Slingshot 363

THE Mar/Apr issue of the Society of Ancients' magazine Slingshot has a wide variety of articles to suit many tastes.

Slingshot 363 - something for almost everyone

But the one thing it does not have is a wargame, ie a report on a battle fought on the tabletop.

I play a lot of chess, and I would be astounded if I were to buy a chess magazine and found it did not contain a single chess game.

I realise the hobbies are not identical, even if one arguably evolved from the other - "chess with a thousand pieces," etc. Nevertheless ...

Slingshot Issue 362

THE Jan/Feb Slingshot, journal of the Society of Ancients, is another edition packed with great articles.

Hard to say which I found the most interesting, but if forced to select just one I would probably go for George Falco de Mats' discussion of the Battle of Agincourt

Slingshot Issue 361

THE Nov/Dec edition of the Society of Ancients' journal Slingshot arrived last week, and proved, at least to me, an even better read than normal.

Top-notch issue

It is hard to pick out just one highlight, but I am going for Mick Hession's The Jagged Black Banner, explaining how the Anglo-Norman militia in Dublin organised, operated and fought.

Slingshot 360

The Sep/Oct issue includes a brief retrospective of the journal's first 60 years

As usual there is plenty in the magazine to interest me, but the best for me this time is the review section at the rear, especially a look at a game I knew of, but knew little about, The Cousins' War.

It covers the Wars of the Roses, and can supposedly be finished by two players in 30 minutes, although, according to reviewer David Mortimer, it is impossible to play solo.

Slingshot 359

I ALWAYS enjoy reading Slingshot, the six-times-a-year journal from the Society of Ancients, but am quite happy to bin the magazine as soon as I have finished it.

However, I kept issue 359 because there was something I wanted to refer back to ... only for the life of me I cannot recall which article it was that so attracted me.

Great content ... but what was it that stood out?

It could have been Steven Neate's DBA campaign to save Byblos, or Jens Peter Kutz' army lists for what might be thought of as a prequel for the Age of Hannibal rules, or either of two articles giving painting tips.

Whatever it was, I am holding on to the magazine in the expectation/hope that it will prove useful one day.

Slingshot 358

THE May/June edition of the Society of Ancient's journal has a lot of wargaming battle reports.

But the article that stands out for me is Adrian Nayler's on what appear to be votive figurines of Roman allied soldiers.

The cover shows a 12.3cm bronze, which Nayler reckons "almost certainly represents" an Etruscan

In many ways I should have found the wargaming articles more interesting, but I found them very difficult to follow - more captioned photos and/or maps required!

Slingshot Issue 357

The Mar/Apr journal of the Society of Ancients

Another issue full of interesting articles, the pick for me being Björn Floderus's Thibron, Ptolemaios And The Battle For Kyrene: Part 1 - Historical Background.

Unfortunately it is tougher reading than it should be as it comes with 35 endnotes, some of which simply repeat what has already been stated, and all of which could have been incorporated in the main body.

Slingshot Issue 356

THE Jan/Feb edition of Slingshot, the magazine of the Society of Ancients, has a striking, if rather well-known, illustration on the cover.

Tasty outside ... and tasty contents too

There is much I found interesting, with perhaps the best being Jim Webster's article on recruitment for Persian Achaemenid armies.

I knew the empire was effectively organised on feudal lines, but I knew few details.

It never takes me long to read Slingshot, but I always feel I have got my money's worth.

Slingshot Issue 355

THE November/December edition of the Society of Ancients' magazine, Slingshot, arrived on Saturday.

Always welcome

The most interesting article for me is John Hogan's look at how Celtic warbands are represented in rulesets, and how they performed in real life.

In four-plus pages it is hard to cover the subject in depth, but I was entertained, and left with things to think about.

Slingshot Issue 354

THE September/October edition of Slingshot, the journal of the Society of Ancients, arrived this week.

The cover features a 2,500-year-old statue, thought to depict an Italian king

There is plenty to interest me, including a short but well-illustrated review of Estonian-based Rollinmats' wargaming mats. I am tempted to buy one of its hexed desert mats for my biblical project.

Slingshot Issue 353

THE July/August edition of the journal of the Society of Ancients is even more than usually interesting.

Slingshot  - great issue

Highlights for me include the first part of a series on a battle in AD 685 between Northumbrians and Picts, the playthrough of a War of the Roses scenario for the society's new ruleset Blood Red Roses, a little-known way to temporarily base figures with museum wax, and a review of intriguing new ruleset Age Of Penda.

