Mounted Slingers

[Barry Soteiro]

I wondered if this kind of fighting ever existed ?

I seem to recall having read somewhere about ligurian cavalrymen equipped with slings.

[Subotan]

Although this would be beyond awesome, I highly doubt it being practical/realistic. Sorry.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Although this would be beyond awesome, I highly doubt it being practical/realistic. Sorry.

Agree 100%

[Antinous]

That would not work.

[Megas Methuselah]

Yeah, it wouldn't. For one thing, if you can afford to equip yourself with a horse, chances are you can also afford a more expensive weapon than the poorman's sling. However, mounted slingers would be pretty cool...

[Aemilius Paulus]

Meth is right. That was the main reason. A wealthy man had at least the skill to shoot a bow, especially if he was a nomad or an easterner. In the west, mounted missiles, aside from javelineers were exceedingly rare, mostly due to the heavily forested country. In the East, bow was preferred.

Also, try slinging a sling from a horse. Pretty difficult. Helicopter-style slinging could work, but you need a very stable platform for aiming a sling, as opposed to a bow, which is somewhat easier to handle.

[russia almighty]

Were slings ever used from elephants?

[Ibrahim]

Were slings ever used from elephants?

doubt it-for similar reasons to horse sling minus stability issues.

[desert]

One can almost imagine a peasant mounted atop an elephant encased in gleaming, ornately decorated iron scale and covered in purple tapestries, while an infantryman standing in the line opposite to it throws off his armor and weapons, screaming "He's got a ******* sling, run!!"

[antisocialmunky]

doubt it-for similar reasons to horse sling minus stability issues.

You're in a very small tower with a few other guys. If I were one of the other guys and someone took out a sling, I'd kick him off the elephant.

[antisocialmunky]

You're not going to spin a rock at 90 miles per hour next to my head.

[HorusLupercal]

probably would hit the horse in the head if you screwed up even a little bit,. maybe the elephant itself could have a sling, using their trunks... lol

[AqD]

hmmm I think the arabians had slingers mounted on camel? Read it somewhere from osprey's book...

[Mediolanicus]

Camels? That's even more wobbely than sitting on a horse... That can't be good for your aim.

[HorusLupercal]

where are the camels in EB? i kinda miss them

[Novellus]

where are the camels in EB? i kinda miss them

Oh no! I'll save the trouble from an EB Forum thrashing!

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...ghlight=camels

[Chester]

If you can shoot a cannon from an elephant then you can sling a rock from a horse. Oh ya~

[Celtic_Punk]

So did these exist at all? I'm curious to know... somewhere someone must have rocked someone with a sling on a horse... if not... I'm goin' for the record!

[Moros]

Never heard of mounted slingers, neither on camel or on horse. (Which doesn't mean noone has ever done it) But I don't think they ever existed as real military units. Camel archers did though, they probably also gonna be in EBII.

[theoldbelgian]

well you have those south american cowboys who use their bolas to catch catlle while being on horseback
i think its the same principe

of course if i am totally wrong correct me

[Recoil]

mounted slingers, sounds sweet. shame it was probably never practical enough to actually be used

[Ibrahim]

well you have those south american cowboys who use their bolas to catch catlle while being on horseback
i think its the same principe

of course if i am totally wrong correct me

no, you are right. but IIRC, this was a spanish adaptation of the native use of the bolas (which would have been on foot). hence, IIRC, only existed in the last 500 years. prior to that, there is no evidence of mounted slingers, at least not to my knowlege.

[bovi]

Camel archers did though, they probably also gonna be in EBII.

Huh, what? Did I miss something?

[Ibrahim]

Huh, what? Did I miss something?

Shalemenser recorded those troops in the battle of Qarqar. I suspect that they might have just rode them to fight, dismount, and then fight (save a few extraordinary cases). Camels were/are expensive, and wasteful to kill. either way, archers did ride, and if necessary, fight on camelback.

though, yeah, what are they doing in EB2? I was under the impression that that wasn't the plan.

[Megas Methuselah]

Moros was just teasing the fans. It's funny, seeing as he also managed to fool the members, too.

[Atilius]

O'ETAIPOS has mentioned that "mounted slingers" appears in an edition of Arrian's "Taktike", but that's his favorite example of a mistranslation.

[Megas Methuselah]

What's a Taktike?

[Aemilius Paulus]

What's a Taktike?

C'mon Meth, stop spamming, use Google or Wikipedia to answer such questions. Obviously, Taktika, is Tactics, and actually, in Russian, tactics is pronounced taktika. So it is an ancient tactical treatise. Go here to find out more.

[Tim Van Langenhove]

Well I've done a little reading about Sassanid cavalry when working on a paper and I have read (don't know exactely which book it was in) that some their heavy cavalry (usually referred to as Cataphracts or Clibinarii) used slingers to soften enemy ranks before charging in to them with melee weapons. So mounted slinger units probably existed but probably not as a seperate unit type as we would use it in EB. But it would be correct if we applied them to heavy (cataphract cavalry), maybe instead of bows.

[Macilrille]

No- no- no.
Sorry guys, but a sling is impractible to say the least on horseback. Have you guys ever tried a sling? Do it, or watch someobedy doing it, then come back and tell me you still think mounted slingers are a good idea.

They could dismount and have someone hold their horses then use slings, but not on horseback. No.