Infantry in the Middle Ages heavy toll on the English invaders of their lands. Adapted by the English, the longbow was nevertheless a difficult weapon to master, requiring long years of use and practice. Even bow construction was extended, sometimes taking as much as four years for seasoned staves to be prepared and shaped for final deployment. A skilled longbowman could shoot 12 arrows a minute, a rate of fire superior to competing weapons like the crossbow or early gunpowder weapons. The nearest competitor to the longbow was the much more expensive crossbow or Arbalest, used often by urban militias and mercenary forces. It required
StunStrike beside), or to stun or scare an opponent. This briefcase model was featured on an episode of FutureWeapons on the discovery channel. There are web images of a long cylindrical version (Close Quarters Shock Rifle, CQSR) StunStrike The StunStrike is a wireless electroshock weapon being developed by XADS. It is in various sizes from rifle size upwards, with various ranges. It is intended to incapacitate men and pre-detonate IEDs and incoming RPGs. One reported version of StunStrike is a directed-energy weapon which makes a cone-shaped field of powerful electric discharges in one direction. These discharges were incorrectly referred to as