(Fistful of Gnomes) Long Walks on the Beach

 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.  

(Fistful of Gnomes) A Stroll Through the Park

When I get the chance to talk Gnome Wars with folks, the requests usually come in a few varieties.

1. When is a new edition coming out?  
2. Why isn't there X nationality?
3. Why isn't there a scenario book? 

My answers, as just one of the Stout Gnome Minions with an active blog? 

1. I will admit that we talk around a new edition right now, rather than sitting down and knocking it out quite yet.  
2. With the exceptions of Gnomans, Hawaiians, and the like, most nationalities can be modified using existing figures.  Anything more exotic requires a lot of collaboration between the designers, Lon at Brigade Games, and, of course the person actually sculpting figures.  Even with the current product focus of units over individual figures, you reading the blog of the guys who has Californian, Mormon, and Missouri militia units. 
3. There are so many cool scenarios and after action reports in print and online, we would probably end up accidentally putting a gnome stamp of approval on something that already exist.  

Before gnomes, before teddy bears, before frogs and mouslings, there was Flintloque - Fantasy Napoleonic warfare in 25mm by Alternative Armies.  Now, even at skirmish level, Napoleonic wargaming feels different than the Gnome Wars universe, which is roughly fantastical early 20th Century, but there is just a treasure trove of material already available online.  

This is one of those attempts to use gnomes in A Stroll in the Park, a three-part scenario.

 And it's fitting that the same week I read that Dos Equis is bringing back their most famous marketing campaign, I break out Bruce Carmezind, the Most Interesting Gnome in the World.

Bruce is older and a hair slower, but the chicks continue to dig his new scars, so he continues to act like he's a hundred-year old gnome. 

This week, he's leading a motley group of gnome rangers and rifleman to escort a group of engineers to destroy a signal tower, deep behind the German lines. 

Part One: Bruce, his team, and his engineers need to sneak down a dry river bed to get to the tower. 

Time is of the essence, but noise kills.  Each turn, the group draws one card from a deck of playing cards if they're walking, two if they're running.  Any non-face card (Ace through 10) is no effect.  Any face card is a results ranging from animals getting flushed out and giving up their position (and drawing more cards) to enemy troops landing on the board to an actual ambush! 

Expecting the worst, I had two units of Sikh mercenaries at the ready.  They remained their for the entire quick scenario.  

Bruce and his men were true professionals with a healthy dose of luck.  Allowing a 6" double action sneak move, they needed nine draws to get through the winding river bed to the other side. 

Not a single face card.

Bruce and his crew

Part Two:  The Objective:  Get the engineers to the base of the tower.  The engineers must spend an action setting the explosives.  They may move and set the explosive, recovery rolls or melee negate the action for that turn.  Each successful action rolls a d8, once the cumulative number reaches 28, they escape as the tower explodes! 

As much as I love a simple and successful infiltration, I did up the ante, especially when the random element I rolled wasn't German or Sikh, but embedded Swiss resistance to escort them to their coastal rendezvous!

First off, the Germans in the tower knew they were nearby...

Technically Sykes and his mistress were downstairs....

Nothing ever happens at Tower B-17 of the Imperial Telegraph & Semaphore Corps, Third Reserve.  Otto Kleinwachter manned the tower, relayed the messages and stayed quiet.  He was annoyed with Retired Exploratory Officer Siegfried Sykes showed up unannounced, with his "domestic assistant" Hettie,  but having once stolen a few intimate moments with the wife of a Signal officer back in his youth, he climbed the tower to give them privacy.  

He didn't need to interrupt the couple downstairs with yelling or an alarm.  As the Swiss infiltrators climbed the bank of the dry riverbed, a single shot rang out from atop the tower.   Otto could see a single Swiss figure scurry back into the riverbed for cover.  

That gnome, Bruce Carmezind, having narrowly missed an untimely demise with a leathal weapon, tumbled back into cover, exasperated and slightly embarrassed.

"Dafür bini z’alt!    Ich hätte die Tunnel benutzen sollen!"

Most of the Swiss braved the open field towards the tower, but Carmezind was wise enough to send half the engineers, and two riflemen, to tunnel underground as back-up. 

Which seemed like an even smarter idea, especially when Sikhs, drawn by the gunfire, emerged near the trees!   Half had reconnoitered through the woods, while the other half boldly marched forward in a firing line.  

Much to the Sikh officer's chagrin, the Swiss took minor casualties and return far more effective fire, scattering much of the firing line into the woods.  This sacrifice allowed the remainder to flank the flimsy Swiss position, dropping the invaders.   

