Kenilworth, 14-16th October

The Society of Ancients Conference

Hopefully the first of a new run - the first of many.

Very pleasing to me to see the return of the Conference ... part of the lively SoA mix in the 1990s I was, unfortunately, the Committee member back then who had to cancel the last of them (SoAC VII, I think ... maybe VIII) due to price hikes at our traditional venue.

The cancellation was only ever meant to be temporary but the old style Committee was always reluctant to underwrite what it thought was a minority interest, so getting it back up and running was daunting.

So a big thank you to Richard L for getting it to happen.

I'll doubtless do some features, and Slingshot will, I am sure, have some games, articles and scenarios - so this will just be a round-up that doesn't steal all the thunder.

What happened?

Around 4 talks and 8 or so games sessions (usually with 3 or 4 games to choose from in each slot), an annual dinner and lots of social mingling/bar time.

Few ADGs, very little workshopping ... nothing outdoors ... a big Tactica session that ran all weekend.   So somewhere between a 'wargames holiday' weekend and CoW.

Some sessions dovetailed with plenary talks and current topics (above, Matt Bennett on 1066 and a Hastings game using Armati II)

(detail from Matthew and Roy's Hastings game - because in the end I know you want pictures)

Some were stand alone

(Simon MacDowall's lavish Commitatus game) ...

The dinner was excellent - nice to sit down together at the end of a full Saturday ... the food was very good and the speech by SoA veteran Will Whyler reflecting on the last 50 years was bearable (actually very good ;) but Will is a long-standing friend and you wouldn't want me to go over the top).

After the dinner we did manage to get a few games of David and Goliath played in memory of the late Andy Gittins ... former President and a Conference regular ...

... and, yes, that is the originl D&G set (with one or two loving repairs by me to make it Conference ready) ...

(1980s classic ... David and Goliath show game ... as we did back then with hand written rules)

I had volunteered to provide Richard with a backbone of games sessions on the theme of wargaming historical battles so here's a summary of what I got up to over the two days ...

Saturday: Bosworth and Bouvines - 2 medieval battle compared; Sunday: Yarmuk - a DBA GBOH scenario explained and run.

(Bouvines ... a full 6-player BBDBA treatment of the epoch defining 1214 battle) 

In this play through, Ferdinand count of Flanders very nearly pushed up to the bridge but ran out of supporting troops - eventually succumbing (captured on the field of battle as his historical antecedent) ... Elsewhere it was an attritional battle in which the allies could make little headway.

(Bouvines - from the North before the lines clash)

Bosworth, of course, was fought on very different lines to Bouvines ... the combat being more deadly and the traditions of chivalry being no barrier to the political benefits of killing your enemies on the battlefield.

This was also a different style of game: 54mm figures and just the conventional 12 elements per side (well 12 for Richard, 11 plus the hope of Stanley for the Earl of Richmond) ...

(DBA V3: Richard III on the field of Bosworth at SoAC 2016)

Richard narrowly lost this battle having dashed amongst the vanguards on a 'death ride' that took him from the marshy end of Fenn Lane and the likely Stanley trap.  It gave us food for thought.

I think it vindicates the modern interpretation, however.

I played all these battles with DBA despite having run Bouvines with Armati and Basic Impetus previously.  I decided that my theme of translating long-lost batles into playable wargames was best illustrated by using a common platform, rather than asking players to switch horses game-to-game.

(SoAC 2016: the Battle of Yarmuk)

The third battle I looked at was Yarmuk ... this was my main contribution to The Great Battles of History project by the DBA contributor group.  It features original flats from the collection of DBA author Phil Barker - the ancients collection he once used with Tony Bath and friends in the 'pre-history' of the modern game.

(30mm flats)

I have to say I still think they look splendid.  Of course, today's wargame plays using the base as the component - the figures sit on top and tell you what the base is and what it does.  30mm flats (or indeed, in the case of the Bosworth game, 54mm solids) do just as good a job and have a unique, timeless, charm.

(Byzantine cavalry - originally by Phil Barker, refurbished and based for DBA by Phil Steele)

... and then the players proceeded to destroy each other in the most monumental battle of attrition this scenario has yet produced.  Actually not unlike the original battle as afra s we can reconstruct it with confidence.

