A month out...really?

My apologies for the readers who regularly make a trip to the blog to see what new topic I've decided to ramble on about recently. Next week I will post a few things - touching upon a number of topics.

And yeah - still wrestling with the Dark Age Warriors (ca 6th Century) in wargaming mentioned in the last blog post. Offhand, I'd have to say Armati has given me some inspiration, but no definite answers.

Check It Out: Halsall's Battle in the Early Medieval West

I haven't made much time for the blog in recent weeks, but I thought I would share something with you that I recently read on Guy Halsall's blog, Historian on the Edge.

I took my time and enjoyed reading Guy's post of Battle in the Early Medieval West. He describes the piece as an unpublished entry submitted for an "Encyclopaedia of Classical Battle or some such." If you have not read Halsall's Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West c.450-900, then this is a great place to start. This piece really re-energized my love for the period after spending quite a bit of time researching, playing, and writing about other military subjects.

I think I am just starting to grasp how differently this period was from Roman Imperial Europe and the Late Medieval West. I mean, I thought that Dark Age warfare was different, but only in a rather superficial way for the most part - ie. not like Late Medieval warfare. As one might expect from Halsall, he challenges the idea that the military trip(s) from Point A (Late Antiquity) to Point B (Late Medieval) are smooth or that they can be interpolated simply by looking at data from better recorded periods.

How does this apply to wargaming? Well, right now I think I'm going to let that swim about in the back of my mind for a bit. I can kind of see pieces of how one could adapt rules to capture at least some aspects of Dark Age warfare, at least in regards to army list stats/abilities of certain types of armies. Try this - take a good look at how Halsall describes 6th Century weaponry and combat, and see if you can build a tabletop unit that moves and fights in the way described. Of course, this is just part of Dark Age warfare - there's also the matter of command and control and tactics. I'm looking forward to revisiting this subject later.

Coming Up: "Rethinking 'Saxon' Wargaming"

Wargames Illustrated published a refreshing article to challenge the perception and tabletop interpretation of  Saxon armies in Issue 282. I'm hardly the expert to tell you what's right and what's wrong with how game rules treat the Saxons - or any of their Dark Age allies and enemies - but I love to read this kind of thing.

The author, Ryan Lavelle, made quite a few references to a favorite author around here - Guy Halsall. Specifically, he mentions Halsall's Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West c.450-900 - which I found to be an enlightening book that I ought to go back and read again (I can't believe it's been four years). I highly recommend it - it made for some interesting changes in thought I had on the period - and I don't think I grasped all that it offered.

In a later post I'll actually make some comments on the "Rethinking 'Saxon' Wargaming" article itself.

Brunanburh Online

In case you missed my take on Brunanburh (the epic clash between Anglo-Saxons and a Norse Dublin/Scots alliance in 937) from a gaming perspective in Wargames Illustrated last spring, WI has posted it online as a PDF.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle certainly gives us the impression the battle was truly a clash a mighty armies, and I have no reason to disagree. That said, we have very little reliable information on army strengths or even the battle's location. Of course, the Norse sagas offer all kinds of details that have more to do telling a good story than offering anything like historical facts.

Well, don't let that keep you from bringing a couple of hordes of late Dark Age types to the tabletop and giving the game a go. 

The Brunanburh article appeared in WI 271. If you are interested in the other bits I wrote on the Dublin Norse, check out WI 270 (cover pictured right).

The Rus in Dragon and Dungeon

My first published works appeared in Dragon #290 and Dungeon #89. Dragon contained the historical campaign setting "Red Sails," which focused on the history, mythology, and monsters of Eastern Europe of the Dark Ages (ca 600-1100 AD), but focused on Viking Age Russia. I submitted the first draft opus (hard copy by mail!) in September 1999, right before we went to see The 13th Warrior at the theater - seemed very appropriate. I did get a bit of a bad feeling when I saw the advertisements for 3rd Edition D&D in the August issue of Dragon magazine though. A revision and a few editors later, the setting hit the shelves in October 2001. 

Chris Perkins encouraged me to write a supporting adventure for the setting, and I submitted "Rivers of Blood," which I originally titled "Blood on the Steppes." I suppose Perkins made the call on the better name.  The adventure takes place in 9th/10th Century Russia, with the player characters taking sides of a vendetta between competing chieftains - complete with a slave raid, a dangerous river journey, sacred pools, a kidnapping hag, and a fortified market town.

Age of Arthur: Dragon #257 and #263

While taking a few months off from work while taking care of our newborn in the summer of 1999, I queried Dragon Magazine about doing a campaign setting for Arthurian Britain. Editor Dave Gross advised me that it was a great idea - and that they had published Ian Malcolmson's "The Dark Ages" a few months earlier in Dragon #257(pictured right - cover art by Roger Raupp, who did another Arthurian theme cover for Dragon a decade earlier). This is the kind of thing that happens when you don't have a subscription... I did intrigue Dave Gross with another historical campaign idea - but more on that in another post. In the meantime I searched out what I believe must have been the last issue in Atlanta. 

The article offered great advice for modifying the D&D classes through the use of the 2nd Edition-style "kits" so players could assume the role of Saxon thegns, Romano-British horsemen, and clergy. Also, if the players wanted a little more fantasy in their game, the article listed appropriate monsters and the like. 

Malcolmson also wrote a follow-up piece regarding Saxon mythology which appeared in Dragon #263 that fall. It was pretty cool too; readers got to see older and somewhat creepier versions of the gods that appear in the Icelandic sagas.

Coming Up: Dark Ages in Dungeons & Dragons

This week on the blog I'm going to take a look at some of my favorite articles from Dragon magazine which either helped players get closer to a historical setting or bring historical warriors and weapons to their games. My first articles to see publication fall in this category and I'll give some anecdotes on them as well. In the meantime, enjoy the cover from TSR's Greyhawk Wars game, which used Roger Raupp's cover art from Dragon #125. It features Raupp's vision of the showdown between Arthur and Merdraut at Camlann.