Belaric Slingers Merc

[HarunTaiwan]

Livy relates that the Achaean boys were wont to practise slinging with smooth pebbles on the sea shore; "their sling," he says, "was made, not like the balearic, of a single thong, but of three strengthened with stitching, and thus they effectually provided against the slipping of the bullet; they ply their slings with a longer range, and with surer aim, and greater force than the Baleares; they can hurl their missiles through small rings placed at a considerable distance, and hit not only the heads of the enemy, but any part of the face at which they choose to aim."

From the same web page.

Note: I'm just cuttin' and pastin' not an expert.

[Red Harvest]

From what I gather, the better compound bows used by the Parthians and such had a lot more hitting/penetrating power and range. I suspect that weapons like these eventually led to the demise of the sling since it really could not match their range. Around the time of the start of RTW (3rd century B.C.) slings were favored over archery as a ranged military weapon...and javelins were the primary skirmish weapons both for infantry and cavalry.

[HarunTaiwan]

If the Greeks and Romans did not have compound bows, then perhaps slings were more there things.

Suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
That's what my enemies get.

[HarunTaiwan]

But the Locrians followed not with the great-hearted son of Oïleus, for their hearts abode not steadfast in close fight, seeing they had no brazen helms with thick plumes of horse-hair, [715] neither round shields, nor spears of ash, but trusting in bows and well-twisted slings of sheep's wool had they followed with him to Ilios; with these thereafter they shot thick and fast, and sought to break the battalions of the Trojans. So the one part in front with their war-gear, richly dight, [720] fought with the Trojans and with Hector in his harness of bronze, and the others behind kept shooting from their cover; and the Trojans bethought them no more of fight, for the arrows confounded them.

From the Iliad
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin...=Hom.Il.13.716

So I guess missile fire can cause phalanxes to rout.

[HarunTaiwan]

Both Roman and Greek writers say that the sling could out-range the bow. The advantage of range is repeatedly stressed. This could, it seems to me, be because the sling had a greater effective range, arrows losing their power to air-resistance after a while, and falling out of control onto their target, whereas a sling stone might build up a more dangerous speed just from falling. The effective range of slings seems to be in excess of 360 yards. Assyrian reliefs show slingers attacking cities from further away than the archers. Perhaps this is because the archers were used to shoot straight at defenders on the walls, while slingers dropped stones into the city, or perhaps it is just another clue to the greater range of slings.

Writers tell of the terrible wounds that slings would inflict, especially bullets. The Romans developed a special pair of tongs designed for getting bullets out of people. Arrows, unless barbed and deep in the victim, are easier to extract. There was also a belief, presumably false, that sling bullets got white hot as they flew through the air. Julius Caesar writes about clay shot being heated before slinging, so that it might set light to thatch.

Sling units were employed in the auxiliaries in the Roman army in the Republican period. The use of the sling was part of the basic training of all soldiers, who were also trained to throw stones up to one pound in weight by hand, a method which was considered more readily employed, which I can well understand - it takes a fair few seconds and preferably both hands to get a sling out and ready. Pompey in the civil wars favoured the use of very large units of slingers. They were used beside archers, at sea, and in sieges. Scipio used them against elephants, and Caesar comments that the sling was particularly effective against them.

http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/nikolas.l...ons/sling.html

[chemchok]

Bows, slings, who cares - why were islanders excellent at ranged combat? Cretans, Rhodians, Balearians... I'm suprised Lesbians or Cypriots weren't praised for their long range efficacy, it seems to go with the turf.

[Spino]

Bows, slings, who cares - why were islanders excellent at ranged combat? Cretans, Rhodians, Balearians...

Maybe they had too much free time on their hands?

[Baiae]

So I guess missile fire can cause phalanxes to rout.

Actually the Greek warriors of the Iliad were from a pre-hoplite era of warfare and so were not in a phalanx

[Asimov]

Thanks for all the response, gentlemen. I've just tested the mighty firepower of the slingers again, this time I pitted them against the bodyguard unit and the effect is still pretty deadly. I guess that resolve the question of their usefulness against armored units.

[Red Harvest]

The odd thing about slings vs. archery and especially with respect to range, is that compound bows had been around for a very long time. One would think that they would easily outrange a sling--effective range, not just the "how far can it make it in ideal conditions" range. Simple bows are another matter. I don't believe many of the 200+ and 300+ yard ranges stated for slings. While some might be able to reach that range with effort, I doubt they would have any efficacy. I'm at a loss to understand how compound bows could be in use by various cultures for centuries and yet failed to be an effective weapon for quite some time. It seems to have been the case, but it puzzles me greatly. The Persians didn't have much luck with them, yet they incorporated cultures that had compound bows at the time (someone set me straight if I am wrong--I've not studied the Persians closely yet.) Carthage didn't use bowmen in field armies despite their Phoenician compound bow using origins. The Parthians were successful later on, and used an improved compound bow.

One advantage I've heard stated for slings is that you couldn't necessarily see their projectiles coming. Also, the noise of the projectiles apparently frightened elephants.