This is the sixth scenario from Games Workshop's Scouring of the Shire (2019) source book for their Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. Worm tries to assassinate Lotho Sackville-Baggins. If he succeeds, Evil wins. If Lotho escapes off any board edge, Good wins. Any other result (e.g. Lotho killed by Ruffians) is a draw.
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The Good force is (improbably, given his odiousness) Lotho Sackville-Baggins leading eight Hobbit Militia. Evil is six Ruffians, three whipmen, and Worm.
Lotho is placed in the center of the 2'x2' board, with his Militia within 3". The Ruffians set up outside Charge range. Worm doesn't begin on map; instead, the four black markers on the center of each table edge (only three visible in the picture) represent the possibility of Worm. When they Engage, they turn out be decoys on a dieroll of 1-4 or actually Worm on a 5-6.
It's tempting for the hobbits to stay put and chuck stones. Odds are that two Ruffians will be killed and bagging even more is possible. But it seems better to get moving. Moving 4" while the Ruffians move 6" means the Ruffians being run away from only catch up 2" per turn. If the hobbits stay put, the Ruffians catch up 6" instead and are poised for Combat that much quicker. So Good makes a run for it.
The Ruffians that can Charge, ganging up on a single hobbit to maximize the chances of a kill. That tactic pays off as the hobbit goes down.
Casualties: Good 1, Evil 0
Good Priority, 4-2.
The hobbits move to obstruct the Ruffians. By scenario special rule the Militia must Charge if they can, but here that's what they would want to do anyway to keep the bad guys from reaching Lotho. But they can't obstruct the Worm marker (also by scenario special rule) and it Charges Lotho. The reveal dieroll is a '5' -- it's Worm!
Combat favors Good. Although two outnumbered hobbits are taken out, two Militia take out their opposing Ruffians, and Lotho wins his Combat against Worm and succeeds in getting a Wound. Sans Fate, Worm is dead! No Evil victory is now possible.
Casualties: Good 3, Evil 4
Evil Priority, 5-2.
Lotho calls a Heroic Move using the only Might point in the game. His movement is somewhat constrained because the Militia must Charge if they can but also must be within 6" of Lotho at the end of the Movement phase.
Combat is all Evil this turn, with three hobbits dying, even in the Combat where the Militia was 2:1 against the Ruffian.
Casualties: Good 6, Evil 4
Good Priority, 6-4.
Lotho can't quite get off board. The Militia Charge the only Ruffians who can reach him while the other Ruffians move up in hopes of snagging Priority next turn and attacking Lotho before he escapes.
The brave Militia loses the fight but the Ruffians apparently feel sorry for the little fella as no Wounds are scored.
I'm not quite sure what happened to the orange-hatted Militia from last turn. It looks like I accidentally removed him as a casualty even though he survived. For better or worse, it doesn't matter to the outcome of the game.
Casualties: Good 6, Evil 4
Good Priority, 4-2.
Lotho waltzes off the board. Good victory!
Well, I can't say that one overstayed its welcome. It felt a little counter to the spirit of the scenario to have Worm emerge so early, and then to have Lotho dispatch him so easily. Worm gets a boost to his Fight Value and Attacks when only his Combat opponent is within 6" of him, but that wasn't close to the case here. You could rule that Engaged models don't count for sighting Worm, which means he would have gotten that bonus after all. But then you have Worm likely killing Lotho on Turn 2. Would that have been any better a game?
Perhaps it was a mistake to move in the Worm marker as early as I did.
Exciting and thematic enough (although counter to book lore) but not particularly deep.