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[–] 2 points 11 months ago*

Crossbows are clunky and slow operate.

Their plus is that untrained people can use them.

An expert bowman could outmatch a group of 12 crossbowmen.

But if you had a group of 50+ men to arm with bows or crossbows (hundereds and thousands weren't uncommon historically), a crossbow was more effective because there's no way in hell you'd get, say, 10.000 expert bowmen. If you were to arm such a legion with bows, you'd most likely suffer more damage from friendly fire than from enemy fire.

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