(01-28-2015, 09:37 AM)Dogberry Wrote:Light chain mail was never much protection against arrows in the first place. It's simply loose links placed together, which an arrowhead will find a weak spot in there rather easily if the chain mail is loose. The chain mail in this video is decoration, and honestly is a false thing to look out for when it comes to arrows. Even if the arrow tip hit the link of mail, it will glance off the link and go to the desired target, albeit off-center. If you wanted protection against arrows, you would need something that is solid and had a foundation. Adding more links would do for that sort of thing, but also was a very expensive and time consuming process. That's mainly where plate mail and crossbows came in, one as an upgrade of sorts to tightly woven chain mail and the other to pierce plate from a distance.Â(01-23-2015, 09:44 PM)Nako Wrote:(01-23-2015, 03:08 PM)Dogberry Wrote: I'm curious about that claim that it pierced that armor. There are factors we don't know, like what type of metal that was, at what gauge. Aluminum chain mail is cheap and abundant, and it's just for show. The penetration looks pretty shallow, too. I would have preferred it if they had showed the armor off the dummy to point out the holes it made in the chain.Chainmail didn't actually offer much in the way of protection against a piercing attack, the reliance was on the padding people wore underneath for that. Chain was generally used as a force displacer against slashes such as against an axe or sword.
Don't get me wrong, he's a fantastic archer, and no doubt there is definitely merit to his claim that archery is far more versatile than people standing in a line firing off volleys. This is a great video for drawing inspiration for an archer character.
True, but I'd still would like to have seen the armor than trust that this guy's half-draw pierced armor grade chain mail.
This is why the video referenced the leather underneath the chain mail in that demonstration and only referenced the chain mail off hand. The chain mail in question needs to have more links sewn together, which the coif represents more. If you wanted something that /could/ pierce light chain mail, bodkin point arrows would do, and he is definitely not firing bodkin arrows, since the arrowhead is too thick for that, and the point needs to be more like a spear and less of a standard arrowhead.
Now the problem stating that, is that is what arrows are supposed to do in the first place. They're meant to go through leather and go to the squishy bits underneath.
