Winscombe
29th / 30th June 2002

It was all a bit last minute organising things, especially as I was getting the pikes from Garstang up until about 6pm when I had weekend work dumped on me. But those lovely chaps at Slannings sorted us out, it took one phone call and within twenty minutes I had confirmation that we had stripey pikes for Somerset.

A quick call to Curly to say hi to you all at Garstang and back to work. The week before Winscombe I wasnt sure how many people would come along, and with Mr Harris reporting in sick I thought it could all go horribly wrong, but

Thanks to: Grenade, the Dangerous Brothers, Posh, Becks & family, Paisley, Naughty, Penny & Ed, Sticky, The White Flash and Mr Bennett. Eight pike and two musket for a non recommended mini - excellent, its good to see we are frothy to do interesting and unique events like this one. Oh yes and the rest of Northern Assoc - turned out a staff officer - hurrah, it was G, who remarked more than once it was nice Gerry had joined the regiment as it reduced the amount of flak travelling in his direction - haha.

The campaign began at 9.45am so no time to delay and off we were for a 4 mile ramble to the battlefield through the Mendips. The rules were if 6 musket fired at you , you had to take one casualty who was out of the skirmish for two minutes and if you were captured you were out of that zone. It all began walking along an ex railway cutting and walking thru a railway tunnel, which was incredibly dark, I couldnt see Ed and he stood next to me, thankfully G's armour hadnt been painted in a while! - and you could see the scratches glinting, just.

We emerged and the cunning royalists had laid an ambush and began sniping at us as we emerged. Our rapid reaction force of parliament musket - Whiteflash and Mr B - soon swept the nasty royalists off the ridge and we marched up the hill quickly.

The first zone was now entered, following the deployment phase of the wargame. Our objective was to reach the top of the wooded hill. We as Blews pike were mixed in with Birches and an assortment of others. G was officer and a chap by the name of John, from Robartes was Sergeant, and he was loud which was good. We had a plethora of sergeants and G swapped around the role throughout the day. Most of them remarked that it was nice to be left to get on with ordering the block, instead of the officers shouting the odds, so I am sure we will be seeing more guests in the future, to learn the Zen and the art of pike fighting from Blews. The attack began quite enterpisingly and we soon had the Royalists on the run. Half way up, we stopped for a water break and some victuals. Gilly was our nominated water carrier for the day and she kept going all day and did a fine job, and the chiropracter will soon have her back into a normal shape.

Following our pause the Blew pike found themselves attacking Hoptons, save for one of their sergeants - Tosh who was having a fag. A halt was called to allow him to finish his last ciggie. The fight was raging on all sides as we paused. He got embarrased and insisted we attack, which we did but skillfully ignoring him. Eventually we drove them off, had a go at a musket block and spotted a chance for some fun.

Assisted by John Robartes we flanked their main pikeblock which was blocking the advance of Parliament on the 'trackway'. We had caught them out and the Royalists resorted to fleeing from our pike points hurrah. Up came the medics in a 4x4 up the hill and when we looked back we all got very tired. Boy it was steep. From the top we could see Glastonbury Tor. Hello clounds, hello sky, hello trees - Fotherington-Thomas was impressed with the countryside. Very pictureskew.

The next zone was a Farmhouse and Motormouth's wargaming background had come to the fore. Think Hougemont or La Haie-Sainte and you begin to get the picture. We arrived to be confronted by a cannon in a lane with buildings on either side. As in the TA advert we went off road, cleared a gate and found ourselves in an enclosure. The Royalits had fled to the next field, and Tosh closed the gate behind him. Following an enquiry as to whether there was a lock, he did an amazing throw of the imaginary key on to the roof of the farm. G, with an inspirational command said 'Over the fence'. It was barb wire but undeterred first Ed and the Paisley leapt across flattening a musket block. The sergeant opened the gate and the rest of us flooded through clearing the Royalits out. We got back on to the road to see the rest of the Army chasing the cannon down the lane. Zone over.

The rest of the campaign contiunued in this vein. A Hilltop cannon and pike pushes in a field vs the Irish, a skirmish though the woods for the musketeers - good shooting by Whiteflash and Mr Bennet - and a scene from Waterloo in the exit field with six feet high grasses covering the oncoming Royalists.

We were met by the WI in a churchyard with tea and sanis. Rested up for an hour and made our way to the battlefield. There was a huge crowd over 2000 strong. The battle had over 200 participants, and what an interesting battle. Point work, pushes, musketry oh and a huge set of defences - trench and mound with spikes - we had scaling ladders to get it. The fighting was fierce and the pushes were tight, and the assualt deadly especially for Ed who found himself defending the fort after the first attack - ha ha.

The evening was very relaxing. Jolly time had by all except Gerry got very drunk and decided to take on the rest of the world - well Ewok and Pleb. Ewok is looking forward to seeing Gerry in the front rank for a push in a forthcoming muster so he can begin that part of his pike education in a friendly way, as we did for his son Lee at Stratford [Henry please take note!]. All good natured, but we now need to persuade Gerry his body has to cash the cheques his mouth has made - ha ha. Pleb decided to settle things on the evening and once he had caught a retreating Gerry he was soon sat on his chest. As Pleb said 'Never take the name of your Regiment in vain. Its understated reputation has been built up over a number of years.' All rather gentelmanly and friendly, with big smiles and much laughter.

The second day is always better, except for Naughty, who was as green as his former Northamptons coat. The battle was great fun, a longer battle with a large number of crowd again. More pushes vs the Irish/Tilliers - who we felt edge it each day - but Pleb and Shep felt it had been at least fifty fifty on the second day. The first push was a corker and we managed to get Daylight out of the back of them. Very tight and good nature pushes. After the battle Naughty was decidely ill. As a wise prophet once said' thats Karma for you!'

If you ever get a chance to go to a Tilliers do, and/or a campaign then do so - one of the most fun musters for me and many of the others who were here for ages. What a good season this is turning out to be. Roll on Fyvie.