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[Egan_BW]

Attempt to use your oversized bread knife as artillery, and despair at your own inability!

[Sheb]

To go back to the fan-shaped sword, it seems like by shifting weight to the back it's make it a better chopping weapon

[Parsely]

Where did I hear that Aztecs could shoot through Spanish plate armor with their slings?

[GiglameshDespair]

I doubt the sling itself would go through, but I remember reading plenty on how slings could injure or kill even heavily armoured opponents.

[tonnot98]

blunt damage > armor

[Arx]

That's the argument, but it also messes with the balance, which is important to actually being able to use the sword without breaking your wrist. If you think about how you use a large axe, which is similarly top heavy, it involves holding it near the head and shifting your hand down. G'luck doing that with a sword.

Although if anything, it's an execution or symbolic weapon. This example isn't too bad. It's important to bear in mind that time is convoluted in Africa just because something from Africa doesn't look old doesn't mean it's not authentic.

Where did I hear that Aztecs could shoot through Spanish plate armor with their slings?

You're probably misremembering based on the fact that a sling bullet with enough momentum can injure or kill despite plate armour, since it relies on sheer blunt force trauma and not organ damage. Arrows are a lot lighter, so they're much more likely to glance harmlessly.

[My Name is Immaterial]

Where did I hear that Aztecs could shoot through Spanish plate armor with their slings?

slings cant penetrate plate armor
1532 was an inside job
wake up sheeple

[Parsely]

You're probably misremembering based on the fact that a sling bullet with enough momentum can injure or kill despite plate armour, since it relies on sheer blunt force trauma and not organ damage.

Arrows are a lot lighter, so they're much more likely to glance harmlessly.

Uh, blunt force damage that doesn't cause organ damage? That sounds like it doesn't injure or kill. I think you accidentally misworded that. Also, you said "fact", so I wonder if you have any citation on sling bullets injuring people wearing plate armor? That's the kind of thing I'm looking to read about.

Arrows are a lot lighter, so they're much more likely to glance harmlessly.

Apparently this war arrow weighs about 3 ounces http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=2582.0

People on this slinging forum say they like using bullets anywhere from 2 to 10 ounces. http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1267064576

So I'm not sure that weight enters into it that much.

[Arx]

You're probably misremembering based on the fact that a sling bullet with enough momentum can injure or kill despite plate armour, since it relies on sheer blunt force trauma and not organ damage.

Arrows are a lot lighter, so they're much more likely to glance harmlessly.

Uh, blunt force damage that doesn't cause organ damage? That sounds like it doesn't injure or kill. I think you accidentally misworded that. Also, you said "fact", so I wonder if you have any citation on sling bullets injuring people wearing plate armor? That's the kind of thing I'm looking to read about.

An arrow kills someone by causing severe trauma to their internal organs, in general. That, or causing them to bleed to death by severing an artery, but that's a lot less likely. Both of those require it to punch through the armour. A sling bullet kills someone by causing shock (in the physical sense) to the brain or some other result of blunt force trauma (but not internal organ damage on the level of a broadhead or bodkin), which is relatively unaffected by armour.

Arrows are a lot lighter, so they're much more likely to glance harmlessly.

Apparently this war arrow weighs about 3 ounces http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=2582.0

People on this slinging forum say they like using bullets anywhere from 2 to 10 ounces. http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1267064576

So I'm not sure that weight enters into it that much.

I'm citing Chris Harrison, primarily, who cites a bunch of good sources. Including, of note:

By hurling a shower of great stones, they wounded many and even killed not a few of those who were attacking, and they shattered the defensive armour of most of them. For these men, who are accustomed to sling stones weighing a mina [~0.6kg], contribute a great deal toward victory in battle

Which I think you'll agree is significant. I think 600g is about 20oz. The whole thing is a good read.

Reading over your link on the sling bullet weights, those slingers aren't really going for damage, but mainly distance. It's a different set of constraints.

[Rolan7]

Lindybeige did some neat videos on slings, and I swear in one of them he slung a bullet at a tree and it penetrated amazingly deep.  Can't find it now though - I found four separate videos he did on slings, but no sign of that.  Good channel, at least when he's talking about weapons and armor (which is 99% of the time).

Intro to slings:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=covH4voKukw
And here's his video on the difference between stones and bullets when slinging:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU87f5o8vMg
Heh apparently Roman slingers would write messages on their bullets when bored.  "Claudius hit you".  I LOVE Roman graffiti.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

No Roman graffiti will ever overcome Secundus' reign of terror over the city of Pompeii. He defaced their walls. He defecated in front of their taverns. He screwed their women and their men.

All hail Secundus. When the promised time comes, he will return from his chrysalis at the fiery heart of Mount Vesuvius and fell the skies of men.

[Avis-Mergulus]

No Roman graffiti will ever overcome Secundus' reign of terror over the city of Pompeii. He defaced their walls. He defecated in front of their taverns. He screwed their women and their men.

All hail Secundus. When the promised time comes, he will return from his chrysalis at the fiery heart of Mount Vesuvius and fell the skies of men.

"Secundus" is just a really common name, though.
So the answer is that Secundus is me, Secundus is you, Secundus is all of us.
Hail Secundus!

[Frumple]

... so is secundus pathos's great-something grandparent, or just the name it took before the internet?

[i2amroy]

So on slings v. arrows, I've been doing some digging and what it looks like is that slings fire with less force than arrows, but are more aerodynamic (no stabilizing feathers) and have more of their force transmitted with a non-head on strike than an arrow would (due to their mass being more of a flat shape than a line). The result is that at close range and with a good hit an arrow does more damage to you, but as you start to put some more distance between you and the target the slings maintain their lethality range a bit better than arrows do due to them maintaining their force more and doing more damage on a glancing strike. Note that this would be against the standard combination of plate mail with padding beneath it (i.e. the plate itself deals more with the initial strike, be it from the arrow or the stone, with the padding dealing with the blunt trauma created).

TL;DR:
1) Arrows are better than slings at close range head on strikes
2) Arrows taper off faster than slings do with range
3) Arrows taper off faster than slings do with glancing blows

[Parsely]

A sling bullet kills someone by causing shock (in the physical sense) to the brain or some other result of blunt force trauma (but not internal organ damage on the level of a broadhead or bodkin), which is relatively unaffected by armour.

A person dies when they get bashed on the head because they suffered brain damage. Your brain is an organ, ergo if this fight ends in you dying I'd say that's severe organ damage. It doesn't matter if your skin or bones were penetrated or not when applying the term "organ damage".

Reading over your link on the sling bullet weights, those slingers aren't really going for damage, but mainly distance. It's a different set of constraints.

Good point.