What are your favorite medieval weapon?

[knightarmour]

mace. a mace rules.

I like crossbows but they take too long to load.

[Colonel Strider]

Long sword

Short sword

Longbow

Crossbow

[Ben the lego king]

mace. a mace rules.

I like crossbows but they take too long to load.

not so. their was a chinese crossbow that had a wood block on the top that would hold more arrows. all that you would have to do would be to pull a lever back and forth and it would fire atomaticly.
heres a pic
http://www.codesmiths.com/shed/things/k ... ossbow.jpg

[Heir of Black Falcon]

I had avoided comments on crossbows as it can really derail a thread... but since it has already started I will explain some things about crossbows.

First not all crossbows are created equal.

You have simple wood prod crossbows (think a thicker, shorter bow compared to a self bow), composite lathe (horn, sinew and at times wood- usually squat and shorter than simple wood bow crossbows) and last steel prods which come in all sizes.

Why is the material used in the bow important? This in great part determines the upper draw weight (the weight needed to span a bow or crossbow) of the crossbow. Simple wood prods on a crossbow are typically weaker than composite bows and both weaker than steel lathes (of course I am looking at their upper limits as you can make a composite or steel bow weaker but they can be made much more powerful). This impacts the amount of bolts you can load a minute. People I know have loaded a 300-350lb. crossbow 6-8 times a minute (with a 120-130lbs longbow 14-18 arrows is not difficult in a minute). With a powerful steel bow 2, maybe 3 a minute is possible. Keep in mind this sounds slower but until the American Civil War this was what most guns could do.

There is always a trade off in the medieval period regarding crossbows power and speed. Example. The rapid fire crossbow the Chinese used was very limited in range and the draw weight was much less. With European crossbows you can get 6-8 bolts off but with a weaker bow which will likely do less damage than the vastly more powerful crossbow that is slower. Some of these crossbows could get up around 800-1000lbs. draw but would get maybe 2 bolts off a minute but if you were within 350-400 yards you’d be in trouble, my guess armour or no armour.

This is limited to the standard hand crossbow not larger two foot ones or the giant crossbows/springalds. I should warn you the old and rather silly idea two foot crossbow got their name from the need to use two feet to span is not well supported from historic sources and most academics avoid it. It seems more likely the length of the bolt (which would require a more powerful draw weight to launch the projectile) is what one and two foot are. We are lucky to have many primary sources explaining bolt lenght which confirms this theory.

Heir

[Albatross_Viking]

My favorite medieval weapon is definitely longbow!
Because i simply like it! (and maybe also because you can stand
long away from all the nasty stuff picking out enemy commanders
while letting the other guys run around striking each other down with swords and axes )

A_V

[shmitty]

My favorite real medieval weapon are:

1)javelin(preferably mounted)

2)longbow

3)spear/pike

[maniac29]

1. Sword
2. Long Bow
3. Javelin

Too bad they didn't have AK47's back then.

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Quite the contrary it is very good they did not have AK47s back then.

Anyone ever seen this before?

http://www.liebaart.org/goeden_e.htm

Wicked looking melee weapon!

Heir

[Albatross_Viking]

That looks like a quite usefull weapon, Heir. Ive heard of it before, because i have a mode for AOE II, where the flemish have liebarts with godendags.

A_V

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Wow that is cool. What mode is that in AOE II??? I'd love to see it and may even have a copy of AOE II around...

It seems to have been useful for them for a time.... the short duration of it may indicate it was quickly overcome by other types of weapons like the halbard, bill and the pike but either way it was an interesting development in melee warfare.

[TygerBurningBright]

European:

Flambard

Longbow

War hammer

Oriental:

Wakizashi

Manriki-gusari

Meteor hammer

Oh and @ Albatross_Viking, it'd be fairly tough to pick out an enemy commander with a longbow, they're totally built for range as opposed to accuracy!

'course you could always just shower him with arrows.... that'd do the trick.....

[Albatross_Viking]

Heir, the mode for AOE i play is called "Age of Chivalry: Hegemony", and can be found here: aok.heavengames.com
(I actually heard about it from Cornlegocorn here on CC )

A_V

[Kevin1990]

Pitchfork

vampire stake

[Gijs25]

1) Longbow

2) Mace

3) Short Axe (or however it's called )

[Vilmar]

The longbow in the hands of a skilled man could kill a charging knight on horse back. But if you are a trollish noob you would have to go with a longsword or even better an simple axe