Victrix information

 

Out later this year

 Looks great! Pre-order here

Richly illustrated, this title describes Anglo-Saxon monarchs, warlords and their warriors and households in Anglo-Saxon Britain, from the first post-Roman mercenaries to the Norman Conquest.

In a country fragmented by Roman withdrawal during the 5th century AD, the employment of Germanic mercenaries by local rulers in Anglo-Saxon Britain was commonplace. These mercenaries became settlers, forcing Romano-British communities into Wales and the West Country. Against a background of spreading Christianity, the struggles of rival British and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were exploited by the Vikings, but eventually contained by the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred of Wessex. His descendants unified the country during the 10th century, however, subsequent weak rule saw its 25-year incorporation into a Danish empire before it finally fell to the Norman invasion of 1066.

Scholars of the early Church have long known that the term 'Dark Ages' for the 5th to 11th centuries in Britain refers only to a lack of written sources, and gives a false impression of material culture. The Anglo-Saxon warrior elite were equipped with magnificent armour, influenced by the cultures of the late Romans, the Scandinavian Vendel people, the Frankish Merovingians, Carolingians and Ottonians, and also the Vikings.

In this volume, co-authors Raffaele D'Amato and Stephen Pollington access their extended knowledge to paint a vivid picture of the kings and warlords of the time with the aid of colour illustrations, rare photos and the latest archaeological research.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
CHRONOLOGY
KINGS AND WARLORDS
– Household warriors: Werod, Comitatus and Huskarla
– Character and roles of the Anglo-Saxon elite
– Arms and equipment: defensive equipment – helmets, body armour, shields; offensive equipment – axes, swords, knives, spears and javelins; other equipment: clothing – horse equipment – standards and flags
– Representative major battles: Cathraeth, c.600 AD; Edington, 878 AD; Brunanburgh, 991 AD; Maldon, 991 AD
PLATE COMMENTARIES
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

Romano-British Cavalry

 A representation of Arthur and his Late Roman/Romano-British heavy cavalry (“Knights”) by the British Historical Association Comitatus. 

 A Romano-British shoe from a 'bog body' discovered on the Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire, in 1747

Irati (2023)

 

From the wiki

Set in the 8th century, against the backdrop of the ongoing Christianization of remote areas around the Pyrenees, the plot tracks Eneko (son to a Basque chieftain who died in the wake of the battle of Roncevaux Pass against Charlemagne), who helms a group of Christian and Muslim warriors guided by pagan woman Irati, set on finding the body of his father (buried under pagan customs and located next to a hoard) years after the latter's demise, initiating a journey into the forest.^[1][2]

Watch the trailer

Breakdown of Victrix new late Roman armoured infantry

 Heads, command and so on sprues examined here

New releases from Victrix

Late Roman Armoured Infantry: Now Available to Pre-order!

The wait is finally over!

We are really pleased to announce that our Late Roman armoured infantry set is now on release. 

This incredibly versatile set comes with 3 different sprues, allowing you to make Late Romans of the 4th to 6th Century, Goth/Germanic warriors, Arthurians and Early Byzantines.

You get 5 x Main frames which comprise of 4 x bodies wearing mail armour and 2 x bodies wearing scale armour (30 armoured warriors). A fantastic mix of weapon and shield arms which include various spear types including Angons and swords, axes and throwing darts. There are a mixture of 6 x round and 6 x large oval shields plus some extra cloaks and separate sword scabbards.

We have made a separate head frame for the main frame warriors which contains 42 heads with extra plumes, crests and some long hair attachments to make Roman, Goth or Arthurian warriors.

There is 1 x command frame which has 6 armoured figures. 2 in mail, 2 in scale, 1 in breastplate and 1 in mail and breastplate plus another 13 head variants, musician arms and extra cloaks, scabbards and standard bearer arms.

It is fully supported by a large range of LBMS shield transfers and there are plenty of Late Roman cavalry on the way, including the heavy and light cavalry, Horse archers and Cataphracts.

Punic Wars Sale will end Sunday, so this is your chance you but both Late Roman and punic wars sets in the same order. 

