Society of Ancients Conference

When: 2^nd - 3^rd November 2019

Where: Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth

The annual Conference is where the Society of Ancients gets together for a weekend to exchange ideas on wargaming in the ancients and medieval periods. And to enjoy playing some good and varied wargames!

The weekend contains a mixture of presentations and wargaming sessions in small and larger groups. There are options to join the various activities, some of which will run more than once, so that you can choose what you like the look of, and what you don’t! It’s an opportunity to try new things, be they new rule sets that are under development, multi-player games with political elements, or more traditional games – all will be well-represented.

What's on this year?

The Conference format is similar to previous years.

It kicks off on the Friday evening with a board game session.  The main Conference takes place on Saturday and Sunday with a Conference Dinner on Saturday evening.

We are delighted to announce that our key note speaker for the 2019 Conference will be author and historian Dr. Harry Sidebottom. Harry is Fellow and Director of Studies in Ancient History at St Benets Hall, Oxford and Lecturer in Ancient History at Lincoln College, Oxford. However, he may be better known to Society members as the author of the Warriors of Rome novels set in the Roman Empire during the so-called Great Crisis of the Third Century AD and featuring the Romanised Germanic barbarian, Ballista. Moreover, Harry is also a wargamer. So, we look forward to his address with great anticipation. The key note address will take place before the Conference Dinner on the Saturday evening.

And we have lots more going on. So far, the Conference programme includes the following:

• Battle of Bosworth - the most up to date interpretations
• Medieval Artillery Ballistics - engineering your wargames
• Battle of Adrianopolis - participation refight
• Battle of Edgecote - participation refight
• Gangs of Rome - beginners workshop
• Britannia Romans in Britain - a work in progress game workshop
• Chances Are - a discussion of dice within wargames

Those who attended in either of the last two years will know that we like everyone to get involved! The Conference has plenty of room for anyone to run a session. Sessions can either be a presentation to the Conference on a subject, which with a subsequent discussion will last around an hour, or else can be running games, rules workshops, or anything else you may choose to come up with! Please send your ideas to the organiser This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

When, where and how much?

The 2019 Conference will take place over the weekend 2^nd and 3^rd November, at the same venue as previous Conferences, the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth, Warwickshire.  As in previous Conferences, there are several options for participation.

The Full Conference package includes Saturday and Sunday at the Conference, buffet lunch both days, the Conference Dinner on the Saturday evening, bed and breakfast Saturday night, as well as teas, coffees, fresh fruit, biscuits and cakes etc throughout the days.  Cost for the weekend is £195.

Society Younger Members Conference package is available to the first ten Society of Ancients Members aged 18-25 to sign up for the Full Conference Package. This Special Offer price is £145.

The Full Conference plus Friday package as for the Full Conference Package, but including bed and breakfast on Friday is £302.

The Single Day package for those who can only make either Saturday or Sunday includes buffet lunch, as well as teas, coffees, fresh fruit, biscuits and cakes etc costs £47 per day.

To reserve your place at the Conference, we need a £47 deposit.  We will send a reminder for outstanding amounts approximately 4 weeks before the Conference.  Payment is recommended via the Society website PayPal route.  Simply select the appropriate button below.  However, if you would prefer to pay by cheque or other method, please select the last button.

Help make the Society a Society and come along to the Conference!

Deposit for full conference package (£47)
Deposit for Full Conference Package including Friday night (£47)
Deposit for Society Younger Members Conference Package (£47)
Saturday day attendance (£47)
Sunday day attendance (£47)
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Slingshot 324, May/June 2019

Containing articles on Guardroom DBA3 - Improving the Simulation - by Joe Collins Coals to Newcastle: Playing Welsh DBA Lists in Wales - by Martin Smith The Early Japanese Army: Reexamining the DBA 3.0 Army Lists - by Nicholas Spratt Battle Day Reports - by Roy Boss and Duncan Head Simple Campaign for Danelaw Britain: A Solo or Programmed Campaign for DBA 3, Part II - by Paul Stein The Battle of Montgisard, 1177AD - by Nicholas Harbud Slingshot Figure Reviews: Baueda 40x40mm Isolated Tower Slingshot Book & Game Reviews: Two Handed Sword: History, Design and Use - reviewed by Anthony Clipsom Antipater's Dynasty: Alexander the Great's Regent and his Successors - reviewed by Duncan Head Roman Legionaries: Soldiers of Empire - reviewed by Aaron Bell With Alexander in India & Central Asia: Moving East & Back to West - reviewed by Andreas Johansson As well as all the usual features.

Available in web store. 

Click on 'read more' to see a list of the internet links appearing in articles in this edition.

Read more: Slingshot 324, May/June 2019

Battleday 2019 Report

The 2109 Battle Day took place at its usual venue, Sycamore Hall, Bletchley, on Saturday 30 March. This year we had 16 games – just one off the previous record of 17 – but more to the point we had a lot of big games on big tables. This meant that we were very snug in the main hall, and had to have two games staged in the “small room” and two large table games set up after the initial pre-battle talk had taken place in the “mid-sized room”. Fitting games in is inded a nice problem to have!

