The Society of Ancients (SoA) is an international, non-profit organizationWargames Illustrated August 2012 p48 based in the UK that aims to promote interest in Ancient & Medieval history and

wargaming A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

, covering the periods from 3000BC to 1500AD.

The Society

The Society publishes a bi-monthly journal entitled Slingshot. Membership proceeds are used, among other things, to fund the publication of the magazine and to sponsor wargames competitions which fall within the society's remit. The Society commonly has a presence at large conventions across the UK and overseas. Founded in 1965 by Tony Bath, the Society started with 20 members. During the next decade it increased in membership by at least 50% every year.The Ancient Wargame Charles Grant p151 Since then its growth has continued - currently it has a worldwide membership of more than 1200. Early members included the actor

Deryck Guyler Deryck Bower Guyler (29 April 1914 – 7 October 1999) was an English actor, best remembered for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as ''Please Sir!'' and '' Sykes''. Early life Guyler was born in Wallas ...

(who served as president of the society), the academic

George Gush George Gush (as of 1980) was the head of the history section of West Kent College's "social studies, Social and Academic Studies Department", and is now retired. He is most notable for his work on wargaming. He is the founder of the Tunbridge Well ...

, Tony Bath and

Phil Barker Phil Barker (born 5 November 1932) is one of the major figures in the development of the modern hobby of tabletop wargaming, particularly that of ancient warfare, and is a co-founder of the Wargames Research Group. In the 1960s he was a methods ...

, co-creator of the many sets of rules published by WRG including the De Bellis Antiquitatis wargames rules. The society concentrates on historical wargaming - a decision to exclude fantasy was made around ten years after it was founded. Among other events it has organized one-day events where a single historical battle is re-enacted using a number of different rulesets. These battles have included

Gaugamela The Battle of Gaugamela (; grc, Γαυγάμηλα, translit=Gaugámela), also called the Battle of Arbela ( grc, Ἄρβηλα, translit=Árbela), took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great a ...

, the Sambre,

Cynoscephalae Cynoscephalae ( grc, Κυνὸς κεφαλαί, meaning "dog's heads") may refer to: Geography * Cynoscephalae (Boeotia), a town of ancient Boeotia * Cynoscephalae (Thessaly), a town of ancient Thessaly * Cynoscephalae Hills (Boeotia), a range of ...

, Kadesh, Zama and Plataea.

Slingshot

The society publishes a bi-monthly journal, "Slingshot". It has been described as the periodical of most interest to ancient Wargamers. Some of the articles are quite technical - ancient military maneuvers, ancient arms and armor and similar, as well as material specifically about

, such as rules and war game reports. It is occasionally referenced in academic publications. Contributing writers include noted historians such as

Adrian Goldsworthy Adrian Keith Goldsworthy (; born 1969) is a British historian and novelist who specialises in ancient Roman history. Education Adrian Goldsworthy attended Westbourne School, Penarth. He then read Ancient and Modern History at St John's Colleg ...

and

Boris Rankov Nikolas Boris Rankov (born 9 August 1954) is a British professor of Roman history at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is a former rower and current umpire. Early life, education and family Rankov was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, th ...

. Other professional historians who have written for Slingshot include

Philip Sabin Philip A. G. Sabin is a British military historian who is currently Professor of Strategic Studies in the War Studies Department of King's College London. Biography Sabin is a member of the CAS Air Power Workshop, a small working group of scho ...

Matthew Bennett Matthew Ray Bennett (born April 9, 1968) is a Canadian actor, writer and director. He is best known for portraying Detective Len Harper on ''Cold Squad'' and his recurring roles as Aaron Doral cylon model number five in the reimagined '' Battle ...

Guy Halsall Guy Halsall (born 1964) is an English historian and academic, specialising in Early Medieval Europe. He is currently based at the University of York, and has published a number of books, essays, and articles on the subject of early medieval histo ...

Paddy Griffith Paddy Griffith (4 February 1947, Liverpool, England – 25 June 2010) was a British military theorist and historian, who authored numerous books in the field of War Studies. He was also a wargame designer for the UK Ministry of Defence, and a l ...