(Stock is due Monday so shipping will begin early next week)

https://www.victrixlimited.com/collections/late-romans

All miniatures here were painted by Rhys George.

Y Gododdin

 Yesterday was World Poetry Day so I thought we could look at this poem

He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortress
Though he was no Arthur
Among the powerful ones in battle
In the front rank, Gwawrddur was a palisade

This could be the earliest reference to Arthur but the date is disputed. Wiki

Well worth a look at. 

Men went to Catraeth with a war-cry,
Speedy steeds and dark armour and shields,
Spear-shafts held high and spear-points sharp-edged,
And glittering coats-of-mail and swords,
He led the way, he thrust through armies,
Five companies fell before his blades.
Rhufawn His gave gold to the altar,
And a rich reward to the minstrel."

Battle of Meretun 871

 Fought today though no-one knows where. Wiki

This Alfred blog think they have identified it go here

Blog article on the battles of 871 here

Tim Clarkson The Picts a history

 Just ordered this from the library. Hope it's good.

History teacher says she saw 'ghost' warrior on horseback at mystical Somerset hill linked to King Arthur The South Somerset hillfort is thought by some to have been King Arthur's legendary Camelot stronghold

 Here on Somerset Live. Thanks to David W for this

Newline designs Arthurian 28mm

 I like the look of these

Newline designs 28mm Picts

 Here. They are reviewed on this blog.

If 1/72 is your scale

 Plastic Soldier Review piece on Late Roman Heavy infantry here. Also see here

Late Antiquity here and Dark Ages here

I suppose it is a bit tricky getting hold of these. Also although you can get plastic Picts getting Anglo-Saxon troops from the earlier period might be a problem.

 https://www.deviantart.com/.../art/Counter-Attack-819603926

Romans of late 4th century defending their boarders.

Counter Attack! by

RobbieMcSweeney

Treason of the Long Knives art by Richard Hook

 This event is probably a legend but here is the wiki on it. Like the art though.

Bernard Cornwell on his Arthurian trilogy

 

Bernard says: "Of course there is no real history to go on with the Arthurian period. There is archaeological detail, and we’ve got certain records which seem to be extremely unreliable. So there isn’t actually a history, except for the Battle of Mount Badon. In the end I had to make up my mind as to what was the real Arthur. In the end maybe this is why the story is so malleable. It isn’t history; it’s a story." Read about them here

Military history of late Rome

 
Military History of Late Rome 565-602 provides a new fresh analysis of the Roman Empire in the aftermath of the reconquests of Justinian I (527-65). It is often claimed that Justinian overstretched the Roman resources, but this analysis proves that view wrong. It demonstrates that the initial troubles were largely the result of the mistakes of Justin II (565-78) and that his successors, Tiberius II (578-82) and Maurice (582-602), not only restored its fortunes but were, at the time of the death of Maurice, actually poised to complete the reconquests of Justinian.

It was thanks to the reforms of Maurice, which were codified in the military treatise the Strategikon, that the Roman army had achieved a position of relative superiority over all of its enemies so that by 602 the Romans had decisively defeated the Persians, Slavs and Avars and were poised to complete the project of reconquest. These gains, however, were lost when Maurice was murdered in a military mutiny which brought Phocas to power. This volume explains why the Roman army overthrew one of the greatest Roman emperors who ever lived. This was an era of epic battles so it is not a surprise that the author also pays particular attention to the period tactics and analyses all of the period battles in great detail. These include for example such battles as Melitene, Constantia, Sirmium, Nymphius River, Solanchon, Lake Urmiah, Plain of Canzak, Iatrus, and the epic battles of Priscus and Comentiolus in the Balkans.