 Add to that the appearance of Sykes and his disgruntled mistress into the fray, and the Swiss mission was in peril, the engineers scrambling to the rear of the tower to accomplish whatever they could. 

Perhaps it was fact that Swiss are traditionally a defensive minded people, so the Sikh attack but them at ease.

Perhaps they all simply wanted to live.  

Or Perhaps it was Bruce Carmezind, finally recovering from the clarity of safety, had charged forward and rallied his fallen and bloodied gnomes to keep fighting!  

Every wounded gnome not only recovered, but pulled their rifles back to their shoulders, fired, and all hit their enemies, killing one, wounded a second, and sending two other fleeing to the cover of the woods!  

The rally seemed to grow stronger with the appearance of their Swiss brethren, killing the Sikh officer, but getting distracted by Otto, still atop the tower with his rifle.

But as luck would have it, the Sikhs cowering in the woods for many turns, were perhaps inspired by the death of their officer, all recovered at the same time and joined their fellows charging the original Swiss at the tower.

The carnage was glorious. Sykes and Hettie took out the Swiss ranger officer, until Sykes was shot by Carmezind and abandoned his mistress for the safety of the tower. Hettie's life was spared as Otto made a crack shot, taking the most interesting gnome in the world out of action.

The Swiss were brave, but wounded and the Sikhs made short work of them.

The Sikhs seemed to need a moment to regroup, but Hettie took charge, running around the tower and engaging the engineers as they were setting up the charges. She took out one before some of the Swiss relief forces finally dispatched her.

There was a short firefight between the Swiss relief and the regrouped Sikhs.  The second engineer was taken out of action, things looked lost.

And then something broke through from below.

The Swiss engineers that had been tunneling finally made it to the far side of the tower, and frantically set charges!

And after many turns in a desperate firefight, Otto was finally wounded.  Laid out on his back, clutching his chest, staring up at the sky... his last thought before the explosion obliterated the tower.  

"I'm least I'm not hiding like that bastard officer downstairs..." 

RIP: Otto

All in all, the scenario was just enough chaos to satisfy my (twisted) gnome mind.  Of course, I calculated it afterwards, but it's only a 1-in-14 chance (7%) to not draw a face card in that first part.  

Overall, I liked this scenario as part of a larger campaign, one where sabotage and infiltration might be considered more mechanical than tactical.  Per the original scenario, and per my die rolls, it should have been an overwhelming Swiss success, which works better as a table result than a lopsided victory on the table.  

I am happy with the way tunneling worked, I'll tack those onto my ongoing Fistful of Gnomes document I'm compiling. 

I'll need to calculate casualties and get things set up for Part Three: "Long Walks on the Beach", coming soon! 

A Stroll in the Park by Tony Harwood 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.  

(Fistful of Gnomes) Abbey Road

At this point of the war Lt Langveiler expected to be sitting in some warm, quaint Swiss gnome home, nibbling on chocolate and picking out which timepieces to send back to his family.  No one had anticipated the Swiss to defend so well against the modern weaponry of the Germans, much less begin a counterattack that had sent them scrambling.   Now, the field-promoted gnome had rain pouring off his hat as he stood with his surviving men in the ruins of an old church.  The standing remains offered a short respite from the cold rain, but it was much too unstable to stay under it for long.  

Wiping the water off of his face only added more water, but he couldn't ruminate on his situation.  Private had been assigned guard duty on the other side of the old brigade, and when he came running back over the bridge, his only report has "Swiss Rangers, 10, I think they saw me."

The men were roused from whatever primitive shelter they could make.  

Surrender was always an option, but they needed to put up a fighting effort, the old laws dictated it. 

Forces: 

Remnants of the German 27th (Die Leinenkugels) 

1 Sergeant (Lt Langweiler) 

5 Riflemen

Fight with Honor:  The Germans will surrender if wounded.  They can declare this prior to a wound recovery roll.  If an out of action result is rolled, the figure is assumed captured/surrendered.   Results of Out of Action during combat are treated as kills.   Two point per figure surrendering/captured.  The Swiss aren't the only nationality that can tunnel in a pinch.   

Flee with Honor:   The Germans already know that there's a large Swiss unit beyond the abbey.  The only chance to fight another day is to cross the bridge.  Three points per figure that get over the bridge and is alive at the end of the game. 

Kill with Honor:  One point for each Swiss out of action at the end of the game. 

The Swiss National Park Rangers

1 Officer (Capt Fishgeruch)

1 NCO (Sgt Richard)

8 Riflemen (with close combat hatchets)

Eliminate Threat:  Two points for each German killed or captured.

