The Siege of St Lambert: Crowning the Covered Way

After the fury of the melee, both sides took a day to assess the situation while the bombardment continued. On the 7th day the remaining engineer led the sappers forward onto the glacis while the defenders crammed into the covered way. A furious storm of grape and musketry failed to stop the progress.

Sensing that an assault on the covered way was imminent, the defenders stripped the walls, and formed a reserve in the place d'armes, militia, volunteers, regulars, all mixed together. Through the night, volunteers from the Irish company sapped left and right along the crown of the glacis, mere yards from the defenders. At dawn, a fierce struggle between the Irish and the Queen's men broke out as MacDuff's Grenadiers and the remnants of the King's company leapt over the parapet and stormed forward.

The fighting was fierce and bloody but neither the attackers nor the defenders would give way until finally, numbers told. (3 drawn rounds of melee). The defenders used up their reserve and gaps began to appear in their line to be exploited by fur capped grenadiers.  At last, the casualties were too many and the remaining defenders fell back to the redoubt. For a moment it looked like the grenadiers might try to storm the ravelin but they were sternly called back to the trenches.

Over night gabions were dragged forward and a battery position dug in to the glacis to allow a breaching battery to open fire. At long last though the defender's mortar had the range and combined  with the fire of the last gun and the muskets of the ravelin's defenders, the last engineer and all but one of the digging party were struck down with the battery unfinished. There would be no breach, but the defenders had been bled dry and no help was coming.

 
After surveying  the bloody ground and contemplating the losses to his people on both sides of the trenches and the losses to come if the bombardment was to continue until there was no one left to resist an escalade. The King decided to offer generous terms to the Queen Regent, seeking to heal the rift rather than crush the opposition. After pondering the odds (1,2,3 yes, 4,5,6 be damned) she decided to accept.

The Siege of St. Lambert was over.

Thoughts on the game and rules to follow another day.