First Scouting Wide Game: Snow Forts

Quick making and PVA gluing of polystyrene Snow Forts

Wide Games or Outdoor Games from Baden Powell’s Scouting for Boys 1907/8

The Snow Forts game in progress …

Setting up the game board and Lego based snow fort alternative build.

This was a ‘jolly good fun’ short game, featuring a small force of Gladys and four other Girl Scouts of Daisy Patrol, defending their snow fort with snowballs against an attacking force of eight Boy Scouts of Red scarved ‘Bull’ Patrol.

I will post a full game write up in the next few days, my first playtesting of some simple Scouting Wide Games rules.

It takes three Snowball hits on a defender in the Snow Fort for them to lose their ‘life’ (restored once journeyed back to HQ tent camp), but only one hit to take the ‘life’ of an attacker.

Snowball ammunition is unlimited. One scout equals one figure.

Ranges were set out or measured using lolly sticks, for close range (one lollystick – 4,5,6 is a hit on a d6), medium range (two lollystick distance, 5 or 6 to hit) and long range (three lollysticks – 6 only to hit).

Movement on snow and ice was half normal pace, (so using half a lollystick marker to measure) and no fast Scouts Pace (a strange mix of periods of running and walking) was allowed due to weather and terrain

Alan Gruber, Tradgardmastre of the Duchy of Tradgardland blog is also going to be working on the Scouting Wide Games rules and borrowed RPG elements like individual character cards.

I added some simple RPG style elements like names, age or scout ranking from Tenderfoot to First Class Scout or Patrol Leader, and badge or character achievements.

For example, Gladys the Patrol Leader of Daisy Patrol of the Girl Scouts and young Ernest, Second Class scout of Bull Patrol (Red Scarves) both have Marksman scout badges, adding +1 to their chance of hitting a scout of the other patrol with a range weapon like a snowball.

Jolly Good Fun! The game ended sportingly with three cheers for the winners and three cheers for the losers. Afterwards Agnes and Ginger of the Daisy Patrol of Girl Scouts built a “Snow Scout”.

I will also be developing a separate WordPress blog for the Scouting Wide Games project, for storing pictures, rules, research and play-testing. Watch this space for details: https://tabletopscoutingwidegames.wordpress.com/

The 1914 Christmas Truce – was there a Snow ball fight?

I dug out some old Airfix unarmed WW1 figures. The Snowball fight element of this game lends itself to both civilian, Christmas and military scenarios.

The Christmas version using tree ornaments – red versus white and blue.

Posted by Mark, Man of TIN on 5 October 2019