Good point. That's really a great advantage.

Thearos wrote on Jun 24^th, 2009 at 1:56pm:


Unskilled and unequipped with ranged weapons. Until the siege defenses are breached or the ships grapple together, all combat is ranged combat.

Lots of people can be handy in a scrap but unless they have a powerful bow and a stash of armour-piercing arrows, they dont have a lot of options until it goes hand-to-hand. Hence the use of the easily made and learned staff-sling that lobs big dumb rocks onto the bad guys heads


Get yourself a broom handle and a strong 30" sling with a big pouch. I used nylon rope and duct tape. You'll see how easy it is!

While I'm at it: a nice Swiss coin with a sling wielding Eidgenoss from the C14th

http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=21624

Oh right, Fundibularius had mentioned the mss. too. I'm sure you're right re. plate. But say in 1250 or even during the Hundred Years' War, it's not plate, but (for the very heavy and very rich) mail, possibly reinforced at the elbows with boiled leather etc. Most "grunts" in any case are wearing gambesons, padded leather jacks, perhaps fighting bejind pavises and siege works.

So why a sling staff in siege contexts ? (to focus on that right now) You say it's to get a long-ranged, easily usable, low-skills threshold and heavy impact weapon into civilian hands. I'm sure that's right, but my rejoinder is that the inhabitants of a city ca. 1350 might be pretty well skilled in ranged warfare (pre-plate, remember) with things that hurt at distance, bows (not long), simple crossbows, slings, hand thrown things. So my question remains: what's really special about the staff sling ?

Some thoughts:

staff sling can throw anything (stones, pots, paving stones, flaming clods). Bow needs arrows, which need making, fletching, checking for straightness.

Staff sling can throw heavy things, that really shake up whatever besiegers are using to protect themselves (wicker siege works, pavises, towers, fortified camp entrances)

Staff sling can throw heavy things, that hurt armoured besiegers (helmeted sappers, etc).

Staff slings can throw burning things, very handy in a siege

Staff slings can throw large projectiles at groups of people

-- thinking aloud, i would say the staff sling acts like a small catapult. I wonder how accurate it is-- and (to pick up m earlier point) if a man with some military or paramilitary training (e.g. skill at throwing stones at targets, or competitive javelin throwing,   hunting experience, eye for deflection shooting, wind, etc) would be quite nifty with it.

Just to give a modern example. There was a gent from the U.K. who was offering the medieval reenactment community a full blow full power Siege Arbalest. Cost of this piece of Kit was in the neighborhood of 3500 L. That link no longer works

Here is one that does

http://store.arbalistarmoury.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_4&pr...

Price starts at 1000 L depending on poundage. Half up front minimum lead time 9 months..........

Marc Adkins

David Morningstar wrote on Jun 24^th, 2009 at 6:09pm: