10mm Fantasy Farm by Supreme Littleness Designs

Supreme Littleness Designs have released some pictures of their latest model which is a 10mm fantasy farm.

FAN-10mm-02

This 10mm farm is designed for the Fantasy tabletop. The outbuildings slot into the supplied 100mm x 100mm wavy-edge base (more wavy-edge bases here). The two main buildings are free-standing and designed to be glued to the base. The barn is just over 80mm high. The buildings are fashioned in fibreboard with card-board wooden panels and textured-paper roof tiles.

Supreme Littleness Designs

Lancer Miniatures, Release More Napoleonic Bits

Just added some new bits to my Napoleonic 10mm Range, French limber French ammo wagon, Russian Hussars Russian skirmishers and some Austrian skirmishers.

I am getting closer to being able to refight Austerlitz.

French 8-12pdr limber

French Napoleonic ammo wagon

Russian Hussars Command

Russian Hussars x4

Russian skirmishers x10

Austrian skirmishers x10

Lancer Miniatures

Medieval Warfare VI-1, Jan-Feb 2016

The Kingdom of Jerusalem

Theme: Max Cronkite, "Historical introduction - Amalric's legacy"

King Amalric of Jerusalem (r. 1163-1174) was the father and predecessor of King Baldwin IV . During his reign, the Middle-East was fractured between multiple kingdoms, states, caliphates, principalities, and counties. The outcome of Amalric’s attempts to expand his kingdom and retinue of supporters against the increasing power of Nur ad-Din, would adversely affect the rule of Baldwin IV .

The Siege of TyreTheme: Murray Dahm, "The Historia of William of Tyre - Deeds done beyond the sea"

The archbishop William of Tyre wrote the Historia rerum partibus transmarinis gestarum (A History of Deeds done beyond the Sea) to record the history of the First Crusade and the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to 1184. The work is also referred to just as the Historia Ierosolymitana. It is a vital source for the history of the Kingdom, the only one written in Latin by a contemporary resident and Christian witness.

Theme: Robert Holmes, "The Latin field army, ca. 1099-1187 - The most cautious men in the world"

The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem based its defense around an intricate chain of fortifications, and its field army. Yet while these fortifications have become some of the most iconic medieval castles in the world, the Latin field army has fallen into obscurity. Though it lacked both the manpower and resources to ever be entirely self-sufficient militarily, the Latin field army developed a tactical system that was by the standards of contemporary Western Europe, highly innovative.

The reenactor: Clive Kelly, "The reenactor - Clive Kelly"

In this short article, we interview Clive Kelly, a reenactor of the Crusader period and early Middle Ages.

A twelfth century Syrian warrior.Theme: Gregory J. Liebau, "The Kingdom of Jerusalem and its neighbors - Hostility in the Holy Land"

It would take nearly a century after crusader forces took Jerusalem in 1099 for the city to be recaptured by Saladin. In the meantime, political intrigues, personal enmities, and infighting among the Muslims, would allow the crusaders to gain a foothold in Syria as well. The Franks found themselves thrust into the midst of local disputes and warfare – which they participated in against or alongside their Muslim neighbors.

Theme: William E. Welsh, "The battle of Montgisard, 1177 - A day of terrible slaughter"

Saladin’s 26,000-strong army crossed the southern border of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in mid-November 1177 on a large-scale raid meant to expose the weakness of King Baldwin IV’s monarchy. The Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt and Syria had received intelligence indicating that a significant portion of Baldwin’s knights and sergeants had marched north with Count Philip I of Flanders to assist Prince Raymond of Antioch in fighting the Muslims in Syria, and this information served as a catalyst for the raid.

Theme: Kim Stubbs, "The life of the Leper King - Baldwin IV"

The future king Baldwin IV grew up in his father’s court and according to his tutor, the historian William of Tyre, showed great promise as a ruler from an early age. He was an excellent horseman, possessed a retentive memory, a keen intellect and was “disposed to follow good advice”. Tragically, at the age of nine, he was diagnosed with leprosy, a disease that in the Middle Ages was interpreted as a mark of God’s displeasure.

Special: Brian Burfield, "The influence of the Viking god of warfare - Odin, warrior god"

A Viking warrior dying on the battlefield would have hoped to be amongst those chosen by the descending Valkyries to join Odin’s great army in Valhalla. Soon countless ravens would begin to feast on the dead and the disconnected limbs littering the battleground. There would have been those, still alive, who would have believed that they could see a cloaked figure in the distance carrying a spear and roaming the battlefield, a wanderer. This form was known by many names including: All-Father, Father of the Slain, God of Captives and most notably Odin. Both the god of poetry and occult wisdom, Odin was also the god of war and warriors, areas in which he was well-experienced.

