Today is the King's Birthday Parade, a.k.a. Trooping the Colour. The 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards were trooping their colour. I have watched this event almost every year for nearly fifty years and have never failed to enjoy it. Today's parade with King Charles III was a real pleasure to watch. If you have never watched it, I can thoroughly recommend it as an example of military pageantry, music and history all rolled into one. It is, I would think, unrivalled in the world today. It has evolved over the years I have watched - mainly in regard to numbers involved and the sequence of movements - but it is still pretty much as it was when arranged in its present format by King George V before the First World War, although the event itself dates back several centuries.  I did get taken to see a rehearsal for the parade when I was a small boy - one of my grandfathers had been a Grenadier Guardsman and got tickets - and I have never forgotten that special day out!

Photo courtesy of www.royal.uk.

For the benefit of those who may have used my Free Horse and Musket Scenarios and were wondering which battles from the French Revolutionary Wars they were, here is a list:

Scenario:

1    Valmy 1792

2    Jemappes 1792

3    Neerwinden 1793

4    Wattignies 1793

5    Fleurus 1794

6    Montenotte 1796

7    Dego 1796

8    Castiglione 1796

9    Arcola 1796

10    Rivoli 1797

My Petaudia campaign is the main theme this week and I managed to fight another Dragon Rampant action. The Celerian War is continuing and the goblins have reached the East March's capital, Iota. Not being strong enough to storm it or besiege it, the goblin leader opened negotiations for a pay-off to make him withdraw his forces. Yes, that seems rather clever for goblins, but this was all decided by dice rolls! Anyway, the baron of the East March has got a relief force approaching and decided to sally out and attack the goblins, hoping to capture their camp and their plunder from his lands. The result was not quite what I expected: the baron's sally was beaten off and the relief force made less of a contribution than intended. The goblin commander, being something of a wily fellow, decided to pull out while the going was still good and got away with his captives and booty, gaining much kudos with his tribe and the neighbouring ones back in Harpagia.

The game was planned to last twelve turns, which is my usual amount for a Dragon Rampant game, but by the end of Turn Eight it was pretty clear that the East March was not going to achieve its objectives. It was fought on a four foot by three foot table. The town walls are, I think, by Zvezda, bought many years ago, the hills, hedges and some trees by S&A Scenics, the marsh I bought at a Salute show, the tents are by Renedra, the figures are a range of manufacturers: Vendel and Essex predominate.

Here are some pictures.

This week I fought another action in my Fescennia campaign: the Hesperides War. The Arcadians have fallen back after the previous battle and are expecting reinforcements. The Erymanthians have sent a strong advanced guard after them. I based the wargame very loosely on the Battle of Medina de Rio Seco in 1808 and used some of the ideas in C.S. Grant's "Programmed Wargames Sceanrios" to control the actions of the opposing forces. The Arcadians ended up with a very defensively-minded commander who held rigidly to his ridge while awaiting his reinforcements on his left flank; the Erymanthian general demonstrated cautiously on his left, but made a bold attack with his cavalry brigade on his right. The latter proved very successfully at first, but the arrival of the Arcadian reinforcements and the "Time's Up" call (the dining room table was needed!) brought the battle to a draw.

Here are some photographs of the action: