Bolt shooters etc

[martin]

May I ask which armies used artillery type weapons in a battle that did not  form part of a siege.
this is to help me make army compositions.
As an aside there is  a chap (now dead)  in the Dorchester museum with a Roman ballista bolt still  in him.. Ouch!

Thank you


martin

[Duncan Head]

Phokian Greeks (against Philip of Macedon)
Alexander's Macedonians at the Jaxartes river crossing
Several Hellenistic armies defending mountain passes
Hellenistic Spartans (at Third Mantineia)
Imperial Romans, obviously - the big stone-thrower at one of the Cremona battles, bolt-shooters behind the lines in Arrian's Order Against the Alans, the legions of balistarii in the Notitia
Constantine Porphyrogenitus records balistae on wagons being used by Crimean Chersonesos against (probably) Sarmatians
Most Chinese armies from the Han onwards (if not earlier)
Japanese from the 7th to the 10th centuries
French in 1304 (mangonels at Mons-en-Pevele)

Probably a fair few others I can't think of off the cuff.

[martin]

Thank you Duncan.
You have done  the work for me.  Appreciated


martin

[Chuck the Grey]

I have to admit that Duncan's list contained more examples of bolt shooters used in battle than I remembered. I need to do more research on the subject and perhaps consider some revision of rules.

I will assume that none of the examples involve the use of flaming projectiles. 

[Cantabrigian]

I will assume that none of the examples involve the use of flaming projectiles. 

I particularly enjoyed one TV programme where the flaming projectiles had an almost flat trajectory, which would require some sort of propulsion system.

[Nick Harbud]

Roman armies tended to include light bolt-shooters of the Scorpion type whose effect was not always explicitly detailed in battle reports.  Some of these were mounted on mule carts.

Burgundian and sundry other armies of 14-15^th century European armies also used artillery in varying calibres and quantities.  For example, Castagnaro, 2^nd St Albans, etc.

Hope this helps.

[DBS]

I obviously have no hard evidence, but I do have a sneaking suspicion that such weapons may have been more prevalent than we assume in the Middle East.  I am not suggesting widespread use in the field, but given that archaeology in recent years has revealed much more sophisticated frontier defences, especially for the Parthians and Sasanians, I do wonder whether these defences included "artillery".  After all, we do know that Hatra - not somewhere that had extensive direct Greek or Roman influence as far as can be told, save perhaps in its very final phase, had formidable catapult defences that gave the Romans a hard time.  Now of course Hatra is a city, where one might most expect such weapons.  But if you are a King of Kings trying to keep nomads various from using the Darband pass, or along the Gorgan frontier, why would one not want to use them?  So less than a siege, more a forcing of the lines scenario, akin to some of the attested Greek incidents.

[DougM]

I pointed out the evidence for Sasanian 'artillery' to Phil when he was redoing the DBMM lists and they were included for fortified positions. Being Phil, he naturally included a snarky comment to the effect they were doubtless taken or copied from Rome.