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Prince Wilhelm of the Rind,
Margrave of the Palatinate state of Baconburger |
The first Royalist Player has now declared for the King, Steve is playing as Prince Wilhelm of the Rine, for those interested, here is a brief outline of this character's backgound.
Prince Wilhelm of the Rind, Margrave of the Palatinate state of Baconburger
This little known Prince came from a distinctly poorer twig of the Palatinate-Simmern branch
of the House of Wittelsbach and this is why the Baconburgers have been largely written out
of History’s rich tapestry.
Wilhelm was the seventh son of Prince Ludwig of Baconburger and had little hope of
becoming anyone important. His title had been given to him by his father to make him
sound and feel very important but it held no water so he jumped at the chance when he
received a letter from the Royal court in England asking Wilhelm to come and fight at the
Kings side.
Wilhelm brought 200 men with him and when he arrived in England he organised them into
his own regiment of horse but unfortunately due to his poor English he named them
“Wilhelms Life Jackets” instead of “Life Guard” and they soon got the nickname of “The fat
Lardys” due to Wilhelm’s title.
Wilhelm’s best friend, Baron Von Klaus of Hangover soon joined him and he too brought
along his own regiment of horse naming it in honour of Wilhelm. “Wilhelm’s Loyal Reiter”
quickly got a reputation for being the most miserable bunch of German mercenaries in the
Royalist army and were soon nicknamed “The Sour Krauts".
However, King Charles wasted little time introducing Wilhelm to some well connected people
at his court to help raise an army on the Kings behalf.
Baron Harry Monck Wilhelm was first presented to Baron Harry Monck at the Kings Court. The Moncks are a
religious family and are well connected to the Carp eating Bishop of Orson Wells. The
Moncks come from a Sheep producing part of the Kingdom and managed to raise two
regiments of horse under the command of Captaynes Johnathon Lamb of Tallow and Roger
Mint of Herbaton.
Marquis Hugh Jampton The Jamptons are an old Norman family who have lived in the same castle by the river
Jampton since the time of William the Conqueror and come from a Pork producing part of
the Kingdom. They managed to raise three regiments of foote under the commands of
Captaynes Howard Scrumpy of Appleton, Jacob Streaky of Lardcastle and Greville Boar of
Tenderloin.
Sir Phil Magroin The Magroins are an old Scottish family and were originally called Macgrain but due to the
constant mispronunciation of their name it became Magroin much to the amusement of
everyone at court. The Magroins are well know as producers of beef and have raised two
regiments of foote under the command of Captaynes Arthur Blade of Chuck Hatch and John
Bull of Brisket by the Cut and one of Dragoons under the command of Captayne Samual
Béarnaise of Eggbaston.
Benoit Baggette de la Boulangerie However, there was one element of the army that was still missing and that was Artillery.
Whilst out one day in Oxford Wilhelm came across an establishment selling Honey cake.
Wilhelm loved Honey cake so he stopped for a slice and a cup of milk curdled with wine and
spiced with cinnamon, otherwise known as Posset.
Wilhelm got chatting with the proprietor
of the establishment who turned out to be one Benoit Baggette de la Boulangerie (of the
bakery). As one would expect in a wargames campaign, Benoit had fought in the 30 years
war as a master gunner. What a coincidence thought Wilhelm, it couldn’t have been written
any better, so he invited Benoit to form a company of gunners.
Benoir closed down his
establishment and asked his employees if they would like to join him and would you believe
it, they did!
There was however one small problem, his staff only knew how to load bread into ovens and
not cannon balls into guns so Benoit would have his work cut out kneading them from Pain
ordinere into Pain au chocolat.
