Lessie's Moor: Battle of the Three Ninnies, Act 3

And now, the conclusion of the battle of Wills over the fate of Borsetshire...

Situation at the end of the Borsetshire Cavalry Ballet; Prince Phillip and company are on the flank of the Borchester trained band, whilst Elliot's Regiment of Horse, wearing white coats has overrun Prince Gustavus' blue coated regiment. Meanwhile, Colonel Perks regiment of shirkers has finally reached the hedgerows. 

Prince Phillip and his Lifeguard have been hacking away at the Borchester City Trained Band; they are close to breaking. The Ambridge black coats are content to watch and cheer on the Prince. 

In the Centre, the green coated Borchester City Auxilliaries have finally dispatched the hon Frederick's Horse, suffering minimal losses in the process; all that is left is Colonel Josh Archer, henceforth nicknamed "The Lonely Bull", who rode off to find some more cavalry to kill  lead. 

"I say, Two against One, and one of them attacking from the flank?  Not very sporting of you upstart chaps, is it?" complains Colonel Tregorran. 

Back on the opposite flank, the Borchester City Trained Band has formed Hedgehog, perhaps a bit late. Prince Phillip and his men continue to charge the bristling formation. "In for a penny, in for a pound, right my good man?" observed the Prince. Meanwhile, Elliot's Horse have turned around, and now threaten the flank of Colonel Perk's shaky blue coats. 

Meanwhile, the Borsetshire Trained Bands (who are once again, surprisingly actually trained)  repeatedly assailed the exposed flank of the yellow coated Penny Hassett Trained Bands. Each time, however, the dense underbrush of the Copse caused their pikes to become entangled in all manner of vines, and little damagewais done. 

Seeing the success of the Prince and his Lifeguards breathed inspiration into Prince Edward's regiment of Horse, as the bowled over the Parliamentary Horse of Alderman Grundy. Grundy himself is seen nearby with Horrobion's regiment. 

The collapse of the second regiment of Roundhead cavalry on their left flank  left the field looking like this... not too promising for the rebels!

Not to be outdone, the Horse on the opposite side of the battlefield also play Borsetshire Bingo, leaving flanks exposed, well, almost everywhere!

"Hah, 'tis not soley the King's men that can do the Flankin' Foxtrot!" ejaculates Grundy.

Eagle's eye view of Lessie's Moor at this critical juncture. 

Sir Robin Fairbrother's Horse have swept aside the opposing Cavaliers of Tregorran. Their captain will later become famous not for his feats of arms, but for his pen. Inspired by the events of the civil war, he created a romantic tale in which the whiny scions of House Tregorran attempts to regain control of a Bakery that they were brutally evicted from , titled "A Game of Scones"

Whimper is coming!

Back on the Royalist Right, Prince Edward's Horse deftly moved out of danger and into the Parliamentary Rear. At the same time, Prince Phillips first swept away the remains of the Borchester city regiment, and then his blown but still rowdy Lifeguards launches 2 charges into the revealed flank of the Borsetshire Regiment, throwing it into the utmost Disorder. "It seems you've been Royally Pricked", cackled the adolescent Prince!

However, the Roundheads retaliated on the opposite side of the field, Sir Robin's Horse neatly pirouetting onto and through the flank of  Lord Pargetter's Lifeguard. Their full Cuirassier armor seemed to offer but little added protection from such things. 

Desperately trying to even the score, Captain General Grundy directed Horrobion's Horse, which moves to the Rear of that of Sir Edward. While the painting of this action that would later hang in Borchester Town Hall depicted him bravely leading from the front, this correspondent has it on the best authority that the eminent gentleman was stationed quite safely rearward. Meanwhile, Elliot's regiment of Horse sounded the recall and rode into the flank of blue coated Perks regiment. 

Low on ammunition and having suffered heavy losses already, Sir Barrymore directs his commanded shotte to shelter in the comparative safety of Loxley-Barrett  Manor. 

Holding out tenaciously, the Borsetshire Trained Band formed hedgehog to hold off further princely imprecations.

Carping the diem, as it were, Prince Edward's Horse saw an opening behind the Hedgehog and gaily pranced into the flank of the Parliamentary Gunnes  situated on Lessie's Lookout. The gunners simply dissolved without even a pretense of resistance. "Point, Game, and Match, my good man!"  

And so it was; the remaining Parliamentary troops lost heart and made their way to safety (or not) as best they could. The forces of the King scored a narrow but solid victory, giving them the upper hand in Borsetshire at the outset of the the late Civil War. Surely we have yet to hear the last from the Grundys, Fairbrothers, and their kin, though, methinks!

   We at the Borsetshire Bull hope that you have enjoyed this series, whether you be for King or Parliament. Should you find yourself having need, might we suggest another of our sponsor's wares, Prince Phillip's Phantastic Phirming Phials. Just look for the manly black and brown tin, with the happy face of the Prince on it, encircled with the motto "Put the jangle back in your jigglestick!"

-Reginald Soggybottom, Journalist extraordinaire

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   Time to push the Archers, Grundys, and Reggie off the stage for a bit for some wargames talk. In reviewing the account, we almost certainly made some mistakes with the pursuit process, including which direction the pursuers go, and what stops a pursuit and maybe an error or two with troops in an enemy zone of control (in the box directly to the front of another unit), but c'est la guerre! John had only played TtS! once before, and Barry only a few times, and I was the only one with an actual copy of the K&P rules... and they still managed to defeat me, LOL! Actually, I had miscounted my morale points (victory medals) , which I only realized when I was counting the casualties the day after the battle, and on the very next Parliamentary phase, I reduced them to zero in turn, so the game was very close. 

   We really enjoyed the scenario and the game. The many adjustments to the rules from the earlier version really enhanced the experience and period "feel" (down, Prince Phillip!), although bringing it to about the limit of workable complexity for this style of game. I have some feedback yet to give to Simon and Andrew about the rules, but it is all minor stuff. I have been looking for a set of ECW rules that I really liked for over 40 years, and these.... do it for me! Coupled with a simple campaign system, they would really be dynamite! Obviously, I am already a big fan of the TtS! system to begin with, so take that into account. It seems that many of the changes in K&P may work their way into the second edition of To the Strongest, and I think that will only further improve an already outstanding set of rules. Bravo!