Slingshot Editor's Prizes

As sent out to the Society Yahoo! Group:

"Time once again for the announcement of the year's editor's prizes (i.e. the subset of SoA prizes which are within the grant of the editor), and following on from our esteemed president's announcement of the new Phil Barker prize. This year, I should mention, the list of potential prizewinners was significantly longer than the list of actual winners. To avoid various cats getting a good kicking, I won't list the articles and authors that just missed out. But it's a good thing to have such a large reservoir of quality material (and the amount currently "in the hopper" is actually more than at any other time when I've been editor), and it reflects the amount of new, high quality material that has come in over the past 12 months.

The prizes are awarded for articles published in the 6 issues running from November 2008 to September 2009 (reflecting the fact that they would have previously been announced at the AGM). Some "series" articles do cross the "consideration year" boundary, and those that do so this year will be eligible for consideration in the 2010 prizes.

• The Editor's Prize: Doug Melville, for "Putting it All Together: the Sasanians Re-Examined", S/s 260, 261, 264
• The Charles Grant Prize (for a historical article in the period pre 500 BC): Alastair McBeath, once again, for his Mesopotamian Warfare series, S/s 261-266 and ongoing
• The (inaugural) Phil Barker Prize (500-1 BC): Patrick Waterson, for "Amazed Was I Ere I Saw Zama", S/s 262
• The Ian Greenwood Prize (1-1000 AD): Stewart Hey, for "Ambush at Callinicum 531AD", S/s 263
• The Alan Nickels Prize: (post 1000 AD): Mick Hession, for "Cogadh Gaedhil, Medieval Irish Warfare 600-1500AD", S/s 263-265
• The award for Best Wargaming Article, kindly sponsored by Gripping Beast: Adrian Goldsworthy, for "Thinking About Romans", S/s 263-266 and ongoing

Congratulations to the winners. David Edwards will be contacting them individually to establish the how they'd like to receive their prize."

Championship Standings Now Online

The championship standings are now online - they are updated live by Bill Thurlow, as he processes and validates the results. I'll try and find a way of subbing to the results page via email, and update the blog when it's there. Till then, keep an eye on that page.

Phil Barker Prize

New Slingshot Prize.

To reflect the number and quality of material submitted for publication in the BC periods, The Society of Ancients has added a new prize to the honours it awards for contributions to Slingshot. The Charles Grant Prize will now cover contributions from the earliest periods of warfare up to 500BC. The new prize will cover the period 500 BC to 1 AD.

In 1971 WRG published Armies of the Macedonian and Punic War by Phil Barker - the first in a ground breaking series of books aimed at wargamers, and attempting to translate the latest research into clear and reliable reconstructions of the soldiers of the ancient world. Barker’s next in the series, Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome, went through 4 editions over 10 years and is widely recognised as a definitive guide to the appearance of the Roman Army. For many enthusiasts, the modern approach to historical wargaming in these periods began with Phil Barker’s unique contributions.


(Phil Barker, left, presents awards at the English DBA Open)

In recognition of his immense contribution, through stand alone publications, WRG rules and Slingshot articles, The Society of Ancients has named its new award for outstanding contributions to Slingshot in the period 500 BC to 1 AD The Phil Barker Prize.

For a brief appraisal of Phil Barker’s contribution to wargaming, there is a Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Barker

Phil Steele
President

Gorgon Studios offers SoA members 10% discount on its figures

I am delighted to let you know that Gorgon Studios, the US-based company, has very generously agreed to offer Society members a 10% discount on their figures

Please note that this is ONLY for purchases made through the webcart at their website http://www.gorgon-studios.com/. Members should have their membership number handy to enter during the purchase process for verification.

Gorgon Miniatures has Steve Saleh’s 28mm range of early Spartans which represents the Spartan army of the Persian Wars, including the battles of Thermopylae (480 BC) and Plataea (479 BC).
Gorgon Miniatures also recently announced its first original historical line of wargames figures, the Etruscan army of Lars Porsenna, again sculpted by Steve Saleh in 28mm. This range represents the Etruscan army of roughly 600 BC to 474 BC – when at the Battle of Cumae the Etruscans suffered a defeat that would see their influence in Italy diminish.

Slingshot 266

The latest issue of Slingshot is 266, publishing date September 2009.

The next issue will be the November issue.

This issue is 60 pages long, not including the cover pages. It's published in the same format introduced with issue 258.

