Trebuchet - 100 Darts

I made 100 crossbow bolts for the stock cupboard and so this was a perfect opportunity to use the trebuchet to throw them around and see what they do.
So I did.
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[@brandonveltre8326]

This is such a magical channel. Just a guy living the dream, teaching us about his craft, history, and the unlimited joy that comes with owning a trebuchet.

[@DarthBop]

It's the heart warming story of a boy and his trebuchet.

[@андрейкопылов-л6ъ]

@@DarthBop its like a dog but way cooler

[@Deipnosophist_the_Gastronomer]

Who knew a trebuchet was so much fun. 👍

[@tods_workshop]

Thanks and glad I can entertain you

[@williamromine5715]

@@tods_workshop But what's great is that you allow us to be a part of your joy. It's a good day when I see you have a new video; the bad things of the world go away for a little bit.

[@nosir5596]

Whether or not they were ever done this way on the battlefield, I think it's safe to say that somewhere, at some point in medieval history, somebody definitely at least tried it to see how it'd work.

[@XaLoiVlog]

Đúng vậy đó bạn. Tôi cũng nghĩ thế.

[@daveemerson6549]

Absolutely. There was at least a mad scientist engineer somewhere who was sitting around sketching one night and said "Hey........wait a minute......."

[@paavobergmann4920]

Considering the more bonkers recipes in "The fireworker´s book"...yes, absolutely!!

[@misturfixit45]

There are two surefire ways to be wrong about history: "They always..." and "They never..."

[@InvadersDie]

They never blew up the planet using antimatter then reconstructed it using planet sized machinery.

[@misturfixit45]

@@InvadersDie Sorry, but by the laws of history, tomorrow they're gonna announce the discovery of a new mural that blows that theory out of the water

[@brianreddeman951]

Absolutes require absolute proof

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

The vikings never colonized Proxima Centauri b. Okay, I feel like this claim will be proven wrong the moment we actually get good images from that planet.

[@misturfixit45]

@@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei lol, let's not give the History Channel any more 'creative' directions to take their show

[@StrunDoNhor]

This channel might just have my favorite approach to history, ever: "They had the technology and understood the physics/ballistics. Even though _improbable,_ it's not _unreasonable_ to guess that someone tried it, somewhere & some time."

[@_Blazing_Inferno_]

This is a nearly perfect video. It has a unique concept for testing that everyone wants to see; the title gets straight to the point and isn’t clickbait; you show the result _immediately;_ you take a _very brief_ amount of time to better describe the ammo and what you’re doing; you show the launch and the result a few times; you explain some history / possible history (I didn’t catch if you had sources or if you were thinking through what might’ve been the case); and everything was less than 7 minutes. I appreciate you. Even though I know I probably won’t watch many more, I think I will subscribe anyways in support for videos made in this manner ❤

[@TheRaptorXX]

"If things are this cool now, they were THIS cool then" has got to be my quote of the year so far Tod. Brilliant!! Thanks for that...

[@TheAdmanta]

That was the line that got me to subscribe.

[@aurumworks]

Only tactical reason to load loose projectiles into a trebuchet I can imagine would be to distribute caltrops in an area to stifle a cavalry charge or slow down advancing enemies. As can be seen by your tests a large area can be seeded with caltrops by a single trebuchet. A couple of them should be able to 'seed' a meaningful area.

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

@Ryan *"I can't think of a single situation in which a trebuchet will be in a battle where the threat of cavalry is also present"* --- Cavalry sallying out of a besieged castle to destroy siege engines and cause havoc in the camp of the besiegers? You know, like the most common thing ever during the Middle Ages?

[@garywheeley5108]

What sort of speed are the bolts falling at fps?🤔

[@ballehakan]

@@XCodes just throw a bunch of caltrops Infront of the gates and just maintain the siege. It'll be dangerous to clear them and it'll probably stop a quick sally. Do it by Night and they'll hopefully go undetected if you so wish.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@Ryan cavalry will get shredded by decent pike infantry, so it's not that hard to protect siege engines from a cavalry charge. Cavalry's job is more for wrecking infantry that are routing and/or are already engaged by someone else on another side.

[@SampoPaalanen]

I could think of another reason, to scare an enemy to stay in cover while your siege engineers sneak in an undermine (perhaps even literally) their fortifications. We got remember at even during the middle ages as a rule of thumb people didn't want to die, if you set your Trebuchet and possibly some other siege engines to pepper the area with lots and lots of loose projectiles you might convince the enemy that said location is somewhere they don't want to be or at least want to be under something solid and not be exposing their heads to a potential hit from a projectile in order to look around.

[@ClayBurt]

Sometimes we reminisce about hanging out with our friends doing stupid and/or dangerous things. Thank you for hanging out with us, Tod. Love your films.

[@darkshadowsx5949]

I wouldn't call it a film since #1 its not on literal film. #2 its 2023 everything is digitally recorded. its a video.

