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Chinese: “What do you mean you can’t rapid fire with your crossbow?”
And those shields (pavises) are so fucking cool looking. They have a little kickstand so you can load while under cover.
Explanation: Mostly just memeing! Longbows vs. crossbows are a commonly debated aspect of medieval European warfare. OBVIOUSLY, the CROSSBOW is the SUPERIOR offering!
… but most longbowmen and crossbowmen both would have been only part-time soldiers and worked civilian jobs most of their lives, crossbowmen needed more than just a week of training (though short training was part of the crossbow’s draw - there are a lot of other soldiering skills what need to be taught!), the English longbow was a fairly late development rather than Return To Monke, and longbowmen were actually noted as being quite competent in the melee.
That being said, lifelong training (at least as a part-timer) was needed to achieve proficiency with the longbow - which is why England had to pass laws mandating weekly practice, and why England was the only medieval polity to regularly use longbowmen en masse. It is expensive to maintain a force (or ability to raise a force of) longbowmen largely because of the high need for good yew wood (and there’s not really much in the way of alternatives, whereas crossbows could use a wide variety of techniques and materials for the prod), it absolutely does fuck up your body because of the immense strain, and crossbow quarrels are better suited to both precision shooting and armor penetration.
Longbows were much superior in terms of volume of fire in open field battle, but if you were defending or assaulting fortifications and the local population was participating. You want crossbows.
Agincourt enters the chat
In roleplaying games I always choose crossbow because I think man, I would never have the patience to learn something like a longbow. I’m a filthy casual who has to lean on technology
The one you are using is going to break at the worst possible moment. Which do you choose?
Crossbow. More parts means it’s more likely to break something replaceable ad hoc, like the cocking device. Longbow means it’s either the string or the bow that breaks, so it’s a 50-50 chance of being completely screwed.
Archery is all fun and games until you get run down by cavalry.
Cavalry can be defeated with pointy sticks.
Babylonians: not a problem
I always thought those threads looked so damn comfortable!
If the cost of producing and maintaining the force is also a factor though, surely the logistical demand of cavalry is an order of magnitude greater than that of either archers or crossbowmen?
And then, as the other fella said, pointy sticks.
However, if the Kings had AI, they could both be replaced on the promise of the greatest wealth and safety. That is until some disgruntled farmers turned up with pitchforks.
The farmers are too busy to revolt, there is a cross dressing shoemaker two towns over who is ruining family values.
A… witch?