The contents of Slingshot 266 are as follows. For games articles, I've indicated the relevant rule set where it's not immediately obvious from the title; with historical articles I've tried to indicate period if a similar issue applies.

• Guardroom
• Hannibal’s Masterpiece: The Battle of Cannae, by Patrick Waterson
• Crusader System Lists for Peloponnesian War, by Craig Woodfield
• Constantius II, Ammianus, and the Big Parade Part 2, by Jim Sye
• “Then Adab was defeated and the kingship was taken to Mari”: Mesopotamian Warfare Notes IX, by Alastair McBeath
• Callinicum 531AD with Commands & Colors: Ancients, by Andrew Lawrence
• Thinking About Romans – Part Four, by Adrian Goldsworthy
• (FoG) Society of Ancients Championship Battle Report: Alexandrian Macedonian v Classical Indian, by Richard Lockwood
• (2mm figures) Watch Your Armies of Thousands Conquer the Known World!, by Craig Dobson
• They’re Coming! A Warmaster Ancients Tournament Report, by Marc Adda
• Book Reviews, by Steve Brennan & Chris Webber
• Figure Reviews, by Richard Lockwood, Theo Roske, David Edwards & Mark Watson

Website Refresh

The Society of Ancients website has had a refresh for 2010. There may be some glitches in there; if so, let me know directly. Many thanks to Tim Mayall for doing testing work on the new site over the last few weeks.

As part of this, subscriptions for 2010 are now available from the store. 2009 subscriptions will continue to be available until after November's issue goes out.

Anyhow, hope you like it.

Got a Blog?

I've added a blog aggregator to the website, the idea is to pull together the various blogs kept by society members. In the starting stages right now, so there are relatively few on there. If you have a wargames or ancient history related blog, and you're a society member, contact me, either using the contact details in Slingshot or the contact form on this site (set the topic to "Website Stuff").

The aggregator is here. At some point I'll change the template to better fit with the rest of the site.

Slingshot Report

I previously mentioned I would update this blog, along the same schedule for committee meetings, with my progress report on Slingshot.

I manage the content of Slingshot from a single large spreadsheet. When I get sent material, I put the wordcount and other information in the spreadsheet. From this I get a vague idea of how much material I need to "fit" in the next issue, and can juggle the articles accordingly (writing some material as necessary). I can also work out if I'm short of material on a particular area (typically a gaming system) and can chase up accordingly.

The wordcount for Slingshot does vary: the average since 258 (when we went to 60 pages) is about 54,300 pages per issue, or 922 words per page (the actual page number since 259 has been 59 pages, the last non-cover page being used for events).

So, some numbers:

- Right now I would seem to have enough material for about the next two and a half issues, although new material is always welcome, and it allows me to maintain a better balance of material (so don't stop sending it!)

Games variety:
- of the material available for future use (across all issues): 26% DBA, 25% FoG, 18% WAB, 8% DBMM, 7% CCA, 6% WMA, remainder is other.
- of the material printed from 257 to 265: 15% DBMM, 14% DBA, 12% FoG, 10% WAB, 8% AMW, 6% Armati, remainder is other
- overall: 16% DBA, 14% FoG, 13% DBMM, 12% WAB, 7% AMW

Figures:
- of material available: 63% 28mm, 20% 15mm, 18% 2mm (! - actually one article)
- overall, including above and printed, since 257: 73% 28mm, 14% 15mm, 6% 20mm, 4% 6mm, 3% 2mm

Authors:
- top 5 write 35% of material (material printed since 257 plus material available for future issues)
- top 10 write 51% of material
- top 15 write 63% of material
- top 20 write 71% of material

As for the next issue, I'm still waiting on the illustrations. I expect a laid out version to go for proof some time next week.

Mark

Society of Ancients Games day

GAMES DAY 2009

ELLES HALL

Farnborough

Sunday 20th September

Same venue as last year's AGM. This is an annual open invitation for a day of Ancient and Medieval wargames ... display games, pick-up games, Championship games ... Contact the organiser if you need to book a table.

Elles Hall, Meudon Avenue, Farborough GL14 7LE
Follow the events page link (here ...) if you need a map

All welcome - facilities available all day from 10.00.
Come along and join in.

