17th -18th November Reading(and 25th Nov, Warwick)

Nearly up to date, now, following this little furry of posts.

I've always like Warfare ... 20 years ago it used to be the last event of the season.  Based nearer London, it was a local show and the Society of Ancients and Pike and Shot Society personnel traditionally swapped around and played each other's show games before thy got put into storage for the Winter.

This year I was only able to go for a few hours on the Sunday, wasn't doing the stand and I'm not sure if P&SS actually do this one any more ... the SoA game was a WRG 7th edition bash in 25mm, however - so somethings looked just as they did back in the 1990s!

(WRG 7th at the Society of Ancients)

(the games hall at Warfare and some of the lovely ancient/medieval games on show)

Adjacent to Adrian and friends doing the SoA game, the Armati enthusiasts from Malvern were playing a large Paraitakene (which had, of course, been the Society's BattleDay topic for earlier in the year) ... a perfect match.

(Malvern's Paraitakene game was played using Armati)

Armati has remained on of my favourite ancient battlegames.   It is a pity it couldn't make it into a third generation that addressed some of the peculiarities that somehow got between it and the outright best ancients game.

It's also not unfair to say that, implicit either in the rules or in how people play them ... Armati still seems to come with too much table clutter ... markers of all sorts.  Playing within the bubble of the game, you cease even to notice these aids, but they are a barrier to browsers who might otherwise get more engaged.

As I said, this was very much a flying visit.  I didn't get to see or photograph everything and there was plenty of good stuff, though not all of it ancient/medieval in theme.

But my last picture is that of the big naval/skirmish game.  I love the idea of these big ships and of proper toy soldiers on them.  Yeah ... one day ... indeed.  Where would you keep the models to do even a modest action in this scale?   But it is tempting ...

Graham and I had agreed to take the Northampton 1460 game to Pudsey, Leeds, for Recon on the first weekend of December, so that will be the last Shows North outing of the year.  Meanwhile this I hope to have a couple more entries to populate the new DBA Armies page.

SoAC ... Chessford Grange, Warwick (24th - 25th November)

The 2018 Society of Ancients Conference

Again unfortunately I could only make the Sunday (well Saturday night dinner and ADG) due to other commitments (battlefield guiding at Naseby on the Saturday) ...

We managed a certain degree of  'alternative approaches' this year (the theme that kickstarted the conference 30 odd years ago) ... Graham put on Hydaspes using De Matrica Bellae (a development of Ancients by Other Means - a matrix game).  A norm for the Conference of Wargamers, matrix games progress the narrative through player reasoning and a probability roll, rather than the mechanics of the conventional wargame.

(a wargame from a grownup - Hydaspes by other means at SoAC 2018)

Overall, you should have been there: a weekend packed full of ancients games and study ... Duncan Head on Telamon, games across all periods, and a chance to sample everything from Mortem et Gloriam and Dux Bellorum to Gladiolus and new battlegame rules that don't even have a name yet.

(Gladiolus at SoAC: original version on squares not hexes)

For my part, as well as running the Gladiolus ADGs and helping with Hydaspes, I ran a full version of Pharsalus with Double DBA.  

(Pharsalus - the opening engagement: 10mm figures and a Double DBA scenario)

(Pharsalus at SoAC - the final showdown)

It was a real battle of attrition and very hard work for Caesar.

A great event as usual.  There is still a tendency to stay within comfort zones but there is innovation too.  Well worth a look next year.

29th March, Bletchley, MK

The Society of Ancients BattleDay 2014 - overview ...

This was the 11th annual BattleDay.   This year the subject was Montaperti, the 1260 battle between Guelphs and Ghibellines in Tuscany near Siena.   

Seven groups participated in the UK side-by-side refight of the battle, together with satellite games in Italy and the US ... The selected rules used were Armati, DBMM, Basic Impetus, Warlord, Strongbow, Saga, DBA (UK, Italy and US) and Warrior (US) ...

The day began with a presentation by each group on their take on the battle ...

(Mark Fry talks us through the essentials of the Armati game)

I presented the Impetus game, but made sure to get a picture of the other games as I usually try to.

You will find plenty on the games in coming issues of Slingshot and discussion on the SoA forum ..

Gallery:

At the end there was the usual debrief and thanks, plus a lighthearted awards ceremony announcing winners of the much coveted Best Terrain prize, the Best Game prize, plus a series of specially painted figures were handed out to mark notable acts of derring-do ...

