Sprinting in Full Plate Armor?

[Veilan]

I suppose Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt were even more awesome considering the English dismounted their knights in plate - probably a gentlemanly "tying one arm behind the back" thing - after all, they were only fighting Frenchmen...

[I-KP]

Interesting that you mention Crécy (1346). After having previously mentioned that the Genoese Windlass was probably one of the first crossbows that began to effectively see off the steel clad tanks, the Genoese mercenaries that fought at that battle, with the 500lb+ pull Windlass, were probably far less than any use at all due to being routed by English Longbow fire. (Or if you read other sources - usually French! - the dreadful performance of the Genoese wasn't due to English bowmen but was instead slack crossbow strings soggy from the weather.)


With an iron hand crank (the Windlass) you can probably imagine the kind of mechanical advantage you'd get making a 500lb+ pull and 300 yard range achievable. An entire metric fuckton more impresive than 1-bloody-D10 damage at 120ft!

[Veilan]

Funnily enough, Donald Featherstone claimed that the Genoese mercenaries were actually hampered, if not outright ridden down, by the french knights trying to close with the enemy instead of letting them do their work.

Ah, chivalry...

[I-KP]