Pick a Brick Castle Elements

[Danielas]

thats great but what good are they if they don't have any swords or helmets

[Voran_the_Scholar]

I will not diverge too much only to say accuracy between the bow and crossbow are relative to the archer. We have more accounts than I can shake a lego stick at from the medieval period of excellent marksmen. Not all crossbows were created equal. Some were lower powered but quicker to reload. the lower ones for war usually 4-6 a minute, slower usually about 2. My friends pulling over 120 pounds draw can get nearly 20 arrows from a longbow a minute though at 230 yards at least.

Bows were common all over Europe for war in the Medieval period. Thats one reason how the French win the 100 Years War. They form their companies of ordinance (archer heavy) and the Franc Archers, beating the English at their own game at Castillon for example. The crossbow though was indeed a major part of warfare on the continent, likely the more common missile weapon till the 16th but bows find significant use still.

R

While I agree with your assessment, I must point out that bowmen that could fire that fast were highly skilled and required countless hours of training. A crossbow is more or less accurate no matter who was firing it. While bows held an advantage in range and rounds-per-minute, the crossbow could be used by anybody with relatively lethal accuracy.

[Peasantpeteri]

thats great but what good are they if they don't have any swords or helmets

That's great! But what good are they if they don't have any swords or helmets?

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Voran,

Not sure that is spot on. If you can show me one place that indicates anyone could be accurate with a crossbow I'd be surprised. The facility if the crossbow does not equal accuracy. The benefit is that you do not have to train your whole life to be 'able' to pull it to full draw and it can remain cocked for a long duration. Later composite and steel prods also tend to have much more hitting power, which in turn makes them carry a heavier projectile the same distance, a lighter one further or punch through armour at fair distances but accuracy is highly questionable due to the weapon alone. Perhaps the horizontal bow is a bonus but I have never seen any primary or secondary sources that promoted crossbows as more accurate than bows. Early firearms yeah I can see as they are not terribly accurate but bows... never seen anything to indicate they were more or less accurate in the medieval period. The best discussion comparing this would be The Great Warbow by M. Strickland and R. Hardy and Payne-Gallways 'The Crossbow'.


Probably should continue this conversation via PM to avoid hijacking the thread if you wish.

R

[Voran_the_Scholar]

Voran,
Probably should continue this conversation via PM to avoid hijacking the thread if you wish.

R

Allrighty.

[Adam]

Thank you LEGO! I can finally turn my peasants into well armored knights!

[Dr. J]

Hopefully, this hints towards Factory Castle sets coming after Space...

[Rusty Brick]

I think I am most excited for the cost of the mini fig.

Legs .28
Head .13
Torso .54
Hair .12
Off Duty Crown Knight: 1.07!

A helmet and weapons should be reasonable on top of that from Brick Link. But all in all, I think I will build 20 PaB knights this way. I think this will be my first choice for an army builder.

[Lamanda2]

Oh man oh man oh man oh man!

Euro Armor... so.. cheap! This is one of the best things TLC could have ever done! That's even better than the $0.25 ones I picked up from Demark a year or two ago (I'm smiling ear-to-ear right now ).

I can finally stock up on black euro armor for making custom suits of armor for my Gobbies and whatnot.

Man.. This company really knows what to give it's fans!

~Amanda

[Prince Imdol]

I am going to hopefully order some of these today. I could really use that armor. I hope to order a ton.

Thanks for pointing this out Ben. YEEE-HAWWW


P.I

[Etzel]

I just wanted to remind you that you got an exra helmet with the good knight impulse set. Now you can easily create two full armured knights at a low price.

To bad we didn't get a quiver or a shield though. But hey, you can't get all you want in life

Looking forward to Factory Castle!

[Voran_the_Scholar]

I just wanted to remind you that you got an exra helmet with the good knight impulse set. Now you can easily create two full armured knights at a low price.

That's a good point...I think I'll revise my pre-buy strategizing...

EDIT: Yeah, that's about $4.44 for two figs, two helmets, a shield, a sword, a spear, and a breastplate. Plus the brown weapon rack....Not bad.

[Kozai13]

it's not a viking torso. it's the crownie torso. there's the crown emblem on the belt.

Even better. Doesa anyone know if these elements have also been added to LDD? If so, I might download it.

[Dr. J]

Doesa anyone know if these elements have also been added to LDD? If so, I might download it.

From the Factory News page:

Get ready for more bricks!
LEGO Factory is proudly facing the launch of two new fantastic Space exclusives. When Star Justice and Space Skulls touchdown at LEGO Factory in April, the LEGO Factory palette (within LEGO Digital Designer) will be updated and take into account all the new and exciting elements that are being used in building the Space sets. You too can build you very own Space designs!
More than 180 virtual building bricks will be added to the new My Own Design palette bringing the total number of elements to more than 900.
The even larger palette of elements includes many new shapes to offer even greater building possibilities.

Attention My Own Designers!
Certain elements in the current palette will be removed as part of the next My Own Design palette update.
My Own Design builders who have models built using the current palette, including those uploaded to the LEGO Factory Gallery, should be aware that certain elements used in their model designs may need to be replaced.

Happy building!

[Sir Dano]

If anybody cares to know, you can build this kind of shield:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4696b

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=4740

And the hammer from the Dwarves Mine.