Inspiring Vikings: Clare Downham's Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland

It was my privilege to take the lead on the Viking theme for Wargames Illustrated #270. I got to push ideas for the article contents and write a few of them as well. When asked if I would like to write something for the Viking Age, I immediately agreed and decided to offer something that I have not really seen in a wargames magazine before - a frank review of the Norse activity in Ireland taken from political and martial perspectives and put into context of their relationship with Viking, Scottish, English, etc. kingdoms in Britain. 

The introductory article I wrote would not have been the same without Clare Downham's Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland.  She does a lot to untangle the dynastic threads that the Dublin Norse wove throughout Ireland and northern Britain. Her book even has an ultra-cool appendix which lists personalities and their relevant notations in the various annals of the period.