JudoP wrote on Jun 20
th, 2020 at 9:54pm:
It would certainly do some damage, but one hit and you are pretty likely to lose the stone.
A good point - The only way I can think of to get around that (Off the top of my head anyway) would be to tie the stone into the pouch, which is arguably the most foolish thing you could do with a sling, ha ha. It'd be like using a bola on yourself. I wonder if there's a way you keep it secure in the pouch... Or maybe design a projectile that's designed to leave the pouch and stick to the target after you whack it, almost like a burr? Who knows.
WojtekimbieR wrote on Jun 21
st, 2020 at 4:44am:
My guess would be that ancient slingers likely carried whatever meele weapon they could own (a spear, an axe, a knife, or even a stick/bludgeon) so that they wouldn't be hopeless facing anyone up close. Someone might have been hit with a sling in meele the way you describe. I think someone was, and it's just not the type of usage I would expect to end up recorded in any source. If it did, it would be more interesting to know why someone back then thought it was important.
I imagine it'd probably be more likely for a slinger to be injured by the melee aspect of his fellow slinger's sling than that of the enemy, given that they're probably much closer to their friends than any enemy slingers. Maybe such an account (Of someone being hit by their buddy's sling, that is) would show up in a war safety manual or something, if such a thing existed then? At any rate, it would definitely be more convenient for a slinger to have a true melee weapon on his person should a close-quarters combat situation arise.
Sarosh wrote on Jun 21
st, 2020 at 5:08am:
maybe the rope dart is what you are looking for.
I don't see how a skirmisher would want to fight in melee any number of troops.
That's a good point as well - If slings were mainly used in a hit-and-run context, it would probably never get into a situation where it could be used that way in the first place.
I guess there's probably much better weapons for accomplishing what the sling does when it's spinning, ha ha. I looked up some flail weapons and came across a short Wikipedia article on the Chinese "meteor hammer," which is basically a metal ball on a chain. It kinda reminded me of the Ball and Chain item in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; it's like a rope dart and a sling had a baby. Which, now that I think about it, gives me an interesting idea...