SPRING BIG GAME 2022 - LAST TRAIN FROM LEOMINSTER (PART SIX)

It was around this time that each of the four Government commanders received a specially sealed envelope. The letter within read:

NEW INSTRUCTIONS FOR GOVERNMENT PLAYERS

(BUF OR ROYALIST)

You have suddenly remembered that you have an important appointment in Hereford!

The Government defensive lines around Leominster are crumbling (whether or not on your sector of the front) and it is inevitable that the town will fall. The remaining defenders will have to surrender, and this could mean a long spell in the Gulag for you....or worse!

DON'T PANIC!

There's only one way out of Leominster by now, and that's by rail....The only available train is "The Black Arrow", a BUF "stripped down special" already getting up steam in Leominster Station...Unfortunately, "The Black Arrow" has been so stripped down that it has no passenger carriages.

The footplate has room for only ONE Headquarters Section.

DON'T PANIC!

YOU CAN BE that Headquarters Section - just don't let ANYTHING stand in your way.

Including your erstwhile fellow defenders.

Dead men tell no tales, after all....

DON'T PANIC! RUN!

A dilemma for Maynard's depleted defenders

Captain Giles's WYRD Force needed no second invitation. Desperate to put as much distance as possible between his remaining men and the bloody Cultists (and - allegedly - their associated plagues), he immediately withdrew on to the Station Platform itself. To his left, the courageous and still unbowed Telegraphists grumbled, but ultimately withdrew into the northern, built up area of Leominster. To reach the Station, they would have to cross the large open area of Leominster Market Square....

There was a wholly different reaction in the western suburbs. 

Some blame the alleged illegibility of the letters that reached Maynard and Eustace Spode. Others, less charitably minded, point frankly to complete illiteracy on the part of the Government commanders, or a host of other reasons - Maynard's "shell shock", Eustace Spode's "fondness for the bottle", a strange medical disease known as "Wargamers Muleishness" that was said to be highly but only locally transmissible...

Whatever.

The fact was that neither Maynard nor Eustace Spode made any move whatsoever towards Leominster Station, preferring to fight on with the remnants of their forces in their existing defensive positions around the Brewery. The inevitable result - Communist captivity - appeared to make no difference to their judgment. ("The remaining defenders will have to surrender, and this could mean a long spell in the Gulag for you....or worse!")

Captain Giles could hardly believe his luck. His forces were already in possession of Leominster Station. The Telegraphists in the northern suburbs had a lengthy distance to travel to even get close - and now the two remaining Government commands, theoretically capable of imperilling Giles' escape, had voluntarily "taken themselves out of the game". 

The centre of Leominster was suddenly filled with a high pitched grinding sound, perhaps even a whining, audible even amidst the crash of artillery. Subsequently, it appeared that this strange noise was none other than the Umpires gnashing their teeth, perhaps even ululating, as their carefully laid plans for a massive "blue on blue" mash up to end the Game came to naught....

The forces of Bromyard advance into Leominster,
lining the edge of the Market Square. The Government
defence is effectively cut in two, with Captain
Giles at the Station, and the Telegraphists in the
northern suburbs.

It was now that "El Seed" saw his opportunity for glory. While Leominster's "underground resistance" had carefully positioned a demolition truck close to the Statue of Arrowsmith, anticipating that any victorious faction would use it to pull down such a hated symbol of Government authority, El Seed had no need of it. He sent forward the (to some, strangely glowing) Armoured Worship Vehicle...

The AWV knocks down the Statue of Arrowsmith....

..and then runs over it repeatedly, grinding it into the dust.
Victory for the Bromyard Republic!
No Kings! No Bishops! No bally Commissars!

...as "The Black Arrow" steams hurriedly out of Leominster Station,
carrying only Captain Giles and his HQ Section back to Hereford
and safety. 

The Aftermath: A variety of newspapers reported that Giles stood to attention and saluted sadly as "The Black Arrow" steamed out of Leominster. Others maintained that he had waved merrily, or that his salute consisted of only an unmilitary two fingers. This is but a small illustration of his intensely controversial VBCW career following the Fall of Leominster. Captain Giles' reputation (and highly coloured account of the battle) was to be severely tested by the later arrival in Hereford, after a long and dusty march, of a furious Chief Telegraphist and his men. Having been taken prisoner and disarmed by the victorious Bromyardistas, the Telegraphists had subsequently been "accorded the honours of war" by Councillor Dribblesnot and allowed to "march free" in recognition of their "intense courage and endurance against impossible odds". When criticised for his conduct (as he frequently was, and not only by the Chief Telegraphist), Captain Giles' response was always the same: "Well, whatever you think of me, at least I can damned well read...."

And what of Giles' co-commanders, Maynard and Spode, last seen ensconced within the Leominster Brewery? Comrade Winter's Communists duly rolled up their heavy artillery to the Brewery doors, and their end was inevitable...

For those desperate to know exactly how the outcome of the Spring Big Game 2022 subsequently effected the course of the Hereford VBCW, whether Maynard and Spode survived the indignities of Communist captivity, or "El Seed" his victory party, there will shortly be a visit to that famous source of all campaign gossip, the City and County Dining and Refreshment Rooms. For everyone else (or those desperate only for more battles), it is but a short march onward in time to the Autumn Big Game 2022 ("Assault on Newquay") !

Umpires Note - many thanks to all the "Staff Photographers" - JP, Roo, Giles & Alan - for their photo contributions, and to Alan for his "background text" on Maynard's fight.