[Ansteorra-archery] on the use of archers

[Colin MacNachtan]

On Tuesday 17 February 2009, Eric Brown wrote:
> To be more clear, (and a little more detail) You'd be in a position
> where you did not have to worry about getting rushed and run over, each
> firing aimed shots, but in larger numbers(ergo hopefully larger volume)
> at a specific section on the field where you'd have a decent to good
> chance of having a huge effect on the battle in a brief period of time.  
> Specifically the only genuinely "new" skill you would have to master is
> taking turns up front to fire, falling back to load (if the front gets
> small enough)... Something I think you are all perfectly capable of
> doing. Nothing fancy or baroque, I'm a big fan of the KISS School. My
> Philosophy in battle plans usually boils down to put the right folks in
> the right place, with only general guidelines, and count on them to do
> the right thing at the right time.

I think the major effect of this would be to cause an enemy unit to turtle up 
in the direction of the arrow fire.  I don't know enough about infantry unit 
tactics to predict what help this would be, but I gather the shield/spearmen 
on the list can see possibilities in it.  I for one would be willing to try 
it.

I do think Robin is right that the effectiveness of the archers would be 
magnified by having at least two groups of archers shooting at a single enemy 
unit from different angles.  I realize this would be more difficult to 
coordinate, but I think the distraction factor would be much higher and make 
them much more vulnerable to an infantry assault.

Colin MacNachtan