TABLETOP EARLY MEDIEVAL BRITISH BATTLES REVISITED THE 603 BATTLE OF DEGSASTAN

In spring 1983, a precocious and overambitious eighteen-year-old (i.e. me) discovered a new wargames magazine called Miniature Wargames. Sitting down at his dad's Olivetti typewriter, he excitedly wrote up the scenario for Degsastan. The article seemed well received and its author went on to write a seven-part series on British early medieval battles. Forty years on, now a grizzled, semi-retired professor of early medieval history, I'm revisiting those battles in the light of developments both in historical thinking and in tabletop wargaming.

By Guy Halsall

Everything we know about Degsastan can be written on half a side of paper, if that. According to Bede's Ecclesiastical History, the king of 'the Scots in Britain' (the Dál Riada), Áedán mac Gabráin, became alarmed at the victorious wars and conquests of Æthelfrith, king of Bernicia (the northern of the two Northumbrian kingdoms), and led an army against him. Æthelfrith, however, defeated (and killed almost all of) the Scottish army at a place called 'Degsa's Stone'. So devastating was the battle, said Bede, that since then no king of the Scots had dared to attack the Northumbrians again. However, Theodbald, Æthelfrith's brother, was killed "with all his army". The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle added that "Hering son of Hussa led the army thither". Hussa was, according to king-lists, Æthelfrith's precursor possibly…

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Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy (Digital) - 1 Issue, WSS 125

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