Groeninghumpe, the Seventh!

The Wurstburp troops charge in, four regiments forward. One highland regiment advances to dislodge the Zentan infantry in the woods to their front (below, left); two more units of highlanders and one of regulars also attempt to close with the enemy.

(Above, left) The Zentan unit in the woods declines to evade and stands to make a fight of it. (Above, centre) Two more Zentan units try and evade, but fail and are contacted by some very angry ex-Jacobites. (Above, right) The Wurstburp regulars find that their adversaries have scarpered backwards into the woods behind them. For those that have closed, the fight is violent and bloody ...

(Above, left) Already disordered, the highlanders charge into the woods, taking more disorder; lose the combat, taking more disorder; and then are pushed back, taking more disorder. The unit disintegrates and quits the filed: the Zentan irregulars have won! True, most of the real damage was done by the trees and other flora, but it's a win by Zentan standards. (Above, centre) The next unit of highlanders wins, but does not break their Zentan adversaries and so falls back to reform. (Above, right) In the remaining combat, the highlanders show their comrades how it should be done: in the briefest of fights, the Zentans are sliced and diced by the blade-wielding Wurtsburpers. The irregulars don't so much break, as just slide apart into meaty heaps.

Close combat is much too much like real war for the Zentans. In preparation for another retreat, Imam Fatih is deployed (below). With his tales of wildly implausible Zentan victories in unknown wars at imprecise times in the past, he buoys the morale of the troops, allowing them to rally as they fall back.

The Zentan troops retreat. The Wursburpers follow up. In the centre, they charge against one of the irregular units and, once again, the Zentans fail to evade. After a brief and embarrassing fight, the irregulars are cut to pieces and rout (below, centre). The Zentan line begins to look rather threadbare here.

At this point Bulbous realises that he has made what would be known in a regular European army as 'serious command and control error', but which the Zentans call 'a boo boo'. He has ordered his Albanians (above, right) to fall back just far enough that they are no longer part of the same command group as the rest of his line. With this portion of his line beginning to unravel, Bulbous decides that he needs to regain the initiative. It's time to put his faith in the power of silly hats! Bulbous calls upon his janissary trainees (the Djiveleks). Given how little time it takes to train to be a Zentan janissary, since they are never used in battle, one can get some idea of the quality of those that have still not yet qualified ... Still, never mind the quality, look at the size of their hats!