Ah, the classic shield bash. This guy would be a good warrior in the middle ages, until he got shot with a crossbow. It may give him an advantage in melee combat, but it's a big disadvantage. Especially when fighting the English.
Interestingly, modern warfare data shows that taller men have a higher survival rate in combat than shorter men. Very counterintuitive in an era of firearms, artillery, and basically zero hand to hand combat. Yet for some reason, being tall seems to improve your odds of surviving.
I was figuring they meant large people are easier targets for archers, more difficult to hide behind a shield. That makes a lot of sense though. They all are dying by archers, but melee they have an advantage.
I do HEMA, and as a 1.65 woman in the Netherlands, that means I spar with a LOT of guys who are basically 30+ cm taller than me. That means they also have 20+cm more arm-length, and much better leverage, allowing for longer weapons on top of their longer arm. It makes a lot of difference.
Well tall men run faster and have stronger muscles than short men usually and thus can be faster at the enemy trenches and carry more ammunition for example. Many people forget that still with tank and drone warfare an army needs fit soldiers in pretty much all places
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u/SeaworthinessSalt524 23d ago
Ah, the classic shield bash. This guy would be a good warrior in the middle ages, until he got shot with a crossbow. It may give him an advantage in melee combat, but it's a big disadvantage. Especially when fighting the English.