The weapon: Sidney E. Dean, "Mobile fortress of the Hussite Wars - Ziska’s Wagenburg"

A prominent – perhaps even decisive – element of the Hussite Wars (1419-1436) was the Wagenburg or Tabor. When encountering superior enemy forces, the Hussites quickly arranged their wagons to form an enclosed camp from which they unleashed heavy fire on any attacker. While circling or squaring transport wagons to create a defensive position or camp was nothing new, the Hussites made this a core element of their military organization and tactics. Special ‘war wagons’ were designed and built to execute this tactic, and much of the infantry was reorganized to take advantage of this adaptive technology.

Special: Frank Jastrzembski, "The military career of St. Francis of Assisi - Soldier before Saint?"

Patron saint of wildlife. Guardian of the lepers. Champion of the impoverished. Bearer of the Stigmata. Battle-hardened soldier? All of these traits have been used to describe one of the most prolific characters in Christianity, Saint Francis of Assisi.

A 13th century bassinetSpecial: Sean McGlynn, "The Grand Chevauchée, 1355 - The Black Prince unleashed"

“Frightening your enemy is the fundamental and presumably the oldest weapon of war.” The historians who penned this quote (Peter Calvocoressi, Guy Wint and John Pritchard) were writing about the mass bombing campaigns of World War Two, the aerial raids of destruction that shared common features with the medieval chevauchée: destruction of the enemy’s economic base; attempts to undermine morale; exposing the weakness of the enemy. In the Middle Ages, arguably the most famous practitioner of the chevauchée was Edward the Black Prince, during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).

Medieval Warfare

Ancient History Magazine 2, January 2016

The reign of Caracalla

The museum piece: Diana Kretschmann, "A late sixth-century gravestone from Athens - Immigrant or valued resident?"

In the last decade of the sixth century BC, a man from Naxos was buried at the most important cemetery of Athens. Visitors of the Kerameikos Museum usually overlook his gravestone, but the inscribed epitaph has a lot to tell.

Theme: Jona Lendering, "Tyrant, traveler, administrator - Caracalla"

Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217, was a tireless traveler and a bold administrator, best known for granting citizenship to all male inhabitants. However, he was also a violent man, who ruthlessly killed anyone who might challenge his reign.

Theme: Sidney E. Dean, "Britain under Caracalla - Peace in his time"

Caracalla’s early reign is inextricably tied to Britain. He was secondin- command of his father’s 208-211 Caledonian expedition, and it was the army in Britain which proclaimed him emperor after Severus’ death. As emperor, Caracalla initiated policies which would keep Roman Britain relatively secure and peaceful for decades to come.

Theme: Jona Lendering, "Caracalla erases the past - Unperson"

After the assassination of Geta, his statues were smashed, his portraits damaged, his names and titles erased from inscriptions. Business as usual: a typical example of the Roman practice of damnatio memoriae.

Theme: Murray Dahm, "Grant, grab, process, or something else - The Constitutio Antoniniana"

The Constitutio Antoniniana or Edict of Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire in AD 212, soon after Caracalla had had his brother Geta murdered. This grant was to have an enormous impact on the inhabitants of the Empire but inexplicably passes largely unnoticed in our sources.

Theme: Christian Koepfer, "Caracalla's visit to Raetia - In search of a cure"

Although popular histories often give a different impression, the second and third years of Caracalla’s reign, 212 and 213, are not well-documented. Still, by using various types of evidence from all parts of the Empire, we can retrace Caracalla’s whereabouts and his desperate quest for a cur e.

Theme: Oliver D. Hoover, "The advice of Severus as reflected in coinage - Caracalla's coins"

Before he died, Roman Emperor Septimius Severus famously imparted his final words of wisdom to his two sons and co-emperors (Augusti), Caracalla and Geta: “Be on good terms with one another, be generous to the soldiers, and don’t care about anything else.” As his coinage shows, Caracalla listened quite well. Unfortunately.

Theme: Sadi Maréchal, "Imperial self-promotion and the baths - A palace for the people"

The Baths of Caracalla have been called one of the Seven Wonders of Rome. Even as a ruin, they are still impressive: this is the best-preserved Roman bathhouse in the Eternal City. However, there’s more to this public building than meets the eye.

Julia Domna attempts a reconciliation between her two sonsTheme: Inge Mennen, "Surviving and saving the Severan Dynasty - The love of Julia Domna"

Julia Domna was presented to the Roman people, the army, and the Senate as the mother of a new dynasty: the Severans, who promised peace and continuity after the troubled Year of the Five Emperors (193). Caracalla, however, destroyed the promise of stability.