Britain in the age of Arthur a military history

 King Arthur is one of the most controversial topics of early British history. Are the legends based on a real historical figure or pure mythological invention? Ilkka Syvanne's study breaks new ground, adopting a novel approach to the sources by starting with the assumption that Arthur existed and that Geoffrey of Monmouth's account has preserved details of his career that are based on real events. He then interprets these by using 'common sense' and the perspective of a specialist in late Roman military history to form a probable picture of what really happened during the period (roughly AD 400-550). This approach allows the author to test the entire literary evidence for the existence of Arthur to see if the supposed events of his career match what is known of the events of the period, the conclusion being that in general they do. Arthur's military career is set in the context of the wider military history of Britain and Europe in this period and along the way describes the nature of armies and warfare of the period.

The Picts: Scourge of Rome

 This looks good. Anybody read it?

The Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North: Noble, Gordon, Evans, Nicholas: 

Review

Picts is an extraordinary work that covers seven centuries of Pictish history and archaeology, but is also engagingly written with the general reader in mind'-- "Current Archaology"

"Noble and Evans have written a book to read and cherish."-- "The Scotsman"

this intriguing study by two Aberdonian academics will help to dispel the myth that Pictland was merely rough and unsophisticated'-- "Country Life"

A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated volume'-- "West Highland Free Press"

Both archaeologically and historically rich and provides an entirely new synthesis and viewpoint on a critical era of Scotland's history'-- "Deeside Piper and Herald"

This is an irresistible glimpse into their [the Picts'] shadowy world'-- "Little Brown Book Group"

An impressive book that brings together between its covers pretty much all that is currently known about its elusive and enigmatic subject'-- "Undiscovered Scotland"

About the Author

Gordon Noble is Professor in Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen and has undertaken award-winning landscape research and field projects, working on projects from the Mesolithic to Medieval periods. He is author of Neolithic Scotland: Timber, Stone, Earth and Fire (Edinburgh University Press 2006), Woodland in the Neolithic of Northern Europe: The Forest As Ancestor (Cambridge University Press 2017) and co-author of King in the North: The Pictish Realms of Fortriu and Ce (Birlinn 2019). He works on two current major projects: Northern Picts and Comparative Kingship, the research for which won the Current Archaeology Research Project of the Year 2021, a highly prestigious accolade. His research has featured on BBC 2 Digging for Britain, BBC Radio 4 In Our Time and many other media outlets.

Nicholas Evans is a Research Fellow on the Leverhulme Trust funded Comparative Kingship: the Early Medieval Kingdoms of Northern Britain and Ireland project at the University of Aberdeen. He is a historian whose research and teaching have focussed on the medieval Celtic-speaking societies of Britain and Ireland. He is the author of The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles (Boydell Press, 2010), A Historical Introduction to the Northern Picts (Aberdeen University/Tarbat Discovery Centre, 2014) and co-author of King in the North: The Pictish Realms of Fortriu and Ce 

Frome francisca

 

REVAMPED FROME MUSEUM DISPLAYS IMPORTANT NEW SAXON FIND

Frome Museum reopens on Tuesday 14th March with an exciting new exhibit.  A metal detectorist has unearthed a Saxon Axe Head dating back some 1500 years, overturning current beliefs about the Saxon incursion into the West Country.

Detectorist Mike McGuinness happened upon the find when surveying land at Oldfield Hall in Spring Gardens. The axe was buried 19 inches deep in one of the water meadows at Oldfield, and Mike immediately recognised it as a Francisca, a throwing axe used by the Saxons in their battles against the Romans.  The design of the axe dates it to between 450 and 550 CE, a date confirmed by experts at The British Museum.  

Current thinking is that the Saxons did not reach this far west until the middle of the 7th Century.  Oldfield was called Aldefeld by the Normans, a word which in Saxon German translates as an “area of open country cultivated over a lengthy period”.  This supports that idea that the Saxons may have settled in Aldefeld long before St Aldhelm founded Frome in 685 CCE.

The axe will form part of a totally new display tracing the history of Frome both chronologically and thematically. Many of the new exhibits have not been available to visitors in the past. Frome Museum is open Tuesdays to Saturdays 10.00 am to 2.00 pm.  Admission to the museum is free, but donations towards the upkeep of this important community asset are most welcome.