[@ClayBurt]

🤭@@darkshadowsx5949

[@CristiNeagu]

I think there is a fundamental difference between doing this regularly, as a common practice, and doing this with the purpose of experimentation. I (in my ignorance) think that it is very likely that they have tried this at least once. Figured that it's probably not worth it, and move on to the next thing.

[@BazilRat]

Probably! "Oh, wow, that was cool!" "OK let's test it with some targets... put an archery butt down-range with a bit of old plate/mail over it." "Hm. That's a bit crap really, but it looked cool"

[@RichWoods23]

I'd guess that it was more likely to have been used as a last resort. Your crossbowmen have just been slaughtered by cavalry, your artillery is going to be overrun next, and one artillerist turns to the other, saying, "Shit! We're out of rocks!" The other says, "Hang on, we can chuck that barrel of bolts. Put it on its side and stave in the bottom. Shoot it then run!"

[@mcgoose258]

100% somebody at the time tried this, during a prolonged siege, no real action moment to moment, someobdy got bored and mucked about with the engines i'd bet anything

[@Halinspark]

@@RichWoods23 More likely somebody gave it a go for sieges. It sounds like a really good idea off a castle wall

[@benevolentworldexploder5395]

That would be my guess. The engineering that goes into making these sorts of machines required technical knowledge and a fair bit of testing to get things right. I do not think anyone ever attempted something like this in a siege, but I would imagine they would have tried it out when testing, just like this, in an open field. I mean, the prospect of having a big sling is that you want to see what all you can fire from it. We used to play with a wrist rocket when I was little and I was always loading up things other than rocks. If you think something can be deadly in more than one way then that is where you start asking the questions and the only way to answer those questions is to try and resolve them yourself.

[@randomcontent2205]

This is some of the best experimental archeology I have seen to date. Tod's thinking like they did, and it's like watching a time machine. Nice.

[@andremestre7443]

This guy is such a treasure! A rare combination of knowledge, enthusiasm, and know-how!

[@tods_workshop]

Thanks - appreciated

[@olgierdogden4742]

I’ve always liked working both wood and metal and Tod shows some of the skills which have been passed on through the centuries which is indeed cool and does inspire the real meaning of awesome.

[@entropy11]

I think 100 plumbata would be a way more interesting payload than 100 crossbow bolts, but as a bit of silly fun I love this. Either way I think it's too much labor per-shot in comparison to a payload of fist-sized stones.

[@traitorouskin7492]

Yeah.i was thinking similar. What about simple double ended heavy nails?

[@Baneironhand]

yes my thoughts as well. I throw my totally historical not plumbata with my staff sling. other than burying it in the ground it is spectacular.

[@hartunstart]

Darts may be efficient against infantry if they have no helmets and shields. But infantry runs faster than trebuchet: if your first shot does not kill most of them, you'll never shoot another salvo. However, a trebucet can outrun a castle, so it is useful tool for a siege. Against shielded infantry you'll need heavy projectiles and because they are heavy there can not be so many of them.

[@carlosvalle612]

DEATH TO THE HUNS!! LIGHTLY ARMORED HUN HORSEMAN GET REKT BY DARTS! CALTROPS LAUNCHED FROM TREBUCHET CAN PREVENT ENEMY RETREATS!

[@carlosvalle612]

They could use it to throw caltrops in front of friendly infantry to stop calvary charges like the parthian calvary who have horses 🐎 capable of hitting hard enough with their lances to pierce 2 sets of chainmail. Actual records exist. Or you can spam Bolts n darts like a shotgun to kill those pesky lightly armored HUNS who spam arrows on horseback. Huns lightly armored horses to outrun heavy calvary.

[@AuthenticallyAwful]

Something I love about your channel is you don't beat around the bush, you get to the point and your thoughts without all the random fluff!

[@tods_workshop]

Thanks

[@alexdrees1182]

I liked the quick n dirty darts you made. Thank you for giving me a plausible gaming idea

[@Big_Fan_just_generally]

So you've done a lot on armour already. However what I would find really interesting to see is not more details on classic metal plate armour, but instead research about this clearly extremely effective plot armour your printed soldiers have!

[@tods_workshop]

already sold the design to the army.....

[@Kim-the-Dane-1952]

I was thinking the exact same thing and I love Tod's reply🙂

[@AnotherDuck]

If you want to remove the plot armour, just give the printed soldiers cameras.

[@cv507]

a tresbüchät with max like say statiön waggöns ör well small büssys partz would be niceR v v hödd röggues är flee.? HöLD yer müy Pyrämmid Fyäehr -:- häh Fänsea ? newrämmbörq 96 xD kjvte ^. .^ ($ch. päintät gürrnetzäerrß xD

[@Nebelrose]

@@cv507 bro what

[@stoopingfalcon891]

Showing how versatile a weapon the trebuchet is? Awsome!

