Slingshot 327 is being posted out ...

... and should land in your postboxes in the next few days!  Here is the cover picture, together with a list of the contents and a short summary of each article.

'Come any nearer and I'll throw it, I'm warning you!'

Contents

Editorial

Guardroom

Gerald the Great on Battleaxe Hill: Part 2

Mick Hession concludes his fascinating analysis of warfare in 16th century Ireland, with a focus on the battle of Knockdoe  ...

Wargaming Knockdoe

... and then gives some insights on how it can be recreated as a wargame using DBMM.

When the Going Gets Tough

A thread on the Society’s forum prompted David Kay to consider the role of terrain and its representation on the wargames table, and to suggest aspects for further investigation or discussion.

(Perhaps a timely article?  Does terrain on ancient wargames tables sometimes seem to lean towards 'sparse'?  If so, does this reflect a degree of terrain phobia among gamers or is making terrain just another job that's hard to get to the top of the lead pile?)

Paraitakene with Big Battle DBA

Paul Murgatroyd suggests that Big Battle DBA hits the sweet spot between the panorama of a large game and the playing speed of a small one, even for complex armies.  He also explains how and why.

The Chronicles of the Teutonic Knights

No, not by Dan Brown but even better, the only English translation of the little-known 'Chronicle of the Prussian Lands' (by Peter von Dusburg), which is the oldest account of the origins and spread of the Teutonic Knights.  Translation by Elaine Graham-Leigh with comments by Paul Stein.

Carthage vs Rome with Hail Caesar

What it says on the tin and illustrated with some great looking photos of a very attractive battlefield (almost an echo of points made in David Kay's article).  By the way, don't be worried by the pictures, I'm sure no Teddy bears were harmed during the making of the terrain. Article by Steven Neate.

The Continuing Story of DBM

Despite being considered old school by many, DBM remains a popular ruleset that has stood the test of time. John Graham-Leigh gives some reasons for that longevity.

The Play’s the Thing

A wonderful piece of one-to-many counselling, from Gordon Lawrence, for those of us (well me, for sure) who suffer from wargamer-modeller's catagelophobia (particularly, for wargamer's, the fear of not meeting the required standard of painting and basing).

Slingshot Book & Game Reviews

Covering 'The Last Years of the Teutonic Knights', 'The Great Illyrian Revolt', Roman Legionaries: Soldiers of Empire' and 'Ancient Dynasties: The Families that Ruled the Classical  World'.

Society news & other items of (possible) interest to members as of: November 2019

Over at the 'Ancient & Medieval Wargaming' blog there are some nicely illustrated, recent reports of a variety of battles, fought using De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA), with the odd diversion.  For those with an interest in the ancient period (you know who you are) and those who, like me, love Marmite, er sorry, DBA, Seleucid Adventures and Rise of the Celts are well worth a read.
While over at 'Steven's Balagan', Steven Thomas adds to the discussion on the pros and cons of DBA v 3 that was started by Joe Collins in Slingshot 324.

Many of you will probably already know that the Yahoo Groups system is closing, for all practical purposes, this year.  This is a shame as many wargames groups were hosted on the platform. Fortunately all is not lost.  Many of the groups are migrating to other platforms with most that I have been involved with migrating to Groups.io.  The simplest way to find where your group has gone is to visit it at its old address on Yahoo Groups and look for news of any migration in the recent conversations.  A good example is the old Tactica group (see, I don't only ever think of DBA) which was found here TACTICA Ancients Miniatures Rules  but can now be found here Tactica@groups.io .
An interesting review and playtest of Commands & Colors: Medieval over at the Palouse Wargaming Journal ..... and while you're there, take a look at this wonderful eye candy, a Celtic warband in all its glory.  Based for Impetus.  Figures by Crusader Miniatures.

Those of a literary bent, who actually do proper research and background reading (which let's me out), can find a thoughtful review of  'The Great Illyrian Revolt', written by Jason R. Abdale over at Thomo's Hole.

Finally, over at Beasts of War, a preview of some phenomenal 28mm sculpts of Persian Immortals, due for release from Footsore Miniatures & Games and some English longbowmen from Claymore Castings