> Kat said: > > That being said, I'm still not clear to what extent the crossbow (outlawed > > at some point by... the Pope? not sure... because it was so effective I'd just read "banned by the Church". > > against heavy armor [so I have to ask here - was the crossbow really more > > effective than the longbow because of its massive draw weights, or some I think the crossbow is easier to train people to use, and at the heavy end might be able to pack in more power, and from weaker people -- you pump lots of energy into a spring, and can use a crank, even if you're not strong enough to move stuff by brute muscle. Longbows have a faster rate of fire, but you're kind of training for life [insert paeans to the independent yeoman class of England, with spare time] and all the female archers of fantasy are kind of silly. You need upper body strength to bend that thing. I mean, sure, some women, but having it be a female specialty (cf. Queens Susan and Lucy of Narnia) doesn't work. -xx- Damien X-)