Theme: Paul van der Heijden, "Reconstructing an emperor's facial features - A face for Caracalla"

Written sources tell us much about the emperors of Rome: the lives and influence of the rulers of the known world are well documented. Still, intriguing questions remain. What did they really look like? The portrait of Caracalla is a fascinating example.

Special: Alexander Smarius, "Roman persecution of Christians - The Scillitan martyrs"

The earliest Christian text in the Latin language is a document that records how the authority of a Roman state official was defied by six Christians under trial. Although it contains only 377 words, the document provides some important keys to understanding why Christians refused to perform pagan worship, even in face of capital punishment.

Special: Kees Alders, "The philosophical system of the cynics - Philosophical buffoons"

The conquests of Alexander the Great profoundly changed the Greek world. Persian, Babylonian, and Egyptian officials proved that the old distinction between Greeks and barbarians was obsolete. The common world view changed, and hence philosophy, as we will see in a series of articles on Hellenistic philosophy.

Special: Marc G. DeSantis, "The Uluburun shipwreck - Trove beneath the waves"

Discovered in 1982, the Uluburun wreck came to revolutionize our understanding of the world of the Late Bronze Age. It allowed an unparalleled view of what seaborne commerce was like in around 1300 BC.

Review: Piet Gerbrandy, "The big review - The Final Pagan Generation"

An extensive review of The Final Pagan Generation, which concerns society and religion during the Late Roman Empire.

How do we know: Casper Porton, "How do we know - How to pronounce Latin"

Although we don’t have any MP3 records of Cicero’s orations or Ovid’s poetry, we can reconstruct how Latin must have sounded many centuries ago. What evidence do classicists use?

Ancient History Magazine

Horizon Wars Rules

Beyond today's horizons lie uncountable wars still to be fought by mankind - on battlefields, against foes, and with weapons that can only be imagined. With Horizon Wars, wargamers can bring these future conflicts to the tabletop, no matter their exact vision of the future of warfare. Combining the feel of real-world combat and tactics with versatile and quick-to-learn rules, Horizon Wars is a 2-10mm company-level game that incorporates ground forces, aircraft and the titans of the battlefield - mechs. Whether you want to pit a handful of mechs against each other in quick clash of patrols, or line up combined-arms forces for a huge battle, the game remains fast-moving and enjoyable. Also included are full rules for building units from the ground up, allowing players to tailor their forces to suit the mission objectives or their figure collections.

Horizon Wars Operations Downloads

Sources

Osprey Publishing Ltd

Ancient Warfare IX.6, Feb-Mar 2016

The aftermath of battle

Theme: Josho Brouwers, "The aftermath of battle - Historical introduction"

When we think about warfare in the ancient world, the first thing that probably pops into mind are images of men, clad in armour, fighting each other. Battle usually draws a lot of attention, and there have been many heated discussions about the nature and mechanics of combat. By comparison, there is often less interest in what happens after battle has been decided and the dust has settled. But the aftermath of conflict is no less interesting than the fight itself, as this issue of Ancient Warfare magazine will demonstrate.

Detail of a relief from the treasury of the Sicyonians at Delphi.The source: Friedrich Wilhelm Miesen, "War booty in ancient Greece - The spoils of war"

War for the ancient Greeks was a common occurrence. For civilians, war was an unstable mixture of hardship, including the risk of being robbed by passing armies. For those who served their city or king, battle meant the risk of getting wounded or killed in single combat or in the claustrophobic shuffle of phalanx formations. Survivors would be faced with the devastations of the battlefield. Here, on the fields on which the slaughter of the day had ended, the victorious side would search and collect clothing, armour, weaponry, and other valuables from the bodies of friend and foe alike.

Theme: Sidney E. Dean, "Germanic post-battle human sacrifice - Bog bodies and broken blades"

Post-battle religious ceremonies have always been integral to warfare. Survivors thank their god or gods for sparing their lives, victors rejoice in their divine favour, and losers pray for better fortunes next time. What varies from era to era and culture to culture are the forms of post-battle worship. Pledges of behaviour, libations of wine, dedications to temples all seem civilized enough. But too often, expressions of faith have displayed a darker side. When the Germanic gods invested in the victor’s cause, they wanted their share of the spoils – in other words, sacrifice.

Theme: P. Lindsay Powell, "Celebrating victory the Augustan way - A trophy proud to thee"

Following a battle, victorious Roman troops would erect an array of captured arms and armour and dedicate it with gratitude to the gods. After the battles of Actium and Alexandria that eliminated his rivals Caesar Augustus developed the temporary display of war spoils into enduring symbols – featured on coins, inscriptions and public monuments – to celebrate the glory of his conquests and of the peace achieved thr ough his victories.

