"Alright mes enfants, listen in."
Garde Municipal Captain Marcel Proust looked critically on his charges and shuddered inwardly. Mon Dieux he thought to himself, the only consolation I have is that I'm not related to any of these people. He subjected Private Latrine, delicately picking his nose with a slender finger, to a withering stare, then commenced his briefing.
"Our orders are the Section will engage in a search and clear operation on the Moncrieff Estate, known to be the haunt of outlaws since the Marquis' untimely death."
There was a knowing cough from the assembled Garde Municipal, followed by a couple of sniggers.
"Silence!" barked Proust,"we all know the rumours, but no goats were ever found, so let's keep our minds on the job shall we?"
The Elves in front of him shuffled their feet and grinned sideways at each other. "Right. So, I will lead odd numbers on the right flank, Corporal Visage will take even numbers on the left. I want to see skirmish formation, I want to see pairs, and I want to see a bit of common sense." Proust paused. Common sense from this lot, that'll be something to see. He continued. "Remember to stay in sight of at least one other pair at all times, and the signal for a contact is?"
He waited.
"Shout 'Contact!' and seek cover in pairs?" ventured a voice from the back.
"Correct. At least someone pays attention to my lectures. Now, remember that as well as the outlaws, we're looking for Old Marie's still and evidence of any other excise violations. Load and make safe, and move out."
Three hours later the section had shaken out into pairs for skirmishing and was moving cautiously through the sparse woodland on the edge of the Moncrieff Estate. Bored and sweating, the Elves were nevertheless trying to stay alert. This was no longer one of Proust's interminable exercises; out there somewhere could be people who would shoot at them with real bullets and give them no chance to learn
from their mistakes. Grips on muskets tightened, and eyes scanned every patch of brush and fallen tree for possible enemies.
The enemies were there alright. Ahead of Corporal Visage's group lay a pair of outlaw pickets, watching and listening as the Militia came closer. Big Pierre turned to his companion with an evil grin.
"Let's give the pretty little pretend soldiers a taste of what they're up against, eh Le Clerc?"
His companion returned the smile and eased back the lock of his hunting rifle, sighting down the long barrel at Corporal Visage...
The Garde Municipal
With Mordred and most of his regular troops on campaign in Catalucia, the Witchlands and other disputed areas of Valon, the defence of Amorica is left in the hands of the Garde Municipal. These range from semi-regular formations with well trained, equipped and motivated troops all down to barely-organised bands of citizen vigilantes. Valon is divided into twenty four Military Districts, each District being subdivided into ten Departments which themselves are made up of Tithes (a tenth, roughly equivalent to a county). Each Tithe is expected to raise a Garde Municipal force, part of the cost of which is defrayed through local taxation, part through national contributions.
Garde Municipal force sizes are tied to a Byzantine bureaucratic system linking population, numbers of hamlets, villages, towns and cities, land under cultivation, type of cultivation, tax returns and a hundred other criteria. Suffice it to say that any given Tithe's Garde Municipal commitment could be anything from ten to ten thousand troops.
These commitments, needless to say, are seldom met in full, especially with the wars taking so many young Elves away to fight with the regular army.
The Garde Municipal in this scenario are from the village of Illuin, Loriath Tithe, Cirth Ondolinde Department, Military District Sixteen. Loriath Tithe is obliged to to return two hundred and seventy-five troops for the Garde Municipal, but currently has only one hundred and eighty-four under arms. Illuin has one section, a total of fourteen Elves led by an ex-regular Captain of the Garde. Captain Proust despairs of most of his charges, but soldiers on in the hope that a little of his experience will perhaps rub off on them.
Outlaws
Outlaw bands are an increasingly common feature of Amorica, as they are in Catalucia, Albion and most other countries in Valon. The dispossessed, the poor, the unemployed and disadvantaged often turn to highway robbery and other illegal activities to keep body and soul together. These outlaws usually operate alone or in ones and twos, but every Department in Amorica is likely to have a larger group cooperating to achieve greater profits and safety in numbers. Outlaw bands can range from a single homeless family indulging in petty theft, up to groups of fifty or sixty hardened criminals virtually controlling a whole Tithe. Armed with an assortment of weapons, sometimes mounted, always using hit and run tactics, hard to find and harder to catch, outlaws are a persistent thorn in the flesh of Ferach Excise and Garde Municipal units.
