God-damn Cattle Rustlers!
A Range War in Herefordshire?
"Duw boy, stop moaning about the rain!”
The windscreen wipers had definitely lost the battle. Ianto peered into the gloom.
“That was Llangarren, so anything from yere on is ours for the taking!"
Welsh Nationalists have been raiding the west of Herefordshire and stealing a lot livestock. They have been sending them further into Wales for fattening on the hill pastures to provide food for the forthcoming Winter.
Recently the Welsh have begun sending rustlers further afield and have attacked the South of the county. Emboldened by their recent seizure of Hay-on-Wye, they have dispatched more men to steal anything worth having in the area just North of Monmouth.
Down near Goodrich, the local Marston LDV have regularly patrolling their patch guarding their sheep (and cattle), from the deprivations of the Welsh.
The two sides:
The Raiders.
Huw Jenkins leading this raid.
Section One: 10 experienced well-armed men, who are there to deal with any opposition.
Section Two: The Rustlers. 12 less experienced men and lads whose job is mainly to round up the beasts.
The Defenders.
Local LDV patrol from Marstow: 10 militia armed with shotguns and rifles
Legion of Frontiersmen: 9 militia and and NCO armed with rifles
Royal Canadian Mounted Police: 5 veterans armed with rifles (who took no part in the fighting as they turned up after it was all over!)
The Location.
The Engagement.
It was already dark when the first of the Welsh Nationalist men approached the quiet village of Marstow in Herefordshire. In the dim glimmer put out by the headlights of the lead vehicle, Huw Jenkins ordered his men out of the truck and they quickly moved to the hedge line.
Fearing large numbers of Welsh attackers, the LDV prepared to defend their fields and sent a runner to the nearest house with a telephone and asked for reinforcements from their Albertine allies at Goodrich.
Meanwhile a couple of miles away, the Legion of Frontiersmen rushed rather slowly out of the smoky warmth of the guardroom at Goodrich Court and piled into their waiting truck.
Malcolm Harris, leader of the Marstow LDV was hit but his men continued to fight hard to save their precious livestock.
With what would be their last volley, the Marstow LDV caused significant casualties to the Welsh. Huw Jenkins was shot and wounded!
Just after this happened, the village LDV took a few more casualties and their morale broke, the survivors fled through the darkness for hard cover in a nearby ruined cottage.The Welsh main section also began to fall back, heading towards to their transport. Thomas Thomas risked his life to retrieve Huw’s precious Tommy gun.
With the LDV scattered, the Welsh trucks made a dash for the fields full of livestock.
As most of the Legion of Frontiersmen disembark to the side and rear of their truck, two of them leap into the back of one of the Welsh trucks causing the driver and his mate to bail out and try to run for it!
In the end, the Welsh had three dead and eight wounded and one lost truck, but they managed to make off one live cow and one that had been shot in the fighting. Three Welsh raiders were captured and faced a Tribunal before their likely fate on the end of a noose. A very poor return for the Raiders although Huw Jenkins did escape muttering "We would have done it if it wasn't for those meddling LDV!" and vowing to wreak his revenge another day!
AAR Notes: When the Marstow LDV put up very, much stiffer resistance than was expected, the Welsh plan began to break down rapidly. Their hopes of quickly routing the opposition and stealing the whole herd evapourated. The arrival of the Frontiersmen was the last straw and the raid ended abruptly.
This was the last wargame I played & took place a month or so before the Pandemic.
