Thrown Weapons
History of Atlatl usage in Atlantia
Following is a brief history of the reasons for the choices made regarding the usage of atlatls in Atlantia.
At the Society level, Thrown Weapons is a sub category of Target Archery. As atlatls came into interest within the Society, there were many debates over which range should be responsible for 'hosting' it. At this time, no Society level decision has been made, and each Kingdom has made its own determination. Some put them on the Archery range, and some put it on the Thrown Weapons range.
In Atlantia, it was decided that atlatls would be best served on the Archery range, and have been added to the training for the TA marshals. Some of the deciding factors were -
- Weapon Range
- thrown weapons ranges are measured in feet
- archery ranges are measured in yards
- atlatls have capabilities in the yards category
- Target Requirements
- thrown weapons 'mostly' use hard targets (admit it, folks, axes and knives are more common than spears)
- archery targets tend to be softer and capable of handling the darts (bales and other common rounds handle them well)
- There were concerns that the darts might damage the targets because they were overly large, or that their weight might pull the targets over. Targets can be secured. (see Notes for more)
- Method of Projection
- axes, knives, spears are thrown directly from the hand
- arrows, bolts are sent down range using a 'machine' - the bow/ crossbow
- darts are projected using a 'machine' - the atlatl, itself
NOTES
- Though the TW InterKingdom Competition (TWIC) has a category for atlatls, these should not be thrown on any Atlantian Thrown Weapons range. If an Archery marshal wants to look up the rules and run one, or a Thrown Weapons marshal wants to coordinate with the Archery marshal to use their range, this is fine, but it should not be run as an 'extension' of the Thrown Weapons range.
- Remember, any TW or TA marshal has the right to refuse the use of weapons with which they are not comfortable on their range. This used to be the case with things as mundane now was crossbows :). Many marshals are still not familiar with atlatls, as are many with some of the strange things that have shown up from time to time on the TW range.