17th April, Oxford

One for Slingshot lovers everywhere ...

On some related printing business, I called in at Horgan's in Oxford on Friday.  Whilst I was there they indulged some nerdiness on my part and showed me the machine on which our splendid Society of Ancients journal is printed ...

(this is the machine that prints Slingshot - and the man that operates it)

See - Ancients on the Move takes you places other blogs seldom go ...

The Society of Ancients will be at Salute next week ... do come along and have a chat, browse our range of publications and try a game of Greyhounds in the Slips.

29th March (Palm Sunday), Towton, North Yorkshire

TOWTON BATTLEFIELD ANNIVERSARY EVENT

The day after the BattleDay I was up to Yorkshire for the annual Towton Battlefields Society Palm Sunday event.

This year was special in that (and notwithstanding the changes in the calendar since the 15th Century) the anniversary (29th March) actually fell on Palm Sunday (as it did in 1461 and which is the traditional Sunday on which the TBS host the annual commemoration).

I was up with the Northampton Battlefields Society and we were in the windy barn ...

I have tagged some of the other exhibitors ...

The Battlefields Trust and the Scottish Battlefields Trust were there, as were battlefields Societies from Stamford Bridge, Tewkesbury, Northampton as well as Towton and others, plus some period traders and arms dealers and Societies including the Lance & Longbow ... battle themed and Wars of the Roses themed, mostly.

We were supporting the heritage message, showing the cannonball pictures and displaying the battlefield model

(Northampton 1460 on show at the Towton Palm Sunday event 2015)

In many ways what was started at Northampton on July 10th 1460 was finished 8 months later on Palm Sunday at Towton in the bloodiest battle on English soil.

Here's a chilly model of the Battle of Towton with its dusting of snow (using Peter Pig figures)

(Towton 1461)

And the Lance & Longbow Society had a participation game going of the Battle of Hexham

(Hexham 1464)

Outside there was a good turn out of Living History and Reenactors ... I was particularly pleased with the guns which seem to match the bore of the piece that fired the shot found at Northampton.

Here's one of their slightly oversized rounds (so it can't actually be inadvertently loaded whilst chatting) alongside Northampton's real one (that is smashed by the impacts following its firing) ..

So you get the idea of the size of ball shot at Northampton ... small by Napoleonic standards but capable of smashing men horses and masonry.

It will be splendid to get one of these guns down to Delapre and have it fire again.   I can see it now, by the Eleanor Cross, on the anniversary of the battle, firing a salute ...

(commemorating Northampton 1460 ... an image from the 2013 evening walk)

Something to aspire to.

Otherwise outside the were some scenes being recreated ...

At the end of the afternoon the blustery day was clear enough to allow a visit to the field of conflict itself ... 

(Towton battlefield ... the main action)

(Towton battlefield ... the sun dipping down as we overlook Cock Beck where much of the slaughter occurred) 

Many thanks to our hosts and volunteers.  A grand day out for all and well worth noting in your diary for next year if you haven't been - it'll be on Palm Sunday.

After the massive victory at Towton, Edward, whose men had been first over the rampart at Northampton was crowned King Edward IV but the issues of the Cousins War were far from settled.

Northampton 1460 on Facebook

Towton Battlefield Society

28th March, Bletchley, MK

The Society of Ancients BattleDay 2015 ... The Hydaspes

Apologies for the delays in updating Ancients on the Move ... I have had a large number of pictures to organise and edit following the last weekend in March which saw the Society's BattleDay on the Saturday and Towton's annual Palm Sunday event on the Sunday.

This year was the best supported BattleDay so far ... answering that rhetorical question about what happens when the battle pits Alexander the Great against an elephant army ...

The day started with an introduction by Professor Philip Sabin and a Q&A with Sabin and Duncan Head ... 

(Richard Lockwood introduces Professor Sabin to a packed room)

Phil made some points about the wide range of interpretations of the battle then produced a graph which amply demonstrated that there is plausible interpretation window which can help us filter out some of the less likely accounts.

Phil also argued that the wargame model better tested these theories because it introduced 'time' to the reconstruction in a way that text and diagrams did not (thus, some reconstructions look good on paper but quickly become implausible as soon as you start moving things around against the battle's internal clock) ...

Time, says Sabin, is an important parameter in ancient battle as, allowing some exceptions, whatever has to happen in the battle has to be achieved within the hours of daylight (ancient commanders have limited time within which to win a battle) ...

Anyway, here are some of the games ...

I can't begin to give you a fair flavour of them all ... I played in the AMW game and had good 'nuts and bolts' discussions over the Armati game and Vincent's WiP project ...

The range was from an old classic from 30 years ago (WRG 5th) to the very recent DBA V3 or Sword and Spaer and a project so new it has yet to be published.   And this year I saw from 10mm to 28mm.

Although the presentation was from minimal to elaborate, in all case the finish and attention to detail was admirable.

Here are some close-ups ...

The packed day finished with the usual light-hearted honourable mentions ... from the splendid Hail Caesar terrain to the seamless improvisation of War & Conquest ... 

For a full account of all these games ... Hydaspes background and game-focussed orbats, keep an eye on forthcoming issues of Slingshot

I will update and/or correct this page as I can enhance the information ...