Slingshot 334, January/February 2021
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Contents:
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Available in web store.
Click on 'read more' to see a list of the internet links appearing in articles in this edition.
About the Society
The Society of Ancients is a long-established international amateur society for the promotion of the study of ancient and medieval military history and wargaming the period 3000 BC to 1500 AD. It is run by volunteers for the benefit of its worldwide membership.
The Society publishes a bi-monthly journal, Slingshot, containing a wide range of items related to Ancient and Medieval military history and wargaming contributed by Society members. It organises various events, including an annual games day and members' conference, and runs a wargames championship. The Society also publishes a number of games and booklets which are available from our web store.
An introduction to the Society is also available on YouTube.
Membership is open to all, and lasts for 6 issues of Slingshot.
Slingshot 335, March/April 2021
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The Roman Army Medical Service - by Dr Nick Summerton Bosworth with Bloody Barons - by Mark Wilson The Teutonic Order in the 13 Years’ War - by Andreas Johansson Norman Tactics - by Matthew Bennett The Tertii and the Quadii - by Mark Wilson An Archer’s Tale - by Anthony Clipsom The Great Revolt of the Egyptians - by Jim Webster Slingshot Interviews Rick Priestly - by Gordon Garrod Arabs vs Byzantines - by Ray Briggs Slingshot Book & Game Reviews |
Available in web store.
Click on 'read more' to see a list of the internet links appearing in articles in this edition.
BattleDay update
With Covid Restrictions due to be lifted in late June 2021, Battleday 2021 (Bosworth) has now been rescheduled to take place on Sunday 15th August 2021 in Newbury. The venue is Shaw House, Church Road, Newbury RG14 2DR. The venue, which has a café, will be open at 9am and the event will run until 4pm. The attendance fee will be £10.
Those wishing to attend should now register with Richard Lockwood This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Since the number of tables is limited, probably 8-10, boards will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. So get your request for a table in quickly. Those without a game will have the opportunity of participating in one of the games being run.
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This is the first of two books which describe the Goths, their arms and armour, dress and equipment, army organisation, campaigns, battle tactics, and strategy.
The focus of this first volume is the early Goths, before they became integral to the history of the Roman Empire. The emphasis lies on the Goths themselves, outside and inside the Empire, rather than their part in the Late Empire’s history.
Emerging as a distinct people at the beginning of the first millennium AD, the Goths expanded from the Baltic to the Black Sea in the late second century and in time became the only Germanic people to cross Europe from one end to the other, the first Germanic people to establish lasting kingdoms in core Roman territories such as Italy and Spain, the first to successfully create a synthesis of Germanic and Roman elements, and the first non-Mediterranean people in Europe to enjoy an independent intellectual literary culture. Their legacy lasted far longer than their kingdoms.
The Goths were not the first lance-armed heavy shock cavalry in Europe, but they became so noted for it that cavalry of the Gothic type achieved an increasingly dominant role in all surviving Romano-Germanic successor states. Without the Goths, the medieval knight as we know him, armed with spear and shield would not have existed.
This book is illustrated with 70 plates, maps, illustrations and photographs of original items.
ISBN: 978-1-8383000-0-5
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Fifty-Five Years of Slingshot, 1965-2020, on USB - £40
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SLINGSHOT, the bi-monthly journal of the Society, is the most admired publication in its field. This USB stick includes every Slingshot produced from 1965 to 2020. It constitutes an invaluable resource of over 13,000 pages about ancient and medieval history and wargaming. The collection is fully indexed and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 or later. |
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Slingshot 333, November/December 2020
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Over the TopNick Harbud analyses the last battle of the Hundred Years War, at the very end of the Society’s historical period, and discusses how to game it with some popular rulesets. Does Armour Matterby Mark Wilson. Armour is important, obviously, but just how useful were the different pieces of armour as fighting men with more means were better encased? Do rulesets accurately represent this? And do they accurately represent anything about warfare at all? And should they? And... Once more into the Breachby Ray Briggs. Wargamers, naturally, cannot help themselves when it comes to not liking everything about their favourite ruleset. And fixing it. And turning it into a new ruleset. Seleucid Elephants in 150BCThe Seleucids are commonly believed to have had no elephants between 162BC and 145BC. Jim Webster brings forward evidence that this was not the case and suggests tweaks to DBMM army lists for the Seleucid Empire that could be adapted to other rulesets. Absent GeneralsCreating an authentic fog of war joined to an equally authentic command structure has always been a big problem for wargamers. David Kay comes up with a creative solution, producing a trial scenario that got a thumbs up from his playtesters. CharaceneCharacene, as a distinct and sometimes independent political entity, existed for three and a half centuries and was an important regional power. Jim Webster suggests some amendments to army lists that better reflect its capabilities, especially its naval strength. How to Use Elephants in Tactica 2Before Xanthippus used them as a steamroller at Bagradas, elephants were usually deployed by Indians and later by the Successor States as an infantry screen. Simon Watson looks at why this was so, using Tactica 2 to demonstrate the efficacity of the elephant screen. |
Available in web store.
