THE AGE OF ARTHUR: WARFARE IN THE BRITISH DARK AGES, 400 AD - 800 AD: WARHAMMER HISTORICAL

 The Age of Arthur – Warfare in the British Dark Ages 400 AD – 800 AD is a source book for Warhammer Ancient Battles.

Cover art Jon Hodgson. See more of his work on Deviant art

This exciting period of British history saw the foundations of England, Scotland and Wales laid down by the warring Saxons, Romano-Britons, Welsh, Irish and Picts.

Arthur himself may have led British resistance against the Saxons, but this supplement also focuses on the other great warlords of the age – including Cadwallon of Gwynedd, Vortigern of the Britons, and Ecgfrith of Northumbria – and their warbands.

This source book contains a suggested historical overview and chronology of the period, as well as 19 detailed army lists featuring:

The Romano-British Civitates – including the armies of Vortigern, Ambrosius and the Bretons.

The British and Welsh Kingdoms – including the kingdoms of Gododdin, Gwynedd, Strathclyde and Dumnonia.

The Saxons – including Saxon raiders as well as the kingdoms of the Heptarchy.

The Franks – the armies of the early Merovingians.

The Picts – including the Northern and Southern Picts, and the enigmatic Attecotti.

The Scots-Irish – including Irish raiders and the kingdoms of Dalriada and Ireland.

There is also a section on wargaming Arthur in history for those who wish to use the great hero in their armies! Accompanying each of the army lists are suggestions for collecting, painting and wargaming with the various armies that fought in Dark Age Briton.

Other resources include a full colour section portraying the armies of the time and a wealth of illustrations and maps.

This book contains 15 exciting scenarios and two full campaigns – Mount Badon and the Raiding Season – to help you recreate the atmosphere of early medieval warfare – The Age of Arthur.

Pendraken 10mm late Roman

 "We've added painted images to our full Late Roman range, sculpted by Clibinarium and painted by Chris Grau!  Head over and take a look here: 

https://www.pendraken.co.uk/late-roman-547-c.asp "

Armae late Roman helmets

 Here for a fine range of helmets. Prices seem good. 

King Arthur Man or Myth

 This 2020 book by the same author as the below title. The good news is my library has a copy.

The book is an investigation of the evidence for King Arthur based on the earliest written sources rather than later myths and legends. The evidence is laid out in a chronological order starting from Roman Britain and shows how the legend evolved and at what point concepts such as Camelot, excalibur and Merlin were added. It covers the historical records from the end of Roman Britain using contemporary sources such as they are, from 400-800, including Gallic Chronicles, Gildas and Bede. It details the first written reference to Arthur in the Historia Brittonum c800 and the later Annales Cambriae in the tenth century showing the evolution of the legend in in later Welsh and French stories. The work differs from other books on the subject in not starting from or aiming at a specific person. It compares the possibility of Arthur being purely fictional with an historical figure alongside a list of possible suspects. The evidence is presented and the reader is invited to make up their own mind before a discussion of the Author's own assessment

The Early Anglo-Saxon Kings Tony Sullivan

 On Amazon.

The Early Anglo-Saxon Kings takes a new look at the adventus Saxonum, the arrival of the Saxons, recorded in the earliest literary sources. As the Roman provincial structure fragmented, new cultural identities emerged. In fifth century Britain whatever sense of pax Romana remained gave way to a war-band culture which dominated both Brythonic and Germanic peoples. Villas left abandoned were replaced by the mead-hall. These halls now rang with the songs and poems of bards and scops. Tales of famous battles such as mons Badonicus and Cattraeth filled the air. Out of the ashes of the former Roman diocese new kingdoms emerged. One major factor was the settlement of significant numbers of Germanic peoples in Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. The first kings of these peoples are shrouded in legends and myth, such as the leaders of the first group of mercenaries, Hengest and Horsa, as well as Ælle of the South Saxons, Cerdic and Cynric and later Ceawlin of Wessex. The book takes the reader from the early-fifth century through to the mid-seventh century and the death of the last great pagan Anglo-Saxon king, Penda of Mercia. An entertaining journey across the landscape of Britain in search of battle-sites and burial-mounds, this book brings to life the world that produced Y Gododdin and Beowulf; a world that saw warlords and kings carve out new kingdoms from the carcass of post-Roman Britain.

Another image from Vergilius Romanus

 Source

Tunic 5th to 7th century from the Metropolitan Museum

" Tunics, worn by all levels of society, were the standard form of dress in Egypt and throughout the Mediterranean world in the Byzantine period. The neck opening of this tunic fragment is exquisitely decorated with finely detailed motifs embroidered into the whole. Extending front to back are clavi (bands) of double-headed axe heads alternating with floral motifs – pinecones extend onto the shoulders. The tunic is said to have come from Panopolis, a center of textile production in Egypt named for the classical god Pan, a member of the wine god Dionysos’ s retinue. The motifs may have been auspicious or related to the cult of Dionysos. The pinecones, representing prosperity and fertility, topped the god’s thyrsus, or staff. The double-headed axe was a symbol of Herakles, another associate of the god. "