Re: sandy's maunderings

Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by thread ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
Other mail archives: !!!!!!> Visit the Search Engine of Lhankor Mhy <!!!!!!

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 95 11:39:47 -0500

First, an abject apology. Not long ago I published the results of a simple program I wrote to figure out longbow damage to a human. Graeme Lindsell took exception to it and in a private e-mail expressed his doubts. So I looked over the program again. Oops. A little bug in it led to some dire alterations. So, without further ado, the results are very much less impressive on behalf of the bow, and only about 15-20% of the arrow hits lead to kills.

Steve Perrin is nice enough to correct me on the battle in which the Germans were beat by less-armored French. Thanks, Steve.

ON THE MONGOLS
In four months of campaigning they defeated five times their number of Europeans, and didn't lose a battle, unless you count Bela's seizing of the Sajo River bridgehead from a small Mongol detachment. (Later on, Bela was utterly crushed by the Mongol assault, losing 40,000 to 70,000 of his 100,000 men to a much smaller Mongol army.) They were outnumbered in practically every battle, were always on the offensive, and it's clear to me that any so-called "advantages" held by the Europeans were completely illusory.