It's all gone poo shaped... and they have all gone home! 

So - what a mare!. Our entire army -  well, lets be more realistic, our entire chances of wining the game, the round, and the entire year long competition had practically gone down the toilet. What next - what do you do in times like these?

You dig in, fight like rabid, cornered rats trapped in a sinking ship that has caught fire and is carrying radioactive waste, who has just seen Kate Adie checking in to a guest cabin to do a documentary series about the turbulent seas to be found around the Cape of No Hope. 

To say the Battle Raged On would risk being sued for misrepresentation by lawyers representing the word "Raged", however the warrior Monks facing my (only) command were getting out of hand, and we were starting to inflict some damage, as the end of their line was caught in the rough going on the table edge, giving my auxilia the edge. 

On the right, Mick was continuing our poor dice sequence, with the Burmese hemorrhaging elements when they should have been carving onwards - a couple of the big beasts went down, and soon they were in controlled withdrawal mode - not easy for El (S) !!! - and it was all down to me. 

Poor dice continued to inflict themselves on us - double overlapped Bd (F) refused to die time and time again against elephants - even my Elephant General was in the fray, despite "beyond the Toolbox" warnings from his one-time commander, but it seemed to no avail. Bw (S) were closing in, and only a frantic holding action by the demoralized El (X) - visible in the picture - was saving my psiloi from a fate the same as death.

It became clear we were going down soon, so we committed everything to the fray - and in the turn in which the samurai bowmen finally nailed the vital Psiloi, we achieved the breakthrough we had wanted, and felled three Monks in one bound - we had got some points! 1-9, (or 3-29).

Time for lunch.

In fact - plenty of time for lunch.....

What happened next - read on here...

A new home for my Khmer soldiers takes shape..

JD McNeil's pet frog reacts with magnanimity as news of our demise reaches their table