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Introduction The next episode of my attempts to revisit the British early medieval battles I wrote about in Miniature Wargames between 1983 and 1986 will be about the battle of Nechtansmere in 685. Since the 1980s there have been two whole books on this battle. Interest in Pictish history and (especially) archaeology has blossomed since … Continue reading
Máel Umai Most of the issues I discuss here are ones I am currently trying to get my head around. The evidence and the technical issues are far from straightforward so treat all of the following as provisional (by which I mean possibly wrong)! And lo, thus it came to pass. I have rewritten quite … Continue reading
The new issue (no.125) of Wargames: Soldiers and Strategy contains the first article I have written for a wargames magazine for about 20 years. It is a return to the first article I ever wrote, which appeared in Miniature Wargames no.3, exactly (give or take a couple of months) 40 years ago, on the battle … Continue reading
I came across this picture today. It is a rather lovely archaeological drawing of a ‘phalera’ from Seengen in the Aargau (Switzerland) showing a horseman rather like the better known one from the Isola Rizza dish. He has a helmet and armour reaching to the knees. This sort of kit is pretty well known in … Continue reading
Myths of the Huns Not about WWI, before you ask… Some of you may be interested in this, although it’s not about wargames. There was a recent issue of Wargames Illustrated that trotted out most of the usual guff about Huns (largely because it was written by a couple of the ‘usual suspects’), including their … Continue reading
In a rather good article in the last Wargames Illustrated (I think) Barry Hilton talks about the embarrassment of admitting that you dabble in the dark art of wargaming. (As a friend and former wargamer once said: ‘A paedophile? Thank God! For a minute, there, I thought you were going to tell me you were a … Continue reading
Some nice words from James Palmer (of the University of St Andrews) on the subject of my book can be found here. I think he’s very satisfyingly got the point of what I was trying to do and why it matters. There are a couple of nice reviews, too on Amazon and US Amazon (although, since they don’t pay their … Continue reading
Here is a useful discussion of the picture of a ‘fifth-century’ cataphract that I posted some time ago. Lots of useful points and links. I must admit that I did just take the date on trust from the museum card but late antique archaeology in Lyon is pretty good. I can say that the ‘plus min’ … Continue reading
… But the rule set’s title is emblematic of the long-standing idea that the phrase dux bellorum, which appears in the (in)famous chapter 56 of the Historia Brittonum (the so-called Battle-List of Arthur) is a title. ‘War duke’ suggests Dan Mersey in the book and an interview in the glossies. It isn’t a title; it … Continue reading
My latest thoughts on late antique warfare, politics and ideology can be found on my other blog, here: http://600transformer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-decline-and-fall-of-ancient-triumph.html?spref=fb
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