"Question about Spears and other throwing weapons. " Topic

Do any of the rules you use limit the number times spear and other throwing weapons can be used in a game by any one unit? For example: Numidian Spear men carried three to five spears. Could be more or less doesn't matter as it pertains to question but do the rules limit each unit to only throwing that number of times in a game?

I hop that made sense.

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Yes, several.

It may only take a few seconds to throw a spear and if you have 5 spears then not much more.

If your rules have moves which account for a 5 minute timespan then you could spend a lot of one move out of ammo.

I play home brew rules. I used to have rules for running out of ammo so that javelins had a higher chance to run out than, say, slings. With time though I developed the opinion that there was probably a resupply system of some sort that we've never heard about. Heck, we know very little about resupply during the ACW during combat so I'm not surprised we know nothing about it in the ancient world.

I also play large games and find it hard to believe that an army would have a troop type that would fight for five minutes then sit out and watch the rest of a fight that might last an hour or more. So, to make a long explanation short, (too late!), I no longer use ammo supply in my ancient games.

if I was playing a skirmish level game I'd feel differently.

Yes, as Dn Jackson says, this is something you'd only bother about in a skirmish game. In higher-level games it can be abstractly represented, as it is, for instance, in 'Sword and Spear': possession of a baggage camp or purchase of the Resupply stratagem allows units additional combat bonuses. Most tactical/operational-level rules disregard it, though.

As I recall the Thracian archers in early Imperial Roman auxilla cohorts had 13 or so arrows in their quivers – Roman generals would have a centurion or tribune watch one of them and count, and when they had shot thirteen times have them pull back to refill their quivers

As Dn Jackson says, ancient armies (well, no army) would have unit that was only good for 5 minutes of combat!

"Megiddo to Mortgarten" had optional rules that limited turns of missile fire and allowed for resupply from carts or pack animals. "Classic Warfare" limited turns of fire by pila, spears, and javelins unless resupplied; slings and bows were not, as far as I can determine, so limited.

For troops that skirmish in battle, no. But, say for a Roman Cohort, we have them tote around a tooth pick to represent their javelins. It allows them to throw just before they close to contact for melee. Once thrown, break the tooth pick and battle on.

To the Strongest is the only army-level set I can think of which tracks ammo. Works well as the volume of missiles drops off during the battle; troops can resupply from the camp but it takes time.

Re enactment people talk about shooter units having some men detailed to scavenging missiles as soon as the action starts.