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Michael Curl
Location: Northern California, US Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 487
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 Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 11:38 am Post subject: Anyone know anything about Plumbarti? |
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In rome total war (video game) they are heavy metal darts that replaced the pila in the later roman legions. I wanted to know if these are made up or if they are real. Also, any other info plz.
thanx
E Pluribus Unum
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Sean Flynt
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Michael Curl
Location: Northern California, US Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 487
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| Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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wow, quick response, thanks sean. So how long are these approx. Also, weight, does it say in the how to site?
E Pluribus Unum
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Gary A. Chelette
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| Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Sean Flynt wrote: |
I and many other children of the `70s played with something similar--Jarts or lawn darts. As a pastime for kids, it's right up there with playing in a storm drain. Banned from sale here in the late 1980s for obvious reasons.
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I remember those days! How we stayed alive is still amazing!
Of course in our old age, we just play "Stupid Viking Games" and play catch with a sharp spear. Goes well after a few horns of Mead. 
Are you scared, Connor?
No, Cousin Dugal. I'm not!
Don't talk nonsense, man. I peed my kilt the first time I went into battle.
Oh, aye. Angus pees his kilt all the time!
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Sean Flynt
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Chris Arrington
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| Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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Did you all see the range test article on the same website?
I wonder what kind of range you could get using a throwing stick, similar to an atatl (sp?).
Interesting way to give your infantry an integral missile capability (and fairly low cost in economics and training as well)
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Sean Flynt
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| Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Chris Arrington wrote: | Did you all see the range test article on the same website?
I wonder what kind of range you could get using a throwing stick, similar to an atatl (sp?).
Interesting way to give your infantry an integral missile capability (and fairly low cost in economics and training as well) |
I read somewhere--maybe the Journal of the Royal Armouries--about a classical method of launching darts like these. It was a an elaborate sling system rather than an atlatl, but would have had a similar magnifying effect on the launch velocity. The article's author was trying to recreate the system based only on contemporary descriptions. Obviously, those projectiles would have been relatively short. I think this system was Greek rather than Roman.
-Sean
Author of the Little Hammer novel
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Hammer-Sean-Flynt/dp/B08XN7HZ82/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=little+hammer+book&qid=1627482034&sr=8-1
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Dan Howard
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| Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Sean Flynt wrote: | | I read somewhere--maybe the Journal of the Royal Armouries--about a classical method of launching darts like these. It was a an elaborate sling system rather than an atlatl, but would have had a similar magnifying effect on the launch velocity. The article's author was trying to recreate the system based only on contemporary descriptions. Obviously, those projectiles would have been relatively short. I think this system was Greek rather than Roman. |
The sling reconstructed in that article wasn't for plumbata. The darts were totally different and specifically constructed for the sling. As far as I can tell plumbatae were only ever thrown by hand.
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Michael Curl
Location: Northern California, US Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 487
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| Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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Were they thrown over or under hand?
Edit: Nevermind, I didn't see the article on their testing. Would these have the effect on shields that the pilum had?
E Pluribus Unum
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George Hill
Location: Atlanta Ga Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 614
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| Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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It's my understanding that what these were used for was simply this. You took your plumbata by the fletched end, and hocked it as high as you could, with a motion likely similar to the "Potato smasher" German handgrenade. The fletches and weight caused it to decent (more or less) straight down into the dencely packed lines of the enemy.
Hitting a shield would not have been as big a thing as with the pilum, which could still get you on the other side, and would have been much heavier.
To abandon your shield is the basest of crimes. - --Tacitus on Germania
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M. Eversberg II
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| Posted: Tue 01 Apr, 2008 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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I posted asking about these in a Roman thread a month or so back but didn't get any reply on them.
I wonder how badly these would hurt.
M.
This space for rent or lease.
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David Wilson
Location: In a van down by the river Joined: 23 Aug 2003
Posts: 803
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| Posted: Wed 02 Apr, 2008 9:24 am Post subject: |
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Apparently, you don't even need to make your own, these days....
http://www.kultofathena.com/product~item~AH42...umbata.htm
It's made by Deepeeka, and seems to be fairly accurate. Only $29.95 at Kult of Athena.
Now, who's up for a game of plumbatae?
David K. Wilson, Jr.
Laird of Glencoe
Now available on Amazon: Franklin Posner's "Suburban Vampire: A Tale of the Human Condition -- With Vampires" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N7Y591
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This is a standard topic