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Post by John P on Apr 17, 2012 4:07:38 GMT
Somewhat off the train of thought but there is a video of mt sparring against the leader of my HEMA club in his 2nd hand plate armor from this last Sunday. Since I am in just a padded coat any cut or thrust will take me out. To take him out I need to get in to one of the openings of his armor. Not a perfect experiment because neater of us are armor fighters but we are some what experienced longsword fighters. He said that the loss of viability is the main draw back followed by slower recovery time.
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Post by 14thforsaken on Apr 17, 2012 8:02:52 GMT
the most difficult one I've been matched up against was wearing a Chain Haubrek, infantry gambeson, and leather armor over his neck shoulders arms and lower legs. The real kick was his shield, it was a Gothic styled shield made of wood with metal reinforcing and was large enough to easily cover has his body. He just refused to be drawn out. If you left him a small opening to hit you, he just waited. If you tried to circle around him he would just turn in place and always face you. He was always defensive. Only moved his shield enough to block a blow and going right back into his stance. Eventually I would feel the need to do something and close in before I tired out. Once you got in his range and you made the least mistake, you were in trouble. He was a very effective fighter who knew what his strengths were. He was not going to let you dictate the fight to him. He would control it, let you get frustrated and do something rash and then take advantage of it, fights over.
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Post by Dampiel on Jul 29, 2012 20:47:19 GMT
I believe Paul used butted maille as opposed to riveted and "Very few examples of historic butted mail have been found and it is generally accepted that butted mail was never in wide use historically except in Japan where mail (kusari) was commonly made from butted links."
You can doubt it if you like, but it is Historical FACT and Yeomen Archers were paid fairly well . Also it's my understanding that training was mandatory.
As to the crossbow it's not a terribly efficient weapon as it needs to have a draw weight roughly three time that of a longbow to get similar results.
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Taran
Member
Posts: 2,621
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Post by Taran on Jul 30, 2012 11:11:41 GMT
And the crossbow also has a shorter range until you start dealing with those massive arbalests. Further, all crossbows fire far more slowly than any other bow. Unfortunately for the archer, it takes him a lifetime to learn to shoot effectively in combat. Whereas a crossbowman can be trained in a matter of weeks.
Training was mandatory for English Archers. As there is a town in GA that requires all adults of legal standing must have ownership of a firearm, so it was across all of the UK in the Middle Ages for all males to own and be practiced on the longbow. Several other nations attempted to emulate the English longbowman and failed due to impatience. The French archery program being the most spectacular failure. England's secret was instituting the mandatory training 3 generations before they finally employed longbowman in significant numbers in combat.
Dalaran 1991, Your "2 giant of a man marines" should get an experienced archer to look at their form. I am no physically impressive specimen and pull a 100# bow on occasion with little trouble and I routinely pull 80#. For competition, I go lower to improve accuracy, but for training, I am at 80# with an hour a week at 100# for strength and endurance. It's all about technique. Plant your feet correctly, pull from the hips, and get the back into it. If you try to do it with just your arms, it doesn't matter how strong you are, you will eventually be seriously hurt.
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