Do Not Underestimate the Sneakiness:   The Swiss lose one point for each escaping German

The Swiss Rangers pull up to the Abbey. 

Turn One:  The Swiss swore they saw a lone German trooper running through the countryside, so Capt Fishgeruch sent an advance to carefully creep up the stone arch to see if anyone was waiting for them. 

The precaution was in vain as a single shot range out from across the river, and everyone but the scout saw Ranger Meier's head turn into red mist.  

"Sniper!!!!"

Headshot!

Ranger Baumann, behind Meier was in the German Rifleman's sight, he pulled the trigger, and just heard a *click*  

"Goddamn rain..." 

The other Germans huddled over to the sniper, finding the right line of sight for the advancing Rangers, but nothing was as effective.  

The Swiss found cover at the base of the bridge, and prepared for an all out charge. 

Turn Two:  The Swiss though they had the upper hand, but it would take longer to storm the wall than they initially thought.  One Swiss used the wall of the bridge as cover and fired down on the German position, to no effect.  A German bullet dropped him to the cobblestone, wounded.  Another Swiss tried to draw fire from around the base of the bridge, but it just gave the sniper enough time to clear his weapon, reload shoot him in the head.  Another Swiss on the bridge dropped dead. 

Meanwhile Private Meier, how had held a good cross-fire position across the road from the abbey, must have been inspired by the sniper, and took it upon himself to find a new position to pick off Swiss early. 

Turn Three:  Captain Fishgeruch grabbed Sergeant Richard by the shoulder, "The pension plan for the Park Rangers isn't all that great anyway, let's go!"  The duo charged passed a opening within their men.  Captain Fishgeruch reached the wall first, punching one of the German rifleman in the face with the pommel of his sword, before slicing the supposed sniper below the neck with his sword, dropping him.  The Sergeant followed quickly after, but there no witnesses to whether he was shot or beaten in hand to hand.  Nevertheless, his lifeless body adorned the other side of the wall. 

The Germans were quickly realizing that those early shots may have convinced the Swiss of a "Take No Prisoners" approach to the engagement. 

Turn Four:  When when point blank shot grazed the Captain, he wisely dove face-first in the mud on the other side of the wall to feign death (re; he earned a shock token). 

With the remaining rifleman pinned or bleeding near the bridge, Park Ranger Schneider pulled out his trusty hatchet and dove over the wall.   The two Germans broke his momentum, pushing him back, but not before they both were on the ground, quite dead.

Pondering an escape route, Lt Langweiler pulled out his pistol and fired upon Schneider, wounding him.  For a moment, it appeared that the officer could possibly dashed across the road and support the pinned Schneider in the trees, possibly pushing through the remaining resistance and to freedom.  

Turn Five:  Park Ranger Schneider got better real quick (a well timed Queen of Hearts for initiative, removing the wound and allowing him to act).  Leaving his firearm in the mud, Schnieder dove at the officer.  The German proved to have more mettle than Schneider expected, and soon the two were locked in lethal hand-to-hand fighting (a tie for the close-combat roll!)

Meanwhile, Captain Fishgeruch recovered himself from the mud, and dove over to the last German rifleman, plunging his sword into his chest. 

Lt Langweiler had one final trick up his sleeve ... or a few inches away from his.   He managed to grab his pistol from a puddle, but as he turned it to shoot Schneider, the Ranger turn it into the officer's body as the gun went off.

A wounded and bleeding Langweiler let out a sigh of relief, "I surrender... if I don't bleed out first."

Breaking down the victory conditions, it was a brutal 12-6 Swiss win.    From the first roll, the dice had bloodlust, forgetting about wounds and going right to "out of actions."  Only one death was the result of a recovery roll!  There was no mercy, which was the harsh reality the Germans discovered as their war machine effectively eliminated any of the old, honorable ways the that gnomes had fought with before.  

All the blue tokens represent out of action, all but one on the initial wound roll!

Rolling on the basic campaign chart in the core rulebook, the merely wounded Swiss Rifleman would miss the next engagement but return fine.  Sergeant Richard and Lt Langweiler both suffered greatly from their wounds.  Richard would never be the same again, and was eventually relegated to a training company.  Langweiler would be in no shape for an escape attempt, and would be never see combat again... if he survived captivity. 

Rules are Fistful of Lead by Wiley Games.  Figures are Gnome Wars by Brigade Games.

This scenario was based off of  Flintloque scenario Sharke's Abbey on Orcs in the Webbe.

(GNOME WARS) Captain Banali and the Plot to Assassinate Famed Golfer, Robert McHope

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...

