Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
‘‘Arrows vs Armour’ is back! The series starts with this valuable and essential research film, but the where Joe Gibbs shoots 3 different arrow types from his 160lbs longbow at flat sample pieces of armour, in a controlled test to see how deeply they penetrate against fabric armour, chain mail and sheet steel. This will allow us more background into what happens next.
And you can watch the main film youtu.be/SFFgcTzCvMo?si=WBhZy13u4F0N_uPZ to find out what happens when we have an armoured soldier of 1450 in our sights. All of him. But now we have changed our arrows to a newer steel tipped, bladed and barbed type that is radically different to the old iron bodkins we were using before. So to make sure we understand the new arrows better BEFORE our 7 warbow archers attack our soldier, we needed to compare how they perform against our old bodkins.
The next film in this series, our main film, will see our host of archers shoot the hard steel barbed arrows at an armour that is brand new but spreading fast on the battlefields of Europe; ; the versatile sallet and bevor system, and the flexible brigandine. How will it perform in the chaos of an arrow storm? How will it stand up to being shot by 7 powerful archers?
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. We film it and we show it. 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 and only made possible by the generous funding of our backers.
We have made two previous series and the main films can be found here.
Arrows vs Armour 1 youtu.be/DBxdTkddHaE?si=3BChtTglj71z1zCC
Arrows vs Armour 2 youtu.be/ds-Ev5msyzo?si=2Z_wyIEB9-WA2ZJh
Chapters
00:00 intro
00:53 introduction to the barbed arrow head
03:18 Why are we shooting at flat samples that are not armour?
03:55 Speed tests and data tables on type9, 16 and 21b arrowheads
04:40 Fabric armour tests and data tables
08:15 Mail armour tests and data tables
12:49 Sheet steel tests and data tables
17:00 3 arrow head types shot at the Arrows vs Armour 2 breastplate
19:19 Examining the target armour, discussing and concluding
Presenters
Tod Todeschini - todsworkshop.com
Joe Gibbs - Gibbs Archery
Will Sherman - medievalarrows.co.uk
Dr Toby Capwell - tobycapwell.com
Arrows by Will Sherman of Medieval Arrows - medievalarrows.co.uk
Longbow by Joe Gibbs of Gibbs Archery
Breastplate and Bascinet by Augusto Boer Bront facebook.com/magisterarmorum
Ventail by Isak Krogh - facebook.com/isakkroghhantverk
Music: Brave - by TwinsMusic - Licensed from Bensound.com
‘‘Arrows vs Armour’ is back! The series starts with this valuable and essential research film, but the where Joe Gibbs shoots 3 different arrow types from his 160lbs longbow at flat sample pieces of armour, in a controlled test to see how deeply they penetrate against fabric armour, chain mail and sheet steel. This will allow us more background into what happens next.
And you can watch the main film youtu.be/SFFgcTzCvMo?si=WBhZy13u4F0N_uPZ to find out what happens when we have an armoured soldier of 1450 in our sights. All of him. But now we have changed our arrows to a newer steel tipped, bladed and barbed type that is radically different to the old iron bodkins we were using before. So to make sure we understand the new arrows better BEFORE our 7 warbow archers attack our soldier, we needed to compare how they perform against our old bodkins.
The next film in this series, our main film, will see our host of archers shoot the hard steel barbed arrows at an armour that is brand new but spreading fast on the battlefields of Europe; ; the versatile sallet and bevor system, and the flexible brigandine. How will it perform in the chaos of an arrow storm? How will it stand up to being shot by 7 powerful archers?
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. We film it and we show it. 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 and only made possible by the generous funding of our backers.
We have made two previous series and the main films can be found here.
Arrows vs Armour 1 youtu.be/DBxdTkddHaE?si=3BChtTglj71z1zCC
Arrows vs Armour 2 youtu.be/ds-Ev5msyzo?si=2Z_wyIEB9-WA2ZJh
Chapters
00:00 intro
00:53 introduction to the barbed arrow head
03:18 Why are we shooting at flat samples that are not armour?
03:55 Speed tests and data tables on type9, 16 and 21b arrowheads
04:40 Fabric armour tests and data tables
08:15 Mail armour tests and data tables
12:49 Sheet steel tests and data tables
17:00 3 arrow head types shot at the Arrows vs Armour 2 breastplate
19:19 Examining the target armour, discussing and concluding
Presenters
Tod Todeschini - todsworkshop.com
Joe Gibbs - Gibbs Archery
Will Sherman - medievalarrows.co.uk
Dr Toby Capwell - tobycapwell.com
Arrows by Will Sherman of Medieval Arrows - medievalarrows.co.uk
Longbow by Joe Gibbs of Gibbs Archery
Breastplate and Bascinet by Augusto Boer Bront facebook.com/magisterarmorum
Ventail by Isak Krogh - facebook.com/isakkroghhantverk
Music: Brave - by TwinsMusic - Licensed from Bensound.com