The day started with Duncan Head giving a talk on Telamon, the battle and campaign. This was a shorter version of the extensive presentation he had made at the Conference last November, and of course readers of Slingshot will have seen the detailed article on which it was based. Nevertheless Duncan held us entranced as he went through the pre battle manoeuvring and then his analysis of the battle itself. An excellent start to the day.

The games then got underway. We saw a number of different ways to address this battle. Most were set up in a traditional way with the Gauls in the middle and facing them back to back against the two Roman armies. A couple of the games (one of the two “To The Strongest” games, and the “WRG 7^th Edition” game) actually had a walking gap between the two halves of the battlefield, effectively making two separate battles. One of the DBMM games did something similar but had a connecting table for the cavalry battle on one flank, so forming a U shape. These designs certainly aided the movement of the figures, though of course lost something in the visual effect of the Gauls fighting back to back. A challenge for those taking the standard single table approach was ensuring there was enough depth for the effective deployment of four armies across that depth, rather than the usual two. There were other variations and ideas: the “Warlord Advance Guard” game lost a player the evening before due to illness, so the two players each took a Gallic and a Roman army each and fought each other that way. Another group chose to focus on the cavalry battle as the key feature, and using the “Lion Rampant” rules with groups of 10mm figures on each base had a very visually striking game of a massed cavalry engagement. Yet another variation: the cavalry engagement was fought out first in the “Piquet: Archon” game, with the resulting victors being able to enter the subsequently fought infantry struggle at a given point later.

As you can see, there were many different ways employed to tackle this battle – as we have come to expect now after many years of Battle Day and a lot of regular groups attending.

For the record, the games that came were:

The day was attended by 78 people in total. We were glad to see among them Sue Laflin and Phil Barker attend for part of the day – as an aside Sue showed me the final proof of a new edition of Ian Heath’s classic WRG book “Armies and Enemies of the Crusades, 1096-1291”. I am unsure quite what new material has been included, but this is one to look out for in the coming months.

As usual, prizes were awarded. A voting slip system was used for each individual being able to vote for Best Game and Best Terrain. The results were very close, but in the end the winners were:

• Perry Miniatures Prize for Best Game – won by Andy and Mark Bullock for their epic 28mm game using many beautifully painted 28mm figures and the Impetus rules, all on striking terrain. The prize here was several boxes of plastic Wars of the Roses figures – ideal for next year’s Battle Day Bosworth!
• Magister Militum Prize for Best Terrain – won by Bob Robertson for the terrain he set up for the 28mm DBMM game. The prize here was a voucher for figures.

Many thanks to both Perry Miniatures and Magister Militum for their support and generous prizes.

The more spurious prizes painted and awarded by myself based on heresay reports of significant events in the games were as follows:

• Gallic Cavalry of the Day – Jim Howard in the Piquest Archon game, whose Gallic Horse carried all before them
• Gallic Warriors of the day – Trevor Halsall in the Warlord Advance Guard game for breaking through the Romans
• Roman Cavalry of the Day – Pete Kershaw in the DBMM 28mm game, for defeating the massed Gallic horse against overwhelming odds
• Roman Triari of the Day – controversially awarded to…myself! For my triarii killing rampage in the Command & Colors 15mm game run by John Drewienkiewicz and Andrew Brentnall. Well, there didn’t seem to be any other candidates for the prize who stepped forward!

Note the Romans were generously provided by Keith at Aventine Miniatures, a great supporter of  Battle Day so thank you to Aventine. The Gauls came from my own lead mountain, the foot chieftain from Black Tree and the cavalryman from Foundry.

So that’s another successful Battle Day over with for another year. Now it is time to take up your Yorkist or Lancastrian colours and march to Bosworth Field for the 2020 Battle Day…

Slingshot 323, March/April 2019

Containing articles on The Battle of Thapsus - by Aaron Bell 6mm Accessories with 3D Printing - by David Kay Over by Vespers: a Mediaeval Scenario Game - by Anthony Clipsom The Battle of the Kalka River - by Periklis Deligiannis Inventing Early Bronze Age Scenarios - by Steven Neate Arausio Refought with DBA - by Andy Offen The Long, the Short and the Flat: the Origin of the Longbow - by Anthony Clipsom Slingshot Figure Reviews: 15mm early Imperial Roman Equites Auxiliares - by Mark Grindlay Slingshot Figure Reviews: 28mm Viking Age Scots - by Thane Maxwell Slingshot Book & Game Reviews: Roman Heavy Cavalry (1) - by Duncan Head Slingshot Book & Game Reviews: Ptolemy I Soter, a Self-made Man - by Jim Webster Slingshot Book & Game Reviews: Pandemic, Fall of Rome - by Gavin Pearson As well as all the usual features.

Available in web store. 

Click on 'read more' to see a list of the internet links appearing in articles in this edition.

Read more: Slingshot 323, March/April 2019