[@matthewsharp4687]

Tod, your videos have helped me immensely, because I have recently joined the SCA. You are a name that people love to hear in those circles for your eye for accuracy. Cheers, and kudos, my guy. Plus, a trebuchet shotgun is something I never knew I needed.

[@jgunnarc1]

Finally a video that gets to the point. Action first, talk later. Great composition. Very interesting content.

[@AbenZin1]

Reminds me of Detritus the troll's Piecemaker, from the Discworld series- a siege crossbow modified to fire a bundle of darts like this one!

[@morrigen3]

That was my first thought :D

[@rosiehawtrey]

That's not a crossbow, it's a national emergency...

[@carlosvalle612]

DEATH TO THE HUNS!! LIGHTLY ARMORED HUN HORSEMAN GET REKT BY DARTS! CALTROPS LAUNCHED FROM TREBUCHET CAN PREVENT ENEMY RETREATS!

[@mikeytom2991]

Wow you get to have all the fun! So awesome! Reminds me of the Hercules Episode when I was a kid!

[@upcyclemichael]

This is why I love you. An improbable yet possible scenario imagined into a workable model. FANTASTIC!!

[@anthonylaubscher5047]

Wonderful Tod, thank you! Please commision a drone, throw the same stuffs, we will watch it again! 👌

[@Azazagoth]

The amount of work put into this demonstration is incredible.

[@svensorensen7693]

More Trebuchet! I love all these ideas you have for rounds to fire, and how you share the process of experimentation with us. Keep up the good work!

[@torianholt2752]

Good man Tod always knows what his audience wants, what a chad-lad.

[@seanmcdermott4634]

One of my favorite videos you’ve made. Looking at that tight grouping of arrows on the last shot it doesn’t sound unreasonable that it was done in period.

[@danielfrewen4095]

Definitely need to redo this with ballistic gel torsos! Even a few different shields pointed upwards

[@mattpastell3728]

That worked incredibly well for the first attempt and a surprisingly great spread to the darts!

[@carlosvalle612]

DEATH TO THE HUNS!! LIGHTLY ARMORED HUN HORSEMAN GET REKT BY DARTS! CALTROPS LAUNCHED FROM TREBUCHET CAN PREVENT ENEMY RETREATS!

[@knasbollolo]

I guess it's all about physics. You want to transform as much of the energy of the Trebuchet into the object your are throwing. Darts, being so light probably waste a lot of that energy.

[@fire304]

Agreed, the terminal velocity of a free falling dart is going to be quite slow, very little penetration. A cluster of plumbotta on the other hand...

[@vipertwenty249]

If this isn't fizzwicks I don't know what is!

[@shawn6860]

@@fire304 If the enemy you are dropping the darts on is lightly to completely unarmored it is viablle. Remember not all armies armored the horses or dogs of war.

[@morri_v]

there are other options for thrown projectiles that could prove more effective. such as the plumbata. would love to see what that looked like launched in a similar fashion

[@shawn6860]

@@morri_v Oh I can see that too. but as a quick fire option. and yes Plumbata would be the ideal weapon. but if I were in hurry and out of options crossbow bolts and kitchen sinks would be used. lol!

[@Eddy1938-b]

I wish I had as much passion for my work as you do Todd. ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾

[@andrewrobinson4019]

All this experimentation has shown me one thing for certain: I want whatever armor those men-at-arms are wearing-no need to fear enemy weapons when the magic doesn’t even allow them to hit you.

[@Tennouseijin]

I suppose that's some variation of plot armor?

[@andrewsock1608]

That was awesome Tod ! I knew it would work when I suggested this but I was thinking about using those 6-8 foot throwing darts. It has to be heavy enough to stick in when falling from the sky. You demonstrated the ability to get range and a nice spread with the burning bundle string method I suggested. Who could ask for more😊👍👍thanks for that great demonstration 🏹❤️

[@raytheron]

There is simply no end to the awesomeness coming from Tod!

[@jacobpinson2834]

A youtuber that puts the stuff some people would skip to at the beginning? Respect

[@alexandermartinez732]

Imagine 5 trebuchets doing that all at once in a somewhat tight configuration! Talk about raining hell! That looked so cool!

[@anomalyp8584]

nah

[@jonnypeterson3971]

It made me think of the arrow volleys you always see in the movies and artwork. It was really cool to see

[@anomalyp8584]

@@jonnypeterson3971 that's why they would not use a trebuchet for this but ...archers.

[@jonnypeterson3971]

@@anomalyp8584 Yea, I know. But it was still cool to see.

[@anomalyp8584]

@@jonnypeterson3971 absolutely

[@tommyboy054]

Now I'm curios about what a Roman Onager could do with a magazine of Plumbata fastened to it's basket. The world's first flechette cannon!

[@owentaylor8700]

I think the thought process from big stones to many little stones to darts is too obvious for no-one to have at least tired this in the past, but probably not as a regular battlefield or siege weapon.

