Finnish Longbows

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 00:28:22 +0000

Adept Mikko:
> Actually the pre - and Viking age Finns used the longbow in
> everyday hunting, and of course, warfare. As these Finns were
> also bear worhippers, at least myself and Vesa Lehtinen have
> used them as the model for the Rathori culture.

I agree that most of the Kalevala stuff would work for Rathori-level culture as well. There aren't too many mentions of agriculture IIRC.

> The longbow is quite fine for hunting (try killing a european
> moose or a bear with a lighter weapon!), and one quite usable
> for a mobile force of raiders. The finnish longbow differs a
> bit from the Welsh one, but the strength and impact are
> practically identical.

Do you have any info on what kind of wood they used?

> A longbow isn't _that_ hard a weapon to use, and when the culture
> uses it for hunting large game the hunters tend to get very
> accurate and deadly with it.

Otherwise, they're likely hungry or dead.

IMO the difference in difficulty of learning to shoot a self bow or a long bow lies mainly in building up the skill (not just the muscle) to handle the draw weight.

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