Without having been to the continent Of Europe, it seems to me that a mal paradise for ancient and mediaeval gamers; has to be the UK and heland. Recently I returned from a second visit over there and still have many more interesting things to see as well as favorites to see again. A visit to this part of the world provides a real treat to sec those persons and places which you've read about but never saw before. You'll get inspired to complete old projects and doubless come away with at least one new army which you've just got to try out now. You'll also discover answers to old questions like "how do I paint this?" If you're convinced, what follows is a series of reflections on places I've been to and enjoyed.

London

Taking London as the first stop after landing at Heathrow, you should allow for several hours and perhaps a whole day for trying to view the great treasure house of Great Russell Square, namely the British Museum. A recent survey still ranks it as one of this country's leading tourist attractions. Describing it would, take volumes of print. It's the sort of Museum I last encountered in the Smithsonian Museums, if there's ever something which you always wanted to see then it's probably there on display. After any visit the eyes, feet and mind all get quite pleasantly and thoroughly overloaded.

Someday, hopefully, when the new British Library's automated book retrieval system stops eating them and merely selects them, then the Library will vacate part of the building leaving more room for more displays.

First time visitors here are easy to spot by their glazed expressions and plaintive cries of "are there any antiquities left anywhere else in the world?" This state usually comes after seeing the incredible Egyptian and Assyrian holdings, Besides the treasures everybody must see, like the Rosetta Stone, the Portland Vase, and Lindisfarne Gospels. There are plenty of fascinating items for war gamers. For one thing you can see items from peoples like the Palmyrans whom you might have only readabout. For another there are plenty of wonderful things to see. Like, please excuse my imperial Roman bias, statues of Augustus' wife Livia and Septimius Severus or a fourth century AD set of ceremonial crocodile armor from an auxilia unit in Egypt. Last but not least there is an excellent book store. They also have a wide variety of interesting replicas for sale too. Highly recommended.

Also in London is of course, the Tower of London which dates back to the Roman garrison of Londinium. In October 1992, the Royal Armorics had an excellent exhibit of weapons and armor in the White Tower which is well worth seeing. This is due to move to Leeds to a much larger display area though. ff you like the sometimes messy and gorcy but never dull details of mediaevaland termaisance English history, this is a must see spot. Also if you can apply beforehand, you might get tickets to watch the 700 year old ceremonial locking up ofthe Tower for the night. The night I was there, the King's Regiment did the honors.

As a general hint, major tourist attractions like the Tower is best seen if you can manage it off season. Even then be prepared for groups of students on field trips. You can't miss these as they are usually clutching some type of clipboard and frantically trying to find certain things on display to meet some curriculum-specified learning expertence. I asked a ticket seller in York if students ever just got a chance to look at museums and was told, with a moderate degree of indignation, "sir, this is supposed to be an educational experience."

Another interesting place to visit is the Museum of London. This has beautifully-displayed artifacts, quite excellent dioramas like the Roman docks, and reconstructed rooms such as a rather cozy Roman banqueting room which was typical of the good and wealthy life of Londoinium. There's even an excavated Roman wall to see. If your companion isn't interested in ancient or mediaeval history, there are equally attractive displays from other periods such as Victorian, Edwardian, and jazz age London.

Train Trips

Nearby London and accessible by train is Windsor. This is best avoided during a hot, crowded Sunday. The Chapel of St George is the home of The Order of the Garter and not to be missed. Hopefully soon the State apartments which burned after my first visit will be restored someday to their full glory. By the way a fair walk away from the castle is a real treat in Combermere Barracks, home of the Household Cavalry Regimental Museum. If the IRA or similar group is active, don't be put off by the polite but thorough sentries at the front gate as you'll be rewarded by seeing a fabulous collection of items relating tothe various regiments which comprise the Household Cavalry. The curator was most kind and helpful, since there were no other visitors, I got the deluxe personal tour. Another excellent museum of which the UK has a great multitude for you to see.

Once you get out of London, the excellent rail system can take you to various locations in conjunction with various tours or even doing things yourself. This was how I went to Bath to see how the Romans appropriated the locals' sacred hot spring of Sulis and promptly turned it into a typical Roman bath. Stonehenge was another visit on the bus going towards Salisbury Cathedral. Seeing all that stone, so laboriously moved there, still leaves you with the unanswered question of why did they do it. Stonehenge taken together with all the Celtic items surviving from before the Roman conquest point out this was a pretty sophisticated and complex society before Caesar and Claudius felt compelled to move in and takeover.

Another day trip was to Cardiff in Wales. The castle dates back to a 3rd century AD Roman coastal defense fortress like the Saxon Shore installations, with additions by various invaders until it finally just became a rather lavish residence. In a chamber under the walls was a most interesting frieze showing Roman soldiers at work. Cardiff was, unfortunately, a case of too much to see and not enough time. A return to Cardiff is a definite need, including the chance to visit Caerleon's Roman Army Museum.

