In our last gnome game, Swiss forces had snuck engineers across enemy lines and successfully blew up a German signal tower, albeit with heavy losses on each side.
This time, the surviving Swiss are fleeing to an uncoordinated rendezvous on the coast, and the recent explosion has attracted a more than a few German regulars.
Objective:
Swiss: Blowing up the tower last scenario was a solid victory. Now, it time to get the last two surviving engineers off the safety.
German/Sikh: Preventing the escape, of course, but causing significant Swiss casualties will make the report writing sting a little less.
Turns One and Two: The most significant thing to note was that, out of all of the Swiss who staggered away from the explosion, none were significantly injured, thus holding each other back. They stumbled through the darkness, as fast as their feet could take them.
The original escort for the engineers, featuring "The Most Interesting Gnome in the World" Bruce Caremzind, had been reduced to but a single Gnome Ranger. The remainder of the new escort was made by a relief force that had given the engineers just enough time to blow the tower and achieve their primary objective.
Turn Three: The surviving Sikhs took just enough time look for survivors, pray for their dead, and gather weapons and ammo for... revenge.
The Swiss scrambled, individuals peeling off the escape to set up defensive positions to slow the Sikh attack.
The Sikh line emerged, and despite orders to scavenge ammo from their dead before leaving, two Sikhs forgot to reload their current weapons and ran out of ammo, while the rest of the shots fired high.
The Swiss were more accustomed to their defensive positions behind walls and rocks, and their shot rang true, wounding three as the remaining Sikhs advance, making the Swiss scramble back in retreat.
Two of the wounded Sikhs would never recover during the game, making that early volley probably the most important on of the game.
Turn Four: The Swiss began running out of ammo in their defense, and to make matters worse, a full unit of German Gnomes emerged from the briars and the brambles to investigate the gunfire!
While the Sikhs began engaging in hand-to-hand with the few stalwart Swiss who held their ground... or simply ran out of ammo and accepted their role... and their fate, the other broken and shaken Swiss hurried back to find makeshift cover, in an attempt to hold off the pursuit just a few more moments.
Turn Five: The Swiss engineers, accompanied by the sergeant of arms and two rifleman, saw the wooden dock in sight.
The EMPTY wooden dock.
Luckily, the keen eye of the sergeant of arms noted to the coded blinking light of a small watercraft moving towards the land.... just a few more moments.
If they engineers would make it back to their base, they would no doubt embellish upon the bravery of the gnomes who sacrificed themselves for their own safe return.
But there would not be much exaggeration needed, for it actually took a few rounds of melee by the mighty Sikhs to finally dispatch the defenders.
Turns 6+ Meanwhile, the remaining Swiss harassed the marauding Germans, forcing the rifleman to waste shots (and going out of ammo!) as they rushed towards the shore.
Turn 8: It was one of the retreating defenders, and one of the riflemen escorting the engineers to saved the day. They stood their ground at the same joint spot and gave the engineers enough time to dive out the boat and sail away, under the covering fire of some light guns just off the coast....
This was the third and final scenario of "A Stroll in the Park" by Tony Harwood. It can be found at Orcs in the Webbe . It was first published on the 13th December 2017 as part of its 2017 Advent Calendar.
I love the idea of the Advent Calendar, especially since it covers a variety of things for a wide swath of their games. The drop down header only links to 2020, so I was delighted to see the 2025 version.
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