Fog in Cardiff

I sat riveted to the President’s D- day speech, no one could not have been impressed by Mr. Trump’s words. If only ill health had not prevented him from upholding those values in Vietnam. I watched our own former education minister make his bid to be Prime Minister. If only he hadn’t been exposed as a hypercritical user of cocaine. The Tercio also is in a fix. The   Remoaners are intent on sticking with L’art de la Guerre as our continental chums moves are move to cover the Renaissance. James Churchell hasn’t been seen since he got us all to base our collections on circles, and now resides in a Levellers’ commune outside Aust service station. Big Don , aka Boris, has entered the fray, promising swift battles and mininimal arguments by going back to Field of Glory Three. Supported by a surprising large group of diehard supporters at Godendag last January, could he be the promised messiah of Seventeenth century wargaming?

The Firestorm debates…..royalist or parliamentarian? Cheese or onion?

Don spoke briefly for about an hour, outlining the major changes that take FoG into an unofficial version three. For our game the main change was to armour ( no longer a combat advantage) and detached musketeers. My Cavalier command was too fast for infantry support anyway so I uncharactersitically perhaps decided to hold back and let my gunnes do the talking!

Mike Lane held the Royalist centre with a mix of veteran and experienced foot regiments. We could be sure that the old campaigner could withstand all that the upstart Parliamentarians could throw at us, even when men started to fall in turn one!

Ian played the part of our gallant Rupert. He commandeered our elite horsemen and was intent on making the Roundheads pay for their temerity.

Rupert on the left converses with the old campaigner. Roundheads in the foreground.

Joshua Puddlegate or Martin held the village. He had obviously captured the affections of a Milkmaid on his journey. He wasn’t to make much of an impression in the game, apart from amorous suggestions to said vixen. He did strip his infantry of their musketeers to line the hedgerows, so I wasn’t going very far forward either.

The battle proper opened by our magnificent cavalry charge on our left. If the splendour of the figures could win the battle for us, it would be a walkover.

However, the great commander himself , Don was ready to trade men for space. The cavaliers were attacking on a narrow frontage and the seventeenth century’s Diane Abbot, namely Chris Jackson was ready to stain every nerve and rule to flank our gallant thrust.

Rupert’s charge was at least grabbing their attention. Mr. Lane moved the Royalist infantry forward to stem the tide of reinforcements getting to Parliament’s threatened flank. Chris “Abbot” Jackson had eight regiments to Mike’s seven. He calculated that would give him a healthy three to one advantage and lunged forward!

It was touch and go in the centre as regiments on both sides started to falter and break. The Parliamentarian detached shotte left their hedgerows and rolled up the flank. My own cavaliers decided that a withdrawal might be in order!

Rupert and Charles would have none of it! Don’s troopers were leaving the field and the Royalist centre were on the cusp of a breakthrough.

It was now late afternoon and the affair was still in the balance. Honours were roughly equal or though a corps martial may be in order for Mr. James and his recreation of Love Island in the middle of Cardiff! My own efforts had been lamentable but at least my gunnes were still firing at the end of the day! The rules had worked really well and I very much look forward to playing them again. I’ll definately be watching the competition at Devizes this year. Thanks to Don and Ian for making the journey and providing such excellent figures.

Long live the King!