[@frankrothe7023]

Well, perhaps the cluster-ammunition-trebuchet is more a defence weapon, on a castle you have the high ground on your side and you can force the attacker to go longer distances away from your castle (for installing his siege weapons), if you are able to let your men fire "cluster-ammunition"-projectiles with your trebuchets from inside your castle. A better way would surely be the use of giant crossbows if you would like to use splintering bundels of darts or bolts, but well, if you have no giant crossbow at your disposal, than a trebuchet is doing a comparable job.

[@riograndedosulball248]

I'm thinking of Plumbatae on this one

[@carlosvalle612]

They could use it to throw caltrops in front of friendly infantry to stop calvary charges like the Byzantine Catraphact heavy calvary who have horses 🐎 capable of hitting hard enough with their lances to pierce 2 sets of chainmail. Actual records exist. Or you can spam Bolts n darts like a shotgun to kill those pesky lightly armored HUNS who spam arrows on horseback. Huns lightly armored horses to outrun heavy calvary.

[@slome815]

The thing is, trebuchets were never used in field battles, they took a long time to build, and thus were only used in sieges. When the enemy has walls, most likely complete with hoardings, this is not going to do much.

[@JaronActual]

Seeing this, my first thought was, "Wouldn't plumbata be a more effective area-of-effect anti-personnel round for trebuchets, since they have a higher terminal velocity?" But, always thorough, you mention the expense of making them, and if 100 bolts are too expensive, surely plumbata would be even moreso. Then you go and show the cheapo plumbata replacement at the end. How I love this channel!

[@witiwap86]

I'd like to see this with plumbata

[@leoscheibelhut940]

Very cool! I too thought that they would not have used expensive quarrels and would have used something like a cheap plumbata with a ribbon tail. I am so excited for further testing! I had thought of this idea several years ago but dismissed it as unworkable. So happy to be proven wrong. Great work again, Tod.

[@markusmencke8059]

Sweet. And I really like the „cheap arrow“ idea at the end. Btw, could you measure the bolt velocity from the footage? Would be interesting just to know what kind of energy these deliver, seeing them sticking in the ground like that… Sure they would not have done much against armour, but flesh is another matter. Put a few of those in some unarmoured horseback or a few bad-protected infantry soldiers, and the enemy has a few extra problems on his hands.

[@Seelenschmiede]

Plus: seeing something thrown at you, you will raise your shield, no matter how armored you are. Because: are you taking the chance the thing flying at you is only light bolts u able to harm you? And then there are gaps in armors...

[@robinlaszlo]

Do you have a video launching a bundle of the things you threw in the end? I'd be interested to see that.

[@angrypotato_fz]

That was both amazing and scary! I'm very curious how long it took to gather all these bolts afterwards, though :D Also, I had a thought. If Tod ever went crazy and became a major threat, I'd make sure to stay as close as possible to cardboard soldiers and as a far as possible from any GoPro :D

[@tods_workshop]

It took ages and yes just wear a knight target and you will be invulnerable

[@NishidateKitsune]

Oh my, Tod! This is AWS-8Q awesome! And here I thought that your incendiary tests were great. This is absolutely great!

[@Will-Xaru]

I haven't seen the video yet but I love these experiment videos. My favourite and I think the most eye-opening ones for me are the plumbata. Once you had them dialled in I could easily imagine just how devastatingly effective they could be in the right hands. And defensively I was amazed how much the addition of a simple Y shape on a piece of armour could alter the trajectory of a broken arrow shaft away from the neck. Your videos do an excellent job illustrating just how brilliant these people were. Thank you 🙂

[@ericvanvlandren8987]

One of the coolest, cleverest things I have ever seen. Bravo!

[@Tallgeese12]

Imagine using plumbata instead of those bolts. That could put a bucket of rocks to shame, I reckon

[@marcogenovesi8570]

warcrimes: middle ages edition

[@SonsOfLorgar]

I can also see that work with burning oily rags as fletching on the plumbata for a better incendiary effect than the fantasy trope of fire arrows.

[@montenague]

Honestly love how much energy you have doing this! more!

[@eriklindstedt4314]

Now isn't that a perfect stretch goal for "arrow2": trebuchet vs armour! 😁👍

[@raigarmullerson4838]

im 100% sure some medieval siege engineer tried something like this. I want to believe. Also love your channel Tod. The fact that we you bring history back to life is amazing. Cheers from Estonia

[@danielburgess7785]

Terror, or anti-morale, weapon perhaps. Being able to break the fighting cohesion of an enemy is quite valuable.

[@r.awilliams9815]

True, but expensive. A few bags of snakes would be cheaper and having a lot of venomous snakes flying at you is going to do bad things for your morale. Substitute hornets nests or scorpions as needed or available.

[@danielburgess7785]

@@r.awilliams9815 Maybe hornet's nests, the others you mentioned wouldn't survive the acceleration.