Turn one:  An explosion rocks the front doors of La Crotte de Nez.   

The Sikhs charge over the bridge at full speed to find... nothing, then *BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM*

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.  

Orange tokens are pinned Sikhs.  Dice is wounds. 

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.  

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.  

(Gnome Wars) Peep Raids!

This was the weekend with the girls, so it was a fine and right time to break out the annual Easter game.   I found a perfect scenario to convert from Orcs in the Webbe, and converting Dodos for Marshmallow Peeps seemed easy enough.

German peasant infantry feeding the Peeps Easter grass to turn them pink!

I figured the scenario was pretty simple:  Swiss gnomes performing an above-ground raid on a German village and their herd of Peeps.  Despite their size, the Peeps were quite light, so the average gnome can move with them normal walking speed.  

Both the German and Swiss goals was too get as many of the sugary critters to their "safe" zones. 

GAME ONE

Millie, commanding the Swiss, set up her troops/safe zone in the upper right corner and swooped down.  Maja's Germans were more centrally set-up along the long table edge opposite, and most of the squad dashed toward the Peep corral.  One soldier took a distant (and successful) shot at an exposed Swiss, and the peasant handlers' eyes all went wide.   It was common knowledge among the Marshmallow husbandry experts that loud explosions, or even single gunshots, were enough to spook all the critters, and no fence was strong enough to contain them.  

The Peeps seemed to divide in half.  Half running towards their keepers, the others bounding right into the hands of their would-be kidnappers.  

The Swiss began a wild Peep chase, hunting down the animals, only for them to zig when they were expected to zag.  Only one Swiss gnome managed to get a good hold of them.

The Germans decided against perusing all but the closest Peeps, picking three up and dashing towards the safe zone. 

As luck would have it, the roaming peeps began following the Swiss controlled one, heading closer to their safe zone in the far corner.    

But once the Germans secured the first wave of Peeps, they turned around the caught up to the Swiss with a hail of bullets.  Only one Peep had been captured, and with two more turns all of the Swiss lay dead on the ground.  

Since we were dealing with two six-man squads, I used Gnome Wars weapons stats, and the playing-card based Fistful of Lead initiative system. By the second turn, we were using the special card effects (+1 hand to hand bonus worked towards capturing Peeps/Twos allowed two shots, but not to any other extra actions.  We avoided the ammo rules.) 

Despite a good five minutes of card shuffling, Maja simply got fantastic cards to seize initiative, and a pair of timely twos to more than just chase off the raiders.  Die rolls were equally lopsided, so after swimming birthday party at a local Y, we reset the board, kept the sides, and played a second round. 

Using random deployment, the Germans stayed at the same spot with four figures.  One German rifleman was deployed for overnight guard duty in the village where the Swiss emerged from.  

The Swiss appeared behind the watermelon patch, and a few gnarly fruit trees, quite a distance from that village.  

GAME TWO

The Swiss seized the initiative and charged the corral, all of them, save two riflemen who took pot shots across the field, triggering the stampede.  

The Peeps left their sugary residue in the corral, as they scattered.  Three almost ended up directly in the arms of the German caretakers.... AGAIN!  

The Germans seemed flat-footed, but the Swiss marksmanship was far truer than before.  Even the village guardsman, trying to sneak back into the fight, got gunned down in Cold Blood.

With the other three Germans handling Peeps, the fifth and final German took a short-range shot at the Swiss raid leader.  The bullet only ricocheted off the plastic Easter eggs.

The Swiss drew even more luck, dropping the firing German in return, and intercepting the panicking Peeps.   

A Peep Conga Line back to the Safe Zone.

Swiss rifles took out the German patrol leader, causing much more chaos.  The only casualty the Swiss suffered this time was one of the active riflemen slowly retreating back to the safe zone on the last turn, to enjoy their ill-gotten gains.  

Overall, like all the Alternative Armies scenarios, it works with little work.  I could have used jelly beans as "feathers" or "eggs" , but I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make to the rules.  As is, the point total of the second game was determined by the death of the German leader on a lucky shot versus the close-up miss on the Swiss.  

Maja and Millie both give the scenario a thumbs up, even if they only ate a handful of the roaming livestock. This was their first foray into Fistful of Lead with Gnome Wars stats, and while six cards per side seemed a bit much (even after the slaughter dropped that down a bit), by the second game, five cards on each side seemed perfect.  

I have a few more Orcs in the Webbe Slaughterloo/Flintloque scenarios to try out with Gnome Wars.  I'm not afraid to cross companies, systems, or even eras, if the end result is a good game.