(Gnome Wars) West Side Sortie

Earlier in the year we had a Gnome Wars scenario focused on infamous Scottish Golfer Robert McHope.  He had conducted a whirlwind affair/kidnapping with a Swiss Princess, and the subsequent rescue attempt amassed large causalities, adding even more insult to injury when McHope dumped her just a few weeks later.  He's since began a relationship with a Japansese Saki waitress named Hanashi Mokuhyōa.  The Swiss never forget a slight, and using their odd maritime laws, were able to abduct Hanashi, and are holding her pending trial, where they shall charge her all crimes committed by McHope and probably sentence her to death.  

McHope had plans to the end the relationship with her within a week, but he feels a strong obligation to rescue the crazy dame, so under cover of darkness, three jolly boats have been lowered from McHope's ship, the "Sail Through"  to break her out of prison.

Only the faint light from the town illuminated McHope (R) and the other two boats.

Robert McHope and the Band of Buoyant Brits

Objective:  Rescue Hanashi Mokuhyōa from prison and return her to the Sail Through

Deployment:  Three jolly boats with five troops and two sailors ready to row from the Sail Through.

Special Rule:  Two rowers can move the boats 3".  Up to two additional figures can help row and each add 1" of movement.  

Special Rule:  With the sea wall, and dockhands working on cargo, the jolly boats can only dock against empty docks (one per dock).

Special Rule:  Only McHope can resuce Hanashi.  Once he enters the prison, he spends the next two full turns inside, fighting with the guards and freeing her.  On the following turn, they may both make a full 12" move.

The Harbor for Porto Generico

The Swiss Militia of Porto Generico

Objective:  Prevent the rescue 

Deployment:  Only two militia are on duty (one half-asleep in the tower, the other sleeping the other half near the jail).  The other militia are only alerted once the first gunshot is fired.

Special Rule:  The tower may make a spot check each turn (8+ to spot the boats).  The guard may do the same if a figure would be within line-of-sight. 

Special Rule:  Reinforcements:  Beginning two turns after the first shot, the militia rolls d6.  On a 6, an additional unit of 10 militia arrive on the town edge (left in picture) of the board.

Those waves look funny...

The Brits make good effort, maximizing rowers to try to reach the docks.  However the guard in the towers must had keen vision for a moment, for he spotted the second boat, and fired a lone shot that was completely wide, but alerted the militia at the tavern.

The militia poured out of the tavern haphazardly.  Between them and the guards on duty, a few shots pinned down the middle boat, and forced them back into the cover of the boat.  The senior sailor in charge of the boat, Seaman Jones tried to brave the volley of fire, but he quickly dove into the water.  

He did not emerge.  

While the other boat was pinned down, McHope's team disembarked.

That boat served up  plenty of distraction for McHope's boat to land nearest the tower, shoot the guard in it (and if the shot didn't kill him, the fall to the ground did for certain), and dash towards the jail.

Despite the militia organizing on the shore, the survivors of the middle Jolly boat, managed a few lucky shots, wounding militiamen, and forcing them to fall back.  That bolstered the men's moxie, and they began charging across the dock.

The outside prison guard decided to run up and hold the high ground.

McHope told his men to use the tower base and an adjacent building, while he skirted the back alleys.  Initially they thought he told them NOT to do that, so they lined up in the middle of the street and fired on the the milita.  

Quick wounds resulted in them falling back to the desired spots.  

Meanwhile McHope waited for the militia to further advance to sneak behind them and enter the jail.

While McHope's plan to sneak in worked perfectly, it resulted in horrible losses for his men.   If not for third jolly boat saving the day, all would have been lost. 

The third jolly boat, commanded by Captain Goodnplenty and his trusty pooch, Kibble, actually landed first, landing on the closest dock in the furthest part of town.  

With great stealth, they navigated up the streets to make an attack from the rear, only to have the Captain highly polished buttons betray him, the glint catching the eye of one militia who had ascended to a roof.  With a quick shot, the good Captain was hit in the chest and lay motionless.   