Sunday Afternoon

Richard wanted to schedule a look at reviving the old SoA incentive games so as a light-ish end to the Conference I ran the show version of Greyhounds in the Slips ...

Although we were tight on time, we ran through twice, as, for the first time in hundreds of games (and not without a little player hubris), Henry got himself killed in the very first action of the game: jumping out of the trenches to deliver his Greyhounds speech and immediately shot dead by a crossbowman on the battlements.

I guess the last thing he heard was my cautioning: don't assume you won't immediately be shot at ... (tailing off ... ) ...  We reset the game.

(Greyhounds in the Slips: Henry V in the rubble of Harfleur)

It wasn't to be his day, however ... and he was last seen battling into the town at the head of his men - as they fell around him, the Captain of the French garrison administered the coup de grace.

... and then we were all packing up and the event was over ...

What a splendid event.  See Slingshot for details and don't forget to book for next year.

Great mix of old friends and new faces ... thanks to all the players ... thanks to Paul for an inspiring talk on Shakespeare's treatment of Roman politics, and to Matt for getting the Arsuf agenda up and running.

- BattleDay 2017 - Arsuf 1191 - it starts now - watch this space

A big welcome to Great Battles of History

Congratulations to Joe Collins and the team for getting the Great Battles of History for DBA 3 completed and published.   What a massive effort.

It includes 2 chapter from the Shows North stable, Yarmuk and Bouvines ... both games we developed and played as participation projects at various shows over the last couple of seasons (so they are genuinely projects to which everyone has made an input) ...

(left: Yarmuk played with classic 30mm flats; right: Bouvines played with more modern 15mm solids)

See our threads on them here (Yarmuk, Bouvines) ...

You can buy a hardcopy version of the book in all its splendour from direct from Lulu now, or if you just want to down load the files and don't mind waiting, they will be available for free (there is a delay while file sizes are reduced from the print version so the download is manageable) ...

Meanwhile, sample chapters are being made available individually - and I am very pleased Yarmuk has been chosen as the second offering (PDF here)

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the Yarmuk and Bouvines project ... and I hope the GBoH book goes down well with you all (I know many contributors are already assembling material for the next volume) ...

NB any profits from the hardcopy version (the one you have to pay for) go to the Society of Ancients as a mark of how important the Society has been to Phil and Sue over the years and how highly regarded they are within the Society.

Click here for Keith McNelly's synopsis of what's in the book.

6th September Kelham Hall

The Autumn shows season kicked off on the first Sunday of September at 'The Other Partizan' - and as far as I'm aware this was the last of the long-running Partizan shows to be hosted at the beautiful if problematic Kelham Hall.

The Society of Ancients joined regular collaborators, the Lance & Longbow Society and the Northampton Battlefields Society and put on a participation game of Bouvines using, for the first time, DBA V3 ...

Regular readers will be familiar with the look of this game - I was asked to have a look at this battle for the forthcoming Great Battles of History scenarios volume being prepared by the DBA test group so as a starting point recycled a lot of my Basic Impetus project.

It was very successful.  One of the features of the battle is the forced march of Ferdinand Count of Flanders up a short cut to Bouvines via Cysoing.  The forced marchers ran into the French rearguard under the Duke of Burgundy in what became the opening phase of the battle.  DBA deals with this deployment from a road particularly well.

(photo by Chris)

We ran the battle through twice, in the morning amongst the usual suspects, in the afternoon as a full 6 command 6 player participation game.  The French narrowly won both games, but as in the historical battle, the outcome was far from certain for some time.

(Emperor Otto IV and his CWg battle standard)

Some elements were somewhat improvised, of course ... the German army standard/Command Waggon was just an appropriate blank with Otto's figure and his banner cart on it ...

(Philip II king of France) 

Elsewhere personality figures were placed behind the elements that represented those specific generals ...

(the Count of Flanders column passes Cysoing)

... and there were plenty of captions to give an indication of which prominent figures were in which contingents ...

(the French left wing under the count of Dreux)

Although the deployments followed what we know of the historical battle (so were  mandatory) the scenario clearly allowed quite a lot of flexibility as the two games developed along differing lines - the second game, producing a generalised melee right across the battlefield probably taking a more historical shape.

