Fog on the Barrow-Downs - LOTR/Hobbit AAR

Game five of our Fellowship of the Ring campaign... Fog on the Barrow-Downs...

Having escaped the Ringwraiths across the Buckleberry Ferry, our heroes find themselves at a brief interlude of calm in the tale. The book now goes on to detail the stop at Crickhollow, then the adventure through the Old Forest, the encounter with Old Man Willow and the eventual meeting with Tom Bombadil and Goldberry...

Sadly none of this action hits the silver screen, but having watched the Appendices of the Extended edition of FotR, you can readily see why this approach was taken by PJ and his crew... I suppose if he was making the movie purely for Tolkien fans and 'buffs', then they'd love to see these scenes on the big screen, and would avidly sit though 3, 4 or 5 hours of required footage, to cram all these extra scenes in...but to your average Joe Public, they don't really advance the story, the crux of which is getting the ring to Mordor...

Bombadil is a real enigma, one of those unfathomables in the Middle-Earth mythos... Simply put, he is an irresistible force, within his own small realm...

So back to the book, after leaving Bombadil's care the hobbits find themselves lost on the fog shrouded Barrow-Downs, where Wights lurk, to do their evil. However all is not lost. Tom has said, if they have any problems, call and he will come...

Tom Bombadil

I remember coming across the above picture many years ago, and couldn't help wonder if they had cast Bob Hoskins as Bombadil. Now that would have been classy! ;-)

The scenario pits our 4 Hobbits, against 4 Barrow Wights. The hobbits deploy spaced out, lost in the fog, in an off centre band through board. The Wights deploy in their barrows... Once A hobbit sees a wight (within 6" due to fog) they can start calling out for Bombadil to come, though need a 6 for success. Goldberry will follow in a similar fashion.

Deployment, lost on the Downs...

The Downs are foggy, mysterious, and disorientating, and our erstwhile hobbits blunder their way through the swirling clinging cold mists... their ponies have long since bolted, spooked by the evil presence they sense on the Downs...

Sensing the approach of warm blooded prey, the Wights are roused from their Barrows, seeking souls to sacrifice to the dark gods...

The hobbits move off and with calls in the fog, start to gather together again, not realising evil is approaching from all sides...

Soon they find themselves under the influence of the Wights, and Frodo and Pippin slump to the ground from the Wights paralysing effects...

Frodo is roused again by Sam, but slumps back to the ground as another Wight closes in...

Merry manages to get Pippin back to his feet...

But eventually all the Wights are in close enough, their chilling miasma force all four hobbits to slump to the dewy grass on the hill top...

The Wights close in and start to drag their hapless prey back to their barrows... the Dark Gods will be appeased in ritual sacrifice this night...

As they are dragged to their doom over the cold, rough ground, Frodo and Sam, briefly come to their senses, and escape the cold clutches of their captors...

However they are quickly overwhelmed again...

But not for long, once again, Sam being made of stout stuff for a hobbit, manages to shrug off the wights numbing effects... and coming to his senses for a brief moment, realises the peril they are in calls out to Tom:

Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!

By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow,

By fire, sun and moon, hearken now and hear us!

Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!

Not a moment too soon, a peculiar lilting song can be heard through the misty gloom...

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,

Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.

None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:

His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.

And with Toms arrival, the fogs clear, exposing the Wights to the sunlight...

Wake now my merry lads! Wake and hear me calling!

Warm now be heart and limb! The cold stone is fallen;

Dark door is standing wide; dead hand is broken.

Night under Night is flown, and the Gate is open!

...and Pippin finds himself wide awake and invigorated once more!

But the wights don't give up... and start to focus their attention of Frodo once more...

More cries of assistance from the now fully alert hobbits, and Goldberry enters from the woods...

The wights continue their evil exhortations, but their abilities are failing fast...

The cat and mouse game continues for a while as the Wights resort to attacking their hobbit prey directly, in the hopes of subduing them...

But Tom is there to the rescue each time where needed...

Get out, you old wight! Vanish in the sunlight!

Shrivel like the cold mist, like the winds go wailing,

Out into the barren lands far beyond the mountains!

Come never here again! Leave your barrow empty!

Lost and forgotten be, darker than the darkness,

Where gates stand for ever shut, till the world is mended.

... and Goldberry is not far behind...

With both these powerful mythic beings entering the fray, irresistibly within the borders of their own realm, the Wights have little chance, though their malice keeps them trying, hating the living before them...

Roused to his full vigor, Sam even manages to dispatch one of the foul wights!

In the face of these beatific beings, the Wights are powerless to stop the Hobbits escaping their clutches...

Tom even finds time to gather the hobbits missing ponies...

Hey! now! Come hoy now! Wither do you wander?

Up, down, near or far, here, there or yonder?

Sharp-ears, Wise-nose, Swish-tail and Bumpkin,

White-socks my little lad, and old Fatty Lumpkin!

... and over the next few moments, the hobbits flee the scene, with grateful cries of thanks to Tom and Goldberry...

The wights are left to follow Goldberry for a moment but for them , all is lost...

... the Dark Gods will not be appeased this night after all, and the wights utter wails and cries of anguish...

And Tom bids the Hobbits farewell...

Tom's country ends here: he will not pass the borders.

Tom has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting!

The hobbits escape the clutches of the Barrow Wights, fleeing the Downs, and make their way with all haste to Bree...

-----o0o-----

Another fun game, and boy was there a few nervous moments for the hobbits there. At one point it looked like it was all over with all four hobbits down... but the wights had to drag their unconscious forms slowly over the ground back to the barrows, just giving them enough of a chance to wake up, albeit briefly. 

Sam became the man (or hobbit) of the hour, and managed to call out, getting Toms attention.

Once Tom and then Goldberry entered the game, there was little chance for the Wights to succeed, as should be the case...

If we were to play the game again, I'd probably move the wights, away from the hobbits to form a 'goal line defence' of the far table edge, the hobbits are trying to reach. This way they have less of a distance to drag the hobbits to the end two barrows, and Bombabil and Goldberry would have further to travel across the board before they could directly affect the game.

Good game!