, Nigel Tallis and Steve Badsey. Other contributors have become published authors, either before, or subsequently to their contributions. The magazine has also carried material written by notable games designers (for example,

, Richard Bodley Scott, Jervis Johnson,

Rick Priestley Rick Priestley (born 29 March 1959) is a British game designerSlingshot, No279, Nov 2011, p1 and author mainly known as the creator of ''Warhammer'' miniature wargame. Career Rick Priestley, with Bryan Ansell and Richard Halliwell, designed t ...

and Neil Thomas). Initially, Slingshot was edited by Tony Bath and indeed was produced by him with the help of his wife using a borrowed duplicator. When this fell through, Tony Bath was able to purchase cheaply a

spirit duplicator A spirit duplicator (also referred to as a Rexograph or Ditto machine in North America, Banda machine in the UK, Gestetner machine in Australia) is a printing method invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld that was commonly used for much of the ...

with which it was produced from May 1965. From March 1969 it has been commercially printed.

Other Publications

The Society has also published a number of wargames with ancient or medieval themes, including: * ''Gladiolus'' (1992), a card-based game of gladiatorial single combat. * ''Legion'' (1997), a board game that simulates ancient battle on a

hex grid A hex map, hex board, or hex grid is a game board design commonly used in wargames of all scales. The map is subdivided into a hexagonal tiling, small regular hexagons of identical size. Advantages and disadvantages The primary advantage of a h ...

. * ''Lytel GuÞan'' (1999), a skirmish game for Dark Ages Britain. * ''The Saxon Shore is Burning'' (2002, revised edition 2018), a strategic game of the so-called Barbarian Conspiracy against Roman Britain of AD 367.

External References to the Society

Almost since the Society's inception, it has been a commonplace for books about ancient and medieval wargaming, and relevant rule sets, to mention the society. Examples of wargaming books include: * The Ancient War Game, by Charles Grant * Ancient Wargaming, by Phil Barker * Introduction to Battle Gaming, by Terence Wise * Wargames Through the Ages, 3000BC to 1500AD, by Donald Featherstone Examples of wargaming rule sets which reference the society include: * De Bellis Antiquitatis, by

De Bellis Multitudinis De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM) () is a ruleset for table-top miniatures wargames for the period 3000 BC to 1485 AD. It is the big battle development of De Bellis Antiquitatis. As its name implies, it is aimed primarily at simulating large bat ...

Warhammer Ancient Battles ''Warhammer Ancient Battles'' (often referred to as "WAB" and sometimes Warhammer Historical) is a ruleset for miniatures wargames produced by Games Workshop's Warhammer Historical Wargames imprint. It is a rulebook for historical wargames dev ...

(WAB), by Jervis Johnson, Rick Priestley, Alan and Michael Perry''Warhammer Ancient Battles'', by Jervis Johnson, Rick Priestley, Alan and Michael Perry, page 144 (latest edition published by Games Workshop 2005, from which this reference is taken; original version published 1998). The SoA is mentioned alongside the Lance and Longbow Society: “If you’re seriously into ancient and medieval wargaming then you really should be a member of these two societies. Their respective bi-monthly publications, Slingshot and Hobilar are gold mines of ideas and inspiration!”. Other WAB supplements which use similar references, all published by Games Workshop, include: Alexander the Great, by Jeff Jonas (p. 127, 2003); Siege and Conquest, by Guy Bowers (p. 144, 2007); The Age of Arthur, by Steve Jones and James Morris (p 144, 2007); The Art of War, by John Kersey (p. 144, 2007); Hannibal and the Punic Wars, by Allen E. Curtis (p. 112, 2005); Spartacus, by Simon Brown (p. 47, 2004); Fall of the West, by John Lambshead and Leslie Newsom (p. 80, 2002); Byzantium: Beyond the Golden Gate, by Heine Baekkelund (p. 128, 2005); El Cid, by James Morris (p. 64, 2003).

External links

The Society of Ancients WebsiteSlingshot Index

References

{{Reflist, 2 Wargaming associations