Welcome to the third Ancient Warfare newsletter.

1. Credit cards. It looks like this saga is finally coming to a good end. We have just received the go-ahead from the Dutch authority. Now we are implementing this technically with our payment processor. Upgrading, testing and generally ensuring a safe experience will take the rest of this week. We fully expect to be able to accept credit cards from Saturday July 14.

In line with what we said in our previous newsletter, the discount code from the brochure will remain valid until the 28th of July.

2. Subscription starting point. In the future your subscription will start with the first issue after you subscribe. However, because of the credit card situation, we have decided to make all subscriptions retroactive to issue one, provided you subscribe before July 22nd. On Monday the 23rd we'll send a copy to everyone who subscribed between June 18th and July 22nd and (almost) missed out on the first issue. So if you are thinking about subscribing and want to have a complete collection, be sure to use this opportunity!

3. Issue 1 and 2. The June / July issue should have reached most subscribers by now. For those that have it, we're eager to hear what you think of our first 'baby'. No extra credit for finding the horrible spelling mistake in one of the article titles however! The August / September issue is in a quite advanced stage and will go to the printer in three weeks, ready for distribution in mid August. Later this week, we'll update the editorial plan with a more extensive look at the contents of issue two.

4. Greenhill and Blackwell's reader offers. We'd like to draw attention to the following special offers from Blackwell's and Greenhill:

Greenhill books offers the following books at half price if you order them directly from Greenhill before July 15th on +44 (0) 208 458 6314 quoting Ancient Warfare magazine:

- Ross Cowan, For the Glory of Rome for GBP 9.99 (from 19.99)

- Peter Connolly, Greece and Rome at War for GBP 15.00 (from 30.00)

- John Drogo Montagu, Greek and Roman Warfare for GBP 12.50 (from 25.00)

- Rose Mary Sheldon, Spies of the Bible for GBP 12.50 (from 25.00)

- Chaim Herzog, Battles of the Bible for GBP 6.99 (from 13.99)

Blackwell's offers their new Companion to the Roman army also at half price. Order online from blackwellpublishing.com using the code AWJUN7 to get this new definitive volume for GBP 47.50 instead of GBP 95.00.

Finally, be sure to email your name and address to competition * AT * greenhillbooks.com with 'Ancient Warfare Prize' in the subject heading to have a chance to win GBP 1000 in military history books.

5. Group / club offer. Are you a member of a group or club that meets regularly to refight, relive or remodel warfare in the ancient world? We offer considerable discounts for volume (10 or more) subscribers, sent to a single address. Contact inge * AT * ancient-warfare.com for more information.

6. Themes. Our readers seem to appreciate the idea of having a number of articles centered around a single theme. Why not suggest themes that really interest you? They can be really wide (Siege Warfare, Religion and Warfare) or really narrow (Hadrian and his army, the campaigns of Cimon). We're eager to hear from you.

7. Delivery date. Some of you rightly wondered where the June / July issue was, when July came around. The answer is: they were in the mail. Obviously we'd like to work towards a situation where you have your issue on the start of the first month mentioned on the cover. Every issue we'll try to pull the publication date a little forward, and we'll try to make a big jump with issue three. We should be there early next year. For now, please bear with us. You've got issue one now, the next one will be there in eight weeks!

And as always, please do not hesitate to contact us through the form on the site, on the forum at Romanarmy.com, by phone, skype or e-mail. Ancient Warfare can only improve through your suggestions!