(Cold Wars) The Inside Scoop on the Gnome Wars Megagame

First off, Jim is doing an excellent job of posting on each individual table.

Megagame 1 - Treasure Island

Naval Game

New Providence

When Cannibals Attack

Let's have the truth here, the New Providence board is really an intentional afterthought. It had to be. Barring a few latecomers, everyone knew the action started on board #1 and worked your way across. If you wanted to play with ships, you did table #2. Table #3 I needed to keep interesting. Plus the cupboard was kind of bare with troop selection after we set up the first two tables.

Deployment:

"Park Ranger" Swiss: were unloading a bicycle tank off of a ship. Their objective was to deliver it to the HQ, then they could arm it and use it.

Pirates!: Steal the bicycle tank.

British Marines: were back in the fort. Their objective was to keep the peace in the harbor, and the player followed his objectives to the letter of the law.

Germans: 1 unit + 1 bring and play unit. Move across the board to defend the German HQ

Green Germans: transport the heavy mortar to the German HQ. After it arrived they could use it.

Blue Swiss: Defend the Swiss HQ

Highlanders: General Chaos, sir!

Sikhs: Get to the church and support whatever action happens.

Fairly open-ended, yet still disasterous. The Blue Swiss and Highlanders were wiped out early against the German juggernaut. The Park Rangers were basically bicycle tank-jacked by the Pirates while under the watchful eyes of the British. It seems that they were only concerned if the ruckus was on the water or affected the fort.

The Sikhs managed to get to the church, just about when the Green Germans delivered the mortar to the HQ. Then all Hell broke lose.

BRRRAAAAAIIINNNNSSSS...............

Znombies poured out of the town and the players freaked! Even the overpowered Prussian Germans fell back and concentrated fire on the undead. This was great, as the eliminated players were bringing on another group of units. The Blue Swiss basically regenned in a safe spot on the board, the Brown Sikhs quickly got overrun by Germans are came back as Grey Sikhs on the far end. The Highlanders plus a new player took a large contingent of British Marines at the far end of the board, with the express orders of keeping the road clear.

Pirates and Swiss Fighting Over a Bicycle Tank

Historians will debate what happened next. The Marines and Germans came to a mutual understanding. Even when all hell broke loose in the harbor and the British in the fort began bombarding the German HQ, the Swiss were trying help evacuate injured Germans inside the building. Outside of a few flamethrower blasts, our table was fairly civilized.

Then the It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Gnome World occurred and my guys took cover as everything began blowing up or catching fire. If we run this game again, we'll make the harbor on table #3 a wee bit bigger to avoid punitive mortar fire from the overzealous British. Perhaps the town might still stand afterwards.

Good fun for all around, even Lucky Lon the Pirate tried to mutiny and then was turned into a Znombie. Good Times.