BADON HILL c. 500 - v1.0
by Chris Jackson

Symbol Set required - Master 1

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Battle of Badon Hill, or Mount Badon, or Mons Badonicus, marks the 
halt of the Saxon advance westward through Britain as well as the greatest
victory of the historical Arthur.

Since around the mid-fifth century, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes (from modern-
day Denmark and northern Germany) sailed across the North Sea, up the Thames 
and Humber rivers to the green, rolling inland plains of Britain.
Ever since the demise of the Roman Empire, local tribes of the Britons, 
now left on their own, had fought among one another and were vulnerable to
barbarian and pirate attacks. As a result, the Teutonic invaders had 
little trouble driving the Britons further and further westward. Dropped
into this picture is the semilegendary figure of Arthur, King of the Britons.

Later romantic inventions of Arthurian Legend aside, there are very few 
facts and much debate of who the historical Arthur (b. c.465) was, and if he
even existed at all (though a revival of his name in the sixth century does 
suggest an Arthur had become a national hero recently). It is not even 
certain if he was really a king, he may have just been a warlord leading a 
contingent of Britons united to fight the invaders. Nennius, a Welsh monk of
the early ninth century, credits Arthur with twelve victories in the 480s-
490s, Badon being his final and greatest.

Sixth-century biographer Gildas wrote about Badon when it was still within
living memory, and most translations of his dating system puts the battle
in the late 490's or early 500s (though other interpretations put it as late
as 518). He records that the Britons had won a great victory over the Saxons 
at the siege of Mount Badon, the climax of a conflict that began when 
Ambrosius Aurelianus (who had been fighting the invasion since the 460s)
began a counter-attack against the Saxons. Gildas does not name the 
commander at Badon - later tradition places Arthur there. 

The leader of the West Saxons that day was Cerdic, a name that while not
legendary, would also grow more significant in years to come. He had landed 
at Southampton Water in 495 and had been gradually bringing other Saxon 
groups under his own command.

The details of the battle and its location are also up for speculation. 
"Mount Badon" seems to refer to a hill-fort, with Badbury Rings in Dorset
being a leading candidate. Others include Badbury in Wiltshire and one of
the hills near Bath. Gildas speaks of a siege, but it is unknown who was 
beseiging whom, though it seems likely that the Britons were the ones on 
the defensive, with the victory coming in some kind of sortie or relief 
operation. The Britons are said to have had a large cavalry element, while 
the Saxons all fought on foot. Most of the Saxon casualties were caused by 
the cavalry. There are no records of numbers, but according to Nennius, 
Arthur personally killed 960 enemies in one charge!

Whatever the details of the battle or whether Arthur was present or not,
Mount Badon's effect was immediate. There was no more Saxon expansion for 
half a century, even possible withdrawl in places. Since it is impossible 
that a single battle of the time could break the whole Saxon war capacity, 
Badon seems to have been more of a psychological than a military victory. The 
Saxons returned to their established territory, where Cerdic founded Wessex 
and reigned as its first king. The Britons had won a respite, but merely 
delayed their own demise as their Roman-derived civilisation would continue 
to decay and be unable to resist further Saxon attacks in the generations to 
come.


SOURCES

Mercer, Derrik, ed. "Chronicle of the World". New York: Dorling Kindersley,
1996.

Perrett, Bryan. "The Battle Book". New York: Arms and Armour Press, 1992.

"The New Arthurian Encyclopedia". Norris J. Lacy, ed. New York: Garland
Publishing, 1991.


BATTLE NOTES

In 425 the last recorded composition of the Roman military presence in 
Britain had two thirds of the army comprised of cavalry. Since the Britons
were said to have a large cavalry element at the battle that was the figure
I used (when the Britons were left to themselves they continued to use the
Roman model for their army). The Saxons have almost twice as many men, a
higher overall morale and better armor ratings, but are still in for a tough
fight. The Britons move first so they will capture the objective first, and
they will have to take a real pounding before they'll give it up. They may 
take a higher percentage of casualties than the Saxons at first, but if they
can stick it out the Saxons will lose morale and start to desert in droves.

I indulged myself and let King Arthur be a very powerful fighter tailored to 
do tons of damage, but go ahead and lower his combat rating if you want.
Even as it stands, using him too aggressively is dangerous; he's good for
maybe one or two devastating attacks until the Saxons can start really 
grinding him down with their superior numbers. But as the Saxon player it's 
important to not squander your forces too much; in a grinding battle of 
attrition, your morale will drop faster than the Britons'. 

When the computer tries to play, it has that same old problem of not being in
much of a hurry to move into the battle zone. Not much I know of to do that 
could fix that problem.
 
- Chris Jackson
September 14, 1999