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[Crispvs]

Dane,

For what it's worth, I think all of the uses for bolt shooting artillery which you suggest are valid possibilities and are all roles for which bolt artillery was used. I think that the 'terror weapon' role is one which is often overlooked but I think that it could have been quite important. With a range probably twice that of the bows which the opposition may have been equipped with as their longest distance weapons, the Roman artillery crews would have been able to start killing the opposition well before the opposition would have the chance to let off a single shot in return, let alone get into hand to hand combat. If you are moving steadily towards the Roman line and know that you will be in combat with them in three or four minutes (for instance), speeches, chants and songs can boost your morale to a suitable level but as you start to see your comrades knocked over and killed, sometimes two at a time, when all you can do to stop it is to carry on walking forward as fast as you can, then your morale is going to start taking a battering which is probably greater than the physical battery you are taking. After three minutes of passively walking forward into a barrage being shot off by sixty or more machines (60+ x 3 x 3.5 = 630+ bolts to contend with before being able to offer resistance) your morale is likely to be far lower than it was when you started walking, and your ability to fight against infantry with an undamaged morale correspondingly lower. You will also have used precious energy in trying to close the gap faster. That is, of course, if you have not already broken and run.

There is evidence from Hod Hill in Dorset of artillery being used in a similar way. Like its near neighbour Maiden Castle, Hod Hill would have been relatively easy to defend against an enemy as the steep banks and ditches which surround it are tiring to climb and the defenders wouyld have the advantage of hieght. The large size of the area to be defended would probably not have been an issue as the warriors would have been able to move to where they were needed most and would not have had to protect the entire perimeter at once. When investigating the site, archaeologists identified the sites of a number of houses. They also found a number of artillery bolt heads embedded in the chalk (presumably those bolts which the Romans had been unable to retrieve). Almost certainly of great significance was the fact that the majority of the bolt heads were found within one house, which was also the largest house the archaeologists found and which had almost certainly been surrounded by an extra fence. This is likely to have been the chieftain's house. It seems then that Vespasian, stationed on the hill opposite, commanded his artillery to concentrate their shooting on this one building, in order to demonstrate that he could pour down missile fire on any particular point in the hill fort he wished without the defenders being able to do anything at all to stop him. It is likely that the defenders capitulated soon after, as no evidence has been found of any battle past the bolt heads.

Crispvs