[@r.awilliams9815]

@@danielburgess7785 Well, maybe not, but with snakes it doesn't matter. The idea is not to cause casualties, but to cause panic. When snakes are flying through the air, they're going to look like they're alive, even if they aren't, and the damage will be done before they land. Of course, you'd have to catch a LOT of snakes to make it a worthwhile tactic, so it's unlikely it was ever actually done in a large scale siege situation.

[@theoriginaldylangreene]

@@r.awilliams9815 Forget catching hundreds of snakes, far too much effort. The same effect could be achieved with one hippo.

[@BraindeadCRY]

As you've said, it really comes down to economics. Darts, even the very simple ones you demonstrated at the end, are expensive and require a lot of preparation to have available. And then once prepared they require storage and transportation, logistics as always being key in warfare. Rocks are cheap and found in the ground pretty much anywhere. As long as you aren't requiring massive amounts of ammunition you don't need to buy or prepare anything except the launch mechanism. For ammunition just get your army to pile up all the proper sized rocks they find when digging the fortifications and latrines for the camp and you've got yourself a decent supply of scatter shot by the time camp is finished setting up.

[@QuantumHistorian]

Well that is indeed very fun! But I did a double take when Tod said _"They had fuses"_ at 0:58. When did they have fuses? Before cannons? I really wasn't expecting that! And if they had cannons at the same time/before fuses, then it would make more sense to me to shove the bolts into the cannon as a cannister-type ammunition.

[@MrTrilbe]

Cast Iron grenades appeared in Europe approx 1467, clay ones before that at a guess and then there was the explosive mine/breaching charge thing for attacking castle gates too, but i can't remember what it's called, nor the people who used them or indeed the first known time used. Bombards date back to the mid, maybe early 1300's

[@acephantom903]

What is a fuse? True that they weren't commonly used as such before gun powder was common, but I'd argue that they would think to use a candle as a fuse. Some of the most common fuses back then were little strips of material dipped into wax one time and had a burn time for a couple minutes rather than the candles we think of these days. Idea being to just give a little bit of light for a short period of time as needed -- most people worked with the sun.

[@lofowens]

A fuse is just something that burns at a predictable-ish rate, really. Apparently the ones the chinese used from the 10th century onward were paper wrapped around gunpowder, but I imagine you could use something as simple as string with some reliability.

[@RichWoods23]

@BladeCast The first ammunition fired from early cannon *was* a bolt. The earliest depiction in Europe comes from 1326: i0.wp.com/richiebilling.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/milemete-cannon.jpg

[@RichWoods23]

@@lofowens A normal small flame is very easily blown out by the wind of the launch. You do need something that fuels the flame more than just string, so soaking string in a saltpetre solution and letting it dry can help (I've done this myself) or equally a carefully placed and carefully lit blob of pitch might do the trick.

[@TakManSan]

I loved the video. Thank you to you and the team, running around picking them all up repeatedly. It was worth it. It made me think: I am fascinated with all the applications that caltrops could be used. I believe they could be stacked and wrapped in such away that they could deploy to cover an area. If you made one point longer than the other three it might plant to create an extreme foot-hazard but impale those who are in the area in which the caltrops are deployed. Having a cord attached to the bucket to begin a spin and unravelling of the cord securing them they might scatter and threaten a large area. Hard to throw back too so kind of perfect in my mind. Sort of foot-traffic-hazard that can be deployed and remain dangerous to the target even after it was fired. Like spiky grapeshot. Or like the spiked chains that were fired at rigging in naval battles, weighted on the ends. Destructive and threatening to ship and its crew. With a trebuchet you could throw an open barrel of caltrops, lawn-darts, lawn-darts with bladed metal fletching, etc. Fascinating.

[@daredemontriple6]

At the end of the day, when it comes to weapons, someone has always asked "How might I turn this big weapon for big things, into a much bigger version of a small weapon for small things" - be that out of tactical value or just plain coolness it's not hard to find examples. In modern history you can see all sorts of developments to try and give tanks/artillery a shotgun-like effect for anti-personnel use. Hence 'beehive' rounds. And a few hundred years earlier you've got grape and canister shot with cannons. But perhaps more important is this universal idea of 'mucking about'. A lot of folks have tried to make flechette ammunition work, but I'll bet the first were undocumented shithousery from guys with too much time and a 12 gauge shotgun on their hands. Same goes for wax slugs. So I've absolutely no doubt that some king or lord or warmaster or whatever out there, will have thrown almost anything conceivable out of a trebuchet. In the case of bolts/darts it may have been a funny gag but deemed impractical and of no real use. But what of dead animals and such - I mean they had no great idea about disease and infections and probably just saw it as big heavy rocks except they're grim and splatter everywhere with smelly foulness - but it wasn't long before everyone picked up on the idea for sieges right. (At least so I think, no idea if they really did throw bits of rotting corpses and such) I mean let's be real. You're camped outside a big old castle. You're gonna be there for weeks battering the walls down for an assault. You fire maybe a dozen stones an hour, but it's probably more like 3 or 4 at best. It's tedious, laborious, unfulfilling work. Eventually somebody's gonna have the funny idea to put something 'stupid' in the sling instead. Soldiers will be soldiers after-all - just look at the case of the MAS 36 bayonet if you need an example of what I mean

[@TheErilaz]

A hive full of seriously angry wasps and other things that smelled nasty or greek fire or similar was used. They also beheaded spies and fired the head back in to the castle.