Website Additions

The following items have been added to the website:
Under Battle Day:

• Battle Pack for 2004 (Gaugamela) - note the map wasn't high enough resolution; I'll work on updating it and revising this document
• Battle Pack for 2005 (The Sambre)
• Battle Pack for 2006 (Dorylaeum)

Under Downloads (in the Members Area):

• A revised high res main map for Age of Augustus (Slingshot 261)
• High res versions of the Age of Augustus Parthian and Barbarian maps. The Barbarian map includes several revisions supplied by Paul Burton, the author
• A high res version of the map for the Attila DBA campaign (Slingshot 258)

Website News and Blog Merges

Hi. I'm going through a process of merging the three blogs on this site, starting with merging in the website news area, which is easier. Slingshot News will also be merged at the point where I can work out how to move the posts over into this main blog. Website news is for any (medium to major) changes to the website, and in future, when new stuff is posted to the members area, some indication will appear here also.

Update: the Slingshot news blog is now merged in as well. There should be a couple of items per issue in this blog, one being the announcement and table of contents, the other being (a probably trimmed down version of) the editors report provided to committee meetings.

Slingshot 265

The latest issue of Slingshot is 265, publishing date July 2009. The next issue will be the September issue.

This issue is 60 pages long, not including the cover pages. It's published in the same format introduced with issue 258.

The contents of Slingshot 265 are as follows. For games articles, I've indicated the relevant rule set where it's not immediately obvious from the title; with historical articles I've tried to indicate period if a similar issue applies.

• Guardroom
• Cogadh Gaedhil: Medieval Irish warfare 600AD-1500AD, Part 3, by Mick Hession
• Mallets and Mules, by Duncan Head
• “When he crossed the seventh mountain range, his intuition led him to the cedars”: Mesopotamian Warfare Notes VIII, by Alastair McBeath
• Battle Day 2009 – Callinicum 531AD, by Richard Lockwood
• Callinicum Piquet’d, by Adam Hayes
• Callinicum 531 AD – Peter Pig’s Conquerors and Kings & Warmaster Ancients, by Martyn Simpson
• Callinicum, AD 531 – Armati II report , by Matthew Bennett
• Callinicum Using Big Battle DBA, by Sue Laflin, Paul Glover, Ian Tanner, and David Latham
• Callinicum in the FoG, by David Edwards
• Callinicum 531 CE – Tactica II in Scotland, by Paul Innes
• [ WAB] Thinking About Romans – Part Three, by Adrian Goldsworthy
• [ Armati ] Magnesia, by Mark Grindlay
• Crusader Army lists for the Peloponnesian War, by Craig Woodfield
• [ Tony Bath Rules ] Back to the Jurassic, by David Barnsdale
• Thracian Enhancements for Field of Glory , by Christopher Webber
• The Battle of the Lyginus River, 335 BC: A Field of Glory Scenario, by Christopher Webber
• Book Reviews, by Jim Webster, Anthony Clipsom & Mark Watson
• Figure Reviews, by David Edwards, Richard Lockwood & Mark Watson

WarModelling offers SoA members 10% discount on its figures

I am delighted to let you know that WarModelling, the Spanish figure company run by the helpful Luis Santigosa, has very generously agreed to offer Society members a 10% discount on their figures.

Please note that this is ONLY for purchases made through the website http://www.warmodelling.com

Before ordering, members are advised to first contact Luis directly by email using the contact details on the WarModelling website, quoting your SoA membership number. Then he can tell you how to sort out the discount.

Richard Lockwood

Society of Ancients at Claymore 2009

The Society of Ancients will be attending Claymore in Edinburgh on Saturday 1st August, at its new venue, Telford College. More space and fresher air are promised at the bigger venue.

Members of Glasgow's Phoenix Wargaming club will be running a version of the big 25mm Battle of Callinicum game which they put together for the Scottish contribution to the Society of Ancients BattleDay earlier this year. The game, originally played on the sandtable pictured, uses Tactica II rules. Please come along and get involved as we reconstruct this key border encounter between the Eastern Roman Empire and their Sassanian neighbours.

The Shows North team will be supporting the game with a full range of Society publications and the membership stand, so there will be an opportunity to meet and chat, as well as pick up any SoA material you need, join or renew your subscription - or just enjoy the game and browse the highly praised 'new look' Slingshots.

More on Shows North (here ...)
Details for Claymore (here ...)
More on the Callinicum game (here ...)

Phil Steele
The Society of Ancients

Shows North Blog active again

Ancients on the Move

We are pleased to report that the Shows North blog 'Ancients on the Move' which was dormant for many months is active again. Apologies to those who enjoyed the regular updates from our roving shows team - unfortunately some important family issues meant that there was insufficient time to maintain the site. Posting has resumed with photo reports on Phalanx and the Conference of Wargamers.

