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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 6609000" data-attributes="member: 3586">Interesting thread! I've been playing a lot of hex'n'counter wargames over the past few years, especially the Great Battles of History series by Berg & Herman, so it's interesting to see how other people approach the effectiveness of various weaponry. I've played through Berg's take on the Battle of Najera, and - now having some idea of the circumstances of the battle - it's hard to make much proper judgement on the effectiveness of the slings, especially as they were on the losing side (which was rather outmanoeuvred!).I found a site with a translation of Froissart's description of the battle (<a href="http://www.maisonstclaire.org/resources/chronicles/froissart/book_1/ch_226-250/fc_b1_chap241.html" target="_blank">http://www.maisonstclaire.org/resources/chronicles/froissart/book_1/ch_226-250/fc_b1_chap241.html</a>), where slings are mentioned twice:"The fight now began in earnest on all sides; for the Spaniards and Castillians had slings, from which they threw stones with such force as to break helmets and scull-caps, so that they wounded and unhorsed many of their opponents. The English archers, according to their custom, shot sharply with their bows, to the great annoyance and death of the Spaniards. On one side, there were shouts of “Castille, for king Henry!” on the other, “St. George, for Guienne!”""The Spanish commonalty made use of slings, to which they were accustomed, and from which they threw large stones which at first much annoyed the English: but when their first cast was over, and they felt the sharpness of the English arrows, they kept no longer any order."Amusingly enough, the slings in the first description are wounding and unhorsing the English, while the archers are annoying and killing the Spaniards!(These are, of course, longbows. The self bows (short bows) are typically not so well thought of!)Cheers!</blockquote>

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