> Yes similar tactics to this were used from early World war one
> aircraft. And the Vangathi would not have to dive to attack just
empty a
> bag of darts from a few 100 m up over any massed formations of
troops.
> Simarly "lift object with wind" could also be used to pick things up
> then you could drop later.
However, Vangathi are fairly rare--even if they may have a higher than usual proportion of devotees. No doubt they are an important part of the heroes battle, and facing them would be very disheartening.
On the other hand, well trained napoleonic era infantry could advance through artillery fire, even if chunks of the formation was periodically blown apart. I suspect that the impact of flyers would be less overall than artillery (although they are no doubt similarly tactically valuable).
On the other hand, my impression (and I'm not a scholar of the subject, so I'll defer to experts), is that in classical times (probably a better touchstone for most parts of Glorantha), heavy units of any sort were rare, with the noted exception of the Greek phalanx. The standard armies were masses of light troops, most of whom viewed missiles of some sort as their primary weapon--and most often that missile weapon was javelins or slings. Bows seem to mostly have been used for hunting, but whether this was economics (those who could afford bows could also afford the armor to fight as heavies), or technological (perhaps the bows of the era simply didn't have the punch to do real damage at range, and up close javelins were more deadly anyway and let you hold a shield as well), or cultural (they simply weren't viewed as weapons of war and nobody trained as an archer per se) I don't know.
The reference book that I have on the wars of Alexander and his successors certainly lists large numbers of light troops at most battles, but mostly armed with javelins or slings. They of course often proved decisive in rough terrain, but were often not all that important in more set piece battles, where they seemed prone to flee as soon as their sides cavalry or phalanx was routed. I suppose this latter is a reflection that most of them were either poorly trained or were mercenaries, and in neither case eager to die for the cause.
For what it is worth, the research of that books author suggests that in war, the slingers were generally lobbing roughly cut rocks weighing around half a kilogram (over a pound)! With that weight presumably they were used almost as indirect fire, lobbed high to come down on formations, bypassing the defenders shields. With that mass I'd imagine that even a good helmet would not be sufficient protection from being at least dazed by the impact. Note that this is a somewhat different skill than slingers use in hunting, where it is a lighter rock shot much more directly at their target. I would think heortling slingers might use a combination of both, light stones to harrass the single heroes, and possible a salvo of heavier stones at the opposing fyrd as the two sides were closing in.
Regards;
Bryan
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