The Ranged Armory · Chapter 4

Slings and Throwing Aids

Every weapon in this family is powered by the arm alone. Nothing here stores energy in a limb or a spring, which is why nothing here needs a mechanism, a bowyer, or money.

Scavenged is the family's signature, and it is on three of six entries. Ammunition is a riverbed. That makes these the only launchers in the book with no ongoing cost, and it is why they persist in poor regions long after better weapons exist.

Prepare and Inaccurate are the price. A sling is a length of cord until it is loaded and spun, and where it goes after that is a matter of practice rather than aim.

Skill: Light Ranged throughout.

The two throwing aids at the end of the chapter are not slings. They are levers, and they launch a shaft rather than a stone. They sit here because they share the family's economics: no mechanism, no bowyer, and a weapon that costs less than the ammunition it throws.

Shepherd's Sling

Honda, Cord Sling, Balearic Sling, Shepherd's Cord

A leather cradle on two cords. It is a length of string until it is loaded and spun, which is the Prepare 1, and after that it throws a stone hard enough to drop a man at a hundred paces.

It is the cheapest way to threaten someone at Medium range, it hides in a belt, and it never runs out.

Sling Glove

Hand Sling, Palm Cradle, Quick Sling, Courtier's Sling

A stitched cradle worn across the palm with a release tab at the thumb. It gives up half the range of a proper sling and, in exchange, carries no Prepare at all. It is loaded and thrown in one motion.

It is also the most concealable weapon in this book. A sling glove reads as a glove.

Costing more than the weapon it is worse than is the correct outcome. The buyer is paying for the two maneuvers they do not spend and for the gate guard who does not find it.

Staff Sling

Fustibalus, Sling Staff, Pole Sling, Firepot Staff

A sling mounted on a stave, swung overhead in both hands. The pole does what a longer arm would do, and the result reaches as far as a war bow for the price of a stick.

Arcing is what it is for. It drops a stone behind a shield wall, over a hedge, or into a courtyard the crew cannot see. It is the cheapest indirect-fire weapon that one person can carry, and armies used it for exactly that reason long after they could afford better.

Kestros

Cestrosphendone, Dart Sling, Sling Dart, Bolt Sling

A sling built to throw a short weighted dart instead of a stone, released from a cradle shaped to the shaft.

This is the family giving up its own identity to buy armour penetration. The kestros is the only sling here with no Scavenged, because it cannot throw a rock. Every shot is a dart that had to be bought, and in exchange it is the only sling that threatens a man in mail.

Eighty buys the cord. The darts are Chapter 9 and they are not free.

Atlatl

Spear-Thrower, Woomera, Propulsor, Throwing Board

A grooved board or hooked stick that cradles the butt of a dart and adds the length of a forearm to the throw.

Nothing is stored. Every other launcher in this book holds energy somewhere between the loading and the shot: in a limb, in a spring, in a twisted skein, in compressed air. The atlatl holds none. The thrower is the whole engine at the moment of release, which is why it needs Might 3 and why it is the hardest-hitting thing in this chapter.

One dart in the air at a time, and a long recovery afterwards.

Amentum

Ankyle, Throwing Strap, Spear Thong, Loop Cord

A leather thong lashed to the shaft of a javelin and looped over two fingers. On release it unwinds and spins the shaft, which adds a range band and steadies the flight.

The profile above is the strap and a javelin together. The price is the strap alone. It is the cheapest thing in this book by a factor of five and it upgrades a weapon the character already owns, which is why every light infantry force that could afford javelins also carried cord.

Fitting the thong is the Prepare 1, and it must be refitted to each javelin.