Slingshot Issue 352

THE May/June edition of Slingshot, the journal of the Society Of Ancients, includes the first of a promised series of 50th anniversary refights of Charles Grant's well-known refights of famous ancient battles, starting with Marathon.

Slingshot ... always an interesting read

Slingshot Issue 352

THE March/April 2024 edition of the journal of the Society Of Ancients arrived yesterday.

The cover shows a first-century terracotta head of Jupiter adorned with the curling ram horns of the Egyptian god Ammon

Perhaps the most interesting article to me was Dave Watson's on the early generalship of Alexander the Great.

But, unfortunately, what stands out the most from the magazine as a whole is the disappointing tabletop battle scenes.

Some photos are marred by very poor miniatures (see page 11), others by obtrusive markers (page 24) or irrelevant paraphernalia (is that a Filofax on page 40?), and one by no fewer than five sets of rulesheets (page 19).

If such things have to be strewn across a battlefield, they could at least be moved for the few seconds it takes to snap a picture.

Slingshot Issue 350

THE January/February edition of Slingshot, the magazine of the Society of Ancients, arrived a few days ago, having been returned-to-sender by Royal Mail, who decided my flat number, block name and postcode were not enough to locate the home I have been living in for 36 years.

Slingshot ... better late than never

It was well worth the wait, with the most-interesting article, for me, being John Hogan's seven-page (plus notes, etc) effort on slings. Naturally I knew most of what is presented, but by no means all.

I was also happy to see a review of Bob Cordery's Developing The Portable Wargame.

That book joined my wargaming library as soon as it came out in 2017, but I have not perused it in a while, and I was pleased to be prompted to take yet another look.

Slingshot Issue 343

THE November/December edition of Slingshot, the magazine of the Society of Ancients, arrived yesterday.

Slingshot ... definitely better late than never

Most interesting for me is Duncan Head's in-depth look at the 362 BC Battle of Mantinea, or Mantineia as he (mostly) prefers to call it.

Unfortunately once again the magazine cries out for a competent proof-reader.

Latest Slingshot

THE September/October edition of Slingshot arrived yesterday, with a new editor in charge.

Under the previous regime the magazine largely consisted of a few in-depth articles.

This has radically changed, and the emphasis now is on lots of short pieces.

Slingshot ... the Septmber/October edition is issue 242 of the Society of Ancients' magazine

I can see arguments in favour of both approaches, and you cannot please all the people all the time, but perhaps an approach nearer the middle would be best.

Slingshot Issue 341

THE July/August edition of the magazine of the Society of Ancients arrived earlier this month.

Slingshot 341

Once again it shows desperate need of being given a lookover by a competent sub-editor, but as always is an entertaining read.

My favourite article is Jens Peter Kutz's refight of Adrianople, despite the date being printed as 378 AD rather than the correct AD 378.

Two Mags

PAYING £6.99 for a magazine strikes me as a lot, especially when compared with most paperback history books.

But issue 38 of Ancient History proved too much of a temptation with its theme of Finding & Founding A New Home - Colonization In Antiquity.

Meanwhile issue 340 of Slingshot arrived in the post, but I fear I still cannot get used to the reduction in content caused by the use of a much bigger typeface.

Two mags

Biblical Update

MY biblical-battles project is taking a backseat this coming week as I have made another trip to Bavaria, although I had nearly finished painting a second unit of Egyptian chariots before I left home.

Meanwhile I have been reading.

Slingshot 339 and Paul Cartledge's Thebes

The March/April issue of Slingshot has some interesting articles, but is marred by having been spell-checked but not properly proofread (the introduction to the Japanese-archery article being a particularly bad example).

I am also still struggling to like the new-style large print and space-wasting, but perhaps other readers appreciate this (the print size, if nothing else).

The Thebes book is sub-titled The Forgotten City Of Ancient Greece, which is nonsense but perhaps was insisted on by the publisher (Picador).

Then again maybe it was how the author sold the book in the first place.

I found it an enjoyable read, except where Cartledge goes off at a tangent discussing Freudian pyschoanalysis and devoting far too many pages to what appear to be his pet subjects of art and poetry, much of such content in the book having seemingly little connection with the eponymous - a favourite Cartledge word - city.

More Reading

THUCYDIDES' History Of The Peloponnesian War was a re-read, Slingshot is part of a regular subscription and Warfare In New Kingdom Egypt has helped with my new biblical wargaming project.

Unfortunately Slingshot, which I normally very much like, was a major disappointment as a redesign with much larger print and huge white spaces meant there was only room for six articles.

Ancient reading