When I started playing medieval minifig "siege" wargames I quickly realized the besieging crossbowmen needed a bit more protection as they were the first targets of the defenders. I did a bit of research and found out that they used "mantlets" or "pavises." A mantlet was a heavy-duty construction that could be wheeled along with a bit of effort. A pavise was lighter and could be carried and set up by one man.
I decided to make some pavises for the crossbowmen.
Take a "Minifig Collection Series "base and five bits from the Kingdoms series to make a perfectly feasible pavise...
A minifig base from one of the Collectors Series is ideal because when you attach a 1 x 4 flat topped brick to it you get something approximating the central gutter.
As you can see from the photos below, by using a minifig base, the pavise is about the right height for a minifig to stand behind and shoot his bolt. It also provides shelter when reloading the crossbow.
The pavise can also be “carried” by a minifig crossbowman on a 2 x 3 base. Simply remove the lugs that hold the pavise upright and lean it against the back of a slightly stooping minifig, with the bottom resting against the back two notches of the base.
When the pavise is set up, a direct hit with a crossbow bolt or longbow arrow (i.e. a plastic pellet shot from a bb gun) is likely to knock over the pavise. The crossbowman will then be exposed until he sets it back up again (taking one turn to do so).
A direct hit with a big catapult (using the projectile supplied in the appropriate Lego kit) is likely to knock down pavise and minifig.
In that case, we must find whether the minifig crossbowman survived or not. Of course, you can simply toss a coin or roll a die.
However, I found a very nice alternative by a Lego gamer called Alban Nanty, here: http://bow.lswproject.com/
Instead of rolling dice, throw 2x2 Lego bricks! Only the ones that land on their sides are counted. I posted some (incomplete) info about my version of the 2x2 brick rules for combat on my blog:
https://legendorama.com/rules/
David Hurley
#InspiredFocus
P. S. A version of this post was originally published on my personal blog:
https://davidhurleyinjapan.com/games/a-pavise-for-minifig-crossbowmen/