Why didn't historical archers use Shields while shooting their bows? It seems like a no-brainer
because shooting a bow already kills your arms and your back without holding a fucking shield like that you dumb retardwhen was the last time you actually moved your own body
>>62950987They were obviously stupid, why do you think they died?
>>62950987because if they were that smart they'd be using a pavise and crossbow
>>62950987Great question but it brings up one problem: why didnt archers just win? Surely they didnt do all that training to lose so if they just win they wouldnt have to use shields (becuase they already won).
>>62951222why don't we do that with guns
Some of them did, but it's not all that protective. Easier to just set up a shield like the Italians did or have someone else carry it like the Persian sparabara did.
>>62950987they did, look at the immortals, they used smaller shields while firing their bows
>>62950987If the enemy manages to reach your archers, you've already lost. A shield won't make any difference and is just an unnecessary expense and extra weight on your supply trains
>>62951238that was a thing during the days of matchlock muskets
>>62951333this happened in the bronze age too, usually guys like sparabara placing down shields to cover their archers
>>62951238What is a tank if not this exact concept in modern times. Moves around, shrugs off enemy projectiles and shoots it's own.If you genuinely want ballistic shields see use - people don't really fight pitched battles anymore and while shields still see some use in small scale sieges (law enforcement) if you're sieging something in a peer military conflict it's just so much easier to utilize the best shield of them all - distance - and just artillery whatever you're sieging down.
>>62950987that bow looks like it has 0 draw weight>inb4 he's just stronghe's not engaging the right muscles for drawing a heavy bownow try doing this shit with a proper bow
>>62951238we do
Shields are heavy
Peppering armored soldiers with 20 pound bow shots is only going to annoy them. This idea makes sense I guess if you have no slingers to use as skirmishers.
>>62950987That's a 20 to 40 pound bow at most.You can't hold a shield and draw a 100# to 160# bow while also holding a 10# shield.Moreover, it interferes with your ability to aim a bow.
>>62951238You need heavy stuff to stop rifle rounds, something like >>62953969 is rated for pistols and shotguns. Let's take a look at level IV ceramic plates and how much they weigh. Typical weights are around 6 pounds for 10x12 inches. A shield like this >>62951222, a pavise, would be about 48 by 20 inches. So 8 ceramic plates, at a total of 48 pounds, would give you that coverage, not counting a frame for them and a handle.Even at 4 pounds per plate, that would be 32 pounds. The soldier would still need to carry a rifle, plate carrier, plates, a helmet, gear, ammunition, etc.The shield is a lot of (expensive) weight for very limited usefulness.
>>62950987D&D have put into people's mind that archery can be done by twinks and women. In reality, archers arms and upperbody tend to look like bodybuilders.
>>62953299asian and mounted style recurve bows use the bent shape to provide more leverage, therefore not requiring a lot of weight. However, it used to take up to a year for the glue and sinew to set and the wood to dry. They were only given to masters and elite soldiers.Straight longbows have zero leverage so you need them to be super long and retard strength weights in order to actually go far or deal enough damage for lethal injuries. They were also just scraped out of a chunk of wood in an afternoon.If you're a draweightfag then you expose yourself as indigent peasantry lmao. fuck off and report back to your lord with your counts of grain.
>>62950987Okay I'm a total idiot philistine but it seems to me that a shield moves quite a bit on your arm and that an arrows could conceivably get struck by it and lose momentum as it (that is to say the arrow) is fired.
>>62962201Are you.... rarted?
>>62962308https://youtu.be/JbF8BaGsuts?si=-szdpgVmAPqiFEBK
>>62962201Composite recurves style bows are more powerful pound for pound but they still used high draw weights.>>62962266That shield is a shit replica, you would use a smaller shield that could be strapped to the arm or had a thin rope/strap grip that wouldn't interfere with gripping the bow like pic related. Also some shields were cut to allow hand/bow/spear clearance.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Scythian_comb.jpg
