Slingshot 309 at the printers

Slingshot 309 is at the printers and will appear shortly.

Contents

• On the Ground at Arsuf – Part 2 by Nick Harbud
• The Eagle’s Prey: Caractacus by Gordon Lawrence
• Rein-Force (Rein-Bow Warriors) by Ian Russell Lowell
• Of Games & Chariots by Peter Barham
• A Fatal and Fateful Day by Chris Hahn
• Pharsalus with Lap of the Gods by David Edwards
• Rome Confronting Pyrrhus by Periklis Deligiannis
• Simple Campaigning - Hellenistic Empires by John Graham Leigh

 
 

l'Art de la Guerre

...is a French Ancients ruleset gaining in popularity in the English-speaking world. Designed to be played in 2 hours it has the following features:

• An element/unit based game with cohesion loss but no casualty removal;
   
• One base = one unit;
   
• Base width is important, depth does not seem to matter so much;
   
• So long as both armies use the same base width, the rules will work;
   
• Recommended base widths follow WRG/DBX standard;
   
• For 6-15mm amies using 40mm wide bases, table size is about 5'x3';
   
• Armies are broken into three commands;
   
• For a standard 200 point game, armies seem to hover around 24 units;
   
• The many army lists are tight but not overly prescriptive.

More details from the homepage here: http://www.artdelaguerre.fr/en/index.php

A YouTube walk-through here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZes0dsW1Ac

PAWS English DBA Open October 2016

The Portsmouth and Allied Wargames Society will host England's premiere DBA competition on Sunday 30th October at the Stacey Community Centre, Portsmouth, UK, commencing 9.30 am. Trophies will be sponsored by the Society of Ancients and prizes by Magister Militum.

More details here.

Slingshot 307 with the printers

Slingshot 307 is currently with the printers and will appear shortly.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Arming the Slaves, by Richard Andrews

It’s a Long Way to Tibareni (4), by Alastair McBeath

The ‘Drunken One’ at Campaign 2016, by Steve Rathgay

Actium Naval Rules, by Harry Ryder

Pharsalus Battle Day Reports

• Pharsalus in Japan, by Aaron Bell
• Pharsalus with ‘To The Strongest!’, by Paul Innes
• Pharsalus using ‘Scutarii’, by Bill Butler

Hannibal Triumphs! - ‘Mortem et Gloriam’, by Richard Jeffrey-Cook

Another Consideration of Chaeronea, by Chris Hahn

Development of the Republican Roman Army

......is a free ebook on the development of the Roman army from obscurity until later Republican times, written by Kenneth Haynes, a long-term SoA contributor. Containing illustrations and diagrams, it is available in ePub and MOBI formats here.

 

Britcon 2016 12th - 14th August

Britcon is the UK's largest multi-period, multi-ruleset wargames competition, held this year in Manchester.

Ancient and Mediaeval period rulesets will include the following:

DBA
DBMM
Field of Glory
Saga
l'Art de la Guerre

...and the first public appearance of Mortem et Gloriam, created by Simon Hall, one of the developers of Field of Glory.

More details here.

MINIATURE WARGAMING - THE MOVIE

This will be the first full-length documentary on the miniature wargaming hobby, incorporating interviews with key miniatures personalities, a history of miniatures wargaming, and a look at the production, modelling and tournament aspects of the hobby. A successful Kickstarter campaign has raised the necessary funds to complete the movie. More details here.

Free DBA 3 reference sheet offered for download

A free 2-sided A4 reference sheet for DBA 3 is available as a pdf from the Society of Ancients website. Check it out here.

Undersea Athenian naval base at Piraeus uncovered

The Zeaharbour Project that spent ten years in undersea excavation of the ancient military naval base of Piraeus has uncovered the enormous shipyard - one of the biggest complexes in the Ancient world - that housed hundreds of triremes used to defeat the Persian fleet in the 5th century BC. See a summary here:

http://www.livescience.com/55142-ancient-greek-naval-base-found.html

And more detailed article here:

http://www.carlsbergfondet.dk/da/Forskningsaktiviteter/Forskningsprojekter/Andre-forskningsprojekter/Zeaharbourproject

Hannibal's Legions

HANNIBAL'S LEGIONS, the latest in the series of Slingshot classic articles available for free download at the free downloads section of Society of Ancients' website: http://www.soa.org.uk/joomla/downloads

Patrick Waterson argues that after Trasimere Hannibal re-equipped and reorganised his Carthaginian spearmen to fight as Roman legionaries, enabling him to win his most spectacular victory at Cannae and nearly win at Zama.

Robert Heiligers' new blog

Robert Heiligers, a regular Slingshot contributor, has just opened a blog to display his very impressive collection of figures ranging from Early Frankish and Late Roman, through Spartan, Persian, Late Republican and Early Imperial Roman, and more. We look forward to more photos in the future. Keep it up Robert!

Society of Ancients Battle Day 2017 - The Battle of Arsuf

2017 Battle Day will recreate the Battle of Arsuf, AD1191, between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. The Crusaders were engaged while marching south down the Levant coast towards the fortification at Arsuf, a series of charges and countercharges ensuing as the Saracen forces attempt to stall the movement of the Crusaders towards their goal. This is an unusual clash between two great captains of history, with very different forces, and the added challenge of simulating an assault upon an army on the march, utilising your favourite rules set.

