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Old 01-13-2018, 04:39 PM   #62
sir_pudding
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: Countering archers and bows?

Quote:
Originally Posted by a humble lich View Post
I am sure some Spanish conquistadors with rapiers came under arrow fire in the New Word at some point.
Rapiers in that case were side arms, primarily useful as civilian carries. These guys also wore plate harness.

The image of the swashbuckler as fictional archetype tends to confuse civilian weapons and dress with military weapons and armor.

Certainly bows, crossbows, plate armor, rapiers, pikes, halberds, and firearms all were in significant use during the same period. Plate armor, rapiers, and firearms are all roughly contemporary developments, so it certainly isn't true that firearms made plate armor obsolete right away, or that rapiers existed because there wasn't any armor. Rapiers have very little to do armor at all, except for the popularity of concealed or concealsble armor like brigadine and fine mail. The expected use of a rapier was self-defense against a unarmored assailant or in duels, also unarmored.
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