In Cossack Fashion
Translation details
Model:mistral-medium-2604.Translated text
Section titled “Translated text”a) The red patrol lies in hiding, while the whites, twice as numerous, are positioned 200–300 paces away. Everyone has a three-digit number pinned to the front of their cap. Each digit is 5–6 cm tall and 3 cm wide, drawn in ink with a stroke 1 cm thick.
The terrain between the two parties should be carefully selected. Let there be solitary trees, scattered bushes, stones, hollows, molehills, etc.—in short, as many small coverings as possible to conceal the head. The area where the reds lie hidden, roughly in a line, should look similar; thus, it cannot be dense thickets through which one can see but which the opponent cannot penetrate with their gaze.
At a given signal, the whites advance, creeping stealthily, moving quickly from cover to cover—now by leaping, now by crawling. On one hand, they try to spot the reds’ numbers; on the other, they hide their own heads so that the reds cannot read their numbers.
Any scout, white or red, who reads an opponent’s number calls it out aloud. Neutral observers (one with the whites, one with the reds) record the called numbers, excluding the caller—i.e., the “killed”—from further participation in the exercise.
In this way, the whites draw ever closer to the reds, but in ever-dwindling numbers. The reds also decrease, but far less so. When, finally, one (or possibly 2–3) of the whites manages to reach within 30–40 paces of the reds, a whistle blows, and the remaining living members of both sides fall in for roll call. If the reds have maintained their original ratio to the whites (1:2), they win; if this ratio has shifted in favor of the whites, the whites win.
During the exercise, under penalty of being “killed,” no one may remove their cap, turn it so the number faces sideways, or cover it with their hand. The neutral observer ensures this. If a number comes loose, is obscured, etc., it must be corrected.
b) This game can also take a different course. Here, both parties lie opposite each other at a distance of 300–400 paces. In the middle of this battlefield lies a neutral strip, 40–50 paces wide, marked by two rows of small flags. Both parties creep toward each other, trying to reach this strip.
“Killing” proceeds as before, and as soon as one scout from either side reaches the strip, a whistle signals the end of the battle.
The evaluation is as follows: Calculating the distance in paces from the strip for all “living” members of both parties and summing them would grant victory to the side with the smaller total—a victory that seems fair but is, in reality, unjust. For example, there might be only 4 whites alive and 12 reds, yet the whites’ total, as the victors, would be significantly smaller than the reds’. Conversely, those 4 might have reached very close, while the 12 might be far away because they were afraid to approach, lest they be “killed.”
Therefore, the evaluation considers the distance of all “living” members of the party that remains in the minority, and from the other party, those living who are no farther from the strip than the farthest member of the first party. With this calculation, victory goes to those who show the greater total distance.
These games train the eye and teach how to approach the opponent while exploiting all available cover along the way.
Source scan: Polona / National Library of Poland, marked “Public domain”. View scan — PDF pages 116–118.
Metadata
Section titled “Metadata”- Type: game
- Traits: Not stated in the source
- Source: Zygmunt Wyrobek, Harcerz w polu: zabawy i gry terenowe (1946)
- Printed pages: 110–112 / PDF 116–118
- Digital edition: Digital edition · Source record
- Open the edition at the relevant page: p. 110
- Read the source text: hwp-045