longbows or crossbows? (for reiklander warband)

So I have played a reiklander warband for a little while now with marksmen with crossbows who seem to be doing OK but the move or shoot thing is occasionally hampering things. Also longbows are cheaper and we are starting new warbands soon and I was thinking of trying out longbows instead, but the question becomes how much is S4 worth?

This is a question for those who have played more games than me (I imagine this probably most of you as I have played about 7 games so far). I seek your experience and wisdom, what is better longows or crossbows?

I have always preferred Crossbows because I feel that S4 somewhat counters my notorious bad luck when rolling dice. Another guy in my group would however, advise you to go with bows because of their movability.

I think it also depends on the scenery you use. On a very crowded table bows will probably be better but with only few terrain crossbows might be better. If you are very undecided, just go with half/half, make your own experience and see what works better for you. I don't think that one is strictly better than the other so you are not at an advantage when going with either and experimenting a bit.

As Cianty stated it's a question of terrain, but: if you're gaming group are using buildings with several storeys, a crossbowman or two having climbed up to a good vantage point is really a great asset. I would opt for a 2-1 ratio (longbows-crossbows), depending on what type of warband you're up against (high toughness adversaries kind of demands crossbows).

I prefer crossbows for several reasons...
S4 does the trick most of the time (I know bad luck!)
Longbows are hardly worth more than bows on my tables due to the terrain... there is too much obstruction ever to shoot that far.
Only thing is indeed the move or shoot... but after some xp you gain skills to counter this, or some extra stats...

(running around with BS5 - S4 after 2 games makes for usefull threats, even if they don't shoot that much.

I've gone for both.

The crossbow men sit or run to good vantage points and purely sit ther ein grousp of 2 with club and dagger (and 2nd club when get enough funds) while the bowmen get upgraded to long bows and move around trying to push or tempt the enemy into the crossbows lines of sight. By using both you make the enemy decide whether to come get your longbow harassers who ar emoving about getting los and shooting and by doing so coming into sight of the crossbows.

It works bothways ofcourse, the crossbow men can cover your harassing logbow men, and the moving longbowmen can pop those going for the crossbow men.

Both work

I go for half-and-half, with some of the crossbows belonging to heroes. Once the marksmen with bows die, replace them with crossbow marksmen. This leaves starting GCs for pistols, good weapons, etc for your heroes.

I use a mix of longbows and crossbows. Being able to move and shoot really helps keep line of site with the enemy, so I tend to place an emphasis on longbows. The crossbows are there to deal with dwarves and orcs mainly.

I was always pretty content with the longbowmen of my very old Reiklanders, but never actually tried out crossbows. However, when I was using handguns (ok, they're moven or fire and reload), I found it pretty annoying that you couldn't just move up and fire. If you get a good sniping position, that's fine, but if you have to move around a lot to get a good shot, they can turn out pretty useless some games.

I always go for longbows. The longer range also means longer shortrange. Hence no -1 to hit.

I dislike to be static, I want to move around, jumping out from cower and loose an arrow. Crossbows prevent me from doing that.

I know...s4 is great, but you need to find a target, and stand still for him to come in order for you to shoot.

I have just been up against a witchhunter warband, 5 crossbows. I took them all out. All because I was able to get the first shots. 2 or 3 bows on each target as they lined up hehe....

But crossbows are excellent for cutting off whole streets! A crossbowman or two at the end of a long street can make it a no go zone for the enemy.

A way around the mobility option is to move/reposition 1/2 half of the crossbowmen during one turn while the others fire. Assuming 6 henchmen crossbow-wielding Marksmen (you did get the 7th to hero, didn't you?), this limits you to three BS4 (or 5) S4 shots (with no penalty for moving) each turn. If you have 6 Markskmen with longbows, you'll be taking up to six S3 shots instead, often with -1 hit penalty due to moving.

It's still somewhat of a manueverability issue, because to take even those three crossbow shots, your enemy has to not move out of your crossbowmen's LOS during their previous turn.

Then you have to look at what's scarier (restricting movement more) to your opponent - S4 or S3 shots? In other words, which is more likely to get you to move out of their way? If you go with crossbowmen, stick 'em out to intimidate your opponent and constrain his movement. The flipside of that is they'll become targets, and a little more expensive to replace than longbowmen...

That was what the witchhunter tried. Breakthrough, and I had to go to his end .

The fact that I could get the first shot at him, with 2 or 3 arrows at each due to me moving and firing, meant I took 1 out and one stunned. His turn he took one of my marksmen out. (1 witchhunter with crossbow-1 marksman with longbow, I think I am better off) Next turn saw me moving two more marksmen in position, and firing. He had not moved, so the men i had in position before needed not to move either. More shots=pincussion.

Goodbye mr Hunter