He held his snowboard firm in his hands. His trusty companion in the snow. It was sheathed in a coat of frosty snow and it became his icy weapon. He saw the enemy troops disembarking from pods that rotated constantly like a conveyor of bad news. His had his companions. Fellow brutes brandishing their snowboards like zweihanders. Others had opted to created a wall of snowboards that towered and protected them. The enemy were arriving and charging towards us like berserkers. Unruly and undisciplined.

“Snowballs ready.” I commanded. Women, children and the elderly prepared and primed their shots.

“Fire!”

A volley of snowballs smashed into the approaching marauders. They fell in a blitzed of snow. More were arriving from the pods but now foot soldiers were marching down the hill. Some equipped with skis attached to the foot can be seen taking educated tactical manoeuvres through the trees further up.

“Fire at will!” I yelled. And another volley of snowballs crashed into the front line of the enemy. They collapsed and thudded into the snow. They retaliated and threw their own volley.

“Shield ups!” Our snowboard wall raised up in defence. The enemy fire splatting hopelessly against this stronghold. However, unbeknownst to us, or my own ignorance, I had forgot the skiers. The cavalry of the enemy had burst from the tree line close to us and were among our ranged defenders. They ambushed us with their dual-wielding sticks and we had to turn around.

“Turtle position!” I commanded.

We lost many of our undefended rangers.

We now stood surrounded by the enemy. We will make our stand here today. The snowboards dug deep creating a palisade against the invaders. We grabbed the snow in our hands and prepared for the last stand.