I'm considering making a new campaign for Viking invasion, and I'm trying to locate references.

The problem with the original VI campaign is that the AI Vikings are poor at raiding and have difficulty controlling the seas. The new campaign would correct that by having a large Viking force- Ivar's Great Army of 866- start the game in East Anglia. I wasn't going to mod the units or map at all, just the date and setup.

What I want is a map of England in 866, or a text description of the state of the 'heptarchy' when Ivar landed.

The war of 866, rather than the raid of 793, was when the Vikings almost conquered England. Ivar went north and captured York from the Northumbrians, who were fighting a civil war, then attacked Mercia, overrunning the east and north. Northumbria survived and the rest of Mercia was annexed by Wessex rather than by the Vikings, but Alfred of Wessex was very nearly defeated before England settled down to Anglo-Viking rule. Ivar died in Dublin in 872.

When the Vikings captured King Ella of Northumbria, who had executed Ivar's father Ragnar Lodbrok by having him thrown into a snake pit, they made a ritual 'blood eagle' sacrifice of him. Total War isn't offensive enough, we should have this, or the ability to display the heads of defeated family members (like the Romans made use of Hadsrubal after his death), as the equivalent of a 'diplomatic snub'.