The Foothills of the Misty Mountains

As a little Christmas treat, I bought the new Hobbit box set from Games Workshop and have been slowly painting it up.  Yesterday, I thought I would gather up my progress so far and have a little skirmish. I’ve only ever played the game a couple of times, so this would be a good test of my knowledge of the rules as well.

The scenario is set in the foothills of the Misty Mountains, after Thorin and company have encountered the trolls, but before getting into the mountains proper.  Getting ready to camp for the evening, the Dwarves spy what appears to be an abandoned village or farmstead.  While most of the company makes camp, Thorin decides to explore the village, taking along his trusty burglar as well as his companions, Bifor, Bofur and Bombur.

Little did Thorin suspect that their movements were being watched. A pack of Goblins, including a Goblin captain, 12 Goblin Warriors, and 2 Orc Warg Riders, were following them.

The Dwarves (and Hobbit) split up to search the abandoned buildings, while Bofur climbed a hill to keep watch.  Just as Bofur reached the top, he spied goblins closing in from four different directions and sounded the alarm.

Turn 1: Thorin bravely charges the closest group of goblins, but embarrassingly, the goblins get the upper hand and Thorin loses a point of fate.  Meanwhile, Bofur slides down the hillside, to join his kinsman Bombur.  Bifur, seeing a charging warg rider, courageously puts himself between the monster and Bilbo.

Turn 2: Bofur and Bombur each dispatch a goblin. Bifur uses a point of might and manages to kill both the warg and its rider. Thorin, attempting to come to the aid of Bifur, is again thrashed by the goblins, costing him his remaining two fate points.

Turn 3: With the goblins having the initiative, Thorin calls a heroic move, for somewhat less than heroic reasons, attempting to reach Bifur as he is now the one who could use a friend.  Unfortunately he is jumped by another group of goblins, and for the third turn in a row, Thorin fails to roll higher than a 2 on three dice. Luckily his armour saves him from further damage. Bifur pushes Bilbo into an abandoned building and guards the door.

On the other side of the field, Bombur uses a point of might to dispatch another goblin, while Bofur uses two points of might to kill off a warg.

Turn 4: The remaining orc takes a vicious cut at Bombur, costing him a fate point and one wound. Thorin finally gets it together, spending one point of might and striking down three goblins. Bilbo climbs up the inside of the building.

Turn 5: Bombur takes another wound from the orc, leaving him with just one. Bifur kills a goblin.  Thorin looses another fight, but again escapes unharmed. Bilbo throws a rock to no effect as a goblin climbs the wall to get him.

Turn 6: The goblin captain joins the fray. Thorin again looses the fight and suffers two wounds, leaving him with only one.  Thankfully, next to him, Bofur uses his boar spear to great effect, taking down two goblins.  Across the field, Bofur kills the remaining orc, while Bombur rushes to the aid of Thorin.

Turn 7: Bilbo spends his only point of might jumping from one side of the building to the other to avoid the goblin.  Thorin and Bifur each kill a goblin.  Bofur and Bombur run to them.

Turn 8: The goblin catches hold of Bilbo, but gets stung by Sting.  The goblin captain, realizing he is now on his own, flees into the night.

I’ve got to say, for a little thrown together solo game it was loads of fun. Since I don’t have point values for most of the models, I don’t know how even a battle it was in game terms, but it felt like it came down to the wire.  Both Thorin and Bombur were down to their last wound each, so one more unlucky die roll could have really swung the battle.  In true Dwarvish fashion, here’s the final kill count:

Thorin: 4 Goblins

Bifur: 4 Goblins, 1 Warg, 1 Orc

Bofur: 1 Goblin, 1 Warg, 1 Orc

Bombur: 2 Goblins

Bilbo: 1 Goblin

Bifur clearly wins Dwarf of the match, with 6 kills and his brave defence of Bilbo.