Re: Digest Number 962

From: Dougie <dougiepunk_at_...>
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 10:32:27 +0100

>He might want to look into missle weapons and pratices used in the
>West during the Ancient and Classical period. Slingers were considered
>MORE valuable than archers due to range and hitting power. Thrown
>weapons were also the rule - axes, javelins, whatnot. It didn't take
>TOO much training to make you good at them compared to learning
>slinging or archery.

but I thought with e.g. the Celts, every kid (boys anyway) learned to use the sling effectively to while young to scare off wolves, catch rabbits etc. so when you are defending a hillfort all you need to do is collect lots of stones and pile 'em up near the ramparts to give everyone (not just your trained warriors) a good, cheap and fairly skilled ranged attack....

Of course this tactic only really got used in times of desperate defence as Celts seem to have prefered warrior elites earning glory with herioc hand to hand combat against enemy champions to massed ranks of commers dealing out real amounts of death in warfare... (although summit you can bung toward your foe as you dash headlong toward him is alway useful)...

Dougie.