During the hiatus, a lot of material has been lodged there in draft form, and much of this is now being tidied and published. Now in the archive, you will find:

IWF World Championships

A visit to a Warhammer Historical weekend

Derby Worlds Show report

Update on the FoG Siege Game project

The Society of Ancients English DBA Open

We hope these reports will be of interest, and there will be more archiving in the coming weeks as well as up to date reporting from the shows circuit.

Like all volunteers, the shows team thrives on feedback, so if any of the material sparks your interest, comment is appreciated.

Phil Steele
Shows North
http://soawargamesteam.blogspot.com/

Battle Day 2010 update - Four 28mm games aleady planned!

The choice of Zama for the 2010 Battle Day is proving very popular - even at this early stage we have four games planned - all in 28mm (or 25mm in old money)!

First up we have the regular SoA "Lost Battles" show team, including Phil Sabin the rules' author who we are very pleased to say will also provide the Introduction to the Battle talk first thing in the morning.

Then we have a huge Command & Colours game under construction - two groups of C&C aficianados combining to put on a game on an 18 foot wide table with well over a thousand 28mm figures! Wow! What a monster!

Next, we are delighted that a WAB team is putting together their take on Zama, probably utilising some of the Gripping Beast figures used in the Zama game that was used to promote the Hannibal WAB supplement some years ago. Another big game is promised!

Finally, the DBMM team have warned me to reserve them a large table as they too are coming with the big toys! Yet another big 25mm game then!

Just what is it about Zama that is dragging out the 28mm meglamaniac in us all?

Also note the date: Saturday 17 April 2010, the week before Salute.

Watch this space for more news on Zama 2010!

Slingshot 264

The latest issue of Slingshot (number 264, May 2009), the bi-monthly publication of the Society of Ancients, just went to the printers. Apologies for the lateness of this issue.

This issue is 60 pages long, not including the cover pages. It's published in the same format introduced with issue 258.

The contents of Slingshot 264 are as follows. For games articles, I've indicated the relevant rule set where it's not immediately obvious from the title; with historical articles I've tried to indicate period if a similar issue applies.

• Guardroom
• China & Nanhai, by John Walsh
• Cogadh Gaedhil: Medieval Irish warfare 600AD-1500AD, Part Two, by Mick Hession
• Xenophon’s Chariot, by Jim Webster
• “He traversed five mountains, six mountains, seven mountains” – Mesopotamian Warfare Notes VII, by Alastair McBeath
• Constantius II, Ammianus, and the Big Parade, Part One, by Jim Sye
• Putting it all together (The Sasanians re-examined), Part Three, by Doug Melville
• Parthian infantry spearmen, by Nigel Tallis
• New Works on Early Byzantine History from  Bulletin of British Byzantine Studies, (35), 2009, by Jim Sye
• Report on The English DBA Open 2008, by Martin Smith and Richard Pulley
• [AMW] The Trebia in Sixty Minutes – Promoting the Society During Summer 2008, by Graham Evans
• DBMM at Britcon 2008, by Chris Jolley
• FOG or Mist: The Battle for Middle Earth, by Steven Neate
• [WAB] Thinking About Romans - Part Two, by Adrian Goldsworthy
• Ruspina, 46BC – Reconstructing a Battle the ‘Lost Battles’ way (part 1), by Gavin Pearson
• Book Review: Britannia The Failed State, reviewed by Stephen Brennan
• Figure Reviews: Baccus 6mm Sasanians, reviewed by Doug Melville
• Figure Preview: Perry 28mm War of the Roses Plastics
• More Book Reviews, by Mark Watson

As usual, I'm looking for more material in general and some game specific articles in particular, right now of the more popular systems Armati, FoG and Warmaster material would be good.

New date for 2010 Battle Day: Saturday 17 April

Please note the new date of Saturday 17 April 2010. We have moved it from the week after to avoid clashing with Salute.

Society of Ancients at UK Games Expo

Clarendon Suites, Edgbaston B16 9SB


The Society of Ancients shows team will be at the UK Games Expo this weekend. Come along to this great event http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/index.php - the place to try out new games. We will be taking along some Field of Glory kit with a Crusades theme in support of the mini tournament they are hosting, and to fly the 'ancients' flag. Please join in - especially if you haven't tried FoG before, or to break up the diverse choice of other styles and interests the Expo caters for.

http://soawargamesteam.blogspot.com/

2010 battle for Battle Day announced!