The Late Roman Army

 by Karen R. Dixon (Author), Pat Southern  (Contributor) 

Using a full range of original literary sources, modern Continental scholarship, and current archaeological research, Pat Southern and Karen R. Dixon provide a stimulating overview of the historical period, the critical changes in the army, and the way these changes affected the morale of the soldiers.

A Pictish hood

 Read about it here

Song of Arthur and Merlin Daniel Mersey

From Board Game Geek

 An Arthurian supplement for Song of Blades and Heroes: Revised Edition by Arthurian author Daniel Mersey, featuring section on the historical Dark Ages king, the Welsh legendary king, and the Hollywood king. A copy of Song of Blades and Heroes is required to play.

THIS GAME HAS NOW BEEN UPDATED AS A STANDALONE - YOU NO LONGER NEED EXTRA RULEBOOKS TO PLAY!

PULL THE SWORD FROM THE STONE AND BECOME KING! Song of Arthur and Merlin is a set of stand-alone miniatures rules based on the award-winning Song of Blades and Heroes mechanics. Written by Arthurian expert Daniel Mersey, this book includes: * Three versions of the Arthurian story: Hollywood's knights in shining armor, the gritty hero of Welsh legend, and a historical world stripped of all magic and monsters. * 6 scenarios and campaigns for Arthurian games and 11 new scenarios which may also be used in SBH games. * 100 new rosters including knights, magicians and creatures from British folklore, historical Britons and their Saxon, Pictish, and Irish enemies. * 38 new magic items. * 19 warband advances. * New special rules, optional rules for larger warbands. THIS REVISED EDITION IS A STAND-ALONE GAME. NO OTHER BOOK IS REQUIRED TO PLAY.

50 pages, Paperback

There is a 2022 revised edition here

The King is Dead board game

 Here at Board Game Geek

Thegns of Mercia reconstruction

 Thegns of Mercia: The Wollaston / Pioneer Helm (thethegns.blogspot.com)

Inside the Great Hall at South Cadbury by Richard Hook

 From the book Warriors of Arthur by Matthews/Stewart

Sub-Roman Briton by Moccus

 See more of his work on Dark Age subjects here

1st Corps Dark Ages 28mm

 Quite a comprehensive range. Here

Art by Roger Raupp

 This is a cover of Dragon magazine from 1987

https://rpggeek.com/rpgissue/64966/dragon-issue-125-sep-1987

Vol. XII No. 4 of Dragon Magazine.

Cover Art: As Camlann burns in the background, a wounded King Arthur prepares to meet the mounted attack of his hated rival Mordred. This painting was carefully researched by Roger Raupp, who based the weapons, armor, and fortifications on those in existence in the British Isles after A.D. 500. The battle shown here takes place at Hadrian's Wall, where some sources believe the historical Arthur lived. (from the contents page)

Wiki on Camlann and its historicity

Facebook chat

 

South Cadbury hill fort

If you do Facebook I have a small but friendly group for this period. Here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/717837069577437/?ref=share

 Looked for the image on the Helion book below and found it. Description here https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2058806/EDR__8ccbde6b0c0e8203cbd0a7a1de47c62f__artifact__cho

The Ango-Saxon Conquest of England

 

#NewRelease 

We are pleased to announce The Anglo Saxon Conquest of England is now available! 

✨ Save 20% off RRP until Sunday 12th March– no code ne

The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of England was previously published as King Arthur’s Wars: The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of England.

How did Roman Britain become Anglo-Saxon England?

The answer matters. This is written in English. Not Scots Gaelic, nor Latin. Before the Anglo-Saxon conquest there was no ‘English’. Anglo-Saxons gave the world the English language (the language of Shakespeare, Keats, Byron and Shelley); parliaments; trial by jury; and cricket and warm beer. Every time you get into a passenger aircraft, anywhere in the world, the air traffic controllers will be speaking English. So it does matter. It’s about how the English became the English and, to that extent, much about the modern world.

We do not, however, really know the answer. There are very few historical sources from the period. There are also a few intriguing but garbled and confused oral sources, written down centuries later. The archaeology of the period is scant, confusing, and at times contradictory.

