Nutcracker Commando Raid

 Decided to put a non-canonical game on the table while I work out campaign rules for a first North Pole ‘42 campaign. In this case the scenario idea was taken from Sci-fi Skirmish Scenarios: Small-unit Missions For Use With Your Favourite Wargaming Rules by John Lambshead. Not coincidentally I used his One Hour Skirmish Wargames (OHSW) to play it.

The good guys are a crack commando unit - and so were given a Leader(3) (two actually - Clara and the Rat King), a Motivation of 4, and all had the Lucky trait (meaning they had a 75% chance of recovery if the were knocked down). Their goal was to silence the German 88 harassing a vital supply line for the main army.

The opposing force is supposed to be lower quality troops, so I gave the Germans a single Leader(2) and a Motivation of 2.  They don't want to be there - it's cold, it's the middle of nowhere, and their supplies are limited to what was on the ship they arrived on.

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Rat King took his Rattenkriegers to the right while Clara led a squad on loan from Frosty’s Fighters on the left (they are armed with bolt action rifles, I just haven't made them yet).

The forces arrayed at the start, with defenders as per the suggested scenario deployment.

It was a bit of a slog at first as our heroes struggled to make any dent in the the dug-in German front-line defenses.

Rattenkriegers

On the left, Clara and the snowfolk had difficulty getting much started, faced as they were by the German tripod MG and they were pinned down in the hill top woods

Eventually, on the right, the defenses were breached, giving the Rat King the opportunity he was waiting for. His rats gave a fine accounting of themselves.

A plucky rat spies the German rifleman in the second-floor window.

As the rats surged forward, the tide began to turn on their left. A snowfolk soldier sent a German defender into the snow, and Clara seized the opportunity to charge, brandishing her candy cane staff. She dispatched the German before he could stand. 

Clara set her sites on the machine gun and the German leader with them.

The German line begins to crumble.

The rat swarm continued their relentless push towards the German back-line positions, with Rat King, sword waving above his head, encouraging his soldiers to finish the job.

Rat-Attack!

Moments later, Clara engaged the German leader in close combat - he was no match for the peppermint princess. The rats begin firing on the 88's crew - armed only with pistols, returning fire wasn't an option. 

Before the gun crew could turn the 88 on the attackers, the German 2nd-in-command ordered his men to abandon the field.

Victory for the North Pole forces.

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The Germans actually broke when they failed a morale check after their leader had been knocked out of the fight and 2nd-in-command was down. This rarely happens when I play OHSW so it's definitely noteworthy.

The other observation I had was that the usual 5-turn limit of the scenarios included in OHSW would not fly here. With so much cover for both sides, the decks were chewed up fast and furious - meaning Jokers came up rather quickly. I didn't track turns but I think it was near 12 turns before the Germans broke.

The scenario however is not turn-based (unlike many of the scenarios in Sci-fi Skirmish Scenarios) but rather based on whether you concede the battle or not. I didn't have to as the Germans caved first.

I was so inspired by the game, I got out the remainder of my Christmas forces from the holiday bin and put them in a toy soldiers bin so they can be used in future encounters. In addition to the snowfolk needing rifles, some of the robot wooden soldiers need repair, as does King Moonracer. Storage was not kind to them.