Rescue The Baggage – Second Attempt – Battle Report

With some time before I have enough minis and terrain ready for the next new scenario, I thought why not revisit a scenario I liked and wanted to play again with a different strategy and a new houserule to see if it was still fun?  Fortunately, Rescue The Baggage proved to be quite exciting and I have a lot of great photos of the action. So let’s jump straight into it!

Pre-Game Thoughts – As with all Escape to Goblin Town scenarios, the layout and objective and pretty straightforward.  The dwarves need to grab the baggage and get back off the board the same way they came.  With a small board and the ability to jump, the dwarves can get to the baggage and off the board quickly but the small army of goblins certainly will have something to say about that!  The one “houserule” I added for this game was to make sure that the goblins cannot block the dwarves from jumping, especially in the opening turns.  They can ambush Thorin’s Company as soon as they jump across but no blocking.  This seems not only fair but in the spirit of the scenario.

The goblins are playing the typical attrition and swarming strategy with Grinnah lying in wait and ready to attack at a pivotal moment.  His points of might can help motivate his peers to charge into battle or win a duel so I wanted to make sure I made good use of him.  I kept him near the baggage because that seems like the ideal place to strike.

The Dwarves would try to limit the number of goblins who can charge them where possible and jump across the platforms to punch through and retrieve the baggage.  A heroic and cinematic plan, indeed!  Knowing how useful Might can be, I was hoping to hang onto it in the early turns and then use it to win combats once the dwarves jump to ensure they do not get trapped.  That is definitely the greatest danger in this scenario for them.

Battle Report – After the dwarves walked forward confidently, the goblins on the nearby walkway swarmed them as best they could. Bifur was up to the task however and slayed two goblins. Bofur did not fare so well and nearly took a wound if not for his Fate point. One goblin returned on the near walkway thanks to the scenario’s special rule.

The dwarves retained priority and while whittling down more goblins to get an early break test was tempting, the point of this battle report is to see some heroic leaping! Fittingly, Bombur nearly met a grisly fate by falling into the dark abyss but a point of Might helped him grab the edge of the platform and scramble up. Shockingly, Bofur proceeded to do the exact same thing and nearly fall if not for a point of Might! Bifur was too far away to jump this turn so he charged the nearby goblins.  The goblins returned the favor by piling in against the two dwarves on the far platform.

Bifur won the duel (barely) and stabbed another goblin with his impressive spear. Bofur once again lost and now had his back to the platform but fended off any damaging blows. Using a point of Might to force a tie, Bombur won the duel against Grinnah and two goblins. He bravely smacked a goblin in the head with a ladle and it keeled over. Two goblins returned to the battle at the end of the turn though with four dead already, they were approaching a break test quickly.

Thorin’s Company retained priority yet again. Both sides called for a heroic move in what surely was a pivotal turn and Grinnah won. Grinnah and his lads charged into the dwarves with almost all of them involved in combat.  Bofur was sure to be trapped if he lost his combat and Bombur wasn’t safe either. Bifur needed a point of Might to win the duel, but still managed to continue his goblin slaying streak for another turn with another goblin falling to his spear. Bombur rolled a 6 to win his duel much to the dwarves’ relief! He killed two goblins which meant a break test would occur next turn. Bofur rolled a 6 as well which was exactly what was needed to win the combat. Two goblins were cleaved by a fell swipe of his axe! While a goblin returned at the end of the turn, things were looking very bleak for the goblins.

Having not lost priority all game, the dwarves didn’t see any reason to start now! After passing a nervy Leap test, Bifur jumped across the platform to support his dwarven brothers who promptly swarmed Grinnah.

Feeling the pressure, Grinnah promptly failed his courage test along with most of the remaining goblins! None returned at the end of the turn, clearly getting the memo that this battle was over.

While victory clearly belonged to Thorin’s Company, with only one goblin on the board after courage tests, the result was made official!

Post Game Thoughts – Wow, what a game!  That might have been some of the craziest and most thematic die rolling I’ve had in a game yet.  The dwarves were lethal against the goblins and caused a break test very early on in the game.  Part of this is due to me allowing a dwarf to kill a goblin if it is using Chittering Hordes.  It doesn’t seem right for Bifur to have a long spear and not be able to hit both goblins that charge in this way.  While the dwarves nearly died jumping across the platforms and then barely survived the onslaught of Grinnah and the gang, the way they carved up goblins was quite surprising and fairly rare in my experience.  Bofur should have really been killed and when he managed to roll a 6 to win a duel and avoid being trapped, I was truly stunned.  It is certainly fair to say that with a little different luck, the evil side would have killed one or both dwarves in a single turn and gone on to win the game.  I think that highlights the balance and fun of this scenario though.  It can go a lot of different ways and its funt o charge those dwarves in and see what happens!

While I always play for a good game and interesting narrative, this one exceeded my expectations and was one of the most fun games I’ve had yet.  I definitely recommend both my houserule for this one and to get those dwarves leaping across the platforms.  It seems a little scary but their heroic actions before and after leaping may yet surprise you!