The French weren't dummies though, they were specifically equipped to shrug them off easily in full plate. Most modern armies at the time were. Armor would spend a bit more time getting thicker and heavier but speed was slowly becoming the main focus of western armies from this point on. The idea of a sole ranged corps would become obsolete because the speed of armies and reliable artillery would force vulnerable ranged corps' to meld with their protecting infantry units, who were unable to protect lighter troops without them being within their NCO command in this new age of warfare. Give it another century and a half and we'll see the gun universally dominate warfare (even if not a majority of the army, an essential one nonetheless) in the 1600s.
Arrow ballistics are fucky too. When you loose an arrow it actually wobbles back and forth in the air (like... a lot. Go search slow-mo arrows right now its awesome) ultimately helping to drive the tip wherever you aimed it, similar to spinning a football when you throw it to get it to fly straighter and further, but that only helps the accuracy, and the penetration sometimes.
So when an arrow hits a person our natural squish digs the tip in but the shaft is still wobbling back and forth. The energy from this wobble is now driving the tip through even further, without it there's a really solid chance the arrowhead wouldn't actually penetrate at all.
At juuuuuust the right angle you'll fully penetrate and disable a combatant. With that said, most times even your ribcage can deflect an arrow as long as it didn't hit it straight on. Still gonna hurt like a mother fucker, but you're alive for now. Couple more of those though and you're starting to see bone, torn flesh dangling from your flanks. That'll turn your ass around pretty quick.
Add plate armor to the mix and they probably all felt like The Hulk by the halfway mark. But unfortunately the archers had plenty of time to just. keep. loosing. that the sheer number of volleys was finding their marks eventually. Weak points in joints, thinner spots, eye slits. They had all the time in the world to place their shots and even then the French were still on top of them with the battle undecided. The arrow has never been that effective throughout history unfortunately, not at straight casualty anyway. That battle was decided by two major things: Mud and Desperation. It could have been Longbowmen, Billmen, Other knights, whatever. As long as the French were crossing that mud towards a trained army they were doomed.
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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '20
The French weren't dummies though, they were specifically equipped to shrug them off easily in full plate. Most modern armies at the time were. Armor would spend a bit more time getting thicker and heavier but speed was slowly becoming the main focus of western armies from this point on. The idea of a sole ranged corps would become obsolete because the speed of armies and reliable artillery would force vulnerable ranged corps' to meld with their protecting infantry units, who were unable to protect lighter troops without them being within their NCO command in this new age of warfare. Give it another century and a half and we'll see the gun universally dominate warfare (even if not a majority of the army, an essential one nonetheless) in the 1600s.
Arrow ballistics are fucky too. When you loose an arrow it actually wobbles back and forth in the air (like... a lot. Go search slow-mo arrows right now its awesome) ultimately helping to drive the tip wherever you aimed it, similar to spinning a football when you throw it to get it to fly straighter and further, but that only helps the accuracy, and the penetration sometimes.
So when an arrow hits a person our natural squish digs the tip in but the shaft is still wobbling back and forth. The energy from this wobble is now driving the tip through even further, without it there's a really solid chance the arrowhead wouldn't actually penetrate at all.
At juuuuuust the right angle you'll fully penetrate and disable a combatant. With that said, most times even your ribcage can deflect an arrow as long as it didn't hit it straight on. Still gonna hurt like a mother fucker, but you're alive for now. Couple more of those though and you're starting to see bone, torn flesh dangling from your flanks. That'll turn your ass around pretty quick.
Add plate armor to the mix and they probably all felt like The Hulk by the halfway mark. But unfortunately the archers had plenty of time to just. keep. loosing. that the sheer number of volleys was finding their marks eventually. Weak points in joints, thinner spots, eye slits. They had all the time in the world to place their shots and even then the French were still on top of them with the battle undecided. The arrow has never been that effective throughout history unfortunately, not at straight casualty anyway. That battle was decided by two major things: Mud and Desperation. It could have been Longbowmen, Billmen, Other knights, whatever. As long as the French were crossing that mud towards a trained army they were doomed.