(Bouvines 1214: the heat of the action)

The second battle ended spectacularly on the destruction of Otto's 'general's' element  (and therefore, as in 1214, his Imperial Eagle battle standard) ...

I probably do need to look more closely at some of the troop type translations but, by and large, DBA V3 applied out of the box to historical deployments gives a pretty convincing game of the battle.

Some of the other games ...

Simon Chick and associates presented a splendid big medieval wargame, Berne Baby, Berne, featuring massive Swiss pike formations ... 

Wargame Developments entertained numerous volunteers with their Coastal Command participation game ..

(Jerry puts another set of players through their paces ... ) 

And even more sprawling, Simon M hosted a larger than large Dark Age 'To The Strongest' fight

Being The Other Partizan, there was much more still, but commitments on the stand meant I barely got pictures of all the ancient and medieval stuff ... (well mostly medieval it seems) ... 

Wonderful show as always and many thanks to the Newark Irregulars who've been making this show work at Kelham for years and years - we can only hope they enjoy the same success in their new venue next year and enjoy similar, possibly even better, support from exhibitors and enthusiasts - goog luck Partizan!!

10th - 12th July Knuston Hall, Northamptonshire

WARGAME DEVELOPMENTS - COW 2015: The Conference of Wargamers

My COW started immediately after the Eleanor Cross ceremonies with an attempt to identify enemy vehicles from a command post (we did OK but got no special commendations or promotions) - but the first session I presented was after breakfast on Saturday morning.

Bouvines 1214

This was a session marrying the Bouvines talk I had given at the June NBS meeting with the game I ran at WMMS.  We had just about half the session on the history and half the session on the wargame.

The historical context can be illustrated in this version of Emperor Otto IV's arms ...

This is, of course, dimidiated, the arms of England and the arms of the Empire.  It symbolises France's Western enemies and her Eastern enemies in one person.  

Otto was descended directly from Henry the Lion of Saxony and Henry II of England - he was Richard's nephew and protégée and was brought up at the English court before winning the Imperial crown for himself.  He was a career enemy of the King of France.

Otto's allied army included the count of Flanders and his low country vassals, so we can include France's Northern enemies in the mix.  Indeed, France was surrounded and the allies planned to squeeze the life out of her.

But we only need to look at the map of France before and after the battle to understand the impact Bouvines had on European history ...

 

Not only are we looking at the collapse of the Angevin Empire and a massive expansion of the authority of the King of France ... we are looking at the geographical realisation of what we can call modern France.

 

Responding to Otto's invasion, King Philip headed North East via Lille to Tournai, crossing the small river Marque at Bouvines - but realising it had all but 'missed' the enemy (and might be committed to fighting in less than ideal terrain), he ordered his army about and fell back on Lille via the crossing (intending to establish his forces further North and in good cavalry country).

 

(putting Bouvines into context at COW 2015 ... photo by Kiera Bentley)

 

The allies realised what was happening and, despite it meaning battle on a Sunday, sent a flying column under the Count of Flanders to catch the French before they had completed their crossing.

 

Meanwhile Otto would make a steadier approach via Tournai and expected to find the French in disarray when he arrived in support of the fixing attack.

 

(Bouvines at COW - the heat is on and the allied commanders assess their options)

 

In fact, probably due the shrewd actions of Philp's advisor, the Crusader veteran bishop Guerin of Senlis, the French had marched with a strong rearguard which was able to repel the repeated attacks of the count of Flanders while key elements the main army were called back and deployed for battle.

 

So, it was the allies who arrived piecemeal - and found the French arrayed in good order and on favourable ground.

 

(Basic Impetus Bouvines ... the French command post)

 

(Basic Impetus Bouvines ... the Imperial command post)

 

The battle was decided by the mounted nobility of both sides in a fierce battle of charge and countercharge ... so I opted to recreate it with modified Basic Impetus.   The figures are 15mm from my Feudal collections (a wide range of manufacturers) with some special pieces added to represent the commanders and their prominent battle standards.

 

(Bouvines at COW - in the centre King Philip charges forward with the Oriflamme but nearer to us, the count of Flanders is prevailing)

 

In our game, the battle went much more to the allied plan ... repeated attack under the count of Flanders pushing the French rearguard back into the outskirts of the village by the end of the afternoon.

