[LT] Hundreds of pics of weapons,armors and shields

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

My point is that there is too much to grip. Stock plus multiple ropes on both sides of it makes for a pretty big bundle to get a hand around. Avoiding the ropes takes time and risks ensnaring the shooter.

The ropes don't have to be tight against the stock. It doesn't look like they'd necessarily be in the way of the trigger fingers.

And the other hand is gripping the stock above of where the ropes are anyway.

This is not to say that one shouldn't remove detachable windlasses before shooting a crossbow. Obviously, such windlasses are attached to the string, which makes it impossible to use the weapon with them.

But depending on design, an inbuilt windlass doesn't have to interfere too badly with the operation of the weapon. However, I have not yet seen a good picture of a period windlass of that kind, for all that many authors mention them. I imagine that the design of the handles and placement of the ropes would be different, and, in any event, that such a bow is heavy enough to make carrying it a chore. Inbuilt windlasses are usually mentioned as being part of siege weapons, not field weapons, and in cases where that is not true, the word 'windlass' is being used in a wider sense than GURPS uses it. Screw-and-handle, cranks, etc.

Obviously, modern crossbows often have in-built winding mechanisms, so there are plenty of designs which work. Which one was used in the period I am simply not sure about.

I saw a good description of a Central European Wallarmbrust with an inbuilt Winde, but I can't find it just now. I can't recall if there was a picture next to it.

Perhaps I should try to acquire Egon Harmuth's book, Die Armbrust, for Christmas. It's supposed to have a lot of good descriptions and pictures of otherwise hard-to-find historical examples. And I've neglected my German for nigh-on a decade.