The Flight to Bucklebury Ferry

"Baggins has left. He is coming. He is not far away. I wish to find him. If he passes, will you tell me?  I will come back with gold."

The Fellowship of the Ring: A Short Cut to Mushrooms

"Run Mister Frodo!"

I returned to playing some Lord of the Rings SBG a couple of weeks ago. It has been some time since we played these rules, but I wanted a refresher and a return to Middle-earth, especially as I've been hanging out on the Silmarillion Facebook group recently, which is very entertaining if you get time to join it. There is a time when you get a hankering after some Tolkien gaming and this beats trying to set up a The One Ring RPG campaign.

It has been a long hiatus from this game for me, which still represents one of the better man-to-man (or hobbit) skirmish games out there, despite being on the market now since 2001.

We are very gradually playing through the Fellowship of the Ring journey book Games Workshop released many years ago (2005). The Bucklebury Ferry scenario was next up on the list. Could Frodo and his friends make it in one piece to the ferry, or would the Ringwraiths get them?

More potatoes Mr Frodo?

On the first play through I took the role of the hobbits. The Nazgul player is hampered by Sentry rolls in that the wraiths do not move at all on a roll of 1, and only detect the hobbits if they roll a 6 and can then act normally. Importantly, while the rules say the player with initiative moves the Nazgul on a 2-5 (between two and five inches), we allowed the Evil player in both scenarios to move them. They remained subject to Sentry rolls until they rolled a 6.

This actually led to two quite close games, although the second one was a lot quicker as Kelvin adopted a sprint to the ferry tactic down the lane.

In my case I split the hobbits into two pairs, with Samwise Gamgee sticking with Frodo. As one of the Nazgul detected the Ringbearer and moved towards Frodo, I had to bring the other two hobbits across to try to help Frodo escape.

Above: A Nazgul closes in on Frodo. This was just after Merry was killed. Note Samwise about to tackle the wraith. It was a close run thing at this stage. Pippin in the green hooded cloak is about to pounce.

As it turned out, Merry was slain trying to block the enemy, but Pippin covered himself in glory taking out a Nazgul, which with their Defence of 8 is not easy if you are a mere hobbit.

This led to a sprint to the ferry, with the Ringwraiths using their magic to try to slow / stop Frodo. It boiled down to a couple of dice rolls near the end. Luckily Samwise and Pippin could maintain an effective blocking roll, and the wraiths ran out of power, evaporating into the night, as they are far from Mordor and their master's influence.

Above: Frodo is on the ferry and waiting for his comrades, but a Nazgul is closing in on him. Does he cast off and leave them to their fate?

A re-match, a re-match!

We had time, so we played this a second time, with Kelvin taking the hobbits. This was a much quicker game, as the hobbits simply sprinted down the lane to the ferry. The Nazgul became alerted and pursued, using their superior speed and some ranged spells to slow the hobbits down.

Above: Game 2, and the hobbits are fleeing down the lane in a compact group. But one of the Nazgul has spotted them and is giving chase!

I had one Ringwraith that frustratingly stumbled around in the dark for most of the second game, oblivious to the fact that his colleagues were racing past him towards the ferry hissing "Hobbits! Baggins!"

Again Pippin and Merry effectively blocked the wraiths in the lane by the ferryman's cottage, allowing Frodo to escape to Bucklebury and the next chapter of his journey to Bree. Next time we will hopefully explore the Barrow Downs and maybe meet Tom Bombadil.

I really enjoyed these games. They played very quickly, perhaps because we had fewer figures on the table. It remains one of my favoured tabletop miniatures rules sets. If you found this entertaining, do take a look at my Ambush At Sarn Ford skirmish, which I played using Song of Blades & Heroes.

Above: Game 2 finale, with Merry and Frodo safely on the ferry and Sam and Pippin blocking the lane. Frodo is about to cast off for the safety of the Bucklebury shore.