Society Conference 2022

[Duncan Head]

Finished the slides for the Mantineia talk last night, printed it off this morning. My only fear is that it may be a bit too long, so I shall have to talk quickly!

Driving to Cambridge this afternoon. Looking forward to seeing you all there this weekend.

[RichT]

See you there! As I'm breaking the habit of a lifetime and 'taking part' - unless I really have been replaced by the mysterious Richard Thomas, as it says on the programme...

[Chris]

Cheers Gents!

Here's hoping that some summarized version of the proceedings will be mad available on the SoA forums and or someone's blog . . .

Chris

[Denis Grey]

Cheers Gents!

Here's hoping that some summarized version of the proceedings will be mad available on the SoA forums and or someone's blog . . .

Chris

Or an article in Slingshot?

[Imperial Dave]

indeed

[lionheartrjc]

The conference was held Friday 28th to Sunday 30th at Maddingley Hall near Cambridge.

"Conference" makes it sound like a very academic event - which it is not!!!  It is actually very relaxed and most of the time is spent gaming. 

For those attending on Friday night there is dinner.  This was followed by board games, plus the opening round of a Command and Colours tournament.
Saturday and Sunday consisted of morning and afternoon sessions.  Each session begins with a presentation, around 45 minutes and questions.  This year we had Harry Sidebottom talking about Sieges, why they are so brutal and why are there so few tabletop games; Richard Taylor talking about phalanxes and Duncan Head talking about the 2nd Battle of Mantinea.

After the presentation we have about 3 hours of gaming.  Each session had three or four people putting on games that people can partake in.  I myself organised three games.
1.  Saturday Morning. A game of Strength and Honour (Rules by Mark Backhouse, published by Reisswitz Press and available from Too Fat Lardies) for 6 people.  This was using 15mm Gauls and Romans.  My aim was to allow people to try out these rules.  In the end it was a win for the Gauls who despite having one tribe break reduced the Romans to the point of breaking.
2. Saturday Afternoon.  A game we developed at Guildford Wargames Club which we call "Pikemen Rampant" as it is a cross between "Lion Rampant" and "Pikemen's Lament".  Specifically, it covers the Italian Wars period and used my 28mm figures (which are very pretty as I didn't paint them!).  These rules are a bit of fun, particularly when the French army tried to fire its cannon, rolled a double 1 which meant the cannon blew up causing casualties on two pike units that had been placed next to it....
3. Sunday Morning. I put on a game of MeG Pacto - the small version of Mortem et Gloriam - using the same 28mm Italian Wars figures.  Again, this was to allow players to try out these rules.  I was assisted by the rules author, Simon Hall. 

Other games were very varied, from Bosworth to Pharsalus to Issus.  One was a naval game of galleys from the Successor period. 

In between sessions there was lunch and dinner, all included in the price.  The food is excellent, and I am sure I weigh more today than I did last Thursday....

The conference next year will be held at the same venue from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th October. 

Richard

[Duncan Head]

It was an excellent weekend all round, from the food to the games to the company.

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in organising the weekend or who put on games.

[Ian61]

Only my second conference but, as last year, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience - always good to be in the company of such an intelligent and good natured bunch of people. 

The few niggles we had last year with the regards lighting were sorted by rearranging 'which rooms were used for what' leading to a better gaming experience.

The talks were highly informative and entertaining - I look forward to reading the 'end' of Duncan's talk on the (second) Battle of Mantinea in Slingshot before too long. (For those unfortunates who could not make it to Cambridge Duncan finished all the academic stuff nicely - I am always pleased to see a few maps! but apparently he also has some good ideas as to how this links to fighting the battle when it comes up on Battleday next year)

PS A plea - If you were there and took some pics of my small 28mm Romans/Britons scenario game could you let me know, I got so swept up in it I only took one of the starting set up before most of the units arrived and I would like at least one more to help me write an article about what was for me a relative newcomer very much a 'learning experience'.

[Imperial Dave]

and I look forward to seeing that Ian 

[Duncan Head]

... but apparently he also has some good ideas as to how this links to fighting the battle when it comes up on Battleday next year

Wait till you see them to decide whether they're good or not! It's just a list of points that I think game organisers might like to decide upon.

[Chris]

Thanks for the update and brief comments.

Would greatly appreciate a little more detail on the Issus game, if possible.

Cheers,
Chris

[aligern]

I joined Issus for the first run through.  We did not fight the battle as a game, but Richard used  the figure layout to explain and elucidate the battle.  The figures were placed to the measurements that the presenter had worked out from two modern walk throughs, from ancient commentaries, duly weighted for age and the relevance of their sources and from logic that filled in some gaps. As the group had some very knowledgeable members and Richard had done some good research , it was a most interesting discussion, which ranged from how steep were the banks and how accessible were the stretches of bank that had to be 'palisaded'  to how wrong were the Hellenic sources in estimating numbers , the Persian hoplites would have had to be 64 deep I recall.  The conclusions  that I drew were that:
Darius  considerably overestimated  the effectiveness of his main attack by cavalry across the length of tge river tgat was accessible by horse .
That the Thessalian cavalry opposing this large force were heroes.
That Darius failed to orovide a sufficient guard for tge ford which Alexander rode across to break his archers, drive off tge Median cavalry and tgen take tge Persians in left rear, aiming at Darius himself. It really takes more skill than was. available to beat an enemy when your troops are man for man inferior . 
Perhaps the Great King was thinking as he fled that he never should have picked a battleground that enfirced narrow frontages on his cavalry..
  Maybe next time a wide flat plain?
Roy

[Nick Harbud]

FWIW, This is a view from Google Streetview of the Payas (Issus) River from a bridge at the right end of Alexander's line looking downstream.  The shot is taken in July when river levels would be lower than the battle's month (November).  Also, it should be borne in mind that modern irrigation practices tend to lower river levels.

Hope this helps.

[Chris]

Cheers gents! Thanks for this.  Much appreciated, as it helps me sort of things with respect to a current project.

Thanks again,
Chris