[@priestesslucy]

Pottery glued shut and loaded from chamber pots

[@gerardbryant4840]

@@priestesslucy The use of diseased or rotting corpses of animals, or even soldiers, was common. They knew dead animals spread diseases, but not how, and dead soldiers were always going to dampen the morale of the defenders.

[@olympusxi8436]

Captured swords.

[@therealzilch]

"Trebuchet - 100 Darts" is a title not to be ignored. Thanks again, Tod. greetings from another workshop (musical instruments) in Vienna, Scott

[@flintlocke1001]

This has me wondering. Could they have thrown bundles of caltrops? Thrown in front of cavalry or infantry formations they would be detrimental.

[@CAMSLAYER13]

Theoretically you could do this but I don't think you'd have enough control over where they went and how they spread to be more worth your time then bombarding the enemy directly.

[@carlosvalle612]

DEATH TO THE HUNS!! LIGHTLY ARMORED HUN HORSEMAN GET REKT BY DARTS! CALTROPS LAUNCHED FROM TREBUCHET CAN PREVENT ENEMY RETREATS!

[@carlosvalle612]

They could use it to throw caltrops in front of friendly infantry to stop calvary charges like the parthian calvary who have horses 🐎 capable of hitting hard enough with their lances to pierce 2 sets of chainmail. Actual records exist. Or you can spam Bolts n darts like a shotgun to kill those pesky lightly armored HUNS who spam arrows on horseback. Huns lightly armored horses to outrun heavy calvary.

[@ronquiring7796]

Well explained, well analyzed, well done. I'm envious. Keep up the good work!

[@silverbladeTE]

Ooooh! :) I still think the most effect system would be throwing lots of lead "glandes" as they are extremely damaging en masse, dense so you could fit many in a launcher, potentially long ranged, but yeah sorting out HOW to do that effectively would be a serious pain, as you showed with bolts!?

[@WBtimhawk]

Was thinking the same. Big pouch of leather full of 'em with essentially the same fuse mechanism.

[@silverbladeTE]

@@WBtimhawk impact form that dense, soft metal would be brutal even against armour as it tends to transfer energy rather than ricochet off like a lot of bolts/arrows would

[@2bingtim]

Glands slung from a slinger will be going a lot faster than a trebuchet shoots. Lead is expensive now & back then was at least as much, probably more expensive.

[@Halinspark]

I bet some heavier plumbata types would be effective if the enemy weren't super well armored, but I can't see it being any better for the cost than rocks. I am glad you tested it for us, though I certainly wanted to see it.

[@okamiinukiba]

I think that a bag/box of caltrops would be more likely.

[@ulrichkalber9039]

I found a usefull use of this method: shooting out of an undermanned castle you could create the illusion of a hundred crossbowmen protecting the castle. this would probably lead to potential attackers decideing against storming the castle, wich might have enough supplys to endure a siege longer than the besiegers. (especially with very little people inside...) getting enough food was usually as important to the besiegers as it was to the besieged, it happened that the besiegers had to give up a siege for lack of food.

[@Joe___R]

Rocks might be more effective but to lightly armored troops those bolts would have been terrifying. Just think of it being used on a bright sunny day, you see the enemy launch a large object but then it breaks up into all those bolts which are extremely difficult to see as they spread out while coming towards you. The most effective parts of someone those bolts could hit would be the hands & feet which were rarely covered in anything more than a thin layer of leather for most soldiers.

[@SonsOfLorgar]

and all those nicks would wreak havoc on the enemy morale and combat ability One of those bolts through a hand, damaging a few tendons and maybe even break a bone would turn that man into a semi-cripple if he's very lucky. If he's just average lucky, then the wound gets infected and the barber or blacksmith is able to successfully amputate before it turns septic and kills him by blood poisoning...

[@shawn6860]

@@SonsOfLorgar I was thinking the same. you could easily infect wounds with coated darts. even in modern days rat poison prevents the proper closing of a bleeding wound.

[@kunstderfugue]

Tabletop roleplayers heads up: This channel makes for WONDERFUL inspiration. Imagine if your party is bombarded by a hail of crossbow bolts from 200m cuz of the trebuchets

[@bennettpalmer1741]

Basically, this is far worse than just shooting with a formation of archers or crossbowmen. Bad accuracy, bad range, low power. Maybe could be of use if you had trebuchets but didn't have the manpower for a formation of archers, but it's a pretty poor substitute. Even if that was the situation, as mentioned it would be better to just lob rocks instead. Definitely cool though.

