This is the third scenario in The Scouring of the Shire. Lobelia Sackville-Baggins and Fatty Bolger's meeting with some local hobbits is broken up by Sharkey and a band of Ruffians. Can four hobbits make it off the board before being collected for the lockholes by the Evil force?
The two named hobbits count as three hobbits for exiting purposes, so clearly much attention will be focused on them.
(Click on any image to see an enlargement.)
Fatty and Lobelia are supported by eight Hobbit Militia, so less than half the good models need exit to win. If my Lobelia looks different from yours, that's because I'm unwilling to pay the outrageous prices being charged for the model on eBay, so I made one of my own. It doesn't look anywhere near as good as the Perry boys' effort, but it sure was a lot cheaper.
Sharkey's band has faithful lackey Worm, 3 Ruffians with bows, and three Ruffians with whips. As they are outnumbered, they will need to make the most of their faster movement and Sharkey's Immobilize spell.
A hobbit hole is set up in the center of the board, and the hobbits are all placed touching it. Fatty is at the rear, Lobelia is at the front door, and the rest are more or less spaced out evenly.
The Evil men have to be placed at least 18" from any hobbit. The eight men set up two to a corner, with Sharkey and Worm in the southwest
Good Priority
There's not much finesse this turn. The hobbits run for the nearest edge, four heading East and a pair each going North, West, and South.
The men can't be everywhere. So Sharkey decides to ignore the two hobbits heading West, in hopes of bagging Lobelia, Fatty, and five other hobbits. Two bowmen make only a half move, hoping to shoot a hobbit right off the bat, but their arrows fail to wound. The rest of the men move to intercept the fleeing hobbits, with Sharkey himself going after Lobelia.
Evil Priority, 5-4
Sharkey advances, Worm in tow, and casts Immobilize on Lobelia, whose innate hobbit magic resistance fails to ward off the spell. The same two bowmen that shot last turn (one in the northwest, one in the southeast) take half moves so they can try again this turn. The remaining men continue to rush toward the hobbits.
The hobbits, excepting of course the immobile Lobelia, run. I considered trying to throw stones, but with only a 1 in 12 chance of a kill it seemed better to move than to shoot. A lesson perhaps I should have learned with the Ruffians, for the two bowmen continue to be ineffective.
Good Priority, 5-4.
The hobbits continue to run. Lobelia and the nearby Militia hobbit decide to split up and change direction, Lobelia heading West while her compatriot unchivalrously heads East. On that side of the table the four hobbits take advantage of the clump of woods, which blocks line of sight (and hence prevents charges).
Evil continues to close in. No charges are possible, though there will clearly be some hand to hand action next turn. Ruffian bowmanship continues to disappoint (well, the Evil side, anyway) but whip men in the East are close enough to attack, and the whips actually manage to kill a hobbit!
So first blood goes to Evil, 0-1.
Evil Priority, 6-5.
Luck goes Sharkey's way, as the men rush most of the hobbits before they can move. The exceptions are the two hobbits in the west (as always); the hobbit in the woods clump, who exits the other side, out of the line of sight of the Ruffians; and Fatty's partner, who bravely rushes into his melee.
The whips all miss this turn, and though Worm is stabbing Lobelia in the back, he fails to wound her (do corsets count as armor?). Though that's disappointing to Evil, things are worse in the North, where Fatty manages to kill his Ruffian opponent! In the South and West, Evil manages to take down two hobbits in return.
The honors are now 1-3 in Evil's favor.
Evil Priority, 5-3.
The danger to Evil now is that Fatty and his friend will exit the board and win the game. Sharkey and his bowman run north and the lone Ruffian near Fatty (a bowman) tries to get within melee range next turn. Worm continues to try to stab Lobelia in the back, and in the east the three whipmen divide up, two taking on the hobbit they can see and the third moving to intercept the guy that escaped through the woods.
In the west, the two hobbits we've been ignoring all game finally exit. Good is halfway towards winning now! And Fatty and friend make it to the very edge of the board.
Lobelia survives yet another attack, but the hobbit being ganged up on by the two whipmen goes down. Evil is ahead 1-4.
Good wins the Priority Roll in the most dramatic way possible with a 4-4 tie, and Fatty strolls leisurely off the board to win a victory for Good!
That seemed much more satisfying than Beating the Bounds. Though Good won reasonably handily (effectively getting six models off the table with only four needed to win), I can see how Evil could pull out a victory. Had Evil's missile fire been at all effective, and/or Sharkey had moved to a move centralized position (and hence maybe able to slow down Fatty), and/or Evil had diverted more men to deal with Fatty, then the results here might have differed.
This scenario certainly seems worth giving another go sometime.