Skirmish of Astley Meadow
| Skirmish of Astley Meadow | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Astley Meadow Insurgency | |||||||
 The Skirmish took place in the children's play area in the centre of this image | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Pro-Adammia British students |
British insurgent | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Luke H. | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 3 Adammic, ~2 British | 1 | ||||||
The Skirmish of Astley Meadow was a small battle that took place in the Adammic claimed territory of Astley Meadow on 23 January 2014. A British insurgent, Luke H., attacked Emperor Adam I while the Adammic monarch was inspecting the newly-acquired territory, prompting Adammic Army forces and nearby British students to defend the Emperor. The pro-Adammia forces won the battle.
The skirmish was the only notable engagement of what is now called the Astley Meadow Insurgency.
Background
Astley Meadow is based in a British park near to a school in the same village as Primoria province. At lunchtimes, students from this school, which included the Emperor of Adammia, regularly visited this park in late 2013 and early 2014. In the week leading up to the Skirmish, Adammic forces began planning an occupation of the park to make it a second Adammic Territorial Claim, following the success of the occupation of the Jagstonian Plains that previous weekend.
Emperor Adam I and the head of Special Operations, Sergeant J. Rhodes, distributed citizen application forms in the days leading up to the occupation amongst the park-goers, to which Luke H. reacted negatively, destroying one of the forms. Further discussions between the members of the Adammic High Command at the school shortly afterwards caused Luke's opposition to the Empire to solidify.
On 21 January, 2 days before the Skirmish, a two-strong Adammic force occupied the park and it was claimed part of the Empire, becoming Astley Meadow. During the operation, Luke H. hurled a paper object at the Emperor, but the situation was kept mostly under control.
Prelude
At about 12:40 on 23 January, Emperor Adam I arrived at Astley Meadow to inspect the new territory. Already present were approximately 20 of his fellow school students, of which about a third held honourary Adammic citizenship. Sergeant J. Rhodes and Private M. Mellor of the Adammic Army were also there.
Battle
Within a few minutes of arrival, Emperor Adam was attacked by Luke H., who charged at the Adammic leader and grabbed him from behind. The Emperor responded calmly to the situation, but Luke persisted, and Adam called on the nearby leader of the Adammic Special Operations unit, Sergeant J. Rhodes, to stop handing out citizen application forms and assist him.
Though Rhodes did not become involved directly, he encouraged at least one nearby British citizen to protect the Emperor. Alex H. joined the fray, succeeding in removing Luke H. from the Emperor's person. However, Luke's attacks continued, and soon Private M. Mellor of the Primoria Battalion was called in. At one point, Luke switched targets, now attacking Pvt. Mellor. Alex H. and Pvt. Mellor finally took hold of Luke H. and carried him away, much to Emperor Adam's amusement. At this point, Pvt. Mellor accidentally hit Luke H. in the testicles, prompting the release of the insurgent and the immediate end of the battle - but not before the Emperor had warned him about attacking again in future.
Aftermath
Luke seemed to heed the Emperor's warning, as this was the only serious attack against the Empire which was undertaken by him. The Pro-Adammic forces involved in the battle were rewarded with promotions and full citizenship.
The rest of the Astley Meadow Insurgency was mostly uneventful as a result. Adammic dominance over Astley Meadow was now secured. However, this would only last a few months, as in May 2014 everyone involved left the British school and stopped visiting Astley Meadow regularly. Astley Meadow was abandoned and was ceded back to the United Kingdom in July 2014.