Theme: Mark McCaffery, "The gates of Janus - Geminae Belli Portae"

In the aftermath of victory over Antony and Cleopatra in August of 30 BC, the senate of Rome lavished numerous expressions of praise and reward upon Octavian, amongst which was his new title of Augustus. Some of these were politely declined by the absent victor, who would remain in the eastern Mediterranean resolving issues until the following summer. Yet according to Dio Cassius (51.20), the decree which pleased Octavian most was the decision taken by the senate in his absence to close the gates of Janus, this being done in a ceremony undertaken on 11 January 29 BC, as recorded by Verrius Flaccus in the Fasti Praenestini.

The back plate of a Greek bell-shaped cuirass, made of bronze.Theme: Gareth Williams, "Rout and surrender in ancient Greece - Running away"

Once a hoplite engagement had been initiated, what was the ‘protocol’ for those who ran away or who surrendered? Were there unwritten laws or customs which dictated the activities of the Greeks during these final stages of the battle? Was hoplite warfare dominated by such constructs, or could they be overruled by more pragmatic objectives?

Theme: Cezary Kucewicz, "War dead in ancient Greece - Ancestral custom"

In the aftermath of battle, those who survived were left to contemplate an eerie spectacle. What confronted them was a scene of distorted humanity: a field of broken bodies, abandoned weapons and the mournful cries of the wounded and dying. Birds circled expectantly overhead, whilst dogs scavenged eagerly on the periphery. The field itself was littered with the dead of both sides, now indistinguishable in their shared and final fate. Indeed, the ancient Greeks offer us a complex picture of the glories and triumphs of war, but few scenes strike the modern reader as strongly as the pathos of the aftermath of battle.

Theme: Owen Rees, "Unspoken homecomings in ancient Greece - The lost Nostoi"

All soldiers go home. It is a reality that has been faced by all survivors of all conflicts, throughout history – all soldiers need to go home. From the victory parades of the Roman Empire, to the triumphal marches of Napoleon, the image of a victorious homecoming is synonymous with military power and domination. In classical Greece, a land and period that idolised the military man – and the hoplite in particular – the imagery of homecoming, of victory, and of the pride and glory felt by the individual or the state should have been prolific. However, this was not the case.

The kit and weapons of Roman Republic era praetorian soldiers.Special: Arnold Blumberg, "Praetorians during the Roman Republic - A Roman general’s personal bodyguard"

The Praetorian Guard came to power in the Late Republic, becoming the most famous and controversial unit in the imperial army. Its name became synonymous with intrigue, greed, conspiracy, betrayal, and assassination. Quickly assuming the status as the real power behind the imperial thrown, it was responsible for the overthrow, abandonment, or murder of fifteen out of 48 emperors between 27 BC and 305 AD. Yet the original purpose of the Praetorian Guard, at least since the third century BC, was far from the brutal history it eventually left behind.

The debate: Michael J. Taylor, "A look at the Roman wedge formation - What was a cuneus?"

Almost every muster of Roman re-enactors inevitably involves the band of Romans forming into a lazy ‘V’ and charging across a field. This demonstration presumes to replicate an actual Roman infantry tactic, the cuneus or ‘wedge’. The wedge is attractive to re-enactors in part because it can be done with a small number of members on-hand: whereas it takes at least sixteen to make a respectable testudo, a band of five or so hardy souls will suffice for the wedge. Cuneum facite is one of the standing commands in the Latin drill manual of the famed Ermine Street Guards.

Ancient Warfare

Slingshot 303

Happy New Year, all!

We are pleased to announce that following a slight delay, Slingshot 303 is now with the printers. See below for the table of contents.

Richard II in Ireland, by Mick Hession
Military Innovation in Champa, by Duncan Head
Shieldwall Wars, by Anthony Clipsom
"So Long Have We Been Defeating Germania," by Robert Heiligers
More Wargaming for your SAGA Buck, by Steve Neate
The Battle for Wiang Kum Kam, by Nicholas Spratt
Hydaspes using War & Conquest, A Battle Day report by Rob Broom
The Glory That Was, by Nick Harbud
Pharsalus Battle Pack, by Richard Lockwood
Slingshot is issued six times a year to members of the Society of Ancients. Membership currently costs £24.00 GBP for six issues, and includes access to Society games, publications, member discounts, and the Society forum. You can subscribe or re-subscribe through the store at the Society's website.

The editor is always looking for more articles, photographs and art, so feel free to contact him if you have an idea you would like to pursue.

Slingshot