A Zig-Zaggery of a Siege - or Westmalle-Trappist invested

His Grace, the Duke of Blankshire and Parson Yorick, having had may trials and tribulations find themselves breaking Winter Quarters early (astonishing!) to lay siege to a Frederickian army that is positioned at Westmalle-Trappist...

A distant prospect of the town, with the St Nicholas Bastion to your left - the City Bastion to your centre - and the 'New Work' to your right.  The Grand Place and Citadel lie twinkling in the distance:

 

 

 

To your left is Observation Hill with the new Observatory - why should the Church get all the domes in the Age of Reason?

 

 

The view from Observation Hill could be very useful...

 

 

 Meanwhile, in the town, all is being prepared...

 

 

 





Food for thought?

It is indeed excellent to be back - and the fine local grocery store - 'Fortnum and Mason' which was founded during the Succession War in 1707 (which is yesterday, in these parts) has produced a very fine and unexpected wargaming aid:

Perhaps all games played with the 'Vauban and Shandy' rules will use chocolate dice?  For the record the tasting notes would suggest that they have a ginger flavour, and are ideal with a glass of Marsala, Madeira or Port Wine.

 

"and was not Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim preserved in the foul trenches before Limerick by the Brandy, wine, cinnamon and the 'Geneva which did us more good than all'..." *

 

 

 

 

*Holcroft Easton Glebe - 'The siege of Limerick in a country garden'  unpublished mss in the authors collection.

Back - and Campaigning in the Winter!

After a year of tumults, Captain Shandy is pleased to inform your worships...

that he is back!  And 'campaigning in the Winter' is about to begin, with much ‘zig-zaggery’ indeed:

 "In the year one thousand seven hundred and eighteen, when this happened, it was extremely difficult; so that when my uncle Toby discovered the transverse zig-zaggery of my father’s approaches towards it, it instantly brought into his mind those he had done duty in, before the gate of St. Nicolas;—the idea of which drew off his attention so intirely from the subject in debate, that he had got his right hand to the bell to ring up Trim to go and fetch his map of Namur, and his compasses and sector along with it, to measure the returning angles of the traverses of that attack…”