I have slung in a rank with a guy two paces to each side of me. Using a vertical Greek style and picking ammo from the ground at my feet I was fast, 8 shots in 30 seconds, and I didnt whip the guys on either side.

If  you were stuck with a horizontal style then more space would be needed. A Cantabrian circle type of arrangement with three or four guys using one slinging spot and then falling back to reload would make the best use of a limited width of front. I would be concerned about rate of fire though, if your guys spend too much time queueing up then you are losing the target saturation that distance slinging relies upon for its effectiveness.

On a related note I reckon the staff sling would work best as a crew served weapon, with one guy throwing and another guy behind him taking care of the reloading. I think you would get a better rate of fire that way than with two staff slingers shooting independently.

And what was he referring to ?

I read that article, like everyone (alas, no longer online, and difficult to consult) and I don't think he says that about the Roman slingers. If he did, that's incorrect. Much in the Roman army was in fact not standardized, notably as concerns body armour (obviously within certain parameters). The stuff on same length sling, choosing their own leader,etc is (I believe) fancifu. You may have misremembered a little ?

And the reference to Caesar doesn't seem right to me.  There is no evidence for formalized units of slingers in the Roman army during the empire. Caesar did employ ad hoc bodies of Baleares, in Gaul, and, you may well be right, during the Civil war.

I don't see anything unfriendly about Thearos's post.

OK, all I'm saying, is that when I wrote what I did, I had the article right in my hand. I took the info directly from the source. If people wish to disagree with it, fine. I respect that. Let's leave it at that, and move on.  There are more important things in the world.

Okay - I'm pretty sure I've got the korfman aticle as a pdf somewhere.
I'll see if I can find it.
And badger - chill out man. Until someone finds written evidence of how romans - first define your 'romans' - used slingers - EVERYTHING is down to individual opinion.

Also bear in mind that while I, and many others,  always approach such issues from a common sense angle: ie: as a slinger this makes sense and that doesn't.

Thearos is a professional academic and only gives creedence to actual historical records.

And there's bugger all point arguing with him on those grounds

I was reading back through Korfmann, the closest I've seen is a recommendation from Vegetius to release on the first rotation. This seems to imply some sort of technique standardization, which if one is of a mind to, could be stretched to imply volley-fire. Korfmann reads it as an effort to increase the fire-rate. Personally I think Vegetius was engaging in some fanciful armchair generaling... "why, if these guys just released the first time, they could fire twice as fast!"

Does anyone happen to know of an early reference to volley-fire? (slings, bows, muskets, etc) It seems our understanding of ancient combat might draw a lot from the common military practice at the time of study... and classical studies was coming of age at a time when everyone was all about standardized uniforms, volley-fire and marching in step.

Slingbadger and Archaeoman refer to Vegetius, who I think recommends release after one spin, instead of three (which rather suggest that the three-spin release was normal, as indeed most ancient sources seem to suggest). He also does mention training to sling. Note this is not for "slingers", but for legionaries. The speech of Hadrian at Lambaesis also mentions slings, including slinging on horseback.

http://www.livius.org/la-ld/lambaesis/lambaesis_inscr.html

(the horseback thing isn't there but it's been referred to in this forum earlier).

So:

-drilling by legionaries in the use of the sling is very likely: legionaries drilled, and the Lambaesis inscription shows that they did sling in the C2nd AD.

-"standardized length" and "volley fire" and "all in synch" are perhaps less likely, especially since the Lambaesis thing seems to be about individual prowess (which the Roman army had considerable time for: this is shown e.g. by Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars, or Josephus on Roman cavalry. The point made I think by Jacques Harmand is his book on Caesar's legionaries). But that's arguable.


Anyways, it's Vegetius (unsurprisingly), to which add the Lambaesis inscription recording a speech of Hadrian. Good to know not just what (we think) we know but how we know it.