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.