Slingers v Archers - C1 Judea

I'm writing a historical novel set during the revolt after the death of Herod, and I've got a situation where a unit of Roman archers led by a Jewish centurion get into a potential standoff with the shepherds of Athronghes. This happens early in the story, so both main protagonists survive (the centurion is called Pantera and eventually dies in Germany). He's an experienced soldier, but the shepherds have expert slingers.

How do the two sides size each other up? Am I right in thinking that slings have a range advantage, so the archers lose if they can't close the distance, but they win if they can catch the shepherds in a concentration?

I might at some stage write a one-on-one sling v bow duel, but I'm not sure yet who would be involved and which weapon the hero should have.
 
Archers out range the slingers, plus studies have shown you need to hit a very small area on the human body, mainly the CNS for it to be lethal. Arrows are different. The only way the slingers get an advantage is in an ambush and even then it will end up going hand to hand.
 
Archers out range the slingers, plus studies have shown you need to hit a very small area on the human body, mainly the CNS for it to be lethal. Arrows are different. The only way the slingers get an advantage is in an ambush and even then it will end up going hand to hand.
No.
People who were actually practiced with slings needed a LOT of training, but they were amazingly effective.

Scientific American had a great article in, apparently, the October 1973 edition. I don't remember the precise details, but range was at least as good as an English longbow, which was far better than your average bow available in the MidEast at that point.

Note that King David (as a shepherd) killed lions and bears with his sling - which is a nastier a target than a man. (Basically, David vs Goliath, the wrong guy is the 'underdog'. Imagine Doc Holliday with 5 rounds in his revolver up against Jeremiah Johnston or any other legendary Mountain Man, if the latter only had knife/machete/sword/whatever.)
 
This really depends upon the archer auxillary being fought against (I am assuming that it is just the archer auxillary, although I doubt the romans would ever send vulnerable units like this out by themselves). Are they wearing armor? If so, slings typically do not perform as well against armored targets.. Do these archers regularly fight against slingers? What are the circumstances of the battle? Who has the high ground? There are a lot of missing details here. Also I think archers have the advantage in rate of fire and an arrow does more damage than a rock (which the slingers would probably be using). I don't think that this skirmish would result in much. Ultimately it would depend upon how many projectiles that you can send down range before the distance is closed. If the archers closed the distance (and they would, quite quickly) then I don't see this ending well for the slingers. I would think that a few people get killed on each side, then the slingers retreat (at least, this seems the smart decision to me).
 
No.
People who were actually practiced with slings needed a LOT of training, but they were amazingly effective.

Scientific American had a great article in, apparently, the October 1973 edition. I don't remember the precise details, but range was at least as good as an English longbow, which was far better than your average bow available in the MidEast at that point.

Note that King David (as a shepherd) killed lions and bears with his sling - which is a nastier a target than a man. (Basically, David vs Goliath, the wrong guy is the 'underdog'. Imagine Doc Holliday with 5 rounds in his revolver up against Jeremiah Johnston or any other legendary Mountain Man, if the latter only had knife/machete/sword/whatever.)
Combat[edit]
Ancient peoples used the sling in combat—armies included both specialist slingers and regular soldiers equipped with slings. As a weapon, the sling had several advantages; a sling bullet lobbed in a high trajectory can achieve ranges in excess of 400 metres (1,300 ft).[18] Modern authorities vary widely in their estimates of the effective range of ancient weapons. A bow and arrow could also have been used to produce a long range arcing trajectory, but ancient writers repeatedly stress the sling's advantage of range. The sling was light to carry and cheap to produce; ammunition in the form of stones was readily available and often to be found near the site of battle. The ranges the sling could achieve with molded lead sling-bullets was only topped by the strong composite bow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon)

There was a very good reason why slings stopped being a thing for combat. Yes they were for a time, but I am also going to say this, an arrow is in the long run going to be more lethal due to blood loss than and stone will ever be.
 
I remember an episode from Anabasis:
(*the following is from my memory, so, I am afraid, I might be dramatically wrong, as I read the book 20 years ago or so).

- the Greeks returning home from the heart of the Persian Empire started to suffer serious casualties when moving through certain mountainous territories of Anatolia inhabited by indigenous tribes armed with some special huge bows. These archers started to harass the Greeks painfully.
Xenophon found the decision - he chose the Greek mercenaries from Crete, armed them with slings and they were able to counteract those archers.
But it must be noted that the Cretans were famous for their skills as slingers through the Mediterranean.
 
Thanks for your replies, guys. It seems the potential extra range of the sling is a valid plot point, which I will be using.

This is not an outright battle, just a incident that happens before the uprisings following the death of Herod kick off. At this point no one is sure whether Herod is dead or not, utility everyone's jockeying for position. The shepherds have just avenged a certain massacre at Bethlehem, and the archers are investigating the aftermath. The result of the encounter will send some of them, together with various other characters they are escorting, on a quest into Egypt.

Major plot hole I see: would the Romans actually be active near Bethlehem at this point, and if they are, can Panthera act on his own initiative or does he need to report to higher command before heading South?
 
I remember an episode from Anabasis:
(*the following is from my memory, so, I am afraid, I might be dramatically wrong, as I read the book 20 years ago or so).

- the Greeks returning home from the heart of the Persian Empire started to suffer serious casualties when moving through certain mountainous territories of Anatolia inhabited by indigenous tribes armed with some special huge bows. These archers started to harass the Greeks painfully.
Xenophon found the decision - he chose the Greek mercenaries from Crete, armed them with slings and they were able to counteract those archers.
But it must be noted that the Cretans were famous for their skills as slingers through the Mediterranean.
Are you sure you're not thinking of Rhodians? Rhodians were famous for their slings, Cretans were famed for their ability as bowmen.
 
Are you sure you're not thinking of Rhodians? Rhodians were famous for their slings, Cretans were famed for their ability as bowmen.

As I said that was good 20 years ago when I read this book.

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Anabasis, by Xenophon

At present the enemy shoot and sling beyond our range, so that our Cretan archers are no match for them; our hand-throwers cannot reach as far; and when we pursue, it is not possible to push the pursuit to any great distance from the main body, and within the short distance no foot-soldier, however fleet of foot, could overtake another foot-soldier who has a bow-shot the start of him. If, then, we are to exclude them from all possibility of injuring us as we march, we must get slingers as soon as possible and cavalry. I am told there are in the army some Rhodians, most of whom, they say, know how to sling, and their missile will reach even twice as far as the Persian slings (which, on account of their being loaded with stones as big as one's fist, have a comparatively short range; but the Rhodians are skilledin the use of leaden bullets...
 
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