The Ruin of Mimsie Hawley - Turn 7

The slaughter continues. Enraged by the sight of his leader falling to the ground, Sir John Falstaff charges into the fray to confront Sir Francis.

Lord Melchett moves around behind Sir John and attempts to take Lord Percy Percy from the rear. No doubt Percy has experience of this sort of thing, you know what these aristocrats are like! To Percy's front, Sir Miles Cholmondely-Warner gamely tramples over the body of Sir Guffington Shortcake with a cry of "Have at you, Sir!"

Wrench runs to join the combat but is too far away to engage anyone. Puck on the other hand is close enough to join his master in the combat against fat Sir John.

So, at the end of turn 7, there are two combats to resolve, both two against one in Sir Francis's retinue's favour. Sir Jaspar's men had priority and chose to resolve Sir John's combat first. Sir John gains the initiative and strikes a mighty blow at Sir Francis. Sir Francis if you recall, already has a light wound from Sir John's ball in his arm. With this affecting his fighting, Sir John runs him through and Sir Francis will never strike again, he is an ex-swashbuckler. Puck strikes with his halberd at Sir John but the fat man blocks his attack and strikes back. His rapier passes right through Puck and out the other side. Puck is mortally wounded and expires gracefully. The odds have changed rapidly with this startling development. Both leaders now dead, the side-kicks battle on. Lord Percy is facing Sir Miles but before he can do anything, Melchett has struck from behind and killed him.

The butcher's bill now stands at one dead cardinal, one dead daughter, two dead leaders, three dead side-kicks and one dead servant. Sir Francis's men need not test for morale this turn. Sir Jaspar's men need to test but with Sir John's inspiring attribute, they automatically pass their first morale test. The fight continues.

To be continued...