steel crossbow
The Steel Crossbow was an ancient projectile weapon. It was the Long-Range Weapon of Vlad the Impaler and Medium-Range Weapon of Joan of Arc.
Description
This weapon resembled a wooden crossbow, but with steel components. The stock was about 18 inches in length, while the bow was 24 to 38 inches in width. The largest and most powerful variations of this weapon weighed around 18 lbs. Respanning the crossbow required the use of a windlass, which was a winding pulley machine attached to the stock.
Stats
- Range: 150'
- Pull Weight: 400 lbs
- Materials: Steel and Wood
- Reload time: 57 seconds
Uses
By the 15th Century, most crossbows were made of steel. It had a greater range than the traditional longbow and required less training to use. Compared to a wooden crossbow, the steel variety had a longer range (380 yards or more), better armor penetration, and could be used as a club at close range when out of bolts. However, it didn't solve the crossbow's greatest fault, which was the long time it took to reload after firing.
Tests In Show
On the show, in Season 2, the steel crossbow was the long range weapon of Vlad the Impaler, and was pitted against the repeating crossbow used by Sun Tzu. It was only able to get off two shots within the 30 second time limit, delivering one kill but with the second shot bouncing off Sun Tzu's leather armor. Although this weapon apeared to be big and powerfull, its slow reload time and low damage cost it the edge.
In Season 3, it appeared again as the mid range weapon of Joan of Arc. This episodes showed it could shoot further distance than William the Conqueror's composite crossbow. The average reloading time limit was 57 seconds, delivering 6/9 hit ratio with 4 kills. The edge went to the steel crossbow for it's greater accuracy and range, despite the test lasting 10 minutes 47 seconds, it is superior in an offensive seige as sieges can take many days to complete and the longer ranged crossbows can stay out of the enemy's range.
Trivia
- Sun Tzu's leather lamellar armor was shown to be able to resist a steel crossbow. In actuality, the leather manage to absorb the bolt because the Vlad expert's were using broadhead bolts than the traditional needlepoint and armor breaker bolts, which were known to penetrate plate armor and no doubt would have penetrate Chinese lamellar armor.