The men continued, charging towards the house, but none were faster than the Captain's loyal companion, Kibble.  The dog rushed to the building bashed open the door and somehow reached the roof (hey, an incredible roll was made!)., and launched at the militiaman before he could react.  

Again, if the attack didn't kill him, the plummet sealed the deal. 

Meanwhile, the front echelon of militia moved towards the wounded and dying British, the second group held back, only to be surprise by the Captain's men.... and a wounded but quite alive (and angry) Captain Goodnplenty!  A volley in the militia forced them to find shelter inside a building. 

The captain of the militia found himself all alone, and dashed towards his shaky forward ranks, only to see two the middle boat British turn the corner and slaughter all but one!  (The second boat drew a 2 (roll 2 dice per action, and with four shots, decimated the line).  

The militia captain turned the corner and quickly dispatched the British with his sword.  

Right about this time,  Robert McHope and Hanashi emerged from jail, a number of guards laying on the ground inside.  The Saki waitress had acquired a sword the scuffle, and both came out swinging.  

McHope pushed aside a militiamen and took a mighty swing with his weaponized golf club at the militia sergeant.  

The sergeant deftly parried the club his halberd, and locked the Scotsman up.    Then McHope froze and fell to the ground, the sword of the militia captain tasting blood for the third time in these early morning hours.  

Hanashi swung wildly at the militiaman blocking her path, but soon she was surrounded by the captain and sergeant as well.  

None of them gave the mere prisoner the respect they deserve, and her wildly swinging sliced the captain's throat, killing him a few agonizing moments later.  

The other two doubled their efforts to bring her to the ground, alive, but gravely wounded.

Both breathed a sigh of relief, only to turn to a volley of bullets from Captain Goodnplenty's men. 

With the alarms of the city ringing, and most able-bodied men filling the streets, it was time to leave.  The good Captain grabbed McHope, Hanashi, and one heavily wounded marine they found crawling towards the dock and quickly headed back to the ship.

The jolly boats were a bit emptier on the way back, save one.

In a slow and deliberate attempt to play smaller skirmish style games with Gnome Wars, I cracked open a copy of Fistful of Lead and essentially combined Gnome Wars shooting and movement with FoL card-based initiative as well as wound and recovery rolls.    Smaller attempts at Gnome Wars without medics were way too quick and way to bloody, so the chance of forces running away (the militia) and heroic recoveries (like Captain Goodnplenty) made it worth setting up the table.  

The scenario West Side Sortie, was originally part of the Orcs in the Webbe series for Flintloque/Slaughterloo.  The one special rule I forgot was the militia reinforcement rule.  Each turn after the first gunshot, on a roll of 6 on 1d6, another militia unit would appear on the far side of town.  I completely forgot, although I did do the rolls after the fact and the first reinforcement wouldn't emerge until turn 6, then turn 10.  The race back to the boat might have been a bit more exciting.

Alternative Armies has a nice catalog of small scenarios that seem perfect for more experiments with the (unofficial) Fistful of Gnomes.  

And for those odd fellows who wanted to see how our "heroes" fared, I rolled on the Post Game table for the important figures either wounded or knocked out of the game. 

1. For the poor sot they saved, that was wounded early on, and rolled "mid" each time to stay wounded, and crawled halfway to the jolly boat before being rescued:   (2 - Just Winged Me!) A cup of ale and an extra ration, and he was good to go.
2. Captain Goodnplenty (6 - It's Not Bad).  If we reused McHope's crew, he would miss the next game.
3. Militia Captain (4 - Just Winged Me?)  Apparently he was saved by the nearby cowards who ran away and will now command without a voice (I'm getting Negan vibes with this).
4. Hanashi Mokuhyōa (2- Just Winged Me) Superficial wounds, or perhaps she knew exactly when to play dead.  McHope does have a thing for princesses, Saki waitresses, and actresses.
5. Robert McHope (9 - Shot full of holes) The sword blow and near death experience has made him think twice about any heroics.   He would be unavailable for the next game and earned the "Sissy" trait (-1 to close combat rolls).  Stick with you long game, Mr McHope.