Game 5 - The Wizard and the Burglar

Gandalf Stuck In the Corner

Another scenario that GW seems to have written in special rules order to make it completely unplayable. Once again, the goblins are set up far too close and allowed to move first meaning that by the end of their first move phase, they are 1” away from Bilbo and Gandalf. And according to the scenario rules, the goblins are allowed to bring D6 reinforcements every turn including directly behind both Gandalf and Bilbo. Which I ignored for the first turn, to try and see if that would balance out the game (it didn’t!).

So, Gandalf spent the entire game not moving more than 1” from his starting position and Bilbo took the only sensible option and put on the ring.

Gandalf used his sorcerous might to immobilise the goblin king, but his lieutenant Ginnah was able to regularly make his courage test after Gandalf cast Terrifying Aura and pin the wizard in place. Meaning the goblins were able to win every round of combat and wear Gandalf down to use up his Might, Will and Fate very quickly. With only one attack, Gandalf always struggles with multiple opponents and being pinned in place from the first turn meant he didn’t have any good options.  

Eventually the goblin king was able to get into combat and then Gandalf was doomed.

In mean time the rest of goblins chased down Bilbo and one of them finally caught him. But Bilbo was ready, and Sting did his work.

So, with Gandalf dead the good guys lost.

The flaws in this scenario seemed obvious just by reading it through. Again, do GW ever playtest or even just read through their scenarios before they print them? So, having played the campaign once, I am going to play it again with a few tweaks to try and make it a bit more challenging for everyone.

 

Rob