<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><DIV>Thank you Master Pug,</DIV>
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<DIV>Michel mac Donnchaid<BR></DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Pug Bainter <pug@pug.net><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Archery within the Kingdom of Ansteorra <ansteorra-archery@lists.ansteorra.org><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Tuesday, February 10, 2009 8:05:00 AM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> [Ansteorra-archery] Survival of Combat Archery<BR></FONT><BR>Good Morning,<BR><BR> I think there is something that a few of us have seen because of our roles<BR>in the upper archery marshal arena, that the majority of the archers have<BR>not. This viewpoint is one that gives new light onto some of the arguments<BR>when issues with Combat Archery come up. This is a very simplified history<BR>with a lot of other arguments in between, but it gives you an idea.<BR><BR> Combat Archery was founded and there were very few archers, but they were<BR>having fun and kept coming back
despite having their ammo destroyed all the<BR>time because of the materials. In general the fighters are having a good<BR>time with it because there are so few archers that even the good ones can<BR>only make a limited amount of difference to a major battle.<BR><BR> During all of this there are a vocal group of fighters including Knights<BR>that are arguing that Combat Archery is unsafe and unrealistic. It should be<BR>banned from the SCA so we can get on with fighting like real men do.<BR><BR> At some point early in my fighting career (about 10-11 years ago now),<BR>Combat Archery made a big leap in effectiveness on the battle field. This<BR>effectiveness was due to two factors, the quality of the archers and the<BR>quantity of the archers. Because of this, the argument about combat archery<BR>not being safe came up and APDs were created a year or so later. This caused<BR>a lot of combat archers to drop off the field because of the anger
they had<BR>or the cost/hassle of getting their equipment up to standard.<BR><BR> During all of this there are a vocal group of fighters including Knights<BR>that are arguing that Combat Archery is unsafe and unrealistic. It should be<BR>banned from the SCA so we can get on with fighting like real men do.<BR><BR> This was fine for a couple years and then enough archers had switched to<BR>crossbow because of the effectiveness and the quality and quantity of<BR>archers went up. Because of this, the argument about it not being safe came<BR>up because of the complex rules and there being too many styles of ammo and<BR>APD. This caused some angst and cost/hassle so some combat archers dropped<BR>off the field.<BR><BR> During all of this there are a vocal group of fighters including Knights<BR>that are arguing that Combat Archery is unsafe and unrealistic. It should be<BR>banned from the SCA so we can get on with fighting like real men
do.<BR><BR> There was a new design of Baldar blunts (eggs) that were sold without<BR>going through the proper approval process. This caused a lot of archers to<BR>spend money since they were very effective with the way they transferred<BR>energy which meant that fighters called their shots more often. After going<BR>through some testing, these were found to be unsafe and recalled. This<BR>caused some angst and cost/hassle so some combat archers dropped off the<BR>field.<BR><BR> During all of this there are a vocal group of fighters including Knights<BR>that are arguing that Combat Archery is unsafe and unrealistic. It should be<BR>banned from the SCA so we can get on with fighting like real men do.<BR><BR> Things settled down and archers came back to the field. This last year,<BR>there were incidents with the recall of the one piece Baldar blunts because<BR>of a design flaw as well as with some ammo at Pennsic that started
another<BR>argument about the safety of Combat Archery. This caused several years worth<BR>of Baldar blunt purchases to be replaced, as well as all UHMW ammo to have<BR>to add foam and meet previously non-existent maximum amounts of foam in<BR>front of the head rules. This caused some angst and cost/hassle but it looks<BR>like it did not cause any combat archers to drop off the field. Matter of<BR>fact, because of intelligently planning ahead and working with other<BR>kingdoms there have been few enough changes to the Ansteorran combat archers<BR>in the last several years that I think we are getting more archers back on<BR>the field.<BR><BR> During all of this there are a vocal group of fighters including Knights<BR>that are arguing that Combat Archery is unsafe and unrealistic. It should be<BR>banned from the SCA so we can get on with fighting like real men do.<BR><BR> There were lots of side arguments during all of this including some of
my<BR>favorites of just using plain UHMW heads without padding, getting rid of<BR>weight limits on bows, and using golf ball heads without padding. As well,<BR>some of the Kingdoms weren't as well informed during the rules changes and<BR>their archers are having some problems now. There are a couple kingdoms that<BR>have fairly light poundage on their crossbows and the most recent Society<BR>rules changes has caused a fair number of the weapons to not be legal<BR>anymore and has probably caused their archers to be angry and incur more<BR>cost to get back on the field, if they do at all right now. Fortunately for<BR>us we paid attention to the data our marshals had gathered and knew that the<BR>change would impact very few, if any, of our combat archers.<BR><BR> So for us, our Earl Marshal, our Archery Marshals, and our Crown, we have<BR>to figure out how to be diplomatic and logical in our fight to keep combat<BR>archery around. We have to take
the moral high ground since anything else<BR>will just prove 'their' point. While we may not like it or understand why it<BR>really matters in the long run, unfortunately it sometimes means only being<BR>able to carry 15 pieces of ammo at a time in the ravine in order to have<BR>Combat Archery at all in the ravine.<BR><BR> This is *not* to say that we just roll over whenever something stupid<BR>comes out, but it does mean we have to be well informed about the<BR>circumstances and plead a reasonable case and not an emotional knee jerk<BR>reaction. This will help combat archery to survive.<BR><BR> Btw, the vocal group of fighters and Knights against this is a very small<BR>group, but they are so rabid about their argument that they can cause even<BR>the most pro-archery people to throw up their arms in surrender. I was<BR>talking to a Knight about it just this weekend who had finally given up<BR>because of the way it was making him to
react.<BR><BR>Ciao,<BR><BR>Pug Bainter<BR>Phelim Gervase called Pug<BR>Dark Horde Moritu - Barony of Bryn Gwlad - Kingdom of Ansteorra<BR><A href="mailto:pug@pug.net" ymailto="mailto:pug@pug.net">pug@pug.net</A><BR><BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Ansteorra-archery mailing list<BR><A href="mailto:Ansteorra-archery@lists.ansteorra.org" ymailto="mailto:Ansteorra-archery@lists.ansteorra.org">Ansteorra-archery@lists.ansteorra.org</A><BR><A href="http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-archery-ansteorra.org" target=_blank>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-archery-ansteorra.org</A><BR></DIV></DIV></div></body></html>