Yesterday, three of us engaged in a glorious tabletop battle in my game-loft, pitting a motley assortment of bloodthirsty gnomes against each other in a struggle for possession of gnomish provisions, rare antiques, and one legendary ruby of immense value (The Star of Sloofnick).
We used the 2nd edition Gnome Wars rules for this game and a scenario created by yours truly. My friend Kevin Sarnowski is a huge Gnome Wars buff and has a large collection of beautifully painted gnomes of all nationalities. Aside from playing at HMGS East conventions, we always try to play at least one big Gnome Wars game at my place every year, so that Kev can break out his toys and we can have a rollicking good time playing with gnomes.
I’ve posted some snapshots from yesterday’s battle below, but if you want to see a much wider assortment of photos and concise battle report, check out Kev’s blog: Spoils of Wargames. He’s been posting a lot of Gnome Wars goodness of late, replete with plenty of colorful pics.
I’m going to use the rest of this post to share the battle scenario that we used yesterday, which includes a roughed out battlefield map, setup & deployment rules, some special events, and an optional game-mechanic and rules that I created for use with Gnome Wars.
The Battlefield Map
I used a software program called OtherWorld Mapper to throw together a very quick battlefield map for our Gnome Wars game. I hadn’t used the mapper software to any significant extent before last week and don’t really know what I’m doing, so this is what you get from a neophyte.
The battlefield is broken into 3 major sectors:
- Left sector features a long road that crosses the battlefield. The road passes between a pair of large hills and then splits into 2 paths.
- Center sector contains an Elven Tower surrounded by a circular ring of hedges/shrubs. This “faerie ring” is a magical barrier to entry. You can only enter the Western entrance to this area by possessing a magical key or the legendary ruby (see Star of Sloofnick below).
- Right sector features a winding river which can only be crossed at the Old Bridge. There are some small cottages at the edge of a forest located north of the Bridge.
Setup & Deployment
ATTACKER:
- The Attacking force of Gnomes is composed of 4 units. They may deploy up to 12″ away from the SOUTH edge of the battlefield, anywhere to the LEFT of the river.
- Attackers have 3 Pack Mules laden with Gnomish provisions & antiques. One of the Pack Mules carries The Star of Sloofnick, a radiant ruby of immense value. A Mule carrying the ruby can bypass the magic barrier and enter the faerie-ring through its Western entrance.
- Attackers also have 2 Trucks. A Truck can hold 4 Gnomes or 2 Gnomes and a Pack Mule. Loading a Pack Mule onto a Truck requires a player to discard a Gnome Magic playing card.
DEFENDER:
- The Defending force of Gnomes is composed of 3 units. They may deploy in the Forest and Cottages in the Northeast of the map, or up to 18″ away from the NORTH edge of the battlefield anywhere to the north of the Red Pass Hills and/or Elven Tower.
- Defenders have 2 Artillery weapons (Heavy Mortar or a special weapon like the Cheese-Thrower, and one Machine Gun or Cannon).
- Defenders also have 2 Trucks. A Truck can hold 4 Gnomes.
Objective
- The Attackers are trying to move their Pack Mules off the table via the Western, Northern, and Eastern roads, or move their Mules into the Faerie Ring surrounding the Elven Tower.
- Each Mule must be led by 1 Gnome (it’s Attendant). Unattended Pack Mules can be captured by the enemy. The Defenders will NOT purposely shoot at the Mules because they want to capture the valuable goods for themselves.
- The Pack Mule carrying The Star of Sloofnick is worth 25 Victory Points (VP). The other two Pack Mules are worth 10 VP each.
- The Attacker earns VP for moving a Pack Mule to safety (off the table via a Road or into the faerie ring). The Defender earns VP for each Mule that it captures.
Gnome Magic Cards
The use of Gnome Magic Cards is a game-mechanic & rules that I devised, and which isn’t part of the standard Gnome Wars rulebook. It’s something that I feel adds extra spice and strategy to standard game-play, while not overcomplicating anything for players. Feel free to use this in your friendly games of Gnome Wars, or ignore it if you prefer.
- Use a regular deck of 54 playing cards with the Jokers included.
- Each army randomly draws 3 cards from the deck to form their starting hand of Gnome Magic cards.
- At the start of each new game-turn (once all units have been activated), players draw 1 additional card into their hand.
Cards can be played out of your hand at any time (when fighting/shooting, when moving your gnomes, when using your medics to heal wounded gnomes, or to interrupt the enemy’s activation).
| SUIT | CARD# | BENEFIT PROVIDED |
|---|---|---|
| CLUBS | 2 to King | When played, gives all gnomes in the chosen unit +1 on their attacks |
| DIAMONDS | 2 to King | When played, gives all gnomes in the chosen unit +6 inches of extra movement |
| HEARTS | 2 to King | When played, gives all medics +1 on their healing rolls |
| SPADES | 2 to King | When played, enables a player to interrupt the enemy and take action with one of his units instead (must be a unit that has NOT already activated this game turn). |
| Any Suit | Ace | When played, gives all gnomes in the chosen unit +2 on attacks or +12 inches extra move (individual gnomes may choose which benefit they wish to use). |
| Red/Black | Joker | WILD = this can be used as any 2 thru KING card that you desire. |
Special Events
- At the start of each game-turn, a special event card is shuffled into the deck of Unit Cards (which are drawn one at a time to activate units).
- When a special event card is drawn, immediately resolve it.
- For this scenario, the events include:
- MAGIC KEY = Attacking army finds the Magic Key that enables entrance into the faerie-ring (Elven Tower location). You can give this Key to any friendly gnome you want.
- WIZARD = An old, wandering Gnome Wizard arrives on the scene. Roll 1D6 (1-3: Wizard joins the Attackers, 4-6: Wizard joins the Defenders). Place the Wizard with the unit of your choice. He’s accompanied by 4 Goblin Wolfriders who he also commands (Move=18″, Attack=1D10, 1st melee lost makes Wolfriders retreat 4″, 2nd melee lost kills them). If the Wizard is killed, the Wolfriders will immediately rout off the battlefield.
- FAE WINDS = Each army may either (a) draw 1 new Gnome Magic card and add it to their hand, or (b) discard 1 card from their hand and then draw 2 Gnome Magic cards into their hand.
- GNOME MONOCULAR SCOPE = Defending army suddenly discovers a gnomish telescope hidden amongst their baggage. They can use it to detect which of the 3 Pack Mules is carrying the Star of Sloofnick (which radiates a magical aura).
Battle Pic Slideshow!
Two slideshows of snapshots from yesterday’s game.
Tiny Painted Heroes 