The chance discovery was made, the book was bought and lifetime passion followed. It was a golden moment really.
Anyway, my mind was immediately thrown back to that time, when today I visited a book shop, not really looking for anything and I just browsed the military shelf .... which NEVER has wargaming material.
But ..... today and I really did have to do a double take, as I couldn't believe my luck, the book spine said The Wargamers Guide to DARK AGE BRITAIN by Marin Hackett and published by Amberley.
This has a publication date of 2013 and had completely passed me by.
With my 1066 project up and running, this just has to be the best running mate that chance could have brought me.
At 284 pages, it has a wargame set of rules, information about the period and then each Dark Age battle is given 2 or 3 pages with a schematic diagram of the essential elements of terrain and troop deployment.
Here are some chapter headings;
Dark Age Warfare
Dark Age Armies
Britons Alone
The Saxon Kingdoms' Struggle for England
The Saxons Plateau and the Heathens Arrive
The Making of England
1066: The Year of Three Kings and Three Battles
Rebellion 1066 to 1070
Not only will there be a treasure trove for me to mine here, but I was conscious that my two Hastings armies were unlikely to get a lot of use outside of the 1066 time frame. However, by adding a Viking army, which I would want to do anyway at some point from Stamford Bridge 1066, the door opens on a wide variety of battles that the figures from the three armies could be deployed to, with just a small amount of proxy assistance.
Anyway a really enjoyable find.
RESOURCE SECTION
First update post on the 1066 project LINK
http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/1066-hastings-initial-project-update.html