Busy Mail Day

Having spent the morning trying to upgrade my iPhone (grrr - sorted now but O2 will not be awarded a triumph), I returned home to find:

• An interview with Neil Thomas. I'm speaking to a number of game designers about having them answer, individually, the questions in the Rules Design Forum in 258. So, rather than being intermixed, the articles will run as single interviews with the individual designers. The interview won't make it in time for 259 (there's a different article from Neil in 259) but should be in 260.
• A sheaf of unpublished material from Donald Featherstone. Many thanks to Henry Hyde at Battlegames for putting me in touch with Don. I need to get the material typed up and readied, and probably need to get it checked against the latest research, since the historical material was written some while ago, but it's an incredible feeling to get mail from someone how has been, since my childhood, one of my "hobby heroes".
• The latest White Dwarf, probably not so interesting to readers of this particular blog; and the new Citadel Battlemat, which is a bit more interesting, and which I'll review shortly in the other blog (it's the kind of thing I was planning to review there rather than in the magazine).
• A copy of Empire of the Middle Ages, a boardgame review some time ago by John Graham-Leigh in Slingshot. John pointed me to a half-price copy at Leisure Games, discounted due to a "damaged box" (actually the side was a little scuffed). Apart from John's report on the relevant Yahoo Group making me want to play the game, I'm planning a grandiose WAB medieval campaign rules article for later in the year (maybe in 261), and wanted to take a look at the mechanics in this game.

I've also acquired a number of books this week: I'm currently working my way through the not-particularly-connected-except-by-theme Roman Imperial Biographies series. Currently about 25% of the the way through Theodosius: Empire at Bay, and quite enjoying it.

Games Coverage Update

This is what I have, before 259 goes to press. So in each case the first bar shows what's available (in terms of submissions, by aggregate number of words), including the content of 259. The second bar shows what's already printed, and the the third bar shows the overall number. It's really the first bar which indicates the health of what I'm getting, in terms of submissions. Per the previous post, there's now plenty of FoG, and suddenly plenty of Warmaster Ancients. And not enough WAB.

Slingshot 259 update

Slingshot 259 is just about ready to go. I think we now have the running order down; there's been some last minute juggling of content. We're going to try and use the inside covers this time to give us a little more space, so I'm awaiting a clarification on that from the printers. I was hoping it would go to the printers this week, but it now looks like being early next. Allowing 10 days for the printers to do their thing, this probably means 23rd-ish of July for the issue to go out.

The good news is that the last minute juggling leaves us almost a complete issue ready to go for September. Given vacations, I'm keen to get 260 ready by early August, and I'm hoping that 260 goes out in early September, at which point we've finally recovered on the delay which has been in the system since January.

I'll post an update on submissions shortly - there has been a late surge in Warmaster material, in particular, so with the regular content coming in for other systems, and the expected amount of Field of Glory now coming through, it's only WAB, of the main systems, where I'm suffering from a continual shortfall of material. One correspondent suggested I write some myself - quite right as well, and I'm working on something which might make the November issue.