Ballista Spears

[dennis grace]

Greetings Cosyns,

Lyonel here.

Jovian opined:
>The major problem that I have seen with golf tube arrows/javelins is 
>that they rarely fly straight. they have a horribly erratic flight. I 
>saw them in use at both Estrella and Lillies Wars. Yuck!! Lady 
>Octavian (Sir Dapphyyd's lady) uses them, she would have better 
>feedback than I. 

Generally, I know what Jovian means:  the flights of golf tube arrows and
javelins are often nothing but comical (though the golf-tube quarrels work
remarkably well).  Still, I had a great time with golf-tube javelins at a
couple of Estrella Wars.  It helps to add a chunk of muslin about the size
of a handtowel to the tail.  The trailing cloth acts like an arrow's
fletching (trick I learned from my model rocket days).  The flag-tailed
javelins hit with the authority of a fist if you only go after targets
inside of thirty feet.  They're even more effective at extreme close
range--right about ten feet.  Excellent for fortress battles.  No one ever
refused to take a chest hit from me at Estrella.  

I only remember two major drawbacks of the javelins:  (1) They're a b*tch to
cart around and (2) the Barony of 1000 Eyes transported 100 javelins to
Estrella and returned home with only 36.

Of course, in my barony we also made our javelin tips to the same specs as
our spears, and a stabbing tip that would pass muster in Atenveldt gets
marshalled out as too hard here in Ansteorra.  Which brings up another sore
spot for me.  We preferred to think of our stabbing tips as "resilient."
Personally, I'd rather get punched with a stiffer spear point than a softer
one.  The stiffer tips hit with a reasonable degree of "give" thereby
preventing the rattan from coming into contact with your helmet, chest,
thigh, or GROIN.  Think about it, would you rather get bopped on the head
with a hammer padded with an inch of resilient foam or one padded with an
inch of goose down?

Yours in Sporadic e-Service

Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace