Alliance of the Allied Forces
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.
The Reds, divided into two parts, stand 2–4 km apart. A White detachment separates them, positioned in the middle. Both sides are of equal strength. The Reds must unite while avoiding contact with the Whites, as each Red detachment alone is weaker than the Whites, whereas the Whites must prevent this union.
The terrain must be bounded and cover 2–4 km²—depending on the number of scouts. The smaller it is, the more difficult the Reds’ task becomes. Furthermore, it should be mixed, mostly covered, with only occasional open areas; certain elevated points should provide a view of the immediate surroundings.
The exercise begins. Both Red detachments must first agree on a joint action. If each acts independently, it could happen that, for example, one detachment sneaks through on the left flank while the other moves in the opposite direction on the right, and still no union occurs—only their positions change.
A council is held, a crossing plan is devised, methods to deceive the enemy are established, etc., and scouts are sent with the agreed plan to the opposing side. Of course, other means of communication can be used, such as signaling. What could be simpler than finding a point from which the opposite terrain is visible, sending the word “wait,” and receiving a sign that it is “understood”? Admittedly, the enemy might intercept this word and realize from which side the opponents are sneaking, but one cannot sit idle. And if this communication fails, scouts remain. However, it must be remembered that the opposing side may also send their own scouts with a different plan—and then whose plan should be followed? This circumstance must also be anticipated, and the dispatch should specify whose plan will be executed in such a case. But what if both sides make the same reservations, as that is also possible? And how can one be certain the dispatch arrived? For it might contain a request to confirm receipt by signaling, but could not the enemy, having intercepted the dispatch, give such confirmation—and then one would fall straight into a trap! It is clear from all this that even the first phase of the exercise presents no small difficulties and dangers.
But what could be foreseen has been, and the scouts set out. Those carrying the dispatch (there may be two or even three, taking different routes) know the responsibility they bear and that the success and victory of the detachment depend on their skill, presence of mind, and resourcefulness. A considerable challenge awaits them, for the enemy’s primary goal is to prevent mutual communication. Here, boldness alone is not enough; cunning may be required. For example, one scout might carry a false dispatch while another, with the real one, follows. The first moves as if clumsily (but not too clumsily, or it will arouse suspicion!) and is eventually captured, drawing the entire pursuit onto himself—the second takes advantage of this and slips away unnoticed. The first pretends to want to destroy the dispatch, the enemy prevents this and triumphantly leads the prisoner away—while the second, who escaped, has already reached the destination and informed everyone. Should scouts be given ideas? Can they not think of hundreds themselves and devise them? Need it be added that under no circumstances can the real dispatch be allowed to fall into enemy hands?
Finally, success is achieved—a joint plan of action is established, along with the time to begin (this is important!—even deadlines for individual actions may be set if the plan is complex). Now the second phase of the exercise begins.
According to the plan, this phase can take many forms. In one or two places, the Reds make feigned attempts to cross to the side of their second detachment, while in a third, that detachment actually crosses to their side, and the union of both occurs. Or only part of it crosses (retreating if in danger and later seeking a free passage elsewhere), and thus the reinforced detachment checks the Whites to facilitate the passage of the rest, etc.
Various additional rules can be introduced for the exercise, such as allowing each side to send no more than 4 scouts individually (each separately), while the rest must cross in groups of at least 6–10 people, etc.
And what do the Whites do during all this time? Their task becomes more difficult once the Reds have communicated. They must first establish a headquarters from which they can quickly send aid if called by the guards. These guards should be placed at points with a good view of the surroundings; they must report all important observed events through messengers. Furthermore, the Whites must keep the entire border under continuous surveillance, both by guards and patrols, and must send scouts in both directions to gather information, etc. If the exercise demands a great deal of ingenuity from the Reds, the Whites also have an equally difficult task: to prevent all surprises and not be deceived by false trails.
If the border is too long, the Whites should be given a numerical advantage; otherwise, they will not be able to fulfill their task. The Reds know what they must do, while the Whites are often unprepared for the Reds’ actions until the last moment. There is another solution: the rules of engagement can be adjusted in favor of the Whites to balance the chances of both sides. For example, a Red is taken prisoner if a White calls out to them from a distance of 10–15 (or 15–20) paces—they must retreat if the call comes from a greater distance; a group of Reds must retreat if the Whites show a numerical advantage of even one person in an encounter. Or: any White may remove a Red’s armband and thus “kill” them, but Reds may not do this—except for scouts; only groups of at least ¼ of the total number of Reds may cross, etc. Depending on the scouts’ training, the leader selects these or other general engagement rules and communicates them to everyone before the exercise. In any case, the information must be given separately to both Red detachments (after the detachments are separated and before the exercise is announced) to avoid any possible collusion.
The duration of the exercise must also be determined. It cannot be too short. From experience, I know that untrained scouts once completed the exercise in a quarter of an hour, crossing to the other side without much effort and with no prior preparations. However, I have also witnessed the same exercise with others lasting over 4 hours without ending.
It should also be established how many prisoners or “killed” scouts would nullify a victory, even if the two detachments unite.
Many variations of this very good but also difficult exercise can be created. It can be performed with a small number of participants (even just 3 patrols) or with the involvement of several hundred people. The only requirement is that the length of the border must be well-adjusted to the number of players if crossing is allowed at any point. It is better for it to be too short than too long.
However, less attention should be paid to the length of the border and more to the number of roads and paths if the rule is introduced that only these roads may be used by compact groups, e.g., of 10 or more people, while scouts may sneak through at any point. This will also result in the rule that a smaller group must retreat before a larger one, but then the Whites must be much more numerous than the Reds.
A simpler variation of the exercise is to designate only one Red detachment and give it the task of crossing to the other side of the border, which lies behind the Whites. In this case, the first phase of the described exercise is omitted. Both sides are of equal strength.
Whatever form is chosen, all rules must always be defined as precisely as possible, as the exercise can become very complicated. There must also be a sufficient number of neutral parties to resolve any disputes and clarify doubts.
Source scan: Polona / National Library of Poland, marked “Public domain”. View scan — PDF pages 219–224.
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: 213–218 / PDF 219–224
- Digital edition: Digital edition · Source record
- Open the edition at the relevant page: p. 213
- Read the source text: hwp-108