SPRING BIG GAME 2023 - DISASTER AT DINMORE (2)

It was now the height of the battle:

Hope under Dinmore, looking north (towards Marlbrook).
Government forces have destroyed Communist resistance
within the village and are advancing rapidly...

The Royalists are now well past the churchyard, BUF Cavalry screening ahead
and an AT Gun being brought up in support...

BUF Infantry race forward on the left flank, following the railway line.

On the right flank, the OFSTED tank races forward.
This is no longer a battle, but an armoured steeplechase...

The BUF in full cry on the left flank.
The Communist 'second line' is easily breached...

Run, Bill, run! A BUF tankette attempts to run down Comrade Winter and his HQ,
who take cover behind a small hedge.

The infamous "Times" photo of Comrade Winter's predicament.
His last forces, behind another hedge, encourage him to "make a break for it"

Go on Bill! The last of the Communist armour sacrifices itself
to ease Winter's predicament. The Communist AT gun has
now been destroyed by infantry fire, and its tows retreat,
hoping to pick up "the Chief" on their way.

                       Winter will make the van pick up and narrowly avoid the ignominy of capture.

                                                      Lets go! Put your foot down, comrade!

The end. Government armour is everywhere, and Winter exiting by van.
The Communist forces have been destroyed, and soon the Government
will be advancing on to Marlbrook, saving the Chocolate Factory
from the joint forces of the Anglicans and Bromyard Republicans.

A smashing Government victory and a disaster for the cause of Herefordshire Communism - upon the news reaching Moscow, it is said that a certain personage made his feelings clear:

Winter? That loser! Pah ! The dustbin of history!

Notwithstanding Comrade Stalin's evident disapproval, Winter has been in worse predicaments and is a proven survivor. This is, after all, the man who escaped from the equally disastrous First Battle of Ledbury by "hiding under a bridge". He still has at least two Shock Armies in the field, screening the Anglican front, a solid industrial base in the Presteigne Motor Works and, according to Government informers, will have very shortly "a vast amount of Red Cavalry". There will come another day, and still there are things to look forward to:

At the conclusion of play, the 1/1 scale Comrade Colonel Professor Winter (Rob) receives
 the Umpires' award (a genuine 1937 "Coronation Cup")  for "Player playing most
in the spirit of the VBCW". We are not downhearted! Meanwhile, back in Presteigne...

The 1/55 Commissar Moody, Chief of Winter's "Bureau Desinformatziya" desperately 
spins the Battle of Dinmore as simply "a retrograde victory" for the cause of Communism.
He will have much work to do in the next few months..

[Note] With many thanks to all who contributed photographs for these Spring Big Game 2023 Battle Reports. On to the Autumn Big Game 2023, VBCW Chaps !