With unprecedented speed and decisiveness, the organising committee has already selected the 2010 battle for the seventh annual Society of Ancients Battle Day. It's Zama. So that gives you all plenty of time to dust off your Hannibals and your Scipios, or paint up new ones. Pencil in Saturday 24 April 2010, at the usual venue in Bletchley near Milton Keynes.

Result of Vote

We now have the result of the postal ballot, the forms for which were sent out with the last Slingshot. A total of 74 votes were cast, of which 70 were in favour of the proposal to adopt a new Constitution, and 4 were against.

We will therefore now go on to the next step, which is to hold an EGM on 27 June 2009 at The Old Coffee House, Beak Street, London, starting at 12.00 noon. The new Constitution will be introduced as from that date, unless voted down by a quorate EGM.

This announcement serves as notice of the EGM. Any member has the right to attend and vote.

For the record, 43 votes were submitted via the Internet, and 31 by post.

Thanks to the noble 74 who voted, and also to Bill Thurlow for acting as Returning Officer.

Proposed Constitutional Changes

The latest Slingshot (263) includes a voting form on the set of constitutional changes proposed at the last AGM. To respond, you can either post the completed form (to the address printed on the form) or send an email to elections [at] soa.org.uk.

To find copies of the current constitution and the proposed changes, you can either log into the Members' Area (for information about obtaining a password for the members' area, see the previous entry in this blog) or else, if you are a member of the society's Yahoo group, then you can find copies of these files in the groups files area. If you are a current member of the society, and want to join the Yahoo group, you can request membership from the Contact page – select "Newsgroup Invitation" as the topic in the form.

Members Area Open on Website

Hi. As you should be able to see from the tabs on http://www.soa.org.uk, there is now a "Members Area" on the website. The purpose of this is described in more detail in the editorial of Slingshot 263, but, briefly, the idea is to provide an area for additional material and also for stuff which is specific to the running of the society, such as minutes. The members area also allows for the facility of free member "home pages" (actually they can consist of multiple pages) on which you can host your own hobby and history related material, only accessible by other members.
There isn't *that* much there at the moment – at the time of writing there are just some hi-res versions of the campaign maps from the recent campaign articles in Slingshot, and the homepage area. Some content from the main site may migrate inside the members area.
For the members area, your userid will be your membership number; you'll need to get a password from the webmaster. Either write and supply your name (first and last name) and membership number, or use the contact form from the "Contact" tab – put your membership number in the message. Also say whether you'd like a homepage setting up.
Thanks
Mark

Slingshot 263

The latest issue of Slingshot (number 263, March 2009), the bi-monthly publication of the Society of Ancients, went to the printers last Monday. Apologies for the lateness of this issue. My understanding is that the issue has been delayed a further couple of days to accommodate the printing of membership cards, which are enclosed with the magazine, so it may be another week before it arrives with you. The incentive game is not included with this mailing and will be sent separately.

This issue is 60 pages long, not including the cover pages. It's published in the same format introduced with issue 258.

The contents of Slingshot 263 are as follows. For games articles, I've indicated the relevant rule set where it's not immediately obvious from the title; with historical articles I've tried to indicate period if a similar issue applies.

• Cogadh Gaedhil: Medieval Irish warfare 600AD-1500AD, Part I, by Mick Hession
• The Battle of the Granicus, by Patrick Waterson
• Recent Reconstructions of the Battle of the Granicus, by Philip Sabin
• “Oh merchant, how you use up silver!” (Mesopotamian Notes VI), by Alastair McBeath
• Ambush at Callinicum 531 AD (The Case For Reliable Arabs), by Stewart Hey
• The Longbeards, by Robert Heiligers
• [DBA] Campaigns for Wargamers 7 – The Normans in Italy, by Paul Burton
• [WAB] Thinking About Romans, by Adrian Goldsworthy
• [AMW] Ancient and Medieval Wargaming, by Neil Thomas
• Of Brushes and Bowstrings, by David Edwards
• Honouring the Dead, by Edward Harvey
• Plastic Alchemy Update 2008, by Andrew Lawrence
• Book Reviews, by Marc Adda, Phil Barker & Will Whyler
• Figure Reviews: 28mm Celts and Romans, Tibetans & Macedonian Successors, by Mark Watson
• The Great Commanders at Milton Keynes Campaign: 9 -10 May 2009, by Graham Evans

Windows Issues

Tim Myall mailed me to tell me about a bunch of issues on Windows IE, starting with the home page. I’ve been going through and fixing the various issues that Tim called out, and a further group that I subsequently found. Right now the home page is fixed, and some other problematical pages such as the Slingshot Previous Issues is fixed. There are some alignment issues on some remaining pages, which I’ll iron out this week, and a couple of issues on some of the pages with fancier menus.