When you go to the UK, please remember there's so much to see, that you'll never be able to see it all. Sometimes you've got the choice of a slow leisurely cruise through something, or a quick pass with your brain on full record. Other times it's a matter of choice, like opting for a visit to the Royal Marines museum and then not having enough time to visit Portchester castle a former Saxon Shore fort. Hopefully though you'll get the chance to go again. But also remember no matter where you go, you'll encounter natives who are only visiting wherever you're touring for the first time so just relax and enjoy your trip.

Generally I avoid touristy-type attractions, but an occasions do wonder if that's such a great policy. Our tour bus stopped for awhile at Warwick Castle, which the Earl of Warrick had sold to the Mdm Tussauds organization and frankly the visit was way too short. I'll admit to being softened up by the sight of a knight from the 1300's in full regalia riding a great horse who was answering questions from visitors. Upstairs in the main hall, the rooms were restored to their appearance in the late 1890's with the addition ofincredibily lifelike figures. Given the presence of the future Edward VII and all of his mistresses there, it looked like the makings ofquite a wild English country weekendl Downstairs was a mediaeval exhibit about Warrick the Kingmaker. It wasjust like wandering around the middle ages down to the smclls and a destrier being shod. Most of those incredibly life-like figures were just out in the rooms, so you could actually walk up to them. In one of the towers in a display of that British sense of fair play, was equal time for a display by the Richard III society, giving his side of the end of the Wars of the Roses.

Chester

Moving up to Scotland, two logical stopping places are Chester, the home of Legio XX Valeria Victrix and York, the home base for the Legio VI Victrix Chester is an interesting city as its garrison was in a central reserve to back up both Hadrian's Wall as well as Legio II Augusta in Wales. The heart of the old town has survived with mediaeval walls which took suspiciously like they were first laid out as a late Roman legionary fort. You can walk completely around the old city on the only completely surviving set ofmediacval walls in the UK. Along the way am columns and an amphitheater left by the formergarrison. The city maintains the excellent Grosvenor Museum, a former curator or whom was Dr Graham Webster the widely-known author of books on the Roman army. so the Roman collection is quite well-worth seeing. The day I was there, "Carl, our legionary" was there and proved to be most interesting. He also leads visitors on a Roman history walk of the walls following which survivors got a diplonsaofdischargel Regretably though our tour had to move onto Edinburgh. At any rate the Grosvenor was excellent and well-worth a visit for Roman enthusiasts.

One interesting point was the presense of what the British call a "dark ride" like the Disney Pirates of the Carribean Ride. This one was called the Deva Experience. It combined action animated figures, a full-fledged assault on all of your senses and even concluded with the chance to participate in an archaeological dig. Given the ingenuity and creativity of amusements in the UK, it looks like they are starting to deal with what does constitute over-popularizing history just like the Disney US history theme park in Virginia. Pressure of time and the desire to try the locale hard cider, a favorite weakness to indulge in whilst in the UK, scuttled that visit.

York

On the east side of England is York, a city rather like Chester in that it was home to Legio VI Victrix. While the walls are more fragmented, a section which survived was actually built by troops of Constantine's father. For some reason, I couldn't locate the plaque attesting to this fact. The York museum in on the grounds of a ruined abbey has an excellent collection of Roman artifacts which is wellworth seeing. I had the chance to ask their archaeologist about late Roman questions. She most kindly took time away from getting ready for a school group to do so. After several years of very determined digging by the very active York Archeological Trust, their collection of 3rd century onwards materials consists of about four smallish metal fittings and copies of the relevant information in the Notitia Digititatunt! The experts know them were units at Caucrick and then at York. During this time, the rub is that nobody knows very much specifically about these commands. So much for the plan to paint up some legionary shields from both the legions at Chester and York.

My answerer also had an interesting explanation for the existence of the Saxon Shore command but no equivalent on the Welsh coast. Her theory was that the prime threat to the valuable heart of Britannica came from the continent not from Ireland so the army was mainly positioned to repell or deter raids on London, not Wales.

Another sight well-worth seeing is the Jorvik Experience. It's a dark ride based on results of several digs aimed specifically at the Viking army encampments in York. Nearby you can also see the remains of the castle left by William the Conqueror but destroyed by the locals and the Vikings as part of a "Normans Go Home" demonstration. The destroyers of Clifford's Tower didn't survive the subsequent counter attack by the cruaged William.

York has a nice example of how you should be prepared to see things at the apparently oddest moments. York cathedral is well-worth a visit to see the second great cathedral in England, after Westminster Abbey. If you're a mediaevalist, you've simply got to see this result of that great Middle Ages cathedral-building race. But then, don't miss the undercroft or foundations discovered during the structural-strengthening of the cathedral. This will literally put you within a few feet of the practorium of Eburacurn where Constantine I's troops proclaimed him Imperator besides letting you see some other interesting Roman artifacts.

