruffians lost - and died!
Kill Count: Ruffians 3/15, Shire 7/13. I am now outnumbered two-to-one . . . this isn't good.
Turn 3: Priority Evil
Well, Cotton called a Move (2/2M) and tied basically all of us down. Sam charged Rowan and that basically sealed off my chance of Combatting.
Everyone piled in and I prepared to fight for my life . . .
. . . and we died - though Merry lost on a roll-off and died too, so that was a small consolation. Sam called a Strike (2/2M), won his fight, and then didn't kill Rowan, so I still had him and two others by the end of the round. This did mean we were quartered and the game was over.
Kill Count: Ruffians 4/15, Shire 10/13.
Victory for the Shire! In the Battle of Bywater scenario, Merry gets a free Heroic action during the game - super slick boost!
Conclusion
This scenario turned into a bash fest - the much greater Might on the Shire side and Frodo's static banner rule really made up for the lower FV for the Shire warriors. All in all, it seemed like a much closer fight for the Shire than the previous scenarios, but I still have some complaints . . .
Tiberius Scenario Rating: 2/5 stars. I feel like this scenario has a few issues - not least of which is that the Ruffians just don't have enough guys to kill a 2 Wound/2 Fate hero (Merry), a 2 Wound/3 Fate hero (Sam), and three 2 Wound/1 Fate heroes (one of whom is Defense 6). With nearly the same number of models, you have to do what I did where you crash one side to even have a chance - and after two turns, I was outnumbered twice over. Three more Ruffians might make the difference - I don't know.
It's upon us at last: the Battle of Bywater. This scenario will close out the campaign and involves a bunch of bonuses. We'll be tackling it next time - until then, happy hobbying!
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