Rock chucking was apparently a devastating tactic even when bows existed. Wouldn't a formation of soldiers with helmets and shields be mostly safe from a barrage of stones,?
Rock chucking was apparently a devastating tactic even when bows existed.
Rock chucking was apparently a devastating tactic even when bows existed. Wouldn't a formation of soldiers with helmets and shields be mostly safe from a barrage of stones,?
Pretty sure the main reason slings were used is they were more in expensive. For a bows you needed a craftsman and wood and twin. Then you needed more wood and forged metal for the ammo. Slings you need leather and polished rocks. Cheaper to equip a guy with a sling and you could get thousands of slings instead of hundreds of bows
This and bows required more training. You could draft some shepherd boys without arming or training them and they could instantly become cheap, accurate infantry firing missiles.
It's the opposite; slinger forces relied on pupulations that already used the sling as part of their culture
The Balearic slingers, indigenous to the Balearic Islands, were warriors from ancient times famed for their mastery in the art of using the sling. They also served as mercenaries for both Carthaginian and Roman forces, particularly during the post-Talayotic era.
They played a role in the wars against the Greeks in Sicily and the Second Punic War, including the Battle of Baecula. Later, they served as light infantry auxiliaries in various battles, including Julius Caesar's legions in the Gallic Wars. Initially recruited voluntarily, conflicts with the Balearic populations arose during the final phase of the Punic Wars, leading to forced conscriptions, especially in Menorca.
bows are also affected by bad weather more.
helmets made out of bronze and shields made out of wood/leather
only covers parts of you and rocks richochet
a direct hit can easily break a bone or a skull
but the point was harrasment and to duke it out with other harrasing type of light soldiers
>formation
Well drilled and equipped men aren't too vulnerable to arrows either, but much of the army is going to be irregulars with poor equipment who won't be able endure the slings and arrows. Also, formations can break down during fighting or manoeuvring and become vulnerable by opening up angles with fewer or no layers of protection. As a result, slings can suppress a disciplined unit by forcing it to "button up" like shooting a tank with a machine gun. You won't damage it, but the crew have to hide inside and use periscopes or viewing ports instead of having their heads out of the hatches so they lose fov. Slingers would be capable of fending off light cavalry and enemy skirmishers too. They are plenty good enough to find a role on the battlefield up to the adoption of firearms.
i'd imagine even with a helmet getting hit by a fast moving stone in the helmet might hurt
It is blunt trauma transmitting the force through your armour.
You lost, again 🙂
Debunked
most fights are won with blunt force trauma and not penetration, the point is even with armour and an helmet the force will trasmit to the body and hurt, quite a bit
this happened even with weapons who were supposed to penetrate such as arrows and swords
Hoplites wore their iconic greaves to prevent their shins being shattered by lead slingshot, however fatigued soldiers in the balmy Mediterranean sun could never be completely armored and certainly not from every angle. They would not want to stay under the barrage for long and they needed their own peltasts and slingers and to close with the enemy in a reasonable amount of time. Slingers thus placed a lot of pressure on the enemy and were a useful tool for generals.
That's why they didn't wear pants like the people of the north and the Persians?
My mommy told me it was because of the mother goddess EEF, entulia, who advised the Mycenaeans not to wear pants so they would always have her protection?
How can you tell that grieves were used specifically to couter slings and not just as more protection for battle? Also earlier on the greek states didn't really use skirmishers and started employing them after the wars with the persians
Cope
My sources:
So nothing; got it
>Wouldn't a formation of soldiers with helmets and shields be mostly safe from a barrage of stones,?
Do you know how fricking fast they throw those stones? They're like crossbow bolts, they punch holes in armour
Projectiles are designed to break up formations and prevent charges. Lightly armoured group will get ripped apart by projectiles, heavily armoured formations will be broken up and harassed. This makes it easier to defeat in discipline.
Landsknecht used to do this. Use a few volleys of shot from arquebus to break up the formation, charge into them with pikes to knock the enemy over and put them into disarray, then close in with swords to finish them off.