Click on 'read more' to see a list of the internet links appearing in articles in this edition.
Slingshot 332, September/October 2020
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GuardroomNews and views Every Man's Handby Matthew Bennett and Roy Boss Garamantesby Jim Webster Going Back to Gaugamelaby Chris Hahn The Sound of Battleby Anthony Clipsom An Armati List for Cyrus the Greatby Rodger Williams Counting the Enemyby John Hastings Telamon in Anaheimby Andrew Gledhill T’angoed!by Nicholas Harbud Warfare in Antiquity Conferenceby Rodger Williams Slingshot Figure ReviewsSlingshot Book & Game Reviews |
Available in web store.
Click on 'read more' to see a list of the internet links appearing in articles in this edition.
President-Elect Q&A
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As Roy Boss has announced his intention to stand down after many years of service, Dr Simon Elliott recently became the President elect of the Society of Ancients, and will take over on the 1st of January, 2021.
He is an award winning and best selling historian, archaeologist, author, broadcaster, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent, Trustee of the Council for British Archaeology, Ambassador for Museum of London Archaeology and Guide Lecturer for Andante Travels. Simon has a PhD in Classics and Archaeology from the University of Kent, an MA in archaeology from UCL and an MA in War Studies from KCL, where has was most fortunate to study conflict simulation under Professor Phil Sabin.
He currently has nine books published on a variety of themes regarding ancient warfare, one an Amazon number 1 best seller and one a Military History Matters book of the year. He frequently appears on broadcast media as an expert on the Roman world. Simon is also a PR Week Award winning, highly experienced communications practitioner. Most importantly, Simon is a passionate lifelong wargamer who is very keen to continue to promote our fantastic hobby to the whole community.
Over his long gaming career he has played a wide variety of rules, beginning with WRG 5th edition in the late 1970s and following with 6th and 7th edition, DBA, DBM, DBMM, Armati and most recently Mortem et Gloriam. In terms of scale Simon enjoys playing games in a wide variety, including 28mm, 15mm, 10mm and 1/300, and also enjoys PC and board games.
Simon is also very active on social media, reflecting his career as a public relations practitioner. Members can read about his exploits in the world of history, archaeology, broadcasting and wargaming on his website at www.simonelliott20.com and follow him on twitter at @SimonElliott20.
In the meantime, Simon is keen to engage with the on-line membership via the forum, so a new forum board has been set up called 'Society President Q&A', under the existing Announcements board. Simon will be answering questions on here from Monday.
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The Society needs you!
The Society of Ancients is a volunteer organisation, and relies on its members. It's very easy to join -– just go to the join page, add a membership to your cart and check out using Paypal. You can alternatively download a postal membership form. Membership costs £27 for 6 issues of Slingshot (normally a year).
Renewal
Membership now runs for six issues from the point that you subscribe from, rather than annually. The Join page will tell you the first issue you will receive and your membership number will tell you the issue after which you need to renew. Renewal is easy - just purchase a new subscription in the webstore and the membership secretary will match up your details.
Privacy Notice
The Society of Ancients respects the privacy of its Members and only retains such personal data as is needed to meet its contractual obligations or for which it has a legitimate purpose.
- Currently the Society stores addresses, email contact details, if provided, and a small amount of history (how many years an individual has been a member). A Member’s personal data is not shared with any other individual or organisation except as described below or with the Member’s permission, for example, to request contact with other Members.
- The Society provides Members’ names and addresses to printers for mailing purposes to meet the Society’s contractual commitment to deliver Slingshot. The Society’s printers handle this data securely, destroy it after use and do not pass it to others.
- Email addresses, where provided, are used for the legitimate purpose of communicating with Members.
- Anonymised membership data is used by the Committee to inform certain of its decisions.
- Members should contact the Membership Secretary in order to request details of the personal data held on them or to advise corrections, including change of address.
- The Society retains details of former Members for the legitimate purpose of informing them of Society activities and new publications, typically by means of email several times per year. Any former Member who wishes to stop receiving such communications should contact the Membership Secretary who will delete his or her data.