Ah, Conde. He belonged to the great era of Roving Generals, and was perhaps the last of their breed. He fought for France until 1652, switched to its arch-enemy Spain when the political intrigue against him destroyed his reputation in Paris, and then returned to France in 1659, in whose service his military genius continued to sparkle for another 15 years. Think of what that span saw militarily - to see your first battle in the midst of the Thirty Years' War, to witness the fall of Spanish power, the rise of the French Army and to even see the seeds of its eventual disintegration. From Westphalia to Louis XIV, to the eve of the Glorious Revolution. Dense times.

- Count Dolby von Luckner