En Garde, the Banana, Turn Report for February, 1669

From: bjm10@cornell.edu (Bryan J. Maloney)

Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000

The streets of paris have been plagued with early fogs for
several weeks now. This morning, the bell of a town crier
can be heard, though he himself is invisible.
This time it is good news, the Prince and Princess have
been pronounced as recovering from the poison. God seems
to agree, as that very afternoon the sun shines for the first
time in many days on the streets of Paris.

Were the mood of certain members of government as bright as
that afternoons sun, for the King has demanded results from
the investigation into the poisioning of his eldest son, and
should no results be forthcoming, at least one government
offical will find themselves out of a job this month.

Even better news, it has been announced that HRH the Princess
Louisa has returned from the Court in England, and the King has
announced that the fourth week of March will be her debutant
ball. This event will be hosted by the king himself, at versailles.
All those of SL 10 and above are invisted, as well as their escorts
(This means those of you who have a SL 10 mistress are eligable,
even if you are not SL 10). In light of recent events, security
will be handled by the PLLD, with assistance by the RFG as required.

Meanwhile the Cardinal Dismissed his Captain of the Guard due
to his gross incompetance in letting the office of the Cardinal
get burned recently. Also outsed from their positions, were
Captain Sir Adon le Lange of the Kings Musketeers, LtC Sir
Ralph Beaulieu of the CPC, and Captain Nicholas de Carte of the CG
LtC Reginal de Boer of GDMD.

These retirements combined with a recruiting drive by the GDMD have
resulted in many new recruits in the upper regiments.
The Cardinal's Guard saw Roudolph Rouge and Justin Gil. The
Kings Musketeers Yves Ningaulle, and Vallon d'Maison. The latter
was quite disappointed in M. Nigaulle gaining the captaincy that
seemed to be intended for himself, by virtue of the former having
a whole day's seniority in the regiment. M. d'Maison's application
to be aide to the Crown prince, being rejected as he was not of
sufficient rank. The Grand Duke Max were the beneficiaries of the
most new recruits, due primarily to the new Colonel of the
regiment, Otto van Schnell. The new members are: Toldi de Ballabre,
Luc du Chaseau, Jean LeClaire, and Pas de Problem.

Along with Her Highness an number of ladies have made their way to
Paris, including Ruby Rhedd daughter of a Russian Count, and
childhood friend of both Princess Louisa and Princess Sophie,
Daisy Chain, Sue Flay and Gail Forcewind are all also daughters
of various european nobility, here in Paris to refine their
social talents.

The Trial of Henri de Faixg proved to be a let down for many, as
involment in the Princess affair was thought to be the reason for
the arrest. M. de Faixg was found guilty of slandering the
Princess's good name, and disobeying military orders. Surprisingly
the cilivian court seemed justified to themselves of sentencing
HdF to a month at the front in a frontier regiment, with no loss
of rank or other penalties. The slander charge brought about a
penalty of 500 Cr, which many of the observers thought too little
for such an insult to the new princess.

With over half of paris society away at the front, Paris was a quiet
place during the month of Feburary. Two parties of note: In the
first week, Alain B'Staad and Anna hosted PldE (with Sally), CdA,
AdE (with Roxanne), LdP (with Thora), and WdB. The son of a
Marquis, Will deBeest took umbrage at his host for being non-noble,
both had drawn weapons before it dawned on the about-to-be duellists
that they were wearing the same uniform. The fight was declined on
both sides. For the same reasons, M. du Pairre, the son of a Baron
was about to fight Alain B'Staad, but decided not to, so as not to
disrupt the party, (and due to his wounds, most people present
thought him incapable). The party of M. Young in week 2 was a
resounding failure both because of the lateness of the announcement,
and the general lack of people in the city at the time. The other
(successful) party was Geoffrey FitzRichard's (with Flo) in the
Third week at the Fleur. This attended by ABS (with Anna), LdL
(with Marigold), PldE (with Sally), DNY (with Sylvia), CdA, LdP,
WdB, PdM. Mssrs. deBeest and du Pairre again took umbrage at ABS's
non-nobility, however this amounted to nothing more than the parties
snubbing each other thoughout the event.

