Here we have an accurate description of the tactical value of different weapons. From the walls the weapons of choice were stones and arrows. As we have already noted, both arrows and stones were part of the Mesoamerican army’s standard complement of weapons. In this defensive context the stones need not have been used with slings, though certainly they would have been as the army approached the walls. The arrows in Mesoamerican warfare were typically launched from an atatl rather than a bow. The physical action of launching both the stones and the arrows is accurately described by “casting over.”
There were other troops with different weapons, but the text indicates that they have a different function and place. Those with the swords are placed to guard the locations where there is a greater likelihood of personal combat. Even these, however, have a protective force of slingers with them to harry the approaching army before they reach the swords of the waiting men.
The descriptions of the uses of the personnel and the types of weapons and combination of weapons is an accurate depiction of the way such weapons would have been used.