The Kingdom of Aethelbald the Totally Bald
The West Angles or Wangles were a late arrival in Britain,
taking up residence in the cold and frankly rather nasty marshes to the west of
the River Trent, land which in reality nobody else wanted. Modern scholars locate the Kingdom of the
West Angles somewhere between modern day Scunthorpe and Doncaster, an area which even today few would describe as pleasant. History has in the main ignored the West
Angles, as did most of their neighbours.
The King, Aethelbald the Really Bald was descended from
Aethelbrow, son of Aethelchin, son of Aethelnose, the Original Settler. The Mercians, East Angles and Northumbrians scrupulously
failed to notice the presence of this small Kingdom, being too polite to
mention them in source material.
Aethelbald made his capital in the small fortified town of Scun’s Thorpe.
His nobles occupied the villages surrounding this to the West. The old Roman fort of Donceaster was occupied by his son Aethelear Sore Ears.
The Wangle Chronicle of St Swinehelm's monastery uses dates based on the
founding of the Kingdom, and can confuse unwary scholars, however it has been
postulated that the reign of Aethelbald began around 820AD and at the time of
the Viking attacks he had ruled for some twenty years.
The Ase Vikings
Ase Red Faced earned his sobriquet due to his florid complexion
and huge drinkers nose. Jarl Arse enjoyed
a following of five ships crews, and his
retainers included the nobles, Balder Canute, Dah Egil and Finn. The alphabetic nature of the names of these leaders was later seized
upon by zealous monks to indicate that Ase was some sort of evil devil spawned sorcerer,
but the truth was that the Vikings didn`t really understand this or even actually notice.
Finn, one of his most mistrusted captains and a man who had
a passion for beating monks, commanded the (Levy) dregs of the force, but
the remainder of Ase`s men and leaders were of quite reasonable quality.
According to Ase`s Saga he attacked the West Angles during his third Viking Cruise to Britain, along with the Chronicle it represents the primary source material for serious students of the period. Conversely however the infamous X rated Movie "Ase against the Wangles" does not cover these historical events at all, but oddly enough does include a passionate monk beating scene. Copies are difficult to obtain, but a postal order to Mr Quilp, care of the Pelton Home for Aged Wargamers would probably be successful.
Unit leader. 20. Armoured.
13 Unarmoured. 8 Levy. 3 Berserker. 10
Cavalry unit leader. 20 Armoured cavalry. 15 Unarmoured
cavalry. 9
Skirmisher base. 8
Vikings
|
Number of bases
|
Composition
|
Points
|
General Ase Red Faced
|
(1 base)
|
0
|
|
Unit #1
Balder
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 1 beserker, 3 Armoured,
2 Unarmoured, 1 Levy
|
20 10 39 16 3
=88
|
Unit #2
Canute
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 1 beserker, 3 Armoured,
2 Unarmoured, 1 Levy
|
20 10 39 16 3
=88
|
Unit #3
Dag
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 1 beserker, 3 Armoured,
2 Unarmoured, 1 Levy
|
20 10 39 16 3
=88
|
Unit #4
Egil
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 4 Unarmoured, 3 Levy
|
20 32 9
= 61
|
Unit 5#
Finn
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 7 Levy
|
20 21 =41
|
2 Skirmisher units
|
2 +2 bases
|
4 Skirmisher
|
16+16 =32
|
TOTAL
398
|
Saxons
|
Number of bases
|
Composition
|
Points
|
General Aethelbald the Really
Bald
|
(1 base)
|
0
|
|
Unit #1 Bron
|
6 bases
|
Leader, 5 Armoured,
|
20, 65 = 85
|
Unit #2 Ceatta
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 1 Champion, 3 Armoured,
2 Unarmoured, 1 Levy
|
20 10 39 16 3
=88
|
Unit #3 Durwyn
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 1 Champion, 3 Armoured,
2 Unarmoured, 1 Levy
|
20 10 39 16 3
=88
|
Unit #4 Eadbehrt
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 3 Unarmoured, 4 Levy
|
20 24 12 =66
|
Unit 5# Fecca
|
8 bases
|
Leader, 7 Levy
|
20 21 =41
|
2 Skirmisher units
|
2+2 bases
|
4 Skirmisher
|
16 +16=32
|
TOTAL
400
|
That's a lot of Levy figures. I quickly realised that I just hadn't bought anywhere near enough to fill out 26 bases of Levy between these two armies. Still I don't have any great respect for Levy, so in 15mm I used a single peasant on a base to represent them.
I'm well aware that 130 figures would look better than 26 on those bases but hey, my hand luggage weighed in heavily as it was. I will add the extra figures later if I decide it doesn't look right...
As of today these two armies are cleaned and based. Next up some long painting sessions!
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