Alfred's Last Battle
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ALFRED’SANGLO-SAXONS LAST AND VIKINGS ON THE COAST OF WESSEX, 896AD BATTLE By Prof. Ryan Lavelle ‘last stand’ for Alfred the Great. Although A short but detailed entry in the annals of the West Saxon kingdom WEBSITE SUPPORT of Alfred the Great (871-99 AD), the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for the we do not know whether Alfred himself year 896 is a rare record of an early medieval naval battle, providing took part in or observed the engagement, If you are interested in playing out Alfred’s Last Battle (and hopefully after we can but wonder. This was the last an account of the fi rst outing of ships built according to an innovative reading this article you will be!), you will fi nd all the game components on the known detailed account of actions in his WI website, ready to be downloaded to your computer-come-printer. Anglo-Saxon design. reign, in a year when, the Anglo-Saxon You will fi nd: The Map Board, Ship Counters, Deck Plans and Bonus and Rest Chronicle tells us, no less than twenty Counters - everything you need to play - apart from the miniatures I’m afraid! Twice as long as other ships, and higher, famous Anglo-Saxon king, the fi rst outing ships and their crews perished on the they were apparently built in a new of these vessels was a bit of a failure. south coast of England. fashion that followed neither of the Being higher and longer also made the Research for my book on Anglo-Saxon standard Danish or Frisian designs of ships unwieldy when handled close to warfare in the age of the Vikings, Alfred’s the day. In an age when naval warfare shore. The Chronicle tells us that all of Wars, led me to develop an unhealthy involved the ability to board the enemy the English ships, in a fl otilla of nine, interest in early medieval naval warfare. ships or force them onto the shore, being became grounded, and although some I’m struck by the attention given to higher up and in a longer vessel was a were freed, half of the Danish vessels ships in later Anglo-Saxon sources: big key advantage. Unfortunately for the they were pursuing escaped, though two vessels, rowed by some 60 men (our were later captured and their crews hung ‘classic’ Viking vessel, found at Gokstad in Winchester. A Pyrrhic victory, then, in Norway, had 32 oar-ports). Though it showing the limits of the Anglo-Saxon seems likely that the sort of grand ship ships’ performance. It is a measure of the fl aunted by Anglo-Saxon nobles in the reputation of Alfred the Great that this Tenth and Eleventh Centuries owed a last recorded encounter of his reign hasn’t great deal to Scandinavian designs (think coloured our perception of him (and the ‘Sea Stallion from Glendalough’, indeed, on the basis of the Anglo-Saxon the enormous reconstructed longship Chronicle’s account, many Victorian which recently recreated a voyage and later authors considered Alfred as from Denmark to Dublin), the slightly the founder of the Royal Navy). So, in earlier Alfredian ships, though probably a way, while for the Vikings this was an equally large, were probably designed encounter ‘against the odds’, this was a differently. We don’t hear much about 116 Alfreds last stand.indd 2 14/08/2012 12:28 this sort of ship after 896, and even Dorset, it worked Tenth-Century sources which refl ected beautifully. The on Alfred’s rule don’t say much about Chronicler evidently them. I do wonder if there was a bit of knew what he was embarrassment for some (it does make describing and me think of the British TOG tank designs Magoun could of 1939-40, which bear little comparison have made a good with the more successful British tanks wargamer. I guess of WW2). Still, as can be seen from the if you could survive accompanying extract of the Anglo-Saxon a year’s worth of 410 - 1066 - 1066 410 Chronicle, the details are interesting WW1 aerial combat, DARKAGES and the encounter described has always working out what had me thinking about how it might be ship was where and recreated as a wargame. when from a piece of writing from over We’re hampered in many ways by the a millennium before fact that we don’t know where the battle was probably took place. In Alfred’s Wars I stuck my a doddle. neck on the block by suggesting that the events could have taken place in Still, with feet Map showing the likely Poole Harbour, though to be honest, planted closer to location of the battle. there are many locations where the battle the ground what I might have taken place. An article by wanted to do was that large-scale naval battle that has an American fl ying ace turned medieval to incorporate the naval elements of the always been in the back of my mind. linguist and literary specialist, the game in a 28mm wargame. The ideal The point of the encounter in 896, in fantastically-named Francis Peabody way? Well, a mega-game, of course. common, I suspect, with a number of Magoun, published in 1941 was an Get a massive table, a slightly larger other naval battles of the period, was to inspiration for me in considering this. I hall or marquee, along with a dozen or force the enemy to battle by conventional got permission to reprint the entire (short) so 28mm ships, get modelling and get means of hackin’ ‘n’ slashin’. This did article in my book, and the ideas in it gaming. Well, few of us, especially not not necessarily have to have been at repay consideration. Prof. Magoun never me, have recourse to such things or the sea. In fact, an Anglo-Saxon strategy time it would require. I obtained a plastic tried to tie the events to any particular seems to have been to fi ght the crews of model of a Viking ship, produced by location, but he was skilled in working the opposition on land. So the thinking Revell (now reissued, I gather) which out from the cryptic Old English of the behind this is to have a game operating I converted to waterline some years Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which ship was at two levels: one with the strategic referred to. And, when I tried to apply ago, and still haven’t quite fi nished it. moves on a board, while at another level, Magoun’s methodology to a specifi c Maybe it will be fi nished by Wargames a straightforward miniatures game. A place, suggesting Poole Harbour, a Illustrated’s 600th issue, but looking at natural harbour in the English county of it again gave me food for thought about campaign in an evening, if you like. WEBSITE SUPPORT If you are interested in playing out Alfred’s Last Battle (and hopefully after reading this article you will be!), you will fi nd all the game components on the WI website, ready to be downloaded to your computer-come-printer. You will fi nd: The Map Board, Ship Counters, Deck Plans and Bonus and Rest .net Counters - everything you need to play - apart from the miniatures I’m afraid! 117 Alfreds last stand.indd 3 16/08/2012 17:22 PREPARING TO PLAY RULES OF ENGAGEMENT I have tried to consider how the map game will fi t with an existing set of Keep the miniatures game at the forefront DESIGN PHILOSOPHY miniatures rules. Shock horror (!), I’m here rather than thinking of the game as So, how to incorporate a board game type still pretty fond of the Warhammer solely a boardgame (although rejigging of encounter with a minis game and still Ancient Battles (WAB) 1st edition. I it as a boardgame or, with a little fi nish the game before the bar closes and suspect I would be fond of the 2nd judicious redesign, a naval game with remain friends? edition, too, but still haven’t been able to 1/1200 miniatures isn’t impossible). The fi nd a copy for less than £30, and I guess map-game is a supplement to a tabletop The ‘rules’, such as these are, are sketchy, that is the same for many gamers. So the miniatures game. It uses counters to and will not allow for every encounter. suggestions here are for incorporating the represent ships and a multi-part hex map/ If you have a good group of friends you game within a standard Old Skool WAB board which can be downloaded from the can probably work these through and set-up. Wargames Illustrated website. modify for other circumstances, including other early medieval naval battles (‘naval The main point is to consider the The map-based game runs at a speed of battle’ against William the Conqueror off movement of the counters on the hex one turn per two miniatures game phases, the coast of Essex, anyone? There is a board as part of the phase of a miniatures so you can bring additional forces to bear smidge of evidence in the Anglo-Saxon game, following a UGO-IGO phase on a shore encounter if necessary, just as Chronicle and Domesday Book to suggest order (so, if you’re not using WAB, make could have happened in a Ninth-Century that something happened in the spring sure your minis rules follow this sort of encounter. If you have enough tables, of 1066...). They are not designed as an phasing).