[@carlhannah1884]

Counterpoint: It was way cooler though

[@DIREWOLFx75]

It's a poor substitute for warfare IN GENERAL yes. But for specific situations? It's very easy to think of situations where it would be an advantage. Especially if you can have multiple trebs firing at the same area from different angles. The shock effect from having, lets say 400 darts hitting from 4 different angles in a matter of a few seconds? That's easily enough to break a unit and cause a rout. Yes, archers would do a better job OVER TIME, using many times more people, but shock effect is a VERY useful thing in battle and should never be overlooked.

[@cameronwebster6866]

@@DIREWOLFx75 the first senario I thought of where this might have been better than large groups of archers/crossbowmen is protecting narrow mountain passes. A dozen trebuchets up on the sides of the mountains would allow a relatively small number of men to fire thousands of projectiles into an enemy formation.

[@Tennouseijin]

@@DIREWOLFx75 Maybe for castle protection? Generally the idea with castle defense was to have a small garrison, since 50 people can withstand a siege twice as long as 100 people, assuming the same food supplies etc. Also, cheaper to maintain for longer periods of time. So a small garrison of well equipped and well trained guards was preferable to a large garrison of poorly equipped conscripts. And then the idea was to ensure that these soldiers can ward off as many opponents as possible, even when heavily outnumbered. If we take this idea further, some anti-personnel siege engines could make sense. And if there's any reason why expensive ammo could work better than plain rocks, they would consider it, since it is still preferable to expanding the garrison.

[@DaShikuXI]

TBF this is heavily unoptimized. It's just a guy in his yard trying something out. Put some medieval engineers on it and I bet they could make it work much better. Heck I bet Tod himself could make it work a lot better given more time. You can shift the arrow weight, how they're bundled, the length, the vanes, the tips. You can change how the trebuchet itself launches them. There's plenty of work you could do on this.

[@NigelMarston]

The perfect answer to a question I never asked... but should have. Awesome.

[@jackr2287]

Congratulations, you have invented medieval flechettes. I can't imagine them using them, given the likely flight properties of them, and what they had available. Would a bunch of bolts falling from the sky be any more serious of a threat than stones or a piece of rubble? Experimenting I bet took place, but figuring out just how to do it reliably, when loading a stone is just as effective... eh... not until exploding munitions is that going to be an effective strategy. Not being able to control the release especially so.

[@jaydenton6405]

I would bet somebody tried it somewhere once at least it may not be it may not be The best idea but it looks pretty awesome

[@Incandescentiron]

If we want to talk simple, a bundle of cut rebar could be pretty devastating.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

it's a bit hard to find rebar in the middle ages

[@toahero5925]

@@marcogenovesi8570 This technique's for use in our post-apocalyptic future.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@@toahero5925 it's more of a mid term post-apocalyptic future though, where at least city-states have reformed and there is some decent amount of men to defend what is essentially immobile artillery. Or, a second middle ages if you will. Rebar won't last centuries

[@toahero5925]

@@marcogenovesi8570 In the event of an apocalypse, I doubt it'd take very long for city-states to reappear. People instinctively band together, and metropolitan areas would quickly be forced to pressure rural areas and each other for food supplies.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@@toahero5925 I like how you assume the population won't drop massively as international transport network collapses and foodstuff isn't moved around, and that metropolitan areas can "pressure" rural areas to get food. most nations (or states if we talk of US) are not anywhere near self-sufficient on food, much less on technology or anything complex. It will be a few hectic months for sure, and afterwards it will take a while to regrow population and tech using only local farming and resources. it will be middle ages again, fun times

[@andrewjohnson6716]

You managed to fulfill both the archaic and the modern definitions of "fire at random" both at the same time.

[@morri_v]

i couldn’t imagine this with the plumbata. the weight behind them failing from such a high distance would be devastating. maybe still not practical for actual warfare. but imagine how frightened a line would be seeing it hail pointy metal spikes. knowing they could be landing on top of you with the next flurry in other thoughts it changes an offensive siege weapon into a infantry/calvary deterrent. a practical use would be to slow down an advancing line from pushing further. allowing a team of 5 men per construct to have the same volume of 50 archers. where usually the tactic is to wait them out or hurdle and inch forward. i wonder what kind of distances can be achieved and if there are any other spread/delay techniques. all theoretical / fictional of course, but i’m sure the implications were there.

[@Halinspark]

Also can't discount the psychological effects. We know corpses were used for biological warfare, it stands to reason somebody tried something more scary than damaging.

[@sinaverseithalilov7183]

awesome video as always 👌 thank you

[@RealDealHolyfield2099]

I enjoyed the video. It's my first time seeing a "unisex trebuchet mug" for sale. Something new everyday!

[@shawn6860]

Pirates used a lot of strange items in cannons. So I could see this as a last ditch or "Oh crap! what to we have left to launch?!" moments.

[@kalebgates7711]

Ok, this is awesome.