Some observations:

I use a Mac, and had hoped some of these issues were caught by simply asking the committee to provide feedback from their Windows machines. Daft idea. I will try and check on Windows (under emulation) when I add pages going forward.

The pages in question all work under (on a Mac) Safari and Firefox and (on Windows) Safari, Chrome and Firefox. The home page issue is down to a bug in IE6 and IE7 which has been fixed in IE8. The remaining issues I need to fix are problems only in all versions of IE. My strong suggestion - if you want a better Internet experience, and can’t afford to drop Windows completely, at least get yourself a better browser.

More discounts for members!

Immortal Miniatures are now offering SoA members a 10% discount on their products. So far they have released 28mm Greeks and Persians, and Assyrians and Babylonians. See their website at www.immortalminiatures.com. And of course, make sure you quote your membership number when ordering.

Events

The events page was extremely slow, basically because it loaded the events from a very slow third party calendar server. Accordingly, I’ve replaced it for the moment with an embedded Google Calendar, which is less pretty and functional but which takes less than 20 seconds to load. It also allows somebody else to maintain the events list, which is in line with the intent of being able to distribute responsibility for the website in line with various people’s remits, rather than concentrate it because nobody can edit it but the webmaster. Anyhow, the address has now changed, and you may have to refresh the site in your browser to pick up the new tabs.

Printing

I had a complaint pointing out it was impossible to print out a page sensibly. This has been fixed, for those pages with substantive (text, or styled text with images) content. For some of the fancier pages (such as and including the home page) it’s not really possible to get a sensible print of the page. In general everything you find on the home page should link to a more content-full page elsewhere, which can be printed. Please use the Contact Us form to let me know of any further problems with printing (use the “Website Enquiry or Comment” topic).

Championship Online Results Submission

A new form has been added to the championship pages to allow you to submit results online; you can find it here. You can also download a printable copy of the results form from the Downloads page, in which case you’d then have to mail the result to Bill Thurlow (our society ombudsman; you can find his mailing address on the inside front cover of the latest Slingshot).

Website News

What, three blogs on one server? Actually it’s just an easy way of providing news feeds and there’s a deliberate decision to avoid having news from one source bump major society news off the main page. I’ll use this one for simple updates on changes/fixes to the website. Hence, the entries are going to be fairly short, much as this one is.

Slingshot 262

The latest issue of Slingshot (number 262, January 2009), the bi-monthly publication of the Society of Ancients, has gone to the printers. My expectation is that it will be mailed out to society members around 12 February. The issue also includes results forms for the Society championship.

This issue is 60 pages long, not including the cover pages. It's published in the same format introduced with issue 258

The contents of Slingshot 262 are as follows. For games articles, I've indicated the relevant rule set where it's not immediately obvious from the title; with historical articles I've tried to indicate period if a similar issue applies.
• “He moored the ships of Meluḫḫa, Magan, and Tilmun at the quay of Agade”, by Alastair McBeath
• The Army of Massalia, by Jim Webster
• Amazed am I ere I made Zama, by Patrick Waterson
• Food, land and fertility and the troops you can support, by Jim Webster
• In the Field with Belisarius, by Paul Burton
• Elephants and Things, by David Edwards
• Callinicum 531 AD, Battle Pack 2009, by Richard Lockwood, Phil Halewood & Jim Sye
• Zenobia on the Field of Glory, by John Hogan
• Refighting Cannae in DBMM, by Michael Campbell
• “Is Eight the Magic Number?” – Army sizes in AMW, by Graham Evans
• The Greeks invade Rome…and a plan doesn’t come together…in WAB, by David Carruthers
• Rules Design Forum: Lost Battles, with Philip Sabin
• Wheeling Units in AMW: an Analysis by Graham Evans
• Comparative Religion 102: Field of Glory and DBMM Rules Compared on the Wargames Table, by Ray Briggs
• Figure Reviews: 15mm Eastern Islamic, 28mm Caesarian Romans, Normans, Medieval Spanish, Imperial Romans and Celts, by Richard Lockwood and Mark Watson

Discounts for members

Good news from Curteys Miniatures - they are now offering SoA members a 10% discount on all their ranges - which include 1st Corps and Kingmaker Miniatures as well as their own Curteys range. Don't forget to quote your membership number. Many thanks to the guys at Curteys.