The band of outlaws in this scenario are led by One-Eyed Jacques, an almost legendary lawbreaker, wanted throughout the Cirth Ondolinde Department for a huge number and variety of crimes. He has managed to stay one step ahead of the law and gathered a
motley collection of criminals and hangers on around him.
Map and Setup 
Terrain for this game is quite simple (so much so there is no map!), but needs to provide plenty of cover. Lots of trees, bushes, hedges, bits of old walls and low hillocks and ridges should be scattered liberally across the playing area. There should be one building, preferably a wooden shack or tumbledown cottage somewhere, either in the middle area or towards the outlaw end of the board.
The Garde Municipal enter the board from side A, split into two sub-sections led by Captain Proust on the right and Corporal Visage on the left. The troops should be in pairs with at least five centimetres between pairs. Remember this is a search operation and the section needs to cover a wide frontage to be fully effective.
The outlaws all start the game off the board with their locations known only to the umpire or the player controlling them. It is up to their commander what they do and when they do it unless they are triggered by any of the special rules below.
Scenario Objectives
Here are the objectives for each force in the Scenario:
The Garde Municipal
You are on a sweep to find members of the local gang led by the notorious One-Eyed Jaques. You are against the clock as if darkness falls they'll be able to saunter off as they know this area a damned sight better than you do.
The Outlaws
Bugger, somehow they found out you were here. You'll deal with the boys later, one of 'em must have been talking in the tavern last night. Anyways, that's later, first you've gotta hide and make these Garde bastards think twice about coming near you're hideout. You only need to hold on until night falls...
Game Length
The game lasts until one side has completed their objective or 10 turns have past.
Victory Conditions
The Garde Municipal win if they can flush out eight of the Outlaws (or six of the Outlaws if one of them is Jaques). The Outlaws win if they manage to hold out for 10 turns or make the Garde Municipal somewhat deceased or rout at least.
Scenario Forces
The Garde Municipal
Captain Proust [Elite Experienced Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Pistol, Standard Musket, Sabre (+2) 35 Points
Flaw: Old Wound (Leg)
Although on the retired list, Proust still counts as Elite and Experienced because of his extensive service.
Soldat Avingion [Average Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 23 Points
Magical Ability: Knock (Latent)
Soldat Barclay [Average Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 23 Points
Soldat Chaffee [Average Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 23 Points
Soldat Dautry [Average Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 23 Points
Soldat Edward [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Fasset [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Garnier [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Hawes [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Ieliou [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Jetter [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Karway [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Legard [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Mallery [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Soldat Rhone [Raw Ferach Elf]
Elf (Ferach) Musket, Bayonet (+0) 19 Points
Magical Ability: Glimmer (Latent)
Magical Ability: Unjam (Latent)
Total Force: 15 Ferach Elves and 317 Points
The Outlaws
One-Eyed Jacques [Experienced Ferach Elf]
2 x Standard Pistols, Blunderbuss, Long Knife (+1), Sword (+2) 42 Points
Jacques counts as an Experienced Regular because he has spent so long avoiding the authorities staying out of prison.
Maurice the Weasel [Average Ferach Elf]
Standard Rifle, Knife (+0) 25 Points
Magical Ability: Create Fire (Latent)
Louis-Phillipe [Average Ferach Elf]
Standard Rifle, Knife (+0) 25 Points
Magical Ability: Winged Feet (Latent)
Loupe [Raw Ferach Elf]
Standard Pistol, Knife (+0) 18 Points
Arac [Raw Ferach Elf]
Standard Pistol, Knife (+0) 18 Points
D'ind [Raw Ferach Elf]
Standard Pistol, Knife (+0) 18 Points
Castor [Raw Ferach Elf]
Standard Musket, Knife (+0) 19 Points
Pieter [Raw Ferach Elf]
Standard Musket, Knife (+0) 19 Points
Veran [Raw Ferach Elf]
Sword (+2) 16 Points
Big Pierre [Raw Ferach Elf]
Standard Musket, Knife (+0) 19 Points
Magical Ability: Dead Eye (Latent)
Magical Ability: Knock (Potent)
Little Alphonse [Raw Ferach Elf]
Knife (+0) 14 Points
Magical Ability: Create Fire (Latent)
Magical Ability: Knock (Latent)
Total Force: 11 Elves and 233 Points
Scenario Special Rules
Adding more variety to a standard battle this scenario uses the follow quirky and unique special rules.
