Yesterday I took part in Pennine Megagame's A Very British Civil War, based on the Very British Civil War wargame setting. For those not familiar with it, it's an alternate history set in the late 1930s. King Edward VIII refused to abdicate over his romance with the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, and appointed the fascist Oswald Moseley as his PM. Opposition from the Church of England and socialist factions quickly spiralled into civil war.

This all set the stage for the game, which would see five factions fight it out to determine the future course of the North of England. The Royalists, led by the Duke of Westminster, aimed to return it to the rule of King Edward. The Anglican League, under the Archbishop of York, sought the removal of King Edward, and the upholding of the laws of the Church of England. The British Union of Fascists, under the command of Regional Party Leader Roderick Spode, wanted to cement Moseley's power base, and provide support for a fascist coup. The socialists (all named after Sean Bean characters) had a variety of aims, from the defence of Liverpool to the establishment of a People's Republic of South Yorkshire. And then there was the two of us in the Welsh Home Rule Association. Our sole aim was to see a free (or at least reasonably independent) Wales, and all we had to do it with was our wits, an understrength battalion of the Welsh Guards, and a few saboteurs.

At the start of the game, we had control of the town of Wrexham. To our north was the Anglican Bishop of Chester, with whom we were reasonably friendly. A group of Socialists held Liverpool, while a Royalist force lurked at Crewe. Further afield, the Anglicans and Socialists shared an uneasy control of Manchester, united by a Fascist force to their south in Stockport. The Royalists had a strong force at Lancaster, and our planning assumed they'd try to come south to link up with their force in Crewe. The only thing standing in their way would have been the Fascist force at Preston. Across the Pennines, the Socialists held a cluster of towns around Sheffield, as well as the major port at Hull. The Anglicans held the cathedral cities of York and Lincoln, while the Royalists had a weak position at Wakefield. The Fascists held the towns of Harrogate in the North, and Worksop to the south. Everyone else started off far stronger than we could ever hope to become, so we knew that direct military action would be pointless. Instead, we decided on a major diplomatic offensive, attempting to gain support for Welsh autonomy while not giving anyone a reason to destroy us.

We started off in cordial discussions with all four major parties. My teammate began discussions with the three non-socialist powers, hoping to gain support for a Welsh national assembly. Simultaneously, I presented myself as leader of the left-leaning elements within the Welsh Separatist forces, giving us an acceptable face to negotiate with the Socialists. We played all the possible bases, aiming to ingratiate ourselves with whoever the major power was at the end of the game. This payed off, as we'd secured declarations of support, and occasionally payments, from all of the major powers by about half-way through the game. These often came in exchange for vaguely worded promises of military support, which we had only the vaguest intentions of actually following through on. When we did follow through, this was done in as secretive a way as possible, in order to avoid alienating any other faction. Soon after, we secured a signed declaration that a Welsh National Assembly would be set up from the Royalists, Anglicans and Fascists - I drew up a similar one in case the Socialists ended up winning, but never pushed for signatures.

Meanwhile the rest of the game was seeing some quite important military action. The Socialists and Anglicans had pushed south from Manchester, forcing the Fascists back to Macclesfield. The Anglicans also aimed to open a link across the Pennines through Leeds, to join their position in Cheshire and Manchester to York and Lincoln. They were opposed in this by the Royalists and Fascists, who were also pushing against the Socialists in South Yorkshire. The Socialists were also pushing southwards, forcing the Fascists out of Worksop and Chesterfield. The capture of the latter would have been the first step in opening a path across the Pennines, with the capture of Macclesfield as the second. I'd promised the Socialists that I would assist as far as I could in this operation. However, my teammate had different plans, leading to one of my standout moments for the game. As the combined Socialist and Anglican force bore down on Macclesfield, their ammunition dumps exploded, forcing them to withdraw. The next turn, the Socialist advisor to whom I'd promised support came to ask me how I'd been supporting them. I told him that we'd blown up a supply dump near Macclesfield, omitting to explain that it had been their supply dumps that exploded. Following this, we began our first (and only) major military action, supporting a Royalist drive on Liverpool. This was slightly enlivened by tensions between the Royalists and our Anglican allies - they were threatening to fight each other over the town of Warrington, but we wanted to keep both on side. The Fascists began pushing towards Manchester from both Preston and Macclesfield. I think at this time a combined Royalist and Fascist drive began to take the towns around Leeds from the Socialists and Anglicans.

With Welsh Home Rule basically secure, we now needed to further strengthen Wales. Someone suggested that having the King marry in the Presbyterian Church might solve issues between the Royalists and Anglicans. We jumped on this, further suggesting that Wallis Simpson wouldn't have to be named Queen of England as a result - if she was married in Wales, in the Welsh Church, she could receive a Welsh title. This made us massive allies of the Duke of Westminster. It was ultimately settled on that she would receive the title Brenhines of Wales, and a marriage was announced in Carnarvon. A company of our Welsh Guards were requisitioned from Liverpool to serve as guards of honour (but not until after they'd participated in a battle for the city, leading to a rather panicked request from my teammate not to get them killed). In order that the Royal Wedding not be disturbed, the King requested a week's ceasefire. While we, the Royalists and the Fascists were very willing to sign up for this, the Anglicans refused to recognise anything connected to the wedding, and the various Socialists were unwilling to honour the King in any way. To solve this, we suggested that peace talks be held, in a reasonably neutral location. These 'definitely weren't' connected to the wedding in any way, merely 'coincidental'. The small town of Gainsborough was chosen as a location for the talks, being central, away from the fighting, and neutral. I attended these talks, as the Welsh representative. Despite instructions to play a minimal role, I ended up essentially chairing the talks, being the only person with no disagreements with anyone else there. The first turn of talks was unproductive, with rumours of ceasefire breaking by the Liverpool Socialists. A second week of talks was about the sole outcome. Elsewhere in the political sphere, the Socialist groups proved more fractious than anyone non-socialist thought (though this was probably historically accurate). A Russian-backed Communist group in Sheffield had assassinated the Mayor and seized power for themselves. In retaliation, the Socialists in Hull had taken an entire Russian supply convoy for themselves, and declared the Independent People's Republic of the Humberside.

The second week of talks saw the ceasefire ultimately broken, as the Liverpool Socialists finally attempted to reclaim their hometown. The Fascists used this as an excuse to resume offensive operations across the theatre. In response, we, the Royalists and the Anglicans attempted to co-ordinate a popular front against them. Unfortunately, the game ended before the situation could be resolved.

The game was one of the best megagame experiences I've had. While I didn't do that much on the gameboard, the amount of talking I did ended up being far more important. It's that sort of experience that makes a megagame, and what makes it distinct from anything else. AVBCW had it in spades, plus plenty of period touches that made it a lot more engaging. For example, rather than the traditional megagame newspaper, the news was transmitted in the form of a BBC broadcast over the venue's PA system. The characters, and the way they were played, were excellent, and added to the immersion. The Socialists were, true to life, rife with infighting. The Anglicans let each bishop decide their own policy, with some being rather more proactive than others. The Fascists were reliably militaristic and aggressive. The Royalists were dedicated to the re-establishment of order, and refreshingly willing to negotiate to achieve their goals. I'm looking forward to the next Pennine Megagames event I attend.