Crossbows - especially light ones

[Nijis]

I rarely feel I have much use for light crossbowmen or the Muslim unarmored crossbowmen. The 50% sword crossbows are great, but that's largely because of their melee capacity. Part of this might stem from the natural target of the light crossbowmen - the armored horsemen - being underutilized. I almost always end up using them against other skirmishers, where they are at a solid disadvantage. I haven't seen too many other players take more than the minimum of light or unarmored crossbowmen.

I think it might be worthwhile to consider slightly beefing up crossbows vis-a-vis normal bows. Maybe a small additional bonus if the crossbows don't move? This would reflect the need to stand still and load for longer than other missile weapon types would need to.

[melm]

I feel the utility of the light crossbowmen latgely depends on the opponent's army list.

[SnuggleBunnies]

I often take the light crossbowmen. As you say they're a poor choice for fighting infantry skirmishers, but they do very well shooting down horsemen, even the less well armored sorts.

The 30pt massed crossbowmen without swordsmen capability are of course not nearly as effective as their 39pt brethren, but they still do well shooting down horsemen and threatening auto drops. Considering that similar massed archers cost 36pts, they're well worth their cost, even if you might not want to get as many as you would the 39pt ones.

[Chherif]

I rarely feel I have much use for light crossbowmen or the Muslim unarmored crossbowmen. The 50% sword crossbows are great, but that's largely because of their melee capacity. Part of this might stem from the natural target of the light crossbowmen - the armored horsemen - being underutilized. I almost always end up using them against other skirmishers, where they are at a solid disadvantage. I haven't seen too many other players take more than the minimum of light or unarmored crossbowmen.

I think it might be worthwhile to consider slightly beefing up crossbows vis-a-vis normal bows. Maybe a small additional bonus if the crossbows don't move? This would reflect the need to stand still and load for longer than other missile weapon types would need to.

Light crossbowmen can be kept together by cavalry. They run as fast as cavalry gallops. And an additional bonus in the cavalry clash.
And the idea of giving a bonus when they're just standing is a bit unhistorical. Archers (not light archers) were placed in formation and fired volleys to achieve serious results. In this form, the difference between the rate of fire of crossbows and bows is not very big. At least not so much that it could be reflected in this wargame

[wzfcns]

I think the main disadvantage of mass unarmored crossbowmen is that they can neither resist light cavalry attacks nor dominate in sparring. I would probably only take them when I have more points or when the terrain is suitable.
But as a skirmishers version, it has the tactical functions that a skirmishers should have.