Yes. Though tumbling is not required. On the other hand, tumbling would reduce some of the abrasive effect of contact with the soil since it would decrease the speed of the soil rubbing against the object's surface.

If one billiard ball strikes a bowling ball squarely most of it's energy is transfered to the other ball. If you had a handy measurement device handy, the force of that impact would be at maximum for the system. Assume that the greater size of the bowling ball redirects the momentum of the billiard ball downward (at collision time) into the table, so that it does not rebound.

If the ball strikes the other with a slight "kiss", it hardly transfers any of its energy, and the impact force is negligible.

If your goal was to stop the motion of the billiard ball, you could do it two ways: 1) one head-on colision - max impact, or 2) line up 100 bowling balls accurately enough to lightly "kiss" each one [impossible experiment to do except in your head] ultimately it comes to a stop while only experiencing 100 tiny impacts.

Dunno what the Screaming Eagle has to say about this one.