The unwarlike halflings of the Bywater Sharpshooters paid a high price as their share of the defence of Dunhold. Desertion and stress casualty rates were high. One extraordinary event to arise from the Dunhold campaign is that involving two NCOs of the 3rd. battalion, Bandobast Nettles and Bonny Applewhite.
Nettles, a corporal in A Company, was evacuated to the hospital at Baranduin Station to recuperate after being wounded. There he met Applewhite, a corporal in C Company, who was undergoing psychological evaluation. After a fortnight the two absconded together and nothing was heard of them for several months. Later in the year reports began to arrive of a group of halflngs holding up convoys and infiltrating camps in an attempt to persuade others to desert. A captured raider revealed that the leaders were Applewhite and Nettles. Nettles seemed to be in charge of strategy, but Applewhite was of greater interest to allied command. She claimed to have developed psychic powers and appeared to wield considerable influence over Nettles. Command decided to eliminate the band of deserters, and if possible capture Applewhite. There was a belief amongst certain advisers to the allied command that Applewhite's purported psychic powers might be real rather than the product of derangement as assumed by everyone else. If real they could perhaps be used to stem the tide of enemy advances which threatened to isolate Dunhold.
Allied Command Dunhold South had long had a problem with the relaxed, paternalistic command style of colonel Ramsbotham of the 3rd Bywater Sharpshooters, and in an ill-judged attempt to mould him to their preferred style ordered him to select a team from his own battalion to hunt down the deserters. Despite Ramsbotham's protests allied command held firm and with a heavy heart the colonel appointed sergeant Smallwood (3rd platoon, B company) to select and lead the group.
Dunhold pages:
Introduction:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold.html
A detachment of the dwarf 33rd Infantry Regiment clashes with a goblin patrol:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-i---the-raid.html
Dwarves & goblins vie to recover an important piece of technology:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-ii---the-guffinsson-device.html
Halfling snipers of the 3rd Bywater Sharpshooters encounter a goblin patrol:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-iii---a-walk-in-the-country.html
The 3rd Bywater Sharpshooters escort a picked sniper to assassinate an enemy staff officer:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-iv---assassins-greed.html
A desperate defence of an outpost:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-v---assault-on-precinct-xiii.html
The 3rd Bywater Sharpshooters search for a downed dwarf aeronaut:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-vi---hostage--rescue.html
A dwarf engineer has to examine an abandoned enemy wonder-weapon:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-vii---the-gun.html
The goblins deploy armoured vehicles, much to their enemies' dismay:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-viii---tank-shock.html
A dwarf squad attacks an enemy aerodrome:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-ix---raid-on-beteneb.html
The enemy make a determined attack on the defences around Dunhold:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-x---firebase-ragnhild.html
An elite sniper makes his kill and must escape his target's guards.
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-xi---hit-and-run.html
A daring raid by the dwarves on enemy supply lines.
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-xii---just-in-time-logistics.html
The enemy employ a new strategy, attempting to infiltrate raiders through porous areas of the front:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-xiii---infiltration.html
Halfling deserters are hunted down by their comrades:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-xiv---applewhite--nettles.html
The enemy deploy new and fearsome infantry recruited from the ethnic minorities of Dunholm:
http://www.spodilicious.com/dunhold-xv---theyve-got-a-cave-troll.html