The following will be an occasional series based around episodes of the BBC costume drama "By the Sword Divided", which I have recently re-discovered.
Set in the 1640s, the show followed the fortunes of two families, the Laceys and the Fletchers, during the period of civil war in Britain known variously - and depending largely on where in these islands you happen to be standing - as the English Civil War, the Civil Wars, or the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In England, where this story is set, the conflict can be very VERY broadly simplified as a power struggle between an autocratic king, Charles I, and the supporters of a fledgling Parliament. Of course it was more complicated than that. Wars generally are, and civil wars more so than most.
It's probably fair to say that the TV series was domestic. It was concerned with the effects of the war on the people left behind: the women and old men, the servants whose own lives and fortunes are caught up, willy-nilly, in the affairs of their "betters", the soldiers who come and go, quite literally bringing the war home as the campaign ebbs and flows across the countryside, until in the end the Lacey family home is itself besieged. It wasn't about the great battles, and wasn't supposed to be. I loved it very much. But - and this is a reflection on my own shallow tastes, not in any way a criticism of the show - while there was some sword-play and blowing stuff up, I would have loved it better still had there been more.
This, then, is my version, tweaks, twists and "what happened nexts", hopefully with a dash of added swash-buckle and yeah, possibly quite a lot of Tom getting beaten up...