"I think I saw something !": Garde Municipal may attempt to spot hidden outlaws within 20cm at any time during their movement. To do this their commander nominates the Elf attempting to spot an enemy and the scenery piece he is scrutinising. A d10 is rolled and the score checked as follows:
1- 3 Fails to spot anything (even if there is an outlaw there)
4 - 6 Thinks he sees something if there isn't an outlaw there, disregards any actual hidden outlaws as a fallen branch or trick of the light.
7 -10 Successfully spots any hidden outlaws.
In the unlikely event that one of the Garde fails to spot an outlaw and an outlaw passes all his panic rolls and doesn't do anything to draw attention to himself, the Garde automatically spots the outlaw if he comes with 5cm of the hidden criminal.
"We can do this the hard way or the easy way": If the Garde do spot an outlaw they can either engage him in combat or attempt to take him into custody. This can be done by shouting "Come out Scarface we've got the place surrounded, we can do this the hard way or the easy way", or some similar persuasive patter. It is then up to the outlaw commander to decided how his character will react. Is he the "Come and get me copper, you'll never take me alive" sort, or the "it's a fair cop Guv, I'll come quietly" type? Outlaws who surrender will need to be guarded, one Garde for every two prisoners once disarmed and immobilised which takes one character one turn.
"DON'T PANIC!": If the Garde Municipal finish thier movement within 15cm of a hidden outlaw without spotting him, the outlaw player must roll to see if that character panics and does something. Roll a d10:
1 - 4 No action
5 - 7 Breaks cover and runs away
8 - 10 Fires at the nearest enemy figure, if the outlaw has no firearm he will run and engage in hand to hand instead.
Note that their commander does not have to indicate which outlaw he is rolling for, or indeed why he is rolling a dice at all. It all adds to the tension.
Flaw: Old Wound (Leg): A character with this flaw has an old wound which effects movement which means they cannot run.
Magical Ability: Knock: This character has a spell ability, the latent 'Knock' spell allows the user to open any door immediately and a user with potent 'Knock' spell can open a normal or strengthened door.
Magical Ability: Unjam: This character has a spell ability, the 'Unjam' spell allows the user to unjam any jammed weapon immediately.
The No Umpire Option: Number each piece of scenery before the start of the game. The Outlaw player makes a note of which piece of scenery each outlaw is hidden in. After each Garde Municipal member movement check to see if any of the rules above are triggered (the 5cm and 15cm ones).
The Alternate Three Player Option: This scenario will work best with two players and an umpire, although it can be done without an umpire. In the three-way game the umpire controls the outlaws and the two players each command a Militia section. In this way outlaws will appear at random and without warning to the players, forcing them to react in a (hopefully) tactical and cooperative manner. The spotting and panic rolls add to the lack of predictability and, obviously, benefit from having an umpire to see fair play and adjudicate disputes. In a two-player format there is less chance for loss of command and control and the lack of cooperation between the Militia sections because both are being run by the same player.
Uniform Notes
Garde Municipal uniforms broadly mirror those of the regular army but are plainer with less decoration and variety of facings. Overalls and fatigue dress are very common among the infantry elements which are predominantly voltigeurs and Chasseurs a Pied.
Author's Notes
This game was inspired by a 1/300th Second World War game I played more years ago than I care to admit, umpired by our esteemed Editor (whose vicious streak has not mellowed with the passage of years). In that game two Allied columns were pushing up the board, cooperating in achieving certain objectives, with the German forces umpire controlled and random. by the end of a long afternoon of hard play, the allied columns were disorganised and panicky, failing to cooperate or coordinate and short of any major objectives after travelling less that a . third of the way up the board. The element of uncertainty was almost paralysing, and that is what I wanted to have a go at trying to duplicate here.
Webmaster's Notes
This scenario was first published in Orcs in the Hills, Issue 5.
I have added to the original text and also have made changes to the scenario in order to match Alternative Armies new scenario format and make the scenario more accessible to players of Flintloque Reloaded. |