(This year's BattleDay Souvenir figures)

Best Terrain went to the splendid DBMM landscape, Best Game to the Impetus table.

A superb day out and great contributions from all the presenters - well done, Society of Ancients! - and well put together, Richard.

I will follow this general/gallery post with my own experiences presenting the Impetus game.

1st - 2nd March, Bournemouth

Every Spring, the Armati glitterati flock to the South Coast's Stag and Hen party capital, Bournemouth, for a weekend of toy soldiering ... I'm sure there is something to read into that ...

This year, the Hammerhead show wandered out of February by a week and so I'm afraid it fell off the Shows North schedule for 2014.   In fact, we had some possible volunteers, but it wasn't made clear enough to me early on so I didn't book anything.  Apologies to all - especially visitors to what I understand was a great little show who may have been looking out for us but been disappointed.

The good news is you can see the Society at WMMS next week where I will be running a Montaperti BattleDay taster ...

This year's Armati by the Sea was a classic and was dominated by the Society big beasts ...

But here are my 5 games ...

(Game one: New Kingdom Egyptians vs Sea Peoples)

(Game two: Assyrians vs Elamites)

(Game three: Polish and Lithuanian vs Teutonic Order)

(Game four: Mongol Conquest vs Chinese)

(Game five: Syracusan Greek vs Early Carthaginian)

Armati by the Sea is a scenario based competition where the organisers provide everything right down to dice and measuring tools (although bringing your own sticks and bones is accepted).   The formula was devised to simplify life for long distance visitors flying in.

The games are alotted by Swiss Chess, then a numbered coin is drawn from a bag (denoting which scenario) and tossed (marking who gets which army).

As you can see, I got a pretty happy outcome ... 2 Biblical; 1 Medieval; 1 edge of the world and 1 Classical Mediterranean. 

The beautifully presented armies are a joy to play with (assuming you forgive Roy's unblunted pin spears giving you the occasional stab) ...

(beautiful Medieval pageantry in the Teutonic clash)

This year is the anniversary of the ground shifting Battle of Bouvines, and Vincent had brought along his Armati inspired interpretation of the battle as a side entertainment on Saturday to run at breaks and for early finishers ...

(anniversary presentation of the Battle of Bouvines)

You could argue that Bouvines marked so decisive a shift in the power balance of Europe that it put Prince Louis on the throne of England in 1216.  King Louis? You ask ....  Well that's a story in English history most commonly glossed over.

By Sunday morning I was a contender, but my challenge faded away as I failed to win 2-up melee rounds with the Mongols and blundered at the Carthaginians in Sicily.

Ross Finch made a great up coming player, and organiser Peter Barham won the annual prize for killing or capturing the most enemy generals.   There then followed some presentational musical chairs ...

As I say, this was a day for the big beasts, so the traditional presenters were giving each other the awards.

President Roy Boss presented third place to Peter ... Vice President Matthew Bennett then presented second place to Roy ... then metaphorical caps were swapped and Roy presented first place and the Champion's trophy to Matt.   See - experience counts in this game!

1: Matthew Bennett; 2: Roy Boss; 3: Peter Barham; 4: Craig Tannock; plus Vincent Auger, John Bradley, Ross Finch, Tim Cull, Phil Steele, Mark Fry, Richard Shilvock, Ian Cam, Ian Kerr, Mick Owen, Paul Collins, and Bruce Rollett.

23rd/24th November, Glasgow ...

GLASGOW ARMATI

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get up to Glasgow til later than planned, and missed Caliban's big Friday night tactica game - I bought into that idea where you get your car serviced before a long trip ... and trust them to finish it on time ...

The good news is that the Glasgow collective have found a new venue ... and it is ideal (adequate free parking, decent rooms and breakfast, a spacious conference suite for our games with modern coffee facilities - and a bar that stays open at night til the last man drops*): good find - Glasgow Campanile** at the SECC.

I only drove round the block 3 times to get the last bit right (which solo driving in Glasgow also isn't too bad).

(scenes from the 2013 Armati Calcutta Cup ...) ..

So after a Friday night that just consisted of beers and snacks with the usual suspects, it was into the Armati fest and Round One: the Calcutta Cup ...

Like many events, you can't play your clubmates/home nation in the first round - this has been achieved for the Glasgow event by configuring the first round as, more or less, Scotland and chums vs England and chums (the chumming being decided by the organisers to get broadly balanced teams) - it counts for the weekend but has its own little trophy, too ...

