Re: Re: bows

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 12:48:42 -0800

> I've long been of the opinion that that both runequest and now HW
> have been a bit schizoid about slings. In many cultures herders used
> slings because they were cheap, easy to carry, and sufficient to
> drive off all but the most determined predators. The heortlings have
> lots of herders, spread around in pretty wild country. Certainly it
> would make sense for them to use slings. And then there are
> thunderstones, mostly manifested as sling bullets, which encourages
> the concept of orlanthi as slingers. But I've yet to see any
> character generation rules giving the sling skill (barring if
> Hedkoranth initiates can use thunder sling as a substitute for actual
> skill).

Most people know them *a bit* from their tiome as herd-kids (not enough to get into the cultural keyword, though). The herder keyword does have Ranged Combat: Sling. If you consider that probably 20-25% of the male Heortling population are herdsmen... However, the sling isn't considered a "weapon of war" - herdsmen form up in the fyrd shieldwall, not form units of slingers.

Heortlings give pride of place to the in-your-face fighters - the sword and spear are used by most warriors (some use axes, maces, etc - Orlanth stole all the "elemental weapons" and so his people can use them all). For ranged combat, they rely on hunters with bows to snipe, Hedkoranthi, and thrown weapons. Can a clan muster their herdsmen as slingers? sure they can, but they *tend* not to.

RR