Arrows vs Armour 2 – Medieval Mythbusting revisited

Can arrows penetrate armour?

‘Arrows vs Armour’ is back to shoot medieval war arrows at a helmet, visor and mail neck defences as well as breastplate and body defences. Every aspect of the armour and arrows will be correct and every detail, every moment will be filmed and put on YouTube for us all.

This second film will be bigger, better and with loads more armour, allowing us to see how knights were shot. Through the armour itself? Lucky shots into poorly armoured areas? Direct strikes to the neck? Thousands of knights were slain by the English archers even though they wore full armour; we just don’t know how……….Yet.

TV companies have no interest in doing these tests for real with correct armour and real experts who talk about what they see, not about what the script tells them to say. The last time arrows were shot at real armour like this was 600 years ago and we think it is time we did it again. No pre-written scripts, no hype, no fluff, no predetermined TV outcomes; just factual truth. All filmed by professional TV crew, but working for us, our way.

Building on our first film, our ambition is to create a series of films that show arrows hitting different armour pieces and what happens; to build a thorough and unbiased body of work that is visually powerful and educationally important. If you just want drama, turn to Hollywood; if you want drama combined with craft, knowledge and expertise, these are the films for you.

A French knight who fought in the lines at Agincourt said he was fearful of the arrows shooting through the ‘sights and breaths’ of his visor so he lowered his head as if he were walking into a storm. Lets find out if he needed to be worried! We are reproducing a French helmet and visor, breastplate, mail aventail and standard collar, fitted over a cote and mail shirt and then we will shoot it from the front and side with authentic arrows, from a true weight bow. Every layer of upper body armour of a knight of 1415 will be represented in the most historically accurate quality we are able to provide, shot and filmed with broadcast quality camera work.

Outcome – This comprehensive test will show how effective the helmet and neck armour was and whether it can be penetrated during the best and most exciting test we are able to construct, we even get to see and hear from inside the helmet. It is now the turn of the head and neck armour to get pounded for REAL, not ‘TV real’.

Stretch goals

There is a limited amount we can do in one film, but the subject of longbows and armour needs ambition to be done right, so if we exceed our fundraising goal there are three further short films that we believe are important, could make at the same time and will help with our understanding of the subject.

Film 2 – Shooting plate armour materials

Armour could be made from thick, high quality steel or thin soft wrought iron and everything in between and knowing how they resist arrows differently is important -how they compare against each other when shot?

Film 3 – Shooting chain mail samples

In our first film we showed an arrow easily defeating chainmail. But was that mail a true representation of medieval mail? We will test samples of the best, correctly made historical mail, against less expensive, commercially available mail to check the difference in strength and to establish a base line data point for any future testing.

Film 4 – Testing arrow heads

Arrow heads could be made from hard steels, but were usually made from soft iron, so does the material type effect penetration through steel and if so, how much?

Who are we?

We all make a living working in our areas of expertise, we are not just 5 guys who met in the pub and fancied making a film – we live this content daily and are experts in our fields.Dr Toby Capwell. Arms and Armour curator at the Wallace Collection, London, author of multiple books on armour and professional Jouster (yes really!)

Tod Todeschini. Weapon smith. Craft producer of high quality and highly accurate reproduction medieval weapons.

Augusto Boer Bront. Armourer. Makes very high quality and well researched authentic reproduction armour

Will Sherman. Fletcher. Maker of the most historically correct medieval arrows possible

Joe Gibbs. Archer. Probably the best English warbow archer in the world

Where will your money go?

We are absolutely confident that ‘Arrows vs Armour 2’ will be spectacular. But to do this the expenses run big……..To explain every cost would be dull, but the armour is £7,000, then there is the mail shirt, the cote, the arrows are £45 each (and you know we will kill loads of those!). Gopros may or may not survive…And then on top of all this we have rewards, 12 crew over 3 days, accommodation, transport, food, professional fees, editing…..the list is long and it all adds up very fast.

Conclusion

We believe this film will again take our knowledge of this subject on further and build on our first series. With the stretch goal films our knowledge will extend even further- there is so much to see and to understand.

The English longbow is laden with myth; of its origins, its power, its achievements. The captains and commanders that once knew its’ true power in physical and in military terms, are long dead. The knowledge is lost. But we will find it again with real armour, amazing archers, stout arrows and every detail captured on multiple and slo-mo cameras.

Risks

We have delivered great content before and repeatedly and at our expense – imagine what is possible with your funding. We have imagined, and like what it promises. We all have world class reputations to maintain and failing you is not an option.

If you can fund them, these films will be made and on You Tube for all to enjoy.