The first of these engagements came about as Sir Samuel Stapleton-Smythe led his forces on a raid to steal cannon from Newcastle's territory. As his forces marched back to the base at Warrington they were intercepted by Newcastle and his forces. Stapleton-Smythes forces attempted to break through, but their initial cavalry charge was repulsed, and the infantry unable to break out. The cannon were abandoned as they fell back to find an easier route west, and their new owner used them to establish an Arsenal.
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| The Thin White Line- as on the left Ye Uncuttables fail to break Lucas' Horse. |
Meanwhile in Rutland the local derby between Roland D'Hay and Col. Cockchafer continued unabated, as their forces clashed near Manton- The Royalists had the better of the fight after a determined cavalry charge put their enemy to flight and scoring the decider just before the final whistle. The town of Brooke came under their control, which rather sensibly declared for the King. After their previous encounter Cockchafer had determined that a recruitment drive to bring in more Horse was required and our reporter in the field took a moment to ask him if he thought the additional squadrons had been an investment that had been justified by the fruits it had borne:
"Well Colonel, congratulations on your victory, do you think the recruitment of additional squadrons has been an investment that has been justified by the fruits it has borne?"
<pause>
"Yes"
Further south Sir David Astbury MP went on the warpath against Newcastle in an attempt to relieve the beleaguered Stapleton-Smythe. They met at Wargrave where Sir David took up a defensive position in expectation of a Royalist attack. Indeed Newcastle was prepared to make the first move, but his troops, perhaps exhausted from the near continuous fighting, refused to budge, in the face of musketry from the Parliamentarians. Despite successive and increasingly desperate attempts to urge his men on Newcastle could only watch as the rolling volleys hastened his retreating troops. A representative of Newcastle had this to say on the outcome:
"Well , at ye end of ye day, we gave it ye olde hundred and ten per cent, but at ye end of ye day they played well, gotta give 'em full respect at ye end of ye day, it was a well deserved victory at ye end of ye day and at ye end of ye day our command rolls just wouldn't come up with ye results at ye end of ye day."
Sir David went on to claim the village of Wargrave and was rewarded by a grateful Parliament with the Lordship of Wigan for his devotion to the Parliamentarian cause, as well as full gloating rights for himself and his descendants for a minimum of a century.
In the Wirral this week the dormant faction of Haselrigg has finally joined the campaign trail and made the surprising opening move of declaring himself the overall Parliamentarian commander. Sir Samuel Stapleton-Smythe, freshly returned from his adventures in Yorkshire, took the opportunity to explain that in fact he was overall commander and Haselrigg could bloody well get used to the idea. They met near Ellesmere Port where Haselrigg opened the ball with some fancy maneuvers, which allowed his Horse to be driven from the field in short order and a detachment of Foot to isolate themselves without support where they were overrun.
After seeing his troops own poor manouvers Sir Samuel took the opportunity of establishing a Drill Square, making the Warrington Trayned Band superbly Drilled.
Haselrigg, falling back with his tail between his legs, found himself challenged by Lord David of Wigan. Alas Lord David's attempt to outflank Haselrigg went awry and his centre was overrun by the advancing Wirral Foot. Haselrigg followed Sir Samuels cue and also established a Drill Square to ensure his troops were well prepared next time.
Undismayed and eager to prove his Lordship wasn't granted for nothing, a local derby ensued between the men of Wigan and Warrington as they returned home, with Lord Davids forces blocking the road home for Sir Stapleton-Smythes to force them to recognize his authority. Exhausted but unbeaten the Warrington men attempted to batter their way through, but ye Uncuttables were repelled and spent, and the Foot were held back by the Wiganers crippling volleys. As darkness fell Sir Samuel, thwarted again, fell back, with Lord David taking contol of the newly established Drill square. After finding an alternate road home, Sir Samuel was consoled by the village of Frodsham declaring its support.
