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The Ostarian spy Martha Hairy must escape the clutches of a jilted Dwarven lover as she flees across country via coach. Little do either of them know that Plunkorc and MacMean have heard tale of the bounty bringing her in would get them and they plan to intercept Martha's flight in this Flintloque scenario for three players.
Martha Hairy is a spy for the Emperor Klaffenhund of Ostaria. She has infiltrated courts and war rooms across Valon and has learned many secrets. She now seeks to return to safety in Ostaria and exchange her secrets for a life of wealth and luxury. Martha is also the object of a Finklestein Dwarf’s undying affection. They met at Mordred’s court and he became besotted with her. The stunted fool, Sven Hassled, is now a Colonel in the Finklestein 9th line Battalion, stationed on the Kartoffleberg front. Sven is ideally placed to raid into Ostaria and when he hears of Martha’s journey he resolves to capture her. This will win him the object of his (unrequited) affections and stop the spy reaching Klaffenhund. Unfortunately for Sven, he has little time to gather troops for the mission as most of his battalion is on leave for the Mucktober beer festival. As a result he only has those on guard duty, some recently recovered wounded troops and his oldest friend Udder a former Jaeger. He gathers these troops and heads across the border to set an ambush. Udder leads them to a narrow road where the carriage Martha travels in will have forest on either side and is in a deep valley so that the attack cannot be witnessed from afar.
However there are other interested parties with an eye on the coach. Plunkorc and MacMean have heard tales of the fabulous wealth of jewellery that Martha wears. They have also heard of Sven’s raid through a Dwarf who has friends at the palace and has offered a fair price for her being delivered to them. They want both her and her jewels and will fight anyone or anything that gets in thier way in order to get them.
Map & Setup
There is no map provided for this scenario. There should be a road running the length of the length of the table with the loose forest close on either side. Due to a a seemingly innocuous fallen branch, the carriage starts the game stationary (as it has lost a wheel) 1/4 of the way across the board, with its Dog escort surrounding it. It will take four Dogs four actions to get the wheel back on. Keep a tally of thier progress. The Dwarves start the game at the table edge nearest the carriage. Plunkorc and MacMean arrive on any board edge of thier players choosing, 2 turns after the Dwarves attack the Dogs. Special Rules The carriage itself is armoured and is virtually bullet-proof (but Sven does not know this). To force the carriage door open it must be fought in melee and beaten. It fights at +4 and obviously cannot harm anyone it beats or force a morale check. Rules for moving the carriage (once the wheel is reattached) can be found in Alternatives Armies excellent new miniature/scenario pack, The Londinium Coach. For those not lucky enought to own it those kinds folks at Alternative Armies have released a low resolution version of the booklet that accompanies the miniatures on thier Notables Yahoo Group. Martha’s escort will fight to the death to protect her and gain +2 morale bonus because of their determination. Victory Conditions For the Dwarves to win they must get Martha safely off any table edge except their own. For the Dogs to win they must get Martha safely off the edge opposite where they started. For the Highwaypersons to win they mus get to Martha, defeat her in melee (no harm caused) and escape off any table edge. Scenario Forces The Finklestein Dwarves
Sven [Veteran Regular Dwarf]
Sword, Pistol.
Sven suffers no morale because he is “rescuing” his true love. Udder [Experienced Elite Dwarf Light Infantry]
Jaeger Rifle, Sword 6 x Average Dwarf Regulars
Standard Musket, Bayonet 4 x Raw Dwarf Regulars
Standard Musket, Bayonet Martha's Pack Ulrich Von Chum [Veteran Regular Dog]
Standard Musket, Sword Klaus Von Wiener [Experienced Regular Dog]
Standard Musket,Axe 6 x Average Dog Regulars
Standard Musket, Bayonet 8 x RawDog Regulars
Standard Musket, Bayonet Martha Hairy [Experienced Dog Militia]
Standard Pistol One Carriage, drawn by Four Horses The Highwaymen Plunkorc [Experienced Orc Guerrilla]
2 Standard Pistols, Sword, 2 Grenades Macmean [Experienced Highland Rat Guerrilla]
Standard Musket, Pistol, Sword Webmaster's Notes The above was first published in Alternative Armies Loque & Load magazine in the Autumn of 2002. For it's release here as part of the 2008 Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar, I have amended the original text (slightly) creating, what I believe to be, a better initial setup with the addition of the broken wheel and the inclusion of Alternative Armies new Coach miniatures boxed set. |
