Bandits and Gendarmes
Translation details
Model:mistral-medium-2604.Translated text
Section titled “Translated text”Game marked with an asterisk in the book: more suitable for older scouts.
A gang of 4–5 bandits, led by a chief, hides in the forest. The gendarmes conduct a manhunt. To this end, several of their patrols set out simultaneously from several points on the perimeter of the designated exercise area, moving toward the center to meet at an agreed location. Each patrol must search a specific section of the terrain and capture the bandits. If a gendarme encounters a bandit and manages to approach within 15 paces, he shouts “Halt!” and thereby takes him prisoner. The gendarmes have a password and a response, by which they recognize each other from a distance, as the bandits are dressed the same as the gendarmes.
The exercise is very simple but requires great cunning, extreme vigilance, quick orientation, and decisiveness from the bandits. All tricks are allowed, as long as they can slip through the net. If the bandits manage to obtain the password, they thereby increase their chances of success. They can, for example, eavesdrop on it if a gendarme, unable to distinguish the person he meets, demands the password, and the encountered individual—who is also a gendarme—provides it from a distance. Or a bandit, pretending to be a gendarme, asks for the password from afar, and upon receiving it, when asked for the response in turn, flees. Once the password is known, the response can also be learned, as a bandit, when questioned, gives the password and in return demands the response to confirm that he is dealing with a gendarme and not another bandit, etc. The more cunning the bandits, the easier it is for them to mislead the gendarmes.
The gendarmes win if, within the designated time, they capture the bandits, with at most one (or possibly two) escaping, and the chief is not among them. Otherwise, the bandits win.
The exercise terrain should be spacious and have clearly defined boundaries. It should also offer great variety in its layout, with thickets, many ravines, etc. The leader positions the patrols, indicates each patrol’s starting point and assembly point. The patrol leaders coordinate among themselves regarding the division of the search sections. Of course, each patrol is free to turn back if necessary, but the bandits can exploit this to their advantage.
Since the bandits are selected from the patrols after they have dispersed, no patrol knows all the bandits. The leader should draw attention to this important circumstance.
Scan source: Polona / National Library of Poland, marked “Public domain”. View scan — PDF pages 186–187.
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: 180–181 / PDF 186–187
- Digital edition: Digital edition · Source record
- Open the edition at the relevant page: p. 180
- Read the source text: hwp-092