Crossbows make all those lovely shiny knights too easily dead, Maki. Yes, plate armor and crossbows co-existed for a while, but thats only because the church set up a ban forbidding the stronger crossbows for a good while. Till they banned such, nobles were dying at an alarming rate of the pincushion syndrome. 

We'd recommend in city, too few people there. As invasions go, this one is among the safest to be a civilian in the middle of.