 

We ended up with something like an honourable stalemate in favour of the allies.  Of course this is substantially different to the historical outcome and the most favourable to the allies of the refights I have staged.

 

It certainly does vindicate the allied plan - but also perhaps vindicates Verbruggen's suggestion that after their forced march to the battlefield and the disordering effects of filing up the road, the Flemish knights may not have been in the best condition for battle (and I had not so handicapped them).

 

Historically, although most of Otto's leaders were captured, he escaped - but within months was deposed by Frederick II who restored the Hohenstauffens.  And so, as well as defining Anglo-French history, the battle at Bouvines changed the course of history in central Europe and the Mediterranean.

 

I had a good number for this session, and they seemed to enjoy the mix of history and game play.

 

Saturday ADG ... Sink the Bismarck ... David and Goliath ...

 

Other ancients games going on over the weekend included the latest version of Trebian's Rapid Raphia Hellenistic card game, a return by Ian Russell Lowell to his Rein-Bow Warriors stable and my Yarmuk game (below) ...

 

(COW 2015 ... the sheer variety of game periods and styles)

 

(IRL's Rein-Bow Warriors ... 2015-style)

 

My own contribution to the After Dinner phase was a 5 player participation game of Sink the Bismarck using some simple new rules I have been working on and the old Airfix 1:1200 set of waterline battleships.

 

(Bismarck takes a critical hit)

 

That's all for another blog - but watch out for some good stuff if you like simple rules.

 

We wound the evening up with a few games of the innovative W1815 quickfire boardgame, a Waterloo anniversary singalong and some late games of David and Goliath in memory of the inimitable Andy Gittins.

 

(more COW: you miss as much as you see, inevitably)

 

 

Yarmuk 636

 

Sunday morning I was back on station, presenting a wargame approach to ancient and medieval history ... Some of you will already have seen my Yarmuk project which combines Phil Barker's oldest figures with his newest game in an exploration of one of the pivotal battles of Islamic history.

 

(Yarmuk at COW: another ideal number which included DBA's author Phil Barker - who also donated the splendid vintage figures)

 

I was very pleased that Phil and Sue were able to attend this session, and I hope they enjoyed seeing the old figures in action.   They suggested I take on these old figures (Phil's first ancients, which he painted to play ancients with Tony Bath) when he saw my Lords of the Nile project which featured refurbished flats from the Deryck Guyler collection (though the majority were by Tony, not Deryck).

 

(Yarmuk at COW: an excellent bit of 'point and shoot' as the armies close)

 

Yarmuk was a huge battle East of Damascus where the largest army Eastern Rome could muster was drawn forward into a protracted battle of envelopment by a much smaller Arab force under Khalid ibn Al Waleed.  It is another little known battle which changed world history.

 

(Yarmuk 636: Khalid ibn Al Waleed under the shade of a palm tree)

 

In the version of the game we played, some striking early die rolls were cancelled out and all commands in the game suffered losses.  Eventually Vahan broke Amr's main line while Khalid broke Quanateer's left flank setting up something like the historical final day showdown.

 

In fact, something of a rarity, we decided to leave the battle at that point as coffee and biscuits were being served in the hall and honours were about even.

 

(Yarmuk at COW: on the far side Quanateer struggles to face Khalid while - foreground - Amr counter-attacks vigorously)

 

Also a rarity, the majority of players were new - or relatively new - to DBA ... needless to say, they were playing freely within a few turns: Phil and Sue were able to enjoy the action while I just had to help with the combat maths and keep the players on the turn sequence.

 

Thanks to everyone who attended these sessions - they seemed to go well (I hope you enjoyed my take on historical battles) ...

 

We acknowledged the Society's 50th birthday, Andy's parting, played DBA and Gladiolus and sold some Society games.

 

************************

 

As an innovation in memory of Paddy Griffith and his irreverent take on military history, there was a ballot for the Flaming Pig award (who made the best contribution to the Conference) ... Bob (Wargaming Miscellany) Cordery deservedly won but I was honoured to get a nomination.  Thanks, whoever it was ...

 

If you want to come to COW next year, book early (it seems to sell out earlier and earlier these days)