With most of the Easter gifts, festivities, and game conducted last week, I would have been remiss if I didn't take advantage of some extra time to run a game.
Famed golfer and entertainer, Robert McHope, has visited troops on every side of conflicts, travelled the globe, and sometimes interfered with skirmishes too close to his hotel room. Most armies will tolerate his antics, but they draw the line when he kidnaps their medics.
Especially when the medic is Swiss nobility.
Swiss nobility wields little power, save a penchant to lead troops into battle. For Princess Charlotte Lea of House Gahariet, the closest thing to military service allowed was becoming a bier nurse in the Medical Corps. There, she met McHope, became smitten with the older gnome, and ran off with him.
This has not been agreeable to either the Swiss Army or the House of Gahariet, and a way to return her to her rightful duties has been designed.
To avoid a full-blown incident, the Swiss have requested help from Captain Banali and his 25th Sikh Regiment. They had an oddly well-documented history of off-the-books actions... largely after they were successful.
Captain Banali decided an early morning operation at one of his estates, La Crotte de Nez, would be the most successful. McHope employed a unit of ex-British Marines as mercenaries (good on land and on his yachts), as well as always kept Yuri, a large Russian gnome, as his side at all times.
 |
| (l to r) Robert McHope, Princess Charlotte Lea, and Yuri, all enjoying the sunrise as La Crotte de Nez. |
Captain Banali and the 25th Sikhs
Objective: Capture Princess Charlotte Lea or rout/kill all British mercs. Killing Robert McHope would be acceptable collateral damage... or not.
Deployment: Far side of the bridge, marching in two columns along each side of the road. One Sikh has infiltrated the estate, and just set off an explosion, blowing off the manor building's main doors.
Special Rule: Volley Fire - if six or more Sikhs are line up side-by-side, they may volley fire, giving a +1 bonus to firing.
Special Rule: Hand to Hand. Sikhs gain an additional +1 in hand to hand combat.
Special Rule: Morale - Unlike traditional Sikh units, Captain Banali's men do not fight to the last man. Normal morale/recovery rules apply in this scenario.
 |
| Captain Banali and the 25th Sikhs |
The "Garrison" of Crotte de Nez
Objective: Protect Robert McHope and the Princess at all costs.
Objective: Robert and the Princess need to ultimately leave the estate, either over the bridge, or the opposite way across the river. Crossing the river takes two turns on each turn, a figure will roll 1d6 (1-5 continue as normal. 6 figure succumbs to icy waters.) Robert will not leave without the princess, if she is alive.
Deployment: When the doors explode, four mercs inside survived and will be on the first floor. Four mercs are at an guard encampment near the bridge. McHope and the princess are on the back balcony
Special Rule: McHope will make ranged attacks with his golf balls and clubs. Range is 24" and all cover is ignored.
Special Rule: Berserk Love - If McHope is removed from the table, Princess Charlotte Lea goes into a berserk range, attacking anyone in her way to get off the board. All her hand-to-hand rolls are adding +2.
Special Rule: Yuri the Bodyguard - Currently ordered to protect the Princess, McHope's full-time body guard will protect him only when it does not interfere with his current mission... or if the princess is off the table.
 |
| McHope and his mercenaries... |
British mercs pop out of the woods and are incredibly accurate, pinning most of the Sikhs at the near side of the bridge, wounding one. 
The mercs awoken by the blast pour out of the building and find cover. None notice the lone Sikh hiding around the corner, who sneaks into the manor and climbs the stairs. 
Turn Two: The Sikhs from the rear move up to allow the pinned to regroup. British mercs take no wounded, but two appear to be ill-prepared and out of ammo.
Turn Three: The Sikh in the manor is unsure what to do, but alerts Yuri, who comes inside, levels his blunderbuss, and realizes he never loaded the weapon as part of his pre-dawn prep work. It takes two shots, but the Sikh drops the Russian.
The Sikhs and mercs near the bridge continue to fire wildly at each other. The pinned Sikhs from the first round are still unable to recover and crawl to any sort of cover. British without ammo drop back to cover to reload.
Turn Four: The Sikh in the manor comes out onto the balcony and attack McHope. The golfer parries the bayonet charge with a 3 Wood, wallops him upside the head, and dumps the body over the balcony.
The British gunfire has pinned a considerable number of Sikhs, whom all seem to be unable to recover, but a few hearty one press forward. A few shots actually pin some of the mercs hiding in the trees, closer to the manor.
Turn Five/Six: Some of the long-time pinned Sikhs decide enough is enough and run off the battelfield. One lone British merc remaining in the guard position engages in hand to hand with the Sikhs. The fighting was brutal, with him falling over the stone wall onto his back. His Sikh combatant stood over top him, to finish him with a bayonet, the merc pushed the rifle out of the way and stabbed the Sikh in a key spot in the thigh with a knife, sending him to the ground. For the merc, there was little time to recover, as Captain Banali walked over and placed two shots in the middle of his forehead.
Turn Seven/Eight: McHope finally got involved in the defense of his estate, first firing golf balls from ground level, then, after running out of "ammo" running back upstairs and hitting balls out of the second story windows.
 |
| Orange tokens are pinned Sikhs. Dice is wounds. |
A few more Sikhs fled, and one was actually killed. The remaining Sikhs tried to flank the hiding/reloading British, with some success.
Turn Nine/Ten: In the face of heavy causalities and not enough manpower to enter the manor, Captain Banali ordered his remaining men to fall back. McHope and the Princess emerged from the manor to properly flee over the bridge, with the three surviving mercs. Unfortunately the mercs were not very cautious of the Sikh casulaties littering the path. After they passed a pile of bodies, two popped up and took swipes at McHope and his love, wounding the princess in the process. Both Sikhs were ruthlessly put down and the group continued their escape to a safer destination.. with proper medical care.
I used a mixture of Gnome Wars and Fistful of Lead for the rules. What I thought was going to be slaughter of the Sikhs turned into an equal slaughter. The British were able to pin the Sikhs, and those early pinned Sikhs were worthless for most of the game, but the second wave kept recovering and taking advantage of shots that actually wounded the Brits. Wounds and running out of ammo forced them to fall back to safer positions.
This scenario was part of the Orcs in the Webbe series, meant more for Flintloque and Slaughterloo Napoleonic action. I also saw this scenario under M C Monkey-Dew's Miniatures Games: General Banal and the Plot to Assassinate d'Elrond.
Whether they're damsels, medics, or mighty warriors, we definitely need more female gnomes in the line.
No comments:
Post a Comment