Ligurian Slingers Completed

After a couple weeks of hectic travel, I was finally able to get all eight of the Ligurian slingers painted and fully based. I decided to base them two figures on a 60mm x 40mm base rather than placing single model on a much smaller base. This is much more pleasing to me aesthetically and they still look and feel like skirmishers in my opinion.

It is interesting (and timely)  that I picked up the most recent copy of Ancient Warfare magazine at the newsstand yesterday and it contains a fantastic article on slingers that I recommend. Some of the key points:

1. These ancient slingers were not stooping down and picking up rocks to use as ammunition. They had custom made lead or clay bullets that were shaped like an American football to aid in distance and accuracy.
2. Bullets from a sling can be so deadly, even to men wearing armor and helmets, that Julius Caesar in his Civil Wars describes how some Pompeian soldiers wore wicker "baskets" over their helmets to cushion the blow of a slingshot.
3. The sling is barely mentioned in Homer's Iliad, due to the lowly character of the sling and the perceived dishonor and disgrace of killing an enemy from a distance at the time.

I hope you enjoy these. Models are 28mm by Relic Miniatures.