[TwoBits]

When debating bows, x-bows, and/or slings, be sure to keep in mind the effectiveness of the Cretan archers. With their pyromancers in tow to cast Flaming Arrows, their composite bows could slay Carthaginians or Cyclopses with equal ease! No wonder the Romans used Cretan mercenaries in great numbers when they conquered Marverni and C'tis.

Yeah, sure, the Balearic Island slingers had their day against unarmored Spanish barbarians unsupported by wyverns, but when used as mercs in the east against the Seleucids and their flying elephants (courtesy of Seleucid Oreiads of course), well, they didn't do so hot there, did they?

And you know, all that's a historical fact, cause I read all about it in the Lives of the Pantakrators, by Plutarch, the famous necromancer.