[Archers] Thoughts on Crossbows & Tripods

[Siegfried]

This has been a very interesting discussion to read!

Let me start by saying, as a crossbow shooter:
Tripods for Crossbows?  NO

But, solely because in all the research that I have done, never have I
seen a tripod be shown for use for a hand-held sized crossbow.  So right
off the bat I would disallow it for being a non period concept.

...

So let's ignore that, and talk about gameplay & fairness.

Crossbowman have many 'tricks' they can use to get amazingly stable
shooting platforms already.  Not only the basic 'sitting on the ground'
rifle stance that completely locks your joints and braces all your
limbs.  But bench shooting of crossbows is one of the biggest 'target
archery' pastimes of period, with loads of documentation, and therefore
I wouldn't ever want to see bench shooting type concepts removed.

As far as using a simple shooting stick (either straight stick, or with
a V fork at the top), I have experimented with doing so in the past.
It's an interesting different way to shoot, but it comes with a number
of drawbacks for the benefit it gives you.

First of all, it only gives you the stability that your natural
arm/stance should be anyway, since that forward arm should be locked
tight against you (with most shooting styles).

Secondly, it doesn't provide any side-to-side stability, and in fact,
makes you less stable that way, requiring you to control side-to-side
'rotation' (airplane wing wobble) with your trigger hand, which isn't as
good at doing that, so you actually can have more issues with tilting.

Third, since the stick can't be pushing back into you, again your
trigger hand is required to exhibit backwards pressure, to keep the
crossbow seated against you, while also being the trigger point.

Fourth, Breathing now causes different issues.   If you are standing and
holding your crossbow, with locked joints/arms.  Breathing raises your
entire body, both arms, equal(ish) amounts.  Making your aim go up/down,
but only by a small amount.   When using a shooting stick, the front
stays still, while the back, anchored against you, moves up/down.  This
changes the angle of attack, and therefore more severely adjusts the aim.

Fifth, because your stick isn't really adjustable in height (ok, you
could stick it at different angles to the ground I guess) ... it changes
the body mechanics of typical aiming.  You can find yourself going
tip-toe or crouching, or changing your stock anchor point, in order to
try to him on from certain distances.  (And like using a sight, it
therefore could possibly help at 'certain known distances' but then
hinder you at unknown distance shoots)

Sixth, Because you have to put your stick down wherever you are told to
shoot, based upon the natural variation in the ground, the stick is
going to be higher/lower each time, messing up your aim.   This makes
the stick (or tripod) really only helpful at a known distance, from a
known shooting spot, where you've done practice rounds at that exact
same point.

...

In the end, while I've played around with it for fun, I find it simply
'another shooting style', and not any better or worse overall.  Well,
actually for me, I find it worse.  A good shooting stance is just as
stable (and sitting-rifle or bench shooting, a hair more so), and the
drawbacks and inflexibility that come with it (plus no way to speed
round with it), make it an interesting novelty.

...

To that end, I'd suggest we not rush out to make a rule banning
something, or specially classifying something, that hasn't shown itself
to be a problem at the moment.  Even if someone brought an all-wooden,
you can't ban it for being non-period, tripod, it's going to suffer all
the same issues listed above.

...

Siegfried

-- 
Barun Siegfried Sebastian Faust - Barony of Highland Foorde - Atlantia
http://hf.atlantia.sca.org/ - http://crossbows.biz/ - http://eliw.com/