“From this day to the ending of the world,

   We in it shall be remembered-

   We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he today that sheds his blood with me

   Shall be my brother;”

As predicted in the above speech of Henry the V, from Shakespeare's play about the Battle of Agincourt, the longbow men of the middle ages live on in legends about the common men who banded together with nobles in battle as equals.As in the story of Robin Hood, the longbow was seen as the great equalizer. The longbow changed war on the medieval battlefield forever.

Though longbows had been around since Neolithic times, it was the Welch that brought them to the attention of the English, when they fought against them.Longbows are very simple. The best are made from yew trees which naturally contain two kinds of wood, one dark and one light that when cut lengthwise create the perfect bow. They are about 6 feet long and could shoot a man from 200 yards (the length of a football field). Ten to fifteen arrows could be fired every minute.150 pounds of power were needed to draw the bows.

However, one crossbow archer could not fight an army. To do damage in a battle against an army, you will need to arm thousands of Lego minifigs with crossbows! In the 14^th and 15^th centuries, the English king passed laws that required every male between the age of 15 and 60 to arm himself with a longbow and arrows. They were required by law to practice archery every Sunday and every holiday, and if instead they chose to play football (soccer) or handball they could be put to death. If an archer killed another man during archery practice he would be acquitted.

So, whether you are making a Lego MOC about Robin Hood and his merry men (merry did not mean happy then but outlaws), or a re-creation of the Battle of Crecy, you will need to arm your minifigs with BrickWarriors custom Lego English Longbows.

Robin Hood will need a BW custom Lego quiver of arrows, while your Crecy archer will just stick a bunch of BW custom Lego arrow halves next to him in the ground.  In the Robin Hood legends, Robin usually killed in battle with a sword (a BW Viking longsword would do well), while he used his longbow to win archery contests.  You can complete the look with a BW roguehood and some BW archer armor, or opt for a BW Ranger Helm.

To recreate the battle of Crecy, it will be vital for your archer to reload his weapon rapidly,and placing the arrows into the ground next to him has the added benefit that the tip will be covered in dirt, so any wounds he inflicts will be more likely to become infected.  Don’t forget to give your archer minifigures a BW custom Lego dagger and short sword.  Every battle ends in hand to hand combat, even for the archers.

It took at least 10 years to become proficient with longbows, and many archers started training at seven.  Some of their bodies even became deformed with hardened spurs due the constant practice.  They practiced in large groups, shooting at forms that were set up at various different distances, so they would learn to aim over different types of terrain.

One longbow man can pick off individuals with his sharpshooting, but to fight a battle you will need thousands.  Remember, at Crecy, the longbow archers of England were up against men of arms and knights, the noblemen of France with expensive suits of armor and horses.  Not to mention, the expert Genoese crossbowmen of Italy, whom the French had hired as mercenaries (you can arm these with BW custom Lego crossbows and a BW Pavise Shield).  The pavise shield is vital for the crossbowman, because he sets it up in front of him so that when he reloads his bow (he can only fire about 3 per minute), he will not be killed.  They were large and often beautifully decorated with religious paintings (a good project for an artistic customizer).

But wait a minute.  Never mind, don’t give the shields to your Genoese crossbowmen!I forgot this was the battle of Crecy.  Instead, build a few wagons at the back of the army and pile all the Pavise shields in them.  Why, you may wonder? Because the crossbowmen were at the front, too far for their arrows to reach the longbow men, yet the knights behind them pushed them into battle where the longbow men’s arrows could shoot them, while their shields were still in the wagons behind the army!  So what did the crossbowmen do?  What any sensible people with no offense or defense would do; they turned and ran.  The French knights saw this as betrayal so they killed all their own archers!

Next, you can finish you MOC, by having the knights charge up the hill at the longbow men, as thousands of arrows are shot at them.  At 20 meters, the arrows would go right through steel armor.  The charge on horseback would have reached the longbow men in 40 seconds.  But the knights faced 90,000 arrows coming at them in that amount of time.  The arrows would hit them at 140 mph.  After the knights fell to the ground, their horses dead, they were hacked to pieces causing a barrier behind them, which made it easier for the archers to pick up the next charge of men.

No wonder Ben Franklin said that the American Forces would have won the revolution much faster if they had trained longbow men instead of using muskets.  If you think BW custom Lego longbows are just for medieval scenes you’re wrong!  In World War II, the British officer Jack Churchill launched an attack by using a longbow to shoot a German sergeant.

Written by guest blogger R. A. Denny. View her blog HERE