[Ansteorra-archery] New To The List....

[Eadric Anstapa]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ciana O'Hara" <ciana_sca at yahoo.com>


> Thank you everyone for your responses they are greatly appreciated.  I
> have a comment/question regarding the below comment.  Over the weekend
> at Steppes Warlord I spoke with Countess Octavia and asked her about
> having to be an authorized heavy fighter before being allowed to
> participate in Combat Archery.  Unless I misunderstood her, she said
> that I didn't need to be authorized as a heavy fighter, I just had to
> be suited for heavy fightings.
>
> Mind you I have used my present armor on the field with our local
> fighters including Sir Balvin but I am NOT an authorized fighter.  I
> mostly just want to do combat archery.
>
> Could this point please be clarified for me.
>
> Thank you,
> Ciana


You wish to be authorized for ARMORED COMBAT ARCHERY correct?

Notice the ARMORED COMBAT part in that above.  Much of the authorization is
the same.

A fighter with an "Armored Combat Archery" authorization learns to be safe
on the field with a bow or crossbow.  A fighter with an "Armored Combat"
authorization  has learned to be safe with a sword, shield, axe, mace, spear
etc.  They are both warriors in the Army of Heroes and there is much overlap
in what they should know to be authorized

You are correct that you do NOT have to be an authorized armored combat
fighter (or a rapier combat fighter) to be a combat archer.

However there are basics that all people participating in combat must know
regardless of their chosen weapons.  There are many rules that apply equally
to Sheildmen, Spearmen, Archers, Seige Engineers, or anyone else on the
field.

You must know what it means to be properly armored.  With the exception of
the half-guantlet that is allowed on the bow hand the armor requirements for
armored combat archers are the same as for any other fighter on the field.
For Rapier Combat Archers they are the same and everyone else on the field.
Your local Knights Marshals can help you with this.

You should know the general rules of engagement, and how to act and react on
the field to boundaries, marshals, the calling of holds, etc.  These are
things that ALL combatants must know and that your local marshals should be
able to help you with.

You should be aware that in Ansteorra there is no separate authorization for
a non-contact archer.  For our authorizations you must be prepared to be a
full-contact combatant.  This means you should know what a good target is,
what a good blow is, and how to call a good blow from a sword, spear, axe,
or mace even if you wont be wielding them yourself.

This does not mean you have to go to fighter practice and subject yourself
to abuse while the other fighters use you as a pell.  It does mean that you
must understand that there is a possibility that you will be hit.  You
should know how to react properly.

My personal opinion (just personal opinion not a requirement) is that you
should be in armor and with experienced marshals and fighters you should
take a few light but good blows.  This way when it happens on the field you
aren't likely to get freaked out.

I also think that you need to get in armor and get shot a few times with
bows and crossbows at various ranges. (ideally also from you own bow).
Remember there will be archers on the other side shooting back at you.  In
fact archers are quite often called upon to target the enemy archers to keep
them under control.  The wrong time to discover that you really don't want
to get hit at all, even by an arrow or bolt, is your first time on the
battlefield.  People get hit who have never been hit before and they
sometimes react unexpectedly.

If you have never been hit on unarmored flesh from 15 foot away by a Baldar
Blunt tipped crossbow bolt out of a 75# or 600 inch-pound crossbow how can
you know how you will react when it happens on the field?  Likewise if you
have never been hit by the above how can you be willing to inflict that on
someone else.

I guess what I cam saying is that they training and authorization process is
not supposed to just be about getting your gear together and answering a few
questions.  Part of the training and authorization process should be to
prepare you and acquaint you  with the things that will happen to you in
battle.

I know I have been long winded and I hope I have not scared you off but I am
going to be long winded for a little bit more.

My point is that too often people think you need to learn less to be an
authorized combat archer than you do to be a sword and sheildman and that
therefore it is something that can be done quickly on a Saturday afternoon.
The bottom line is that simply is not true.    For the basic authorization
to get you on the field you should know just about everything that any other
armored combatant knows.

However, where a person engaged in hand to hard combat learns to be safe
with his/her weapons you will learn to be safe with yours.  While that
swordsman is developing the reflexes to instinctively duck a blow or raise a
shield/weapon to block, you are learning to do things like accurately gauge
distances, learning to hit a moving target 50 feet away, learning to cock,
load, and shoot your crossbow while you are running across the battlefield.


Get the Ansteorran Complete Participants Handbook and learn the following

SECTION 1
Rules of the lists and conventions of Combat in the Kingdom of Ansteorra

SECTION 2 Chivalric Combat Conventions

SECTION 3  Chivalric Combat Equipment Standards

SECTION 6  Combat Archery Conventions and Equipment Standards

Your local knights marshal can help you with the first three and can help
you with most of what I have discussed above.  Who knows you might just
decide to go ahead and get authorized as a  Hand-to-Hand combatant.  If you
are already authorized as an armored combatant when you get to the Combat
Archery Authorizing Marshal it will speed things up considerably because
he/she should be able to rest assured that you already know what you need to
know from Sections 1, 2, & 3 of the Complete Participants Handbook and then
they can really just concentrate on the archery related stuff.

My apologies to everyone for being so long winded.  Has anyone out there
figured out that I take authorizations seriously?

Always in Service,


Lord Eadric Anstapa
Coastal Regional Archery Marshal, Ansteorra
eadric at scabrewer.com