A Little Late Night Shopping

 Game 3 - Hog Rustling 

Background

When Paladin Took* heard about a band of ruffians who had stolen the prize truffle pigs of Martha Harthbroom (second cousin twice removed), he considered his duty as a foremost hobbit amongst hobbits to rescue the pigs. So, he called together a band of brave hobbits and waited until dark.

The hobbits are attempting to recover the pigs without the ruffians noticing.

*And I had just finished repainting him and wanted give him an outing. 

Forces

The hobbits are led by Paladin Took, there are four hobbit militia and one archer. Plus local hero Pip Proudfoot (the hobbit with green waistcoat). 

There six ruffians with two armed with a bow. Lead by a Bully - One Eyed Ned (in the centre). 

Both sides used two influence points to bring an extra minor hero.  

Hobbits Deployment

The hobbits placed along the southern table edge.

Ruffians Deployment

Three ruffians are placed on sentry duty (using the sentry rules) at the beginning of the scenario with the other three in the guard hut. The ruffian bully will turn up after the alarm has been raised on a roll of 5+.

Pigs

The pigs have a move of 4” and are moved by the player with priority. Unless there is a mini with 1” of the pig in which case take a courage test, if passed then the pig can be moved 2” in the direction of the controlling player. Otherwise the player with priority moves them. Neither side may harm the pigs. 

In the Dark of the Night

It is a dark night, so hobbits hit on a 5+ and ruffians hit on 6 for ranged attacks. And the maximum range for bows is 10”.

Victory

The hobbits win if they get two or more pigs off the northern table edge. It is a draw if only one pig taken off the northern table edge.

The Game

The first few turns started with the ruffian sentries moving forwards and backwards as they gained and lost priority. Until eventually the hobbits made it to the pig pen and one of guards spotted the hobbits.

After collecting two pigs, Paladin decided the time was right and used his point of might to call a heroic move to try and get clear of the ruffians after losing priority. The ruffians then came off worse in the next couple of combats and lost several of their number.

One Eyed Ned appeared on the first available turn on the northern table edge and charged straight for the hobbits. 

But there were now not enough ruffians to gang up on the hobbits and despite the pigs wandering off. The hobbits were able to gang up on the few remaining ruffians. And even One-eyed Ned was taken down but not before one ruffian archer** managed to kill three hobbits in spite of being surrounded. 

**The one in light tan top, the other archer fled the battle at the first opportunity. 

After the battle, the hobbits made off with all three pigs. The ruffian archer who killed three hobbits in melee was promoted to a bully and named strong armed Pete. And one-eyed Ned made a full recovery but had to use an influence point to recover his point of Fate. Paladin managed to get the 5+, so recovered his point of Might for free. None of the characters had gained enough experience to roll on the experience table. 

I decided to make a new mini represent Strong Armed Pete instead of repainting the original mini. Since Pete  killed three hobbits in melee I choose to have him in a fighting pose rather than shooting. I used the Frostgrave Pirates sprue that I bought for this specific purpose. 

Rob