[MUD-Dev] Source data on Crossbow

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <199707171649.LAA19263 at laurel.actlab.utexas.edu>, on 07/17/97 
   at 08:23 PM, Cynbe ru Taren <cynbe at laurel.actlab.utexas.edu> said:


>Spears and pikes have always been much more important than the
>attention they recieve would have one think, from the hunter-gatherer
>era through the classic era...

It should also be noted that Swiss mercenary pikemen utterly
revolutionised both infantry and cavalry tatics.  They were the first
to use Roman phalanx tactics with multiply staggered pike-man. 
Effectively unassailable outside of gunfire.

>Fire and smoke and plague-ridden bodies and such don't really count
>as missile weapons, although they've been effective in sieges ...

Shit, rotten food, burning objects, stinky objects, molotov cocktails
(clay pot with oil and burning rag), and the dead (both sides) were
all used to solid effect.  

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...