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| The Battle of Badon Hill September 19th 1692 |
Let's pick up the tale of the Battle for Britain 1692 weekender event with some more background and some appetite whetting shots form the actual weekender....
The magnificent seven Jacobite commanders were Viscount
Dundee, Patrick Sarsfield, Marquis de St Ruhe, Richard Hamilton, John Wauchope,
Dominic Sheldon and the Duke of Berwick. Weighing in for King William we had
Count Solms, George Hamilton, General von Tettau, Piercy Kirke, Thomas
Tollemache, Marquis de Ruvigny and Hugh Mackay. Enigmatically,
my bête noire John Churchill was to choose his own destiny in the unfolding saga of plot and
counter plot.
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| The campaign battlefields of Ludlow and Taunton |
In addition to the long run up a set of secret objectives
relating to final climactic battles was prepared. These were to be issued to the
players on the afternoon of the first day. The morning of day one of the event was used to fight a
series of smaller, objective based battles through which the players could
accrue ‘merits’ for performance and gentlemanly conduct. The results of these
battles were to feed and inform the final two contests where the fate of
Britain would be decided by separate actions one in the north and one in the
south of the country.
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| The campaign command of General Hugh Mackay - a sample force |
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| The campaign command of General Richard Hamilton - a sample force |
Many elements of League of Augsburg projects were fused into the weekend narrative. The completed Beneath the Lily Banners Third
Edition, the collateral associated with our history of the war in Ireland, some
new products including markers, cards and ideas were all part of the plan. As
many of the participants are BLB players I thought it was a great opportunity
to acquaint them with the streamlined and fresh feel of the new addition.
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| The great northern battle at Ripon - 13th of September 1692 |
I never tire of the endless 'what if' possibilities of an era
which I consider as Britain’s third Civil War. The characters, the politics,
the familiarity of names and places and the constant thought about which side I would have found
myself supporting offers much diversion and entertainment. As I explained to my
daughter in an interesting Jacobite-focused dinner conversation a couple of weeks
back, my heart was definitely with one side and my head with the other. I would
have been uncomfortable in providing unequivocal support to either cause!
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| 1,200 years after Arthur faced the Saxons at Mount Badon.. another battle is fought there |
In a series of posts to come I will share the make-up of
some of the forces, the trials and tribulations of campaigning, the battle reports
of the four smaller and two larger engagements and some reflections on how it
all went.
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| A moment of infamy which will be explained in later posts |
Toggy Bob and I are already planning the logistics and soon
the troops will muster from all over the Kingdom in order to do battle. I really
do mean that as many players want to use their own troops which means the lead
hordes are marching from County Clare, The Shires, The Border Marches and the
not so Wilds of Scotland to do battle for their King, for Religion, for their
self–glorification and a good laugh to boot.
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| Hugh Mackay attacks fellow Scot Wauchope at Ripon |
In the next part I'll feature some of the commands allocated to the various players.