And now to Lisa with the Weather-
Not a good outlook for the next month I'm afraid, with Storms to the left of the country, storms to the rights, storms in front, and really bad weather behind. It will be raining here, there and indeed, everywhere. We're getting reports from Devon that it's raining cats and dogs, and in Doncaster the streets are apparently full of Poodles. Its bucketing it down in Lancashire, and pissing it down all across the home counties. The weather in Wales continues as normal- Its very wet. We'll be experiencing howling gales in Cumbria and hurricane conditions all down the eastern half of the country. And with roads closed around the country to falling trees and every field flooded, you can rest assured that the media won't go on and on about it all
From this moment all Games will be conducted with the Special Event “Storm Chaos Grips Ye Olde Englande!” in full effect. See the Original Post for details.
Summery of Factions, Players and Territories- total territory points are divided by the number of players in the faction to give the faction score.
Sweden -5 Territory points overall
- De Blondeville (Michael) CV8 - Bournemouth (Capital, Town +20pts), Manor (+1 brigadier) and Library (+1CV), plus a Spy Network, Portsmouth (port), and Winwick (village +5 points) - 5 Territory points
- Sir Samuel Stapleton-Smythe (Aidan) CV7- Warrington (capital: Town +20pts ), Stockton Heath and Frodsham (villages +5 points/e), and a Library (+1CV)- 4 Territory points
- David Astbury MP (Dave) CV8- Wigan (capital, Town+20pts), Leamington Spa and Wargrave (village s+5pts/e), and a Road (+1 to determine 1st turn), and Veterans (Tough Fighters), and a drill square (1 unit is superbly Drilled) -5 Territory points
- Hazlerigg (Ian S) Cv8 - Rockferry (capital, town +20 points) Willaston (village +5 points), drill square (1 unit is superbly Drilled) and a manor (+1 brigadier) - 4 Territory points
- Roland D'Hay (Mark) Cv8 - Uppingham (capital, town +20 points), Luffenham (Town +20pts), Alesthorp (village +5 points) and a Road - 4 Territory points
- Lord Tiberius Flasheart (Rick) CV9 - Wrecsam (capital, town +20 points), Seige equipment cache (allows siege equipment and storming parties etc), Magazine (+2 powder tokens of d3 available) Kingsbridge and Little Pontefract (village +5 points), - 5 Territory points
- Marquis of Newcastle (Ian H)- Cv8 - York (town +20 points), Manor (+1 Brigadier) and 1 Road (+1 to determine 1st turn) and a Chapel (include Preacher/Priest) Arsenal (+1 gun), and Library +(1cv) -6 Territory points
- General Baldrick (Red) Cv8 - Knutsford ( Town +20 points), Road (+1 to determine 1st turn) and an Arsenal (+1 artillery piece) -3 Territory points
- Sir Christopher Fazey (Chris) CV9 - Flint ( town +20 points), Magazine (+1 powder token of D3 available), and a Library (+1CV) and a Road - 4 Territory points
- Sir Andrew de Cavenham (andy) Cv8 - Stonehouse (town +20 points), 2 Drill squares (one unit becomes superbly Drilled), Plymouth (port), Magazine (+3 powder tokens of d3) and a Cache of Siege Equipment (allows siege equipment and storming parties etc) - 6 Territory points
- Diderich (Digger) Beckman (paul)- Cv8- Glossop (town +20 points), Arsenal (allows 1 extra artillery piece), a Road, and Spy Network -3 Territory points
- Col. Horatio Cockchafer (mark) - Cv 9 - Okeham and Booke (towns +20 points/e), Arsenal, Road. - 4 Territory points
- James "Big Jim" Mcdonald (Luke) CV-8 Dunfermline (town +20 points), Crossford (village +5 points) a Road, and Veterans (Tough Fighters)- 3 Territory point
Scores on the board put Andy and Ian H jointly in first place, but Parliament has closed down on their lead- Sweden is still the leading faction!
Dont forget this rule is still in play:
"A moment of Tactical Genius" - Once per game the Army Commander may reroll a failed Command Roll. He may only reroll it once, and must abide by the second result. This applies to the General Commander figure of all players forces.
Also the Break out scenario has been slightly modified into line with the rest- you get a 5th turn on a 4+ at the end of turn 4.
Thank you for reading, and see you soon!
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