Pila Throwing

[Anonymous]

Ave,<br>
<br>
When the Legionnaires threw their Pila, was there a hop or skip or any sort of lead-in before they threw? Having thrown aerodynamically proficient Javelins, I can attest that a running throw is A LOT more effective than a standing one. However, I imagine it would be impossible to have the entire unit run forward at the same time to throw their Pila. So, did they just accept the shorter range? How was this done?<br>
<br>
-Spatha <p></p><i></i>

[derek forrest]

Nobody knows. Certainly modern javelin throwers always take a run at it but it is difficult in formation and there is always a risk of blue on blue. My own preference is that the line advances at the walk and the front 2 ranks throw. The first line very much into the face of the opposition the 2nd row over the heads of the first. Then without pausing draw glaidii and get stuck in before the opposition recover their balance. <p></p><i></i>

[Crispvs]

As Derek says, no one knows how it was done in reality, but we advance in a line a few steps at a run and then throw dummy javelins. A second line then runs between the gaps between the men in this line and throws its javelins. Once the javelins have been thrown swords are drawn and the lines advance with drawn swords. We do this in two lines, which is far fewer than a real Roman unit and it is difficult to say whether it would be possible with a greater depth to the formation. We did experiment with a four line interchanging arrangement a couple of years ago and although it was very confused to begin with within about an hour we were doing it much more naturally. We were doing this without javelins however. I think we were going to try combining the four line interchanging with the throwing of javelins but very bad early March weather conditions chased us inside to the warm comfort of very un-Roman cups of tea before any javelins were picked up. We haven't tried it again since so I can't offer anything more in terms of experimental results.<br>
<br>
Crispvs <p></p><i></i>