War of the Midget Hunters
| War of the Midget Hunters | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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• Midget Empire • Yr. 6 allies • Quiet Area | • Midget Hunters | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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• Midget Master Jonathan • Commander Thomas • Commander Gregory | • Yr. 5 girl | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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• ~40 • ~10 • ~15 | • ~50 | ||||||
The War of the Midget Hunters was a conflict which took place on a day in April 2006, when the Midget Empire was suddenly faced with a large co-ordinated revolt by a huge group calling themselves the Midget Hunters. Despite the Midget Base itself being occupied, the Midgets were able to gain victory with the help of the Quietarians.
The estimated number of people who took part in the battle numbers over 100, making it by far the largest single military engagement in the history of the Carshalton Nations. With the number of children in Key Stage 2 numbering roughly 200, over half of those in that part of the school fought on one side or another.
Background
By April 2006, a large proportion of the Playground was under the control of the Midget Empire. All independent gangs other than the Footballers and Quietarians had been pushed into the Upper Playground by the Midget conquests which had taken place under Midget Master Jonathan and his two co-rulers, Commander Thomas and Commander Gregory. A group known as the Midget Hunters was formed, comprised primarily of practically all Yr. 4 and Yr. 5 pupils which were not in the Midget Army and led by some former members of the Skipping Rope Gang whose land in the Quiet Area Pathway had recently been conquered. At the same time, Commander Thomas was beginning to regularly take a large proportion of the Midget Army onto the Field with him in an attempt to rebuild the "lost city" of Atkantia.
War
One day in late April 2006, the Midget Hunters gathered on the Field and proceeded to launch an attack on Thomas and the majority of the Midget Army. Although the two forces were roughly equal in number, the Midget forces began to be pushed back. Meanwhile, Midget Master Jonathan was in the Midget Base with a mere two guards when a force of just over a dozen Midget Hunters attacked them - falling back to the Rebel Side, the Midget Base was occupied by non-Midgets for the first time since July 2002. The Midget Master got to the Field to request reinforcements, but Thomas could not spare any, and the news that the Midget Base had fallen served only to weaken Midget morale, with the Midget Army being pushed back even further despite being helped by some Yr. 6 allies.
Meanwhile, Commander Gregory was in the Quiet Area as part of a Midget embassy which was attempting to negotiate an alliance with the Quietarians. He was unaware of the battle taking place on the Field until the Midget Master arrived, and the two of them appealed to the Quietarians to help the Midgets. The Quietarians agreed to send soldiers to help on the condition that they be made a Midget protectorate, with the Midget Empire defending them in return from any threats in the future. The deal was accepted, and a Quietarian army was fielded for the first time in over eight years. Midget Master Jonathan led the Quietarian force (together with Commander Gregory and a small force of guards which had accompanied him to the Quiet Area) to the Midget Base, where they expelled the Midget Hunters before charging onto the Field and attacking the main body of Midget Hunters from behind, catching them in a pincer movement between themselves and the Midget Army under Thomas. Groups of Midget Hunters began to desert the main army, until it was small enough to surround and force to surrender.
Aftermath
The War of the Midget Hunters took the Midget Empire completely by surprise - no co-ordinated attack of this scale had been concievable before. However, despite nearly all independent anti-Midget gangs having grouped together under the standard of the Midget Hunters, the Midget Army had still emerged victorious. The Quiet Area was granted Midget protection as promised, although this was before long forcibly implemented when the Quietarians changed their minds. Thomas' aspirations to build Atkantia on the Field were abandoned, and the Midget Master made a conscious effort to ally the Midgets with more Yr. 5 and Yr. 4 gangs.