This is another scenario of Games Workshop's Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game from the new Scouring of the Shire (2019) book. With Ted Sandyman finally available and painted up, it's time to tackle the only scenario that he appears in, The Old Mill. Ted leads a band of Ruffians against some hobbit Militia. Evil wins by opening the door to the Old Mill, either by battering it down, or having Ted open it with his keys if in base contact. Good wins by whittling the Evil force down to 25%, in this case three models. A draw is possible if both conditions happen on the same turn.
(Click on any image to see an enlargement.)
Good has dozen hobbit Militia. Significantly, there are no leaders. Evil has an unusual force mix, with 4 whip men, 8 regular Ruffians, and Ted. Note the absence of bowmen; Evil is going to have to get rid of hobbits through combat, not archery.
The hobbits begin within 6" of the Old Mill door. Not knowing how the Ruffians will attack, they spread out and prepare to throw stones.
The Ruffians decide to concentrate to the South. This should force some hobbits to move to join in the action, and any hobbit that moves is once less thrown stone to endure. Ted cowers behind his muscle; since he can so easily open the mill door, he's too valuable to risk in the front line.
My Old Mill here is a bit underwhelming. There's a fantastic article on constructing a mill in the last issues of Battle Games in Middle Earth magazine, but it's a huge building. And this scenario only cares about the door. So it doesn't seem worth taking the months I would need to construct the BGiME version. I rationalize that my tinier example is just one end of the building, and the rest is offmap.
The hobbits take a few steps forward to extend the coverage of their Throw Stones ability. The two "unopposed" hobbits in the north decide to play goalie and move back towards the door in case the Ruffians should achieve an early breakthrough.
The Ruffians move forward as well. There's no point in them hanging back, as they have no Shooting capability except whips, which require 1" promixity anyway.
Good Priority, 3-1.
Good stoops for stones, except for the "goalies".
Evil rushes forward, but angled to the south again in hopes of forcing more hobbit movement and perhaps achieving a local superiority in numbers.
Hobbit Shooting is disappointing, with an uncharacteristically large number of misses. Even so, at the end of the phase, two Ruffians lie dead. Will that be enough of an edge?
Casualties: Good 0, Evil 2
Evil Priority, 6-6.
Without any Might, Good can't contest Evil's Priority. In the south, the Ruffians swarm the Militia, their whips having no effect on the way in. The one Ruffian north of the fence makes a kamikaze charge; though he's surrounded by hobbits, his Combat blocks the potential Shooting from the unengaged hobbits, who would otherwise have slow-moving Ted Sandyman as a potential target.
The hobbits countercharge where possible, or otherwise take up blocking positions for next turn.
There's no Shooting this turn, and Combat proves to be a rollercoaster. North of the fence, the brave Ruffian is outnumbered 4:1, loses his Duel Roll, and endures seven missed Wound rolls before finally succumbing on the eighth and last. It looks like the dice aren't being especially kind to the hobbits, but then the southernmost Militia wins his Combat despite being trapped by three Ruffians! He fails to Wound, but his survival is an unexpected treat. Elsewhere there are four 1:1 Combats, with the honors even split as two hobbits and two Ruffians go down.
Casualties: Good 2, Evil 5
Good Priority, 6-6.
Ted Sandyman is at risk due to both whipmen getting themselves killed last turn. So he uses the sole Might point in the game to call a Heroic Move. All the Ruffians are within 6", and they gang up on the hobbits as much as possible. Another Ruffian pulls a sacrifice move by physically blocking the west edge of the fence to prevent the hobbit reserves from reaching the scrum in the south.
On the way in, the lone remaining whipman takes out the hobbit next to the fence.
Combat see the Ruffians having two 3:1s against trapped hobbits. One goes as expected with the hobbit being killed, but the old hobbit with the wooden mallet wins his battle and causes much gnashing of Evil teeth. The sacrifice Ruffian falls, too, in a hail of strikes.
Even with the one lucky hobbit, Evil still managed a 2:1 kill ratio. A few more turns like this and they can just stroll to victory. Except the hobbits can fight to the last man, while if Evil gets down to three figures they lose. And Evil now has six losses -- four more and it's game over. Things are still very much up in the air!
Casualties: Good 4, Evil 6
Good Priority, 6-4.
The hobbits try to get outnumbering attacks on the Evil models, but Evil's faster movement means they can soak off of some of the attackers. Of course even-numbers attacks are risky for Evil -- if they lost all the Combats, Good could win this turn!
But that doesn't happen. In fact this turn is unusually un-bloody. Sure, the brave hammer-man from last turn dies, but it took all six strikes to take him down, and the other Combats are indecisive except for one unlucky Ruffian being slain.
Casualties: Good 5, Evil 7
Evil Priority, 5-5.
The Ruffians surround some hobbits, and the hobbits countercharge. There are four Combats but the only Wound goes to the isolated Militia.
Casualties: Good 6, Evil 7
Good Priority, 6-2.
Good tries to get into as many Combats as possible. Surely the hobbits can cause another few casualties? The Ruffians countercharge but the front is so restricted that there's no room for everybody. So the whipman jumps the fence and risks a stone from the goalie. Fortunately for the Ruffian, although it hits, it fails to Wound.
There are four Combats, two at even odds which are both indecisive, and two 2:1s where the expected happens and the loser (one Militia, one Ruffian) dies.
Casualties: Good 7, Evil 8
Evil Priority, 6-6.
The whipman rushes the hobbit guarding the door. The whip goes crack and down goes the hobbit!
The rest of the Ruffians Charge the hobbits to prevent them from retreating to guard the door. It's risky -- two more casualties and Good wins -- but Combat is again relatively unbloody. A Militia goes down, and Ted takes a Wound, but his Fate comes through and though he gets marked with a red bead, he's still alive. At this point things are starting to look pretty grim for Good.
Casualties: Good 9, Evil 8
Good Priority, 2-2.
It's Charge and counter time. Good has to hope for the return of Lady Luck -- only one Ruffian has been killed in the last four turns -- but alas, she is fickle, and at the end of the turn two hobbits are slain at no loss to the Ruffians.
Casualties: Good 11, Evil 8
Evil Priority, 3-3.
Evil considers getting cute and trying to both open the door and take out the last hobbit. But experience from last game and the early turns here shows that even outnumbered hobbits can win. So four Ruffians attack the lone surviving Militia. There is no miracle, though. Down he goes, and Ted easily strolls to the door next turn and opens it.
Evil Victory!
That was a tense game until the very end. Evil's early casualties made every Combat matter. If the final picture makes the result look very lopsided, it's important to remember that many of the indecisive combats throughout the game were won by the hobbits, and had their Wound rolls been just a little better, they might have garnered two more casualties ... and the game would have been theirs. Or if their initial Throw Stones volley had nicked another Ruffian or two. If, if, if...