The day will commence with an introduction by Dr. Matt Bennett, former Senior Lecturer at RMA Sandhurst, and well known author of books and magazine articles on medieval warfare.

More details to follow on the Society of Ancients website.

Slingshot 306

Slingshot 306 is currently with the printers and should appear by the end of June. Table of Contents below.

• The Vikings of Man, by Mick Hession

• It’s a Long Way to Tibareni (3), by Alastair McBeath

• When Push Comes to Shove, by Richard Taylor

• Clash of Warlords, by Gordon Lawrence

• Late Roman Army & the Notitia Dignitatum (3), by Luke Ueda-Sarson

• Pharsalus Battle Day Reports, by Phil Barker, Mick Hession and Simon MacDowall

• A Note on Goliath’s Kidun, by Dave Beatty

The mailing list for 306 will close around 15^th June, so hurry now to get this issue.

 

Aristotle's tomb identified

According to Greek archaeologists, Aristotle's final burial place has been identified in the centre of ancient Stagira, where he was born. More information here.

Kostas Sismanidis

Kostas Sismanidis

Kostas Sismanidis

Great Battles of History for DBA3

Here is the description from Joe Collins:

The DBA Development Team and Friends are happy to announce the publishing of "Great Battles of History for DBA 3". This is a book of 12 historical scenarios ranging from Gela in 405 BC to Enguingatte in 1479 AD that showcases DBA 3's strength in refighting historical battles. Written by some of the leading DBA gamers across the world, each scenario has a short history, complete OB, map of the terrain, and a photographed narrative play-through. These refights use the Historical Battle rules found in the DBA 3 rulebook and are scaled to be in easy reach of the average gamer or club. This 134 page full-color book is available from Lulu.com for $34.97 USD. You can find it here…link For places outside of Lulu's shipping area, the book will be available worldwide through Amazon at $49.95 USD in a few weeks. Monies earned for the first year on the book in excess of $150.00 USD (the startup cost for the editor) will be donated to the Society of Ancients in honor of Phil and Sue Barker. For those on a tight budget or who would like a complete preview, the book in its entirety will soon be available for free as a download from Keith McNelly's website. I hope everyone enjoys "Great Battles of History for DBA 3" as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Thanks to Charlie, Bob, John, Graham, Robert, Phil, James and Tom for directly contributing…. Also thanks to Joseph Collins, Doug Melville, Pat Lowinger, Dr. Dave Cliffel, the rather misnamed Nashville Track & Hull Club, and especially Keith McNelly…. You guys are terrific too! Joe Collins General Editor

UK Alton DBA matched pairs 23rd April

The UK Alton DBA matched pairs on the 23rd April was a success, with 14 players participating. Richard Pulley fought through to a glorious victory from 5th place after lunch to 1st place at 4.30 pm.
More photos of the event at the Yahoo DBA group (you need to sign in with a Yahoo account to see them).

Blood Eagle - Dark Ages Skirmish ruleset

A new skirmish wargame recently released by North Star Military Figures, which has gathered some positive feedback. Here are a few battle reports from the Blood Eagle blog to give the flavour of the game.

6mm battle at Battle Day

An impressive 6mm display and stop motion replay at Battle Day at the conclusion of which Pompey emerged as the first Roman emperor.

The organisation of the imperial Legion and Auxilia units.

Here is a fascinating short video outlining the organisation of the Roman army in the imperial period.

Cannae Refought with Legion, Armati and DBM

Another offering in the free downloads of classic Slingshot articles: Cannae Refought with Legion, Armati and DBM. Each of the three rulesets is put through its paces recreating the great battle of tactical manoeuvre. Available on the SoA website:
http://soa.org.uk/joomla/

Sheffield Triples and DBA Northern Cup

A good selection of games including the SoA sponsored 'Rise of Rome' themed DBA northern cup. Photos and descriptions by Phil Steele at Ancients on the Move.

Battle Day 2nd April 2016

Battle Day this year features the battle of Pharsalus 48 BC, between the rivals for control of the Roman world, Julius Caesar and Pompey. The Battle day take place at Sycamore Hall, Drayton Road, Bletchley, Near Milton Keynes, MK2 3RR and runs from 9am till 5pm (with an hour either side available for games to set up and clear away).

There will be eleven games refighting Pharsalus this year, using eleven different sets of rules and in varying figure scales. We have:

• Armati 15mm
• Command and Colors: Ancients 15mm
• To The Strongest 6mm
• Civitates Bellantes 6mm
• Impetus 15mm
• DBMM 15mm
• Hail Caesar/Lost Battles 10mm/6mm
• Lost Battles 25mm
• Lap of the Gods 15mm
• Warlord 15mm
• Big Battle DBA 15mm
  

The Day will begin with an introduction to the battle by Phil Sabin. Phil's sessions are always very interesting - do make sure you arrive in time to hear this one!

Attendees of Battle Day are asked to pay £10 towards the cost of hiring the Hall and the tables. Juniors and students are free.

Free tea, coffee and biscuits are available all day, a bar (not free!) opens at lunchtime, and there are shops nearby selling sandwiches etc.