Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andor" data-source="post: 6398422" data-attributes="member: 1879">In reality the advantages of early guns over alternative missile weapons like the bow had nothing to do with deadliness. They were superior to the bow due to training time. You can train up a competent arqeubusier from a peasant draftee in about 6-12 weeks. The english used to say that if you wanted a good longbow man you started with his grandfather. Of course the bow has vastly superior ROF, range and accuracy over a primitive firearm in the hands of a master. Assuming of course that you had three generations of advance notice in order to lay your hands on a master bowman. They were not really superior to crossbows in terms of training or rof.However the big advantage of firearms is that they are scary. They roar, they flame, they thunder, they cover the battlefield in choking grey smoke. Horses need to be trained to tolerate the sound of the guns or they will bolt. They are anti-morale weapons. Which sadly has not been an element in the last 3 editions of D&D.</blockquote>