By the way, a notebook and camera are a necessity for recording observations as you go along. Even cryptic notes hurriedly jotted down on your way to the next stop are useful to remind you how nice the Grosvenor Museum's legionnaries look with light not dark-colored leather.

Hadrian's Wall

After you've seen the back-up positions for the army it's time to see the line drawn along the hills, namely Hadrian's Wall. Our tour took us for an all-too-brief stop at Housesteads, the home of the Cohors I Tungrionun. Along the way, the road goes for some distance along the old ditch in front of the wall. Sorne lucky soul owns a thoroughbred horse farm with the remains of the wall going right through a pasture where the horses graze. Archaeologists like to talk about the testimony of the spade or the notion thattraces of any human works tend to survive practically forever. When you see foals investigating an 1882 year-old Roman army installation. maybe theyw got a point there.

At any rate, we arrived at Housesteads, or at least the parking lot there. After entry, there was an invigorating walk up a rather nice ridge and then to the remains. It was rather cold and heavily misting, in July!). The hill was rather steep and as added hazard we got to dodge various forms or cow and sheep plop left by grazing animals. Once you got to the top, it was apparent whoever sited the place, had in fact picked a rather nicely impressive defensive position. Them was a nice view of the uncivilized "bandit country" towards Scotland, though after hearing my fellow tourists decide the haggis they ate the previous evening tasted like dog food maybe the Romans had a point.

Scotland is rather interesting, to the amateur military historian not the least because the fates of the various Scottish regiments in this time of amalgarnations and disbandings is taken quite seriously. In October 1992, the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers were to combine. By summer of 1994, they escaped their fate leaving the Queen's Own Highlanders and the Gordon Highlanders on the chopping block instead. Ifyou've got the chance to visit just one castle in Scotland, it really ought to be Edinburgh. It's typical of Scottish castle, rather serious fortifications built on the most gosh-awful solid mass of rocks around. Given the sites of their castles, they certainly could have saved money and had a very formidable defensive position without any building being done. At any rate from mediaeval times to the present day there's something to see there, with a fantastic collection of museums, and even the royal regalia of Scotland.

This might be a good point to mention that in the UK, museums are taken rather seriously. If you go to one, don't be surprised to see some part of it is being reworked and improved. So if you go back to a place in the UK, don't think you've seen any museum after just one visit.

If you go down the hill from the castle, along the Royal Mile, you'll reach Holyrood House a royal castle where King David of Sootland founded a monastery to give thanks for his miraculous escape from a stag during a royal hunt. There's a Scottish Museum of Antiquities which has an interesting collection and is being moved to more spacious quarters. Its treasures included a reconstruction of a war chariot and surviving set of Roman horse armour. Unfortunately/fortunately this museum in July 1994 is undergoing a move to larger quarters so items were off display.

From Edinburgh, I did another day trip to Stirling with another castle on top of a very largish rockhill. From the battlements you can see the site of the battle of Stirling Bridge. Like many other castles in the UK, it contains an excellent regimental museum and headquarters, in this case the 1st Battalion Argyl and Sutherland Highlanders.

Sometimes on a tour or visit, it's just interesting as an historian to simply look out the window get a feel for a locale. This I did by riding a train, all day, from Edinburgh to Inverness. After that trip, it's very easy to see why lowland Scotland is so dramatically different than the highlands.

Ireland

The Republic of Ireland abounds with castles like Bunratly and of course Blarney. It'ssfill interesting how even today. they manage to totally dominate the surrounding countryside. Ifyou see one, thcn it's off into mediaevals and of course you've just got to get a castle for your troops to besiege. Perhaps more so than in the UK, in Ireland there's a feeling of timeliness. Historical museums in Ireland are also well-done with treasures like the Book of Kells available for viewing. When you do go to a museum don't be shocked to see the complexities of Irish history discussed.

In closing a few thoughts on the gaming scene over them. Compared to America, one is inclined to feel spoiled as all of the big time color glossy gaming magazines are available and even for the next cover month at stores like W.H. Smiths. If you use the listing of club contacts one prints every so often, it's possible to find meetings or games when you travel. Likewise you might even luck out and hit some type of a games convention, if your itinerary and travel arrangements hold up. Of course them are book stores with treasures which will probably never make it over to this country. A nice example of this is the source book I bought in a store in Oxford on Imperial Roman eastern frontier problems. Rather surprisingly, war games stores seem few and very far between. The only war gaming store in Edinburgh didn't stock figures. At the same time I couldn't find a source for the DBM army list volume IV while in London. A nice clerk in a fantasy store in London explained most historical gamers do their shopping at conventions not at stores.

Once you've returtied, loaded down with figures, reference materials, replicas of ancient artificts, tapes of ancient music, plans to build new armies, lists of books to look for and other such plunder you'll have a great time after unpacking when you apply your finds and discoveries to future gaming projects.