The only disturbance for the entire month seems to be Anitol la Bell
and Gilles d'Avalon in another 27th / 13th feud at the Frog and Peach.
with almost identical moves, the two duellists made short work of
the contest. With simultaneous lunges twice in a row, the first
missing for both, and the second succeeding for both. M. la Bell's
mistake seemed to be choosing a cutting stroke next, while both this
and the simultaneous lunge of d'Avalon missed, d'Avalon was able
to recover more quickly and end the duel.

The duel between Armand St. Just and Lyrrad de Lioncourt, though
voted cause (Comments over the Princess affair), will have to
be postponed due to M. St. Just's unit going off to the front.

Mistresses were overlooked as well this month, only Alison
was courted, successfuly, by Claude d'Armagnac. Duke Zer
attempted to propose to Amy, however she was not feeling
in a marrying mood after the trouble surrounding the Crown
Prince's wedding, perhaps with a few more months to forget
(or another happier wedding)...

On the front the swelling of the defensive units on the dutch
border was just enough to stop the suprise counter attack. The
RFG, KM, RM, QOC, ALC, and the GDMD all supported the 2nd
Frontier Regiment in repelling the Dutch. Again with surprisingly
few casualties, the French forces managed to hold their own, though
just barely. The only "success" by the Kings Musketeers who managed
to actually push back the Dutch (with 11 mentions and a title of
Baron for their commander, don Alferwan). The 1st Batallion, led by
Maj von Fersen, and captains Falconetti, and Ningaulle were subject to
heavy amounts of enemy fire, finially by taking the ruins of a fort
this unit was able to provide artillery support for the rest of the
regiment to push the Dutch back almost to thier starting point.
The Foot Guards having more moderate success at holding the Dutch,
were continually being pushed back before Brigadier Junior sent
Captain du Draconcourt's company in a flanking maneuver, by
pretending to be a much larger unit, Draconcourt distracted the
Dutch sufficiently for the rest of the Regiment to dig themselves
in. The Queens own also only managed to not loose a large amount
of territory due to their commander, Colonel de Guerre. Excellent
tactics in falling back by troop managed to delay the Dutch advance
until Frontier troops could form a line and hold the Dutch gains
on this part of the front. The Second Squadron of the Archduke
Leopold Cuirassiers led by Lt. Colonel de_Success with the First
Squadron of the Grand Duke Max Dragoons led by Lt. Colonel de
Ballabre, and elements of the Royal Marines who were landed some
4 miles behind the Dutch lines, managed to capture a brigade
command element of the Dutch. A Private le Mignon and Sub. du
Chaseau captured Spanish officers trying to escape the field. These
officers are suspected of advising, and in fact being the impetus
of the attack. Eventually, however, the ground was lost to Dutch
reinforcements.

The results without these extra units would have been dire indeed.
Still, this month leaves the french with very little of the Dutch
territory still under thier control.

Meanwhile on the Spanish border, the 1st Frontier regiment augmented
by elements of the 69th, PLLD, PM and the CG skirmished quite
successfully with spanish "raiders". The 69th, and PLLD though
seemed ill-at-ease without their usual chain of command. Cap. de Faixg
in spite of his trail, was Knighted for capturing a supply depot of
the Spanish with the assistance of Captain le Gouda, which was being
covertly set up inside of French borders. The Picardy Musketeers,
far from their home province, managed
to stop an infiltration of a local town in Navarre. Capatin Arentz,
noticed the people of the town acting strangely when his unit went
for supplies, along with the CG the units went back to the villiage
and in house-to-house skirmishing, managed to free the villagers.
Captains de Faixg and le Gouda again appeared in dispatches by
personally taking houses from the spanish raiders. Lt. Colonel Homard
led a small unit to the local church, where the raiders had held
the women and children of the town. The church was re-taken with
few injuries to the hostages, and no damage to the church.

The German border saw even less action for the fourth Frontier regiment
a few probes by the germans showed that french forces were well prepared.
Prepared except for the element of the 27th Musketeers. It seems that
a misunderstanding about friendly troop positions led to the exposure of
the 27th's 2nd battalion to an attack from "friendly ground". The quick
thinking of Maj. Antoine Culvert d'Eau mananged to escape the trap without
casualties, though all supplies and tents were lost.