And here we all are celebrating our victory in bouncing footballer style, teasing tartan and pirate bandanna***

David H joined the English to make us Anglo/Irish (but needs must) and he ended up on the winning side :) ... I contributed a lucky win to the cause so everyone can smile.  In the early years they used to call this the Bannockburn round ... but we scotched that years ago so now it is the Calcutta Cup.

The format is preset (loosely) historical scenarios all provided by the hosts (who also provide implements, markers, dice etc.****) ... preset tables diced for before each round, then the players dice for which army.

There is an army list/scenario notes for both players, plus a deployment screen, and, love it or loath it, each 'board' is a game mat with deployment zones marked out.

I played Crusader vs Mamluk (Crusader), Roman vs Pontic (Roman), Burgundian vs French (Burgundian), Late Roman vs Hun (Roman) and Saitic Egyptian vs Achaemenid Persian (Egyptian).  

That's a fantastic mix of what ancient and medieval wargaming has to offer, so well done to the organisers.

Here are some pics:

(Late Roman)

(a 'Bennett Box' marshaling up against a Pontic battleline mostly of Imitation Legionaries)

(Burgundian Ordonnance)

(Egyptian chariots bundling over a gentle hill to take on the Persians)

Splendid figures all round as I'm sure you will agree.

I got 3 wins out of the 5 games, which is enough to keep me happy - and finished just in the top half.  Mostly my win/loss went with the normal outcome of the scenario I played (yes they are balanced ... and yes, the outcomes do show a pattern) ...

On the other hand, I was disappointed to become embroiled in a rules dispute in game 4 and left not happy about either the issue or the outcome.   Hopefully the host club will be prompted to look at how they play the game and fix some problems.  Most of the 'new' formation arrangements are 'gamey' in their intent: they are also illegal, so it is down to the umpires to know the rules and fix it: and frankly, if they don't know the rules, they should rule _against innovations that are not 'clearly' permitted.  It was like being beamed back into the bad old 80s for a while.

Enough of that.

The weekend finished in good spirit with Meth picking up the trophies and the rest of us various 'gifts' that made us feel silly but welcome.  I will edit in some more detail when it becomes available.

There followed some Armati-moot chat about next year (which will follow the same pattern as this year) ... Bournemouth - London - Paris - Derby - Glasgow (with the usual chat about Britcon - maybe/maybe not).

Suffice to say, the next event is in Bournemouth (March 1^st/2^nd 2014; Venue: Hotel Royale, Bournemouth): it also follows the 'all provided' formula and has an airport so international visitors would be really welcome.   Email me.

Happy Christmas from the Armati League ... Wargamer and Recon still to come for SoA Shows North!

*which isn't that late these days, but that's a different blog I think! 

** not my first Campanile hotel but easily the best so far ...
***that's a bandanna Bruce is brandishing, not a trophy from Friday night (whatever they tell you!!)
****so players only need bring themselves, plus a set of rules if they intend to refer to them - which, with Armati, isn't usually necessary ...

13th October, Crystal Palace

SELWG 2013

I was over on the Pike & Shot Society stand - on duty with my Newbury ECW game - while David Edwards ran the stand and Philip Sabin hosted a reconstruction of the battle of Zama ...

(Secretary Edwards posing with the Society membership stand)

(the Lost Battle of Zama)

Scenes from the Society of Ancients battle of Zama

(Those classic 25mm elephants in close up)

Other ancient and medieval content at SELWG:

(click on the pictures for a bigger image)

(Second Battle of St Albans by the Essex Warriors ... using Impetus rules)

(Second battle of St. Albans: close up)

(Second battle of St. Albans: close up)

(Simon Miller's battle of Thapsus)

(the legions at Thapsus)

... and there were also a number of splendid games in other periods

(the award winning 'battle of Trysler's Farm' 1813 - War of 1812)

(Phil's Newbury game for the Pike & Shot Society)

(fantastic terrain as always in the Loughton Strike Force eastern Front game)

For more on the Newbury ECW game see ECWBattles

A great day out as always ... I'm asked to than k everyone who visited the Society stand and who played in the Zama game.

Personally i had a great day on the adjacent P&SS stand, and, for a change, we had a relatively trouble free drive back to Northamptonshire after the show.

Many thanks to SELWG.   DBA Open, next, for me and you can catch the Society of Ancients on the road next at Warfare 16/17 November in Reading.