The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of England describes one of the biggest archaeological finds of our times; yet there is nothing new to see. There are secrets hidden in plain sight. Therefore this book brings an entirely new approach to the subject. The answers are out there, in the countryside, waiting to be found. Months of field work and map study allow us to understand how the AngloSaxons conquered England, county by county and decade by decade. The book exposes what the landscape and the place names tell us. As a result, we can now know far more about this critical period. What is so special about Essex? Why is Buckinghamshire an odd shape? Why is the legend of King Arthur so special to us? Why don’t Cumbrian farmers use English numbers when they count sheep? Why don’t we know where Camelot was? Why did the Romano-British stop eating oysters? The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of England answers those questions, and many more.

Pictish Currach

 These boats are interesting.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currach

Gripping Beast plastic Picts

 Anybody got these?

Strongholds of the Picts The fortifications of Dark Age Scotland

This I shall have to get. Buy here. 

Angus Konstam (Author), Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

When the Romans withdrew from Britain, the north of the country was ruled by the most mysterious of the ancient British races, the Picts. Much of what is known about these “painted” warriors, comes from the remains of the fortifications that they left scattered around Scotland. Although the Picts are famous as sea raiders, they were also subjected to attacks from a number of opponents. To their south, the Romano-British reoccupied the abandoned Roman fortifications and hired Saxon mercenaries to strike against the Picts. Meanwhile, from the west a new group, the Scoti, attacked from Ireland. This book covers the fortification of the ancient Picts in all their conflicts and discusses the importance of these sites as religious centres and seats of power, while using the latest archeological evidence to help unravel the mystery of this ancient race.

Pictish stones were they coloured?

 News article on the BBC. 

"Mounted Pictish Warrior V-VI Century AD" Artist P. Goldek (2014)

 

Warriors depicted on a Pictish symbol stone found at the Brough of Birsay

 I am gradually learning about the Picts

Pictish Warrior AD 297-841 Paul Wagner (Author), Angus Konstam (Author), Wayne Reynolds (Illustrator)

 This book looks good. Blurb reads

First mentioned by name in AD 297, the Picts inhabited Northern Britain from the end of the 3rd century AD to the 9th. They rose to power in the devastation following Emperor Septimus Severus's repression of the Caledonians in AD 208, and dominated Northern Britain for over 500 years, before vanishing mysteriously. The Picts represent a high point of Celtic civilisation, remaining free and unconquered beyond the borders of the Roman world, and rising to become the first barbarians to form a recognisable 'nation'. This title takes a detailed look at their origins, and examines Pictish heroic and warrior society, covering education and training, appearance and equipment, the status of women, and the experience of battle.

Roman Military Clothing (3)

 This looks good. Here

This book is the concluding part of a rigorous study of theliterary, sculptural, pictorial and archaeological evidence for Roman military clothing, covering the last days of the Western Empire, and the much longer record of the Eastern, in the 5th to 7th centuries. The evidence from this enormously colourful period – when Germanic and Persian styles, first introduced by mercenaries, were widely adopted by Roman armies – is particularly rich. The text is illustrated with many photographs of rare textile finds, and mosaic artwork; with careful drawings of other figurative sources; and with Graham Sumner's meticulous and dazzling colour reconstructions.

Late Roman soldier

 From the Fectio webpage http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/articles.htm

The image shows the surviving cast of the funeral stone of Lepontius. This Late Roman soldier most probably belonged to the 8th Legion and was stationed at Strasbourg.

Fectio

 Late Roman group from the Netherlands. Webpage or search Fectio on Facebook.

Photo Mitchell Van Splunter

Article on Wansdyke

 Here

The Wansdyke Diktat? - A Discussion Paper
Keith S. Gardner (1932-2008)

From Robert Vermaat's Wansdyke page.

Wansdyke is fairly local to me in North-east Somerset.

Making a Saxon phrygian cap

 Here. Also a knitting pattern here

West Wind Arthurian 28mm

 

Webpage here

Artizan designs 28mm Arthurian

 Small range here