[Ansteorra-missile] New Combat Archery Ruling

[meggiddo at netzero.net]

I DO TAKE EXCEPTION to the comments that a long bow or a recurve bow IS
UNSAFE or that a CROSSBOW is safer. I use a recurve bow and I do NOT
have a 25% misfire from that bow whether I am in full armor or not and
it makes no difference whether I am in training mode or on the
battlefield.

To be effective on the battlefield with a long bow or recurve takes
practice, more so than using a crossbow. Which does not mean "dusting
off" the combat arrows and armor, attending one or two "static"
practices or even one or two minor War events, then traveling to a Major
War Event - such as Gulf Wars, thinking that if you are hitting a
"static" target that you would be worth tinker's damn on the
battlefield!

This complain about equipment is the same type that has been heard
before, only then is about how restricted the armor is to one's movement
or how restricted one's vision is when wearing a helm.

The issue of a 25% misfire from a bow, which has been stated a number of
times in this thread, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION (IMHO) this MISFIRE issue
lies in two areas:

1. The archer has not "fully practice" with combat arrows that he or she
is attempting to use on the field.

2. The method of positioning the combat arrow to the bowstring, which
includes holding the arrow to the string and as well as the release of
the combat arrow.

IT IS NOT with the equipment! After all the equipment is only as good as
the individual who is attempting to use it!

How can I make such a statement? Simple, I wound up using some 30 or 40
combat arrows build by House Arkham out of the several hundred that they
brought to Gulf Wars this year at two separate battles. The results of
using their combat arrows mixed with my own arrows (all arrows used had
nocks on them):

NO MISFIRES - I had no misfires under any condition, both in the ravine
battle and in the second fort battle.

What I did experienced with these arrows and was reported on in an
earlier e-mail about Gulf Wars XII. These combat arrows could and did
"kill" some targets at minimum and medium range only. Anything that was
beyond 40 to 45 feet, then it became a matter of luck. In fact, at the
long range (80 to 100 feet and beyond) these arrows were off by as much
as 5 feet.

I will also point out this is the very first time that I have every used
their arrows. So the used of these arrows were under "true" battlefield
conditions.

The accuracy of a crossbow is similar to shooting a rifle and can be
greater than a long bow or a recurve depending upon the individual,
although the issue of safety can be argue. Just like any firearm, once
loaded the crossbow is waiting... If someone can shoot a rifle, then the
learning curve for a crossbow is less than for the longbow or recurve.
Thus, in comparison - takes less time and effort to master a crossbow.
This is the major reason that crossbows became popular on the
battlefield - it took less time and effort to use one! There are those
who have mastered the longbow and/or recurve, plus the crossbow for the
sheer joy of learning and I for applaud them for their efforts. On the
other hand, the crossbow would suit those who are only part-time combat
archers and only get on the battlefield for one or two wars - meaning
not truly serious about this challenging art form known as Combat
Archery!

The crossbow is composed of various items, which have sufficient
improved and changed over the years and you will experience greater
accuracy than a bow. Yet include these improvements of the crossbow with
a small diameter blunt such as the egg-shaped Baldar (as opposed to the
diameter of the older Baldar or UHMW head, etc.) and there is an
incident waiting to happen, regardless of other factors involved.

The ability to be a successfully Combat Archer on the SCA battlefield is
NOT 100% about the ability to shoot a combat arrow. This is only roughly
30% of the effort. The other 70% is understanding what is currently
taking place at any given time and the ability to react to that
situation at that time or even to be proactive in taking advantage prior
to the changing situation. Meaning, all plans go out the window once
contact is made with the opposing force. Too many individuals are
"FAILING" to understand this basic thought and thus are seeking to blame
their equipment for their inability to be successfully on the
battlefield!

The other comment concerning fighters not accepting being "killed" and
the archer wanting something that will hit harder is just a load of
"BS"! I used both the old fashion Baldar blunts and UHMW combat heads.
Guess what - majority of the fighters have accepted being "killed" by
both types of combat heads! The problem of fighters ignoring arrows does
exist, it is not a perfect world but NOT EVERY ARROW AN INDIVIDUAL
SHOOTS IS A "KILL", and to imply that some fighter is without on "Honor"
on the battlefield, is a grave insult within the fighting community. In
other words, there is chivalry code among and is part of this game that
we are attempting to play, for everyone who steps out in armor and faces
off with an opponent, whether it is on the tourney field, a melee field,
and/or a battlefield. Those who do NOT understand about this code have
not dealt with fighters and fighting on a regular basis and will remain
in the dark on this code.

I have had some fighters who have ignoring arrows when I have shot them.
I have gone up afterwards and asked that fighter about being hit by an
arrow. Answer was that they were not aware of the arrow, for the
following reasons:

Did not feel the arrow due to being in a shieldwall that was pressing or
advancing against another shieldwall, if the individual who is
complaining have NOT been in a shieldwall, then that individual has no
idea of what happens in a shieldwall.

The arrow DID NOT strike head on, meaning the shaft itself hit and not
the combat head.

If the arrow deflection prior to striking the fighter, such as bouncing
off a shield.

Poor visibility in some period helms - i.e., Great Helms. If you have
NOT tried one of these types of helms on, then you have no idea just how
restricted it is to see out!

The arrow strike their fighting tunic and NOT the body, thus "no force"
was felt. Yet it looks like it did strike the fighter from the archer's
view point. This happen to me at Gulf Wars XII in the ravine - my target
the King of Trimaris. During a hold, the two of us discuss it and was
decided that the shot was not valid. We just went back at each other
after the hold.

Rigid armor - meaning metal armor - breast and back plates. This type of
armor also causes issues on the field between two fighters who are
opposing each other with sword and board. Not just an issue with combat
archers!

Basket hilts could be and are often used to block the arrows, sometimes
the archer never sees this action due to the shield of the fighter or
someone stepping in block the archer's view.

If you, the archer, think someone is "blowing" off your arrows, then go
find a Marshal and asked him/her to witness your next shot at the
fighter.

The rules themselves sometimes rule out various "kills" at some War
Events - such as Gulf Wars. Meaning the top and sides of helms are not
valid targets.

Archers have serious problems of:

1. Best Targets are those NOT watching you!

2. Fighter will "blow off" a bump from a direction that they are not
looking at, thinking it was one of their buddies with a spear or pole
arm that "tap" the fighter. It does happen.

3. Best Targets are those who will acknowledge your shots for all the
reasons listed above.

There are other reasons of course that have escaped my mind for the
moment.

Due to the nature of the game that we all play, when it comes to whether
the fighter is "alive" or "dead" whether it is by a sword, or a spear, a
mass-weapon, a polearm or by our type of combat archery, the final
decision lays with the fighter receiving the blow, it is his/her
"Honor"!

Yes, the majority of the fighters are amazed about how difficult it is
to shoot a combat arrow with an APD attached to it. This was the general
comment made by every heavy fighter that attended the January 5th War
Practice in Carrollton that wanted to be authorized as a Combat Archer
for Gulf Wars. At the end of that day, I had authorized eight fighters,
including one knight.

The bottom line - an individual needs to regularly practice with their
"toys" to be worth the time and effort before taking the field at a War
event. This practice needs to take place against "live" heavy fighters.
Otherwise, there will continue to be poor performance and those
individual(s) are just spitting into the wind!


Michael Fray
Unit Combat Archer for the Condottieri
King's Archer