[@agnidas5816]

You`re a better historian than most cause you actually have some common sense AND applied engineering.

[@NefariousKoel]

Saw the thumbnail pic and thought, "what's this madman up to now?" Couldn't be a better promo!

[@jacobthompson1682]

My man knows how to play yard darts.

[@jorenbosmans8065]

I could imagine the cheap bolts be used as a weapon of terror when you are besieged. It must give a big fear if once in a while a bundle of these is shot from the castles. The bonus benefit is that as you demonstrated, it can be made with very lil skill so people seeking refuge can do it, and you don't need a lot of trained archers/crowsbowmen. It kind of reminds me of flechettes

[@SuperOtter13]

Thank you thank you, one of the coolest things I've seen in a while! Cheers!

[@Skyfighter64]

A Ballista style dart from a Trebuchet... I can see a siege army trying that tactic, assuming they don't have actual ballistas to utilize. The problem with your understanding of rocks being free, is the logistics of getting enough rocks of the appropriate size to the trebuchet. If, say, there is a sizable forest near the besieged town, but not a usable quarry, could mean it might be easier to make those giant darts than it is to haul large rocks a couple miles. Granted, this is a limited scenario I'm suggesting. I'm just thinking that it's not *that* implausible that a siege army somewhere decided to use wooden darts in a Trebuchet.

[@SplendidFellow]

They may not have launched darts in battle, but trebuchets were not in battle for most of the time, they sat in fields like this one and were shown off in medieval fairs. Like Tod said, people like cool stuff, and I'd imagine they would launch all sorts of things in trebuchets for fun, and as part of fairs and festivals. Like how they show off the trebuchet at Warwick Castle, for example. So yeah, someone totally tried it with darts, and probably a lot of other things too!

[@darthfader733]

COOL, never grows old. Keep up the excellent work.

[@hugodesrosiers-plaisance3156]

If you're going to try things that were actually shot from a trebuchet, I'd be very curious to see a plague victim's corpse as well as some live children.

[@philcourteney4328]

@tod’sworkshop another fantastic vid! As a kid I always wanted a trebuchet (pronounced Tree-bucket until I watched my first documentary 🤣🤷) and I’m loving you doing all the things I’ve wanted for 40yrs to do 😄👍

[@Toporshik]

I think this would be a great sort of sport in a fantasy setting. Precision-throwing bundles of darts from thebuchets.

[@philroi2672]

I had a realization that might impact the bowling ball performance. Modern bowling balls are not uniform on the inside. They have an off center, center of mass. That might impact how the sling reacts and pulls during launch causing greater inconsistency in launch.

[@Jesses001]

I kind of like that crude dart thing you made at the end. I might try making that later this week and testing it out.

[@jesperstoringgaard8367]

Been thinking a bit, when you tested the plumbata you tried throwing them with a string. Would the same be possible with the trebuchet? launching maybe 50 heavier cheap darts? the rope might even be able to double as the bit of old shirt "fletching" bit.

[@margotrosendorn6371]

I could see this as the precursor to grapeshot in cannons, short range, anti-personnel payload for when troops are gaining ground on your artillery.

[@pr073u569]

This was the lawn dart shotgun content I didn't know I needed.

[@firestorm8471]

By the way,, Im 57 and you NEVER grow out of this stuff !!!😁 I stuck a Fiberglass Atlatl Dart about thirty feet high into a sweet gum tree about twenty years ago.. it is still there to remind me that I am still a big kid....

[@schizoidboy]

I'm reminded of an exhibit at West Point Museum that shows some WWI samples which includes a metal dart that was thrown from planes prior to dropping bombs. They would like this video drop them in bundles and they came down with enough force they could crack engine blocks (I might have this confused with something they used during the Korean War). In all the concept of using a Trebuchet to toss bundles of darts does have merit in terms of taking out amassed forces on the battlefield.

[@astra1653]

Don't know if you've ever read the Discworld books, but the vibe on this just screams Detritus and his Piecemaker. Very cool!

[@samm5111]

In regards to 2:14 , you're right Tod, they did. I can't for the life of me remember the right name for the primary source. But essentially it was an Italian siege engineer I believe writing about using all manner of things to test torsion catapults/onagers. I do specifically remember a passage about using contemporary melons as it made me laugh thinking we loved to smash melons as much back then as we do now 😂

[@KayBeee]

KZbin videos like this are great: short and To the point.

[@Deadtotheleft]

What would the effect be if you used bigger bolts? More like javelins? Pure terror

[@texasbeast239]

"How positively BRILLIANT, Lord Todd! Let us do that AGAIN!"

[@davidjames2145]

So, KZbin, answer this: You recommend to me videos of cats when I have no interest in them and yet, despite watching numerous medieval and archery videos, you never recommend this channel until now? AI my arse. Bonkers British experimentation and discovery. Love it. Liked and Subscribed. 🇬🇧

[@Alastair510]

safest place on a battlefield; standing next to one of Tod's men at arms.