ANST - Another idea

[Keith Hood]

Hello again.  More stuff about increasing effectiveness at the fort battles 
at Gulf War.  I tried proposing this before and I still think it would work. 
  We didn't get a chance to try it last year, obviously.

This year we may face a serious ammunition problem.  In previous years we 
have had archers run dry in the middle of the fort battles, and we cannot 
afford to have that happen again.  So, what we need to do is set up a system 
to rearm during the fighting using captured arrows.

I propose we set up an arrow inspection point outside the castle area, and 
have an inspection process running during the fighting.  We have people 
picking up the Trimaran arrows shot at us during the fight, carrying them to 
the inspection point, and then redistributing to the archers those shafts 
which pass the inspection.  Those who are standing around waiting for the 
ground attacks to begin, could help by picking up spent shafts and handing 
them to the ammo runners (make sure you keep the shields up at the same 
time, of course).

Rather than trying to actually get new arrows to each individual archer, it 
would probably be more effective to set up three or four points where we 
dump the inspected arrows in a basket, and archers who have emptied their 
quivers go back to those distribution points.  I'll supply the baskets and 
some way to mark them so they're easy to see.

This would be a way to contribute to the fighting effectiveness of the 
Ansteorran forces for people who would like to add their efforts, but for 
some reason cannot do so in some other way.  If there is an archery marshal 
who for some reason cannot shoot in the battle, we could use you to run the 
inspection point.  This would also be a useful fallback mission for injured 
archers.  If you lose an arm so you cannot draw the bow anymore, and you 
don't want or can't switch to fight heavy, then you'd be a natural for 
running arrows to and from the inspection station.  Volunteers for ammo 
runners from among heavy fighters who figure they haven't got anything 
better to do for the moment would be greatly appreciated.

There is one problem--we would have to give some consideration to the 
freedom of movement needed by the ammo runners.  We'd have to see to it that 
there are lanes left open between the inspection point and the distribution 
point.  But I would think that shouldn't be too hard.  It would only involve 
one-man width lanes and would not be required the entire length of the 
fight.  Or maybe if everybody understands how this idea works and where the 
resupply points are, other people could help pass the inspected shafts to 
the distribution baskets.

Obviously, this idea becomes invalid once the ground attack on the walls 
begins.  At that point, the heavy fighters will be moving around so much 
there would no longer be a chance for resupply to take place.  So this idea 
would be useful only during the first half or so of each fort battle.  But 
during those stretches it could do a lot to keep up our rate of fire.  And 
remember that it is legal to glean and refire golf tube arrows and ballista 
bolts without having them inspected by a marshal.


      Tomonaga


--
A long bow and a strong bow,
And let the sky grow dark.
The nock to the cord, the shaft to the ear,
And a foreign king for a mark!

        -- Stolen from "The Song of the Bosonian Archers" --
               By Robert E. Howard, who should be
                 the patron saint of Ansteorra

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