The 2019 Society of Ancients Conference was held at Chesford Grange Hotel in Kenilworth on 1st, 2nd and 3rd November 2019.
The format of the event is that 1hr presentations from speakers are given morning and afternoon on Saturday and Sunday and the remaining time is spent with a selection of different games being organised. The event was attended by 32 people.
Amongst the presentations was a session on the Battle of Bosworth from Mike Ingram. Mike is a historian and chair of the Northamptonshire Battlefield Trust. Mike has shown how the events leading to Bosworth were linked to the politics in France. Also pretty much everything written since the 16th century until 2010 about the battle was wrong! The surveys and archaeology at the battlefield (which is largely ignored by Wikipedia!) show a very different story. It also highlighted the significance of ridge and furrow was; making it almost impossible to move across the ridges and much easier to move along the ridges and the clues that these provided to locating the battle.
Simon MacDowall gave an excellent talk on the Vandals and how they changed the way they fought as their circumstances changed in the 5th century.
Dr. Harry Sidebottom (who writes excellent historical fiction) gave the keynote speech about the 3rd century crisis in Rome.
Graham Evans gave a talk on the Battle of Edgecote (24 July 1469). This is another battle where most of what has been written has been wrong and where a careful re-examination of the sources and walking the battlefield sites has provided a completely different interpretation. p.s. If you read that the battle was on 26 July that is just one of the things that is wrong!
The games cover all periods and a wide range of different rulesets. After presenting MeG battles in the last two years that I had attended there was no MeG this year. I do intend to offer a MeG Pacto game next year.
The next conference will be held on 31st October, 1st and 2nd November at Maddingley Hall, Cambridge. I would absolutely recommend it for anyone who is interested in Ancient and Medieval military history (and not just because I am the Treasurer of the Society!).
At least one army list will change as a result of what I learnt at the conference....
Regards
Richard Jeffrey-Cook
I never cease to be amazed at the depths of my ignorance!
Quote from: lionheartrjc on November 04, 2019, 12:50:50 PM
At least one army list will change as a result of what I learnt at the conference....
Go on, do tell which ones ;D
Early Tudor. Henry may have more French pikemen and halberdiers.
Richard
I am keen to go to one soon.
Sadly it never quite matches travel plans.
But maybe it will one year.
2021 I think it will.
2021 PSC world tour perhaps make it tricky in 2020.
S
Quote from: nikgaukroger on November 04, 2019, 01:21:13 PM
Quote from: lionheartrjc on November 04, 2019, 12:50:50 PM
At least one army list will change as a result of what I learnt at the conference....
Go on, do tell which ones ;D
Early Tudor. Henry may have more French pikemen and halberdiers.
Richard
I'd have bet on that one - the French contingent have been mentioned a few times in recent years from what I've seen and Mike Ingram is one who has done the mentioning. However, not one I've really looked at so am not really aware of what the arguments are.