Society of Ancients confirms 2009 bonus project

A FAIR AND OPEN BATTLE


The Society of Ancients has confirmed that its 2009 member publication project will be an updated version of Paul Burton's award winning series 'A Fair and Open Battle'.

A wargamer's tour through an illuminating series of historical ancient and medieval set-piece clashes from Medway and Mons Graupius to The Wars of the Roses, 'A Fair and Open Battle' was written with army suggestions for DBM and Warhammer Ancient Battles
Now an illustrated 24 page A4 booklet, in a new departure, this updated version will come with a bonus CD which extends the coverage to include Field of Glory, Armati and other games together with additional supporting material.

A Fair and Open Battle will appear in the spring, and will be pre-released free to all 2009 Society of Ancients members who have subscribed by February 1st. Limited stocks are thereafter expected to go on sale at £6.00 including postage.

If you are interested in the Society of Ancients, £20 brings 6 issues of the all new Slingshot in addition to the bonus publication, and access to the wide range of member services, invitations and discounts. With Paypal on the website, joining up couldn't be easier: subscribe by Feb 1st for the full range of benefits.

Society of Ancients Roll of Honour 2008

The Society of Ancients would like to thank all the participants, organisers, and sponsors who made its 2008 events a success, and the authors and contributors without which Slingshot would not be possible.



Congratulations to the prize winners:
SoA Doubles Masters
1. Dave Handley/Nic Sharp, 2. James Hamilton/Martin Wilkinson, 3. Bruce Brown/Paul Cummins
Northern DBA Cup (Hosted by Triples)
1. Aislinn Smith, 2. Pete Scholey, 3. Richard Pulley
English DBA Open (co-sponsored with Magister Militum)
Open 15mm: Martin Smith, Open 25mm: Andrew Fisher' Junior (15s): Robert Dowling
Society of Ancients/BHGS GB Armati League
Bill Wilson

Society of Ancients/BHGS National Champion

Bruce Brown (Field of Glory)
(top scoring UK tournament player, any rules set)

Society of Ancients/Armati by the Sea

1.Malcolm King, 2. Roy Boss, 3. Matthew Bennett
Society of Ancients Anderida Trophy
Paul Fencott
The special award winners:
Tony Bath Award
Will Whyler for his sterling services in maintaining the Society presence in Northern shows, and unsung service as auditor over several years.
John Westwood Trophy
Richard Pulley for his work in promoting the hobby among young people.
Deryck Guyler Award
Graham Evans for the Trebia participation game (first run at Campaign)

... And to the Slingshot contributors:



Editor's Prize
Jim Webster
Charles Grant Prize
Awarded for the best article covering a B.C. topic: awarded jointly to Alastair McBeath, for the Mesopotamian Warfare Notes series of articles, and David Karunanithy, for his "off-cut" articles about Macedonia.
The Ian Greenwood Prize
Awarded for the best article 0 to 1000 A.D: Duncan Head for his article on the Army of the Zanj Revolt (Nov 07.)
The Alan Nickels Prize
Awarded for the best article post 1000 A.D.: John Walsh for The Bahmani Sultanate (Nov 07.)
Best Wargames Article, sponsored by Gripping Beast:
Paul Burton, for his Campaigns for Wargamers series.

Thanks also to the BHGS for administrative help, and to Gripping Beast, Magister Militum and Ancient and Modern Army Supplies for sponsoring prizes

Richard Sullivan (Osprey) presents the Persian Helmet to Pete Dalby
The Persian Helmet (Britcon Sportsmanship)
Pete Dalby

The Society of Ancients is always keen to consider good ideas for events and projects, and welcomes offers of prizes and awards from traders and partners. Please get in touch with us via the website or the blog if you want to get involved.
Membership of the Society of Ancients costs £20 per annum including 6 issues of Slingshot. If you subscribe for 2009 by the 1st of February, you will receive a free copy of our forthcoming booklet/CD 'A Fair and Open Battle' (revised with new illustrations and army lists)

www.soa.org.uk