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Throwing a Pilum in Armour - How far can a pro throw?

Tod's Workshop

1,214,908 views

The Romans used a pilum or a version of it for hundreds of years and it was used to harass the enemy from a distance and help break up shield walls and formations just before fighting lines clashed and it was very effective. But how far could a legionary throw one?

I cannot throw well, but Michael Allison throws javelin for Team GB; he can throw! So I have recruited him again to throw for me wearing no armour (like skirmishers), just a mail shirt and wearing the mail and holding a shield. Running and standing.

The first Pilum film with Michael is here Throwing a Pilum - How far can a Pro throw?

For commissions and custom work https://todsworkshop.com

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For those who enjoyed Arrows vs Armour https://todtodeschini.com

Many thanks to Michael Allison https://www.instagram.com/m.f.s.allis...

Many thanks to Adam Rudling for lending the pilum and shield

20 Comments

@LordOceanus 3 years ago

The genuine smile on Michael's face when he first put the mail on was wonderful. Doesn't matter where you are from or who you are, wearing armor is still pretty cool.

@thcdreams654 3 years ago (edited)

Tod is slowly making his own army. Michael throwing javelins. Joe shooting arrows. Matt coming in with the infantry weapons. Tod himself with the artillery. Now you just need some cavalry.

Edit: Toby as the Cavalry.

@rhor1882 3 years ago

4:42 Tod just casually duplicating himself to help someone put on some mail, a man of many talents.

@dylanspargo8993 3 years ago

Fascinating insight into the role of skirmishers. Running around unarmored in front of the enemy lines always seemed risky to me, but if you can significantly outrun and outrange them it makes a lot more sense!

@kevinmorrice 3 years ago

honestly, this is the kind of stuff we need to study more, like that castle in france being built with only medieval methods and materials, recreating the history helps us understand it more, by doing this video we learn more and more about what its actually like for roman soldiers to do this stuff, BRILLIANT

@peterm4675 3 years ago

I love the poof of rain off the mail when he launches the pilum. It really shows the speed his arm is moving. 6:31

@MartinAhlman 3 years ago

Michael is a hero to do this. Thank him for us, will you? We need lots of people who know different things to make history come closer to us.

@JurgenFjurgen 3 years ago

Big props to Michael for his willingness to participate & share his insights. Thank you for another excellent video.

@theamericancristero7390 3 years ago

Not surprising that over 40lbs / 20 kilos had this effect. Cool to see it demonstrated, and see how significantly the weight affected his willingness to try running throws.

@johneden2033 3 years ago

We begin to really see the utility of unarmored skirmishers when comparing their throwing distance to heavy infantry; it's almost twice the distance! A group of skirmishers can easily harass a column of infantry while staying out of range.

@NirrumTheMad 3 years ago

Michael Competitively competes
As opposed to casually competes or competitively casuals. Keep up the good work all the same!

@prnzlsr 3 years ago

Love the fact that Michael threw the pilum further than anyone on set anticipated. They set up the camera and the second throw is just out of frame. Wonderful.

@vivianevans8323 3 years ago

I love Tod's approach: 'let's find out' - after thinking hard what exactly needs to be looked at.
And it's great that he finds enthusiastic experts, like Michael (or Joe Gibbs) who know their stuff and can give great feedback after they've done it.
Thanks - great video!

@oopus4 3 years ago

Thank you Micheal, if you're seeing this, thanks for being a part of this experiment and i wish you well on your future endeavurs. Great video as always Tod! :)

@erichcoogan4649 3 years ago

Roman mail for the most part had short sleeves or no sleeves at all. I now wonder if they had short/no sleeves because that would make it easier to throw a pillum. Would also be interesting to see this test with lorica segmentata.

@Deailon 3 years ago

That still shows that pilum was an effective weapon at a distance of 20-30 meters. That is impressive and shows, why we read of two pila per standard legionary. There was enough time to throw both of them on an attacking enemy (the "after 20 passum" and "after 10 passum" seems quite right). Very nice :)