The Scouring of the Shire, Part 16: The Battle of Bywater

Good morning gamers,

This is it - this is for all the bananas! We've reached the end of the Scouring of the Shire campaign and we're playing the Battle of Bywater scenario. This scenario is really old, but with the campaign bonuses we've been getting for winning scenarios, there are a few adjustments from what's in the book:

• Maggot with his dogs, the Gaffer, and Ted Sandyman are here;
• Holfoot Bracegirdle and Robin Smallburrow can't call heroic actions because the Ruffians won the Arrest of Folco Boffin scenario;
• Pippin has -2 Might for losing the Attack on Tuckburough; and
• Merry gets a free Heroic action from winning the Old Cotton's Farm scenario.

The Battle of Bywater

The board is set up with the Ruffians on one side and the Hobbits hemming them in on the other three board edges. As you can see, the flowers from the Gaffer have been placed near the middle . . . apparently Centaur thinks he'll be fighting there (and he would be right).

Turn 1: Priority Good

Centaur advanced towards the middle and I moved up as well (but didn't not charge). My thought is that I want lots of space near my board edge so that I have a buffer between Sharkey and Centaur's horde of Hobbits. We'll see if this is a good idea . . .

In the Shoot Phase, the Ruffians killed a Hobbit Militia with their bows, while the Hobbits killed a Ruffian with bow before she could shoot.

Turn 2: Priority Evil

As the Ruffians charged the Hobbit ranks, a Hobbit Militia was killed by a whip. No reinforcements came for the Ruffians.

In the Shoot Phase, a Hobbit Archer was killed!

In the Fight Phase, the Gaffer called a Heroic Combat (1/1M), as did Farmer Maggot (1/1M). The Gaffer's Combat failed, but Maggot won and slammed into Bill Ferny.

In the rest of the Fight Phase, Maggot dealt 2 wounds to Bill, who passed his Fate roll to stay alive (1/1F, 1/2H). Sid won his fight (1/2M), dealt exactly 1 wound to Pippin, who failed a Fate point (1/2F, 1/2H).

Turn 3: Priority tied, Good

The Ruffians got no reinforcements this round either.

In the Shoot Phase, the Hobbits and Ruffians traded evenly.

Merry called a free Heroic Combat, spent both Might points to boost his roll (2/2M), then wounded Ted/Rowan who saved the wound with Fate (1/1F, 1/1M). Sam called a Heroic Strike (2/2M) against Sid. Sid (2/2M) and Cotton (1/2M) escalated the duel.

Turn 4: Priority tied, Evil

Frodo called a Heroic Move (1/1M). No reinforcements came . . . except Sharkey . . . excellent. Sharkey cast Immobilize on Pippin (1/4W, 5-high), which Pippin resisted (2/2W).

In the Shoot Phase, a Hobbit Archer was killed by a Ruffian bowman - these guys have been helping a ton today!

Pippin called a free Heroic Combat and . . . died. Oops!

Elsewhere in the Fight Phase, Sam lost his fight and suffered a wound (1/2H). The other fights were mostly pushes (just one Hobbit died).

Turn 5: Priority Good

Sharkey cast immobilize on Maggot (2/4W, 6-high), which wasn't resisted (2/2W).

The fights went heavily in favor of the Hobbits who killed FIVE Ruffians and suffered no losses in return!

Turn 6: Priority Evil

Sharkey failed to cast immobilize on Sam (3/4W, 1-high) and the Ruffians got +3 reinforcements.

In the Fight Phase, Maggot lost his fight, suffered 2 wounds, and failed both of his Fate points (2/2F, 2/2H). OOOOOPH!

Turn 7: Priority Good

Sharkey cast immobilize on Sam one more time (4/4W, 5-high), but it was resisted (1/2W). There were no reinforcements this round.

The fights resulted in pretty even trades, but as you can see, the Hobbit Archers are approaching the smial from the bottom-right - Sharkey is about to be flanked . . .

Turn 8-9: Priority Good

Sorry, didn't get the pre-fight-phase pic here, but the Hobbits rushed the Ruffians as best they could, managing the exposure of their heroes. The Ruffians got +1 reinforcement this round and the fights were as you see above.

In the following turn's Fight Phase, Merry lost his fight and suffered a Wound (1/2H). Cotton boosted his dueling roll, list a roll-off, and Holfoot suffered a wound (1/2H). The other fights were mostly pushes, but a few Hobbits died.

Turn 9: Priority Good

The fights continue and Sharkey moved to charge a Hobbit across a barrier to avoid being shot by all the Hobbit Archers. The Ruffians got +1 reinforcement, which feels like not enough to stem the tide of Hobbits overrunning our center.

In the Fight Phase, Holfoot lost his fight, suffered a Wound, and failed his Fate roll (1/1F, 2/2H). Sharkey won his fight, but couldn't wound through the barrier - how sad.

Turn 10: Priority Good

The Ruffians got +3 reinforcements . . .

Aaaaand I lost another guy to the bows. Those guys are annoying . . .

In the Fight Phase, my lines are crumbling, but Sharkey successfully got over the hedge and away from the archers.

Turn 11: Priority Evil

The lines got a bit messy, but Sharkey is trying to carve his way through the flanks to avoid the heroes while the Ruffians do their best to wear them down. The Ruffians got +4 reinforcements . . .

. . . and four promptly died. OUCH!

There were scattered fights and the only real thing of note is that Robin boosted his dueling roll (1/1M) to win his fight and kill a Ruffian. My lines are crumbling quickly, but the only hero of note near Sharkey is Gaffer. We'll see if that holds . . .

Turn 12: Priority Good

Centaur checked the rules for dismounting and moved Merry's pony about 1", dismouted, and then moved Merry 3" more to charge Sharkey! The Shirriffs nearby tagged Sharkey's only friend while the rest of the Hobbits charged the front lines. The Ruffians got +2 reinforcements . . .

One of whom died to bows . . . ouch . . .

Sorry for the rotated picture - the important bit is that Merry called a free Heroic Strike (for winning the previous scenario), won against Sharkey, and dealt . . . no wounds.

Turn 13: Priority Evil

The Ruffians got +2 reinforcements . . .

. . . who promptly died. Sheesh . . .

Merry and a few friends fought Sharkey and had the lower Fight Value. Centaur said, "Well, according to an article you wrote, I should have a good chance of winning this, right?" And I was like, "Yep, you do." And he proceeded . . . to roll higher than me on the dueling roll . . . and got the wound he needed to finish Sharkey off!

Victory for the Shire! It's been a long road, but the Shire has been saved and Centaur claims the victory for his beloved waistcoat brigade.

Conclusion

This was really fun - I thought there were enough models on both sides and the returning Ruffians were just enough to balance out the number of heroes on the Shire side.

Tiberius Scenario Rating: 5/5 stars. We're ending this scenario on a high note - the sides were very fair, the board was small but not overly crowded, the heroes involved were good, and both Centaur and I thought we could win (I would have needed time to finish Merry and Sam - and I hadn't even started working down Frodo - but with the Hobbit numbers dwindling, I at least had a chance). If I were to change one thing about this scenario, it's that Sam shouldn't have 1 Attack in it. Yes, he has Strike and an Elven-made weapon and wounds the Ruffians on 4s, but 1 Attack without Rosie is just sad.

We hope you enjoyed this journey as much as we did - scenarios will always be a part of the fun here at TMAT and we're excited for what's to come next year! We'll be taking a break from scenarios for the rest of the year, but rest assured, we have plenty of content as we enter the Christmas season and close out the year (and welcome a new edition of the game). Until next time, happy hobbying!