By the late 8th century the Welsh had been pushed back to the area of the modern principality and the south west of England (Dumonia). Wales itself was made up of a number of small princedoms although for short periods they would be unified under a successful leader such as Hywel Dda. Originally Romano-British in outlook by the late 8th century they had reverted back to something closer to the military organisation and tactics of the tribal societies who had replaced the Romans throughout Western Europe. Each Welsh King had a small band of personal retainers and relied on the land owners (Uchelwyr) to raise their own retainers (Teula) for military service. Kings seem to have had a military house hold of around 50 men but may have hired mercenaries to boost numbers. A Teula may have been a unit of 300, but given the fixation in early Welsh literature with multiples of the number three that can't be guaranteed. There was also a unit called a nifer which may have been a subdivision of a Teula or it may have been an alternative name for the same thing. What we can tell is that the welsh were never able to field huge forces and small raiding forces of between 50 and 300 would have been the norm. These would have been drawn from the Uchelwyr and their retainers and service by bondsmen tied to the land seems to have been rare.
Period accounts speak of their raiding over Offa's Dyke in hit and run attacks. There was some use of light cavalry for scouting but the bulk of their forces were infantry. These are described as fearsome in the initial charge but liable to fade away from a determined resistance. They would precede their charge with showers of javelins but were only a serious threat to a shield wall if it broke. They were fleet footed and little slowed by rough terrain and often based tactics on the use of that terrain to disadvantage more closely formed foot.
This suggests that they were not fighting in close order bodies themselves but were more akin to what the old WRG ancients rules termed Light Medium Infantry (LMI). DBA 3.0 treats them as Warband, DBMM as fast warband and ADLG as MI sword. Personally I'm not fully convinced by the ADLG definition and feel that they could be better represented by using LMI Javelinmen as the standard type but giving an option to upgrade to MI Sword.
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| Welsh Infantry or Moors in disguise perhaps? |
No one does figures specifically for Welsh viking age figures in 6mm so its back to looking for a good proxy. I have chosen to use Baccus Moorish Infantry as these are nicely animated in a variety of poses that suits the less regimented style of combat formations I imagine these troops to have fought in. Phil Barker suggests the Welsh troops of this period were armed with swords and targets so there may be an option to use Irregular Miniatures Scots Irish swordsmen figures for them. For their mounted troops I have used the ever popular Gothic Medium Cavalry from Baccus 6mm's Roman Range.
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| Uchelwyr (No I can't pronounce it either) |
They give opposition to and a different tactical style to the Anglo-Saxon and Viking forces which form the bulk of the forces in play during the period. I just need more of them so I can field a decent force and probably some sheep and cattle for them to steal!
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