[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Indeed.

There's also the different connotations of the sling as oppposed to a warrior's panoply. Slings are shepherd's tools that happen to be very useful in warfare. Javelins, shields, axes and swords have few other purposes than war.

The Rammanu see nothing wrong with every child playing with a sling and their adults viewing skill with it as a point of pride, as well as useful against wolves.

The Threskeli, meanwhile, might value displays of courage, manliness and physical prowess more highly than technical skill with a useful tool. They would compete in athletic feats, throwing javelins and jumping crags with shield and sword in hand.

Agreed. What kind of fighting style would encourage a buckler for raiding and skirmishing in hilly and mountainous terrain?

The Threskeli might favor darts or javelins used with an atlatl, requiring both hands. A buckler can be easily slung or even hung on the belt without interfering with movement too much. When the initial javelin barrage is over, they pull sword and buckler and jump down into close combat. They have a very mobile style that involves moving in and out of the fray and sudden changes of elevation from jumping between rocks.

A Threskeli warrior might be expected to have high ST and DX as well as 8 points or more with all of Axe/Mace, Brawling, Shield, Shortsword, Spear and Throw Spear

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Based on the above and my suggestions, Jumping and possibly Acrobatics might also be skills they'd have points in.

I'm trying to justify at least one culture (or at the very least, a tribe or two beloning to it) using bucklers, but they seem inferior if you aim to use any kind of missile weapon, as you can't carry spares in your shield hand.

With the javelin+atlatl combo, your spares will be in the dirt in front of you or slung in a quiver. The reason for the buckler is that you can ready it fast when the throwing is done and it's time to mix it up.

True. I imagine that goat-skin is very popular, as it's far cheaper than anything they have to fetch from further away. In any case, shields would generally be regarded as disposable, as warriors probably often have to leave them behind to climb particularly tough cliffs.

Another reason some would favor bucklers; easier to carry, and cheaper if you have to throw them away.

In your opinion, what would best fit the Rammanu (Amorite-ish), Assurites (Assyrian-esque), the Zouavous (Berber-inspired) and Threskeli (Thracian-like)?

To give each ethnicity its own flavour of weapon? It doesn't need to affect stats, just a particular decoration of knife, shape of blade or other details.

The ones you mention in a later post look good. You might also find a hatchet-knife like a kukri among the threskeli, as tools more than weapons. The others will probably also have some kind of hatchet or hand axe, for the same reason, but might not have a specifically weaponised version.

I imagine that the Rammanu and Assurites are likely to use sticks, heavy clubs, maces and axes (depending on whether it's a peasant defending his family or a warrior).

The peasant probably has some Staff skill to go with his sling; the shepherd's crook is a tool with many uses, and one of them is hitting things.

I wonder if skill with them is transferable to javelins or darts?

No, it's more like throwing a balanced axe.