What happened to the Bow (weapon)?

[Stiel]

I thought it was easier to use a bow. A crossbow was heavier than a bow. Archers also needed more time to reload a crossbow.

Quite the opposite. Carrying a bow is easier, yes, but using it is an entirely different matter. Generally, bows were cheaper and had a higher firing rate, but harder to use, e.g. archers needed more training. Actually, English kings encouraged active practice of archery among common people (tournaments with prizes etc.) in order to always have enough archers to recruit.

Wikipedia has good articles on this: Training for longbows, Comparison of bow and crossbow, their role in the Hundred Years' War. Go ahead, read them, they are not that long.

Edited May 26, 2010 by Stiel

[beans]

I actually love that the crossbows replaced the old bow. The old bow has always looked awkward and impossible to pose with the minifig; he couldn't shoot straight without standing sideways! However, that bow that KimT posted looks gorgeous!

[HumanPackMule]

I was always a fan of the traditional bows since the crossbows don't look as nice on minifigs

[Randal]

Actually, during the Hundred Years War, English Longbows proved superior to French Crossbows.

my guess is load time vs. fire rate. A bowman need only nock his arrow and draw his string, aim and fire. He doesn't even need to take his eye off his target. A crossbowman needs to cock his bow (sometimes using a tool or crank, but generally bracing the device with his leg/foot to pull back the string), nock his bolt, reaquire his target, aim and then shoot. Practically the same difference between muzzle loaded vs. breach loaded rifles. Another factor is that anyone can whittle down a yew branch to make a good bow, but crossbows require parts made by a metal smith.

English kings encouraged active practice of archery among common people (tournaments with prizes etc.) in order to always have enough archers to recruit.

Heh, get caught with sharp arrows instead of blunt though and the penalties were stiff. Surely you would be accused of poaching the king's game or possibly accused of being a highwayman. Peasants were only allowed sharp arrows durring battle in service of the crown. (or so sayeth the history channel.)

Edited May 27, 2010 by Randal

[Artifex]

Hail all!

From what I've seen, there are no bowman in the new line... Only guys with crossbows!

Could this be a hint we'll get a Forestmen revamp? Elves, maybe?

Or has TLG just given up on bowman altogether? (in which case I'll get a couple of more bowmen from the collectables)

[Siegfried]

Or has TLG just given up on bowman altogether? (in which case I'll get a couple of more bowmen from the collectables)

I merged your topic with a recent and very similar one.

[Artifex]

I merged your topic with a recent and very similar one.

Thanks - I didn't find this thread.

[Stiel]

I have both the Native and the Foresmen figure and its looks to me like its the same size bow and quiver as it always was.

Now that I finally got my forestman from the minifigure series, I compared the bows. On the left, you can see one from Fantasy Era and on the right, a new forestman's bow. I also included plumes for comparison (again, old one is on the left).

The new plume is almost the same as the old one, just a little bit smaller, I don't know if that can be seen on the picture. Differences between the bows are clearly visible though. The new bow has the string drawn at a different angle; the arrow has smaller fletchlings and is altogether longer. Color is also slightly different (might not even be visible in the picture), the new version is less shiny and more pale somehow, but then again, the difference is very small and could be due to production variances.

Edit: oh yeah, and the quiver is the same (at least I couldn't spot any differences), that's why it's not included in the picture.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Stiel

[Admiral Ron]

Very interesting Stiel! I kinda like the new one better, to me it looks like it is being drawn!

[jokster]

I think the crossbows look cooler than the bow and arow.