a

a wrote on Nov 15^th, 2020 at 5:46am:

the only reasonable way of doing it in close ranks.

I think this is the important thing when talking about how a sling would be used in war. How the units are arranged and used are the determining factor to what sort of style would be used. Slings have been used in war for thousands of years by almost every culture to some extent so how they were utilized I'm sure varied hugely. If they were used in close ranks and more static, then an overhand throw would be best. If the unit is more flexible, mobile and not as close then any style would be good but Balearic/sidearm I can see being widely used. I think the second style of them being more mobile units is probably, for the most part how they were used. Slingers can afford to be quite mobile and used for skirmishing and I think that would be how they would be best used.

a

We have a lot of names for styles but really, if you break it down by release, there are three styles. Overhand, underhand and then in between/sidearm. Fig.8 is overhand as is helicopter and Greek (and some others). Underhand is pretty much the only underhanded throw. Balearic is sidearm. It all comes down to the way the pouch releases.

a

If it works then it is the proper way :D The thing I found most interesting at the competition in Mallorca was that EVERYONE had a different style. Basically no-one was slinging the same way. Broadly there were similarities but everyone has their own bodies and also there own particular slings. In the end, if the stone hits the target (or goes really far) then you aren't doing it wrong.

a

a wrote on Nov 15^th, 2020 at 9:10am:

I looked at the rules and my style wouldn't even qualify for the balearic competitions.

I think local Balearic competitions had/have a rule that you have to spin the sling 3 times before releasing, but they didn't keep that rule with the international competition. Isn't that right, Kick? (on the last bit?)

Yeah it's more relaxed for the foreigners at least. Really it's supposed to be natural materials for slings as well but again for the foreigners that's more relaxed.

[edit]I was reading a thread which degenerated into bickering[/edit]
don't they all ? :whistle:


As far as the balearic rules go - they are kind of dumb and rarely applied. And pep admits they are pretty outdated.
The rules state: 2 rotations OVERHEAD.

The vast majority of balearic slingers don't do any overhead rotations.
It's primarily sidearm.

There are even a couple clubs that use figure 8 and pepe from malaga (as opposed to the myriad other 'pepe's) doesn't use any rotations.
And I would REALLY like to see someone try and disqualify him lol

I've been hassled a few times, but that's par for the course, as far as I'm concerned. lol
And I do try out different styles during competition, They REALLY hate byzantine lol

If it's going to happen - it will generally happen to me :-)

Basically any style with an overhead release is good for slinging over troops.
The windup is largely irrelevant, it's the release that counts.

a

We tend to obsess over form and function of slingers on ancient battlefields, but I suspect that the majority of conflicts were not dominated by disciplined ranks like you see in video games. Even if they start that way, the order and discipline wouldn’t hold for long. I imagine it was probably a more violent version of something like this:

https://twitter.com/RichieMcGinniss/status/1337913085336702980?s=20

a

I believe that. I’m a little embarrassed that neither side knows how to use a stick properly, but for their sake that’s probably a good thing.

My main point is that chaos would be the order of the day on any real battlefield after the first couple of minutes. If slingers are still slinging at all, they would be doing whatever came naturally and whatever they could do quickly in whatever space they had.

a

That’s fair. I suppose you could argue that discipline and order ARE the difference between a mob and an army.

NooneOfConsequence wrote on Dec 17^th, 2020 at 3:03pm:

That’s fair. I suppose you could argue that discipline and order ARE the difference between a mob and an army.

A disorderly mob is no more an army than a heap of building materials is a house - Socrates

The interpretation of pictures is always tricky & usually does not reflect reality.Just because they are shown rotating overhead doesn't mean they did. It leaves a lot of room for interpretation.