The cruel warriors of the Dark Elves care nothing for the graceful marksmanship prized by their kin across the sea; they seek only to kill in the greatest numbers, and for that the Darkshard Repeater Crossbow is the perfect instrument. Where an ordinary crossbow looses a single bolt at a time, this fell weapon carries a magazine of quarrels that can be discharged in a rapid, rattling volley, drowning the enemy beneath a storm of iron.
The Darkshard warriors of Naggaroth drill endlessly with these crossbows, and a company of them can put more bolts in the air in a single volley than a far larger body of ordinary archers. The bolts themselves are barbed and often envenomed, for the Druchii delight in inflicting suffering, and even a wound that does not kill outright may fester into a lingering, agonising death. There is no honour in this way of war, and the Dark Elves would scorn the very notion.
What the repeater crossbow sacrifices in range and penetration it more than makes up for in sheer weight of fire. Massed ranks of Darkshards form the backbone of many a Dark Elf army, sweeping the field with volley after volley to thin the foe before the cold cruelty of their blades finishes the work. To the raiders of Naggaroth, the crossbow is a tool of terror as much as slaughter, and the rattling hiss of its bolts is often the last sound their victims ever hear.
The armoury continues
