Nev's Wargaming

Anglo-Saxon warriors advance towards the Danish forces at Ashdown, 871 AD Having decided on the battle of Ashdown, it was time to begin researching the battle. I am going to research the battle, learn the history and work out what I need to recreate the battle on the tabletop. Myfirst port of call was to consult the Shieldwall book for Hail Caesar  which has a nice section and scenario for the battle of Ashdown. The next thing I decided to consult was some contemporary accounts of the battle. Forttunatealy for me, my son had bought me Asser,s Life of King Alfred and Anglo-Saxon Chronicle  for Christmas (how did I get through my University days without copies of them?), now I am fully aware of the bias behind these sources as one was written by Alfred the Great some years later and the other was written as a biography of Alfred's life. The research begins in the Cave I realised quickly that this research was not just about learning about the battle of Ashdown...

Anglo-Danes make a desperate stand against the fury of a Jomsviking attack in a game of Saga: Age of Vikings Wargaming is a hobby where things can change very quickly, especially in the Fantasy and Science-Fiction genres, you work on one force for one game and a new edition is out or a an updated army book, complete with models that only have new rules in the new books. I know that these companies need to make money to survive, but new editions of games were, in my opinion arriving far too frequently, andd for me, too hard to keep up with. Another problem I had encountered was all my old wargaming adversaries had moved onto games I had little or no interest in or had left the hobby altogether. I have spent the last year assessing my hobby and carefully planning in which direction to head in with it. Saga Top row, Left to right: The  Book of Battles, Saga core Rulebook, The Age of Vikings,  Bottom row, Left to right: Anglo-Dane Battle board, Saxon Saga dice T...