ARCH - What If

[N.D. Wederstrandt]

>
>
>I'm sorry, but it think you are splitting hairs to make a point.  Someone
>who fights exclusively with a pole arm considers sword and shield a
>completely different form.  Someone who fights with a spear considers
>florentine an alien concept.  Yet they are all defined by the tools of the
>trade--armor and rattan.  Archery is defined by the tools of the trade--bows
>and arrows.  Any other argument is just a obfuscation of the underlying
>argument.
	Nope, it is different.  A pole arm fighter might see a sword and
board fellow on the field as different but they both recognize that they
are both fighters on the heavy weapons field.
	On this list alone I see people not recognizing each others really
as archers....they speak of target and comat as two different subjects
rather than two halves of a coin.
	Heavy weapons people don't really consider achery as a heavy
weapons field sport, though they are very happy when they are on the field
with archers watching the archers take people down.  Having been a field
archer now for over a year and a half I've noticed a couple of things.
	One is that the vast majority of HW fighters don't understand the
archers (how to use them and why)  Most archers act pretty much as
independents (except for those companies who are unified and solid).  The
fighters who actually figure out how to make the archers an effective
outlet on the field are farther inbetween.
	There is a division (with lapover) about people who just do target
and people who just do combat.  Merciifully it is small  and getting less.
But it does exist.  I'm equally at fault.
>

>
>I agree that target archery is an art form.  I also agree that combat
>archery is a combat form.
>
>***However--until you have an archery range set up at the Arts and Sciences
>Competition and combat arrows are allowed on the List Field, they are a
>separate area by definition of how they are presented to the Kingdom.
>
 	Yes, but as such I do think that separatism should be encouraged
without trying to make it inclusive.
	I'm perfectly happy to accept and judge archery at an Arts and
Sciences event.  In order to be a good archer you obviously develop the
learning that makes it apparant.  And to be a good fighter with bow you
have to understand field tactics and who the hell to shoot at.  Until the
heavy weapons fighters (who make up the Crown- read award givers) accept
archery as a viable combat style.  You are not going anywhere.  Seaparate
and equal doesnt work for me here.  I think we need to show people that
archery fits within the structure of the SCA>
	And yes rapier started out small.  It also hard an extremely hard
road to carve out because they chose, for watever reason, to be separate.
That was a hard battle that I personally don't think the archery community
needs to pursue.  There are already enough peers and nobles who are willing
to help push (and already are) archery into an acceptible form.

CLare
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