04-15-2012, 11:56 AM | #31 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
I can't believe it took three pages for somebody to mention the law. Arms Control (Banestorm p. 90) mentions that the best any "civilian" could be expected to be allowed would be a short bow. I suspect that almost any feudal (or even just medieval) setting would have similar laws.
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04-15-2012, 12:33 PM | #32 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
Quote:
Long bows have been used across Europe since the Neolithic, and can range from ST 10 to ST 20. Until very recently, there was no evidence of a medieval self bow less than 5 feet long, and the evidence for short bows that now exists is limited.
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04-15-2012, 01:27 PM | #33 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Caxias do Sul, Brazil
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
Quote:
Heavy Mail have DR5 against piercing, a longbow does thr+3 imp, realistic it would probably do thr+2, a longbowman with ST11 and strongbow or +2 Arm ST would do 1d+2, and penetrate mail half of the time. And usually, horses are less well protected, not to mention that a longbowmen have the advantage of range, a spearman don't, you can ambush a knight with bows, but will be harder with spears. |
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04-15-2012, 01:54 PM | #34 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
Quote:
Where are you getting the th+3 figure from? A Basic Set or LT longbow does th+2.
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
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04-15-2012, 01:56 PM | #35 |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
Armor piercing arrowheads are near mythic according to the Deadly Spring article. And even if available would be very expensive, even more so since bows were used in mass volleys instead of pin point sniping of high value targets.
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04-15-2012, 02:24 PM | #36 |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
In my Ärth setting, non-composite shortbows are not regarded as military weapons. Someone carrying around a shortbow and a quiver of arrows will be assumed to be intent on bird hunting, or something similar, whereas someone seen carrying a longbow or any a composite bow will be presumed to want to kill human-sized targets. Maybe deer, but maybe not.
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04-15-2012, 02:45 PM | #37 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
Realistically, the reason to use a short bow is because you have short arms or short pieces of wood. Bows intended for use from horseback were also usually short, because a long lower limb tends to get fouled by your legs or horse, but didn't tend to be self bows.
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04-15-2012, 03:02 PM | #38 | |
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Kansas
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
Quote:
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04-15-2012, 04:52 PM | #39 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
Quote:
As for the spears...spear formations are the most basic option for any force hoping to stand off serious cavalry from TL1 up until the latter days of TL4. They're not what you use to jump out and ambush a knight, but if you're jumping out and ambushing knights you might as well do it while they're not in full armor anyway.
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04-15-2012, 05:05 PM | #40 | |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: Why short bow instead of long bow?
Quote:
GURPS, however, is not formal typology, and uses it to mean "an arrow - pi I believe - with a (2) armor divisor." Still, good armor may well have a level of hardened as well, nullifying this advantage. The point of that section shouldn't be taken as "near mythic." It should be that my research showed that the evidence is mixed, that such arrowheads, either a hardened war head or a "lozenge bodkin" as custom-made by Mark Stretton, COULD be made. There's also lots of evidence that in many typologies, the metallographic evidence of hardening isn't present. But then, corrosion would destroy case hardening, so you might not see such evidence. So: "It's a GM call, and you have sufficient evidence in your game to allow, or disallow, any combination of AP and arrowhead as you like."
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bow, bows |
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