Asian reflex bows might look a little out-of-place in this era doimnated by muskets, cannons, pistols and everything else with a gunpowder in it, they might seem like a relic of old times, but I assure You that they were still a very efficient, deadly weapon, and not a sign of the past.
The reason why bows were not seen that often on the battlefield and among soldiers was simply that it was very hard to train a good bowman, it took years and a lot of dedication to be skilled in this form of fighting, and also these bows were costly, and it took a lot of time to make them.
On the other hand, at the same time, gunpowdered muskets and pistols could be produced very quickly and in large numbers, broken elements could be easily replaced, just as the whole weapon could be easily replaced by another, and of course, it could be possible to train anyone in using them in a short matter of time.
So, musket could be a weapon for masses, for uneducated peasants and total morons, they didn't require much of skill, while bows were mastered by a very few.
Among them is our main hero - KIZERO.
So why are they still in the use? ... You may ask.
Well, tradition is one thing, and luck of the tradition is the main reason why western european armies don't use them.
So You won't find any archers among the Swedes, English, Dutch, Danes, etc... at this particular period of time.
Still, in eastern european coutries, like Poland, Transylvania, Russia and Crimea, they are a really good choice and a deadly weapon in the hands of a skilled person.
First of all, they allow their user to fire shots much quicker than when using a musket or a pistol.
A musket and pistol could fire only one effective shot and than had to be reloaded, what could take even few minutes.
A bow, on the other hand, could fire dozens of arrows within the same minute.
Also, this weapn was pretty quiet, so unlike muskets and pistols, it could be used for some stalth actions, like to kill guards from the distance without making a noise.
Note on the construction!
These are not the same bows like those used by ROBIN HOOD :)
So I've added plenty of images below to prove it ;)
While medieval "welsh" bow used by Robin Hood was quite large, these were much smaller.
It's important to also remember that besides a bow, an archer always had two quivers - one as a bow-case to place his bow, and another one for arrows.
These were either attached to the saddle, or were part of the horseman's uniform.
Please remember that images below mostly DO NOT represent the proper time period, as I couldn't find too many good representation of their use from the right era, and so had to use those from different centuries and from different factions.
Still, this weapon and all of it's elements stayed the same for many years and many centuries, and so reflex bows used by the Poles in this story are pretty much the same as those used by the Mongol Army of Chynghis Khan.
I just wanted to let to see different ways they were used and different angles. It's important to notice that a lot of horse riders could perform a lot of tricks with them, fire an arrow after arrow, or two arrows at the same time, often holding a couple of arrows in their hand while reloading, or even in their teeth, and then fire them from a lot of different positions.
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