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Old 12-07-2012, 01:45 PM   #51
gruundehn
 
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Default Re: Do the Archery rules cover this?

I watched the video and was struck by something that has not been explictly addressed, just kind of talked around. The bow he used and the draw he used was quite common for short bows, where the draw was to the chest. Once the Welsh longbow became common in military use the short bow was discarded becasue it was no longer good enough. Trying this with a longbow and you do not get the same power since most of the power in a bow's draw are in the last portion of the draw, the part abandoned here. Thus, a longbow would not be as powerful as a short bow drawn to the same draw point, the chest.
I my untrained opinion this is a trick that would only work with the equipment he is using. A longer bow would require longer arrows and they would most likely get in the way as he is working the bow.
A memory from reading about medieval warfare is that the English archers would fire their first shot in an arc and their second shot straight on so that it arrived at the same time, meaning that the active defense counted only against one or the other. The idea of a hail of arrows might date to the Greeks at Thermopylae where they were told that the Persians would darken the skies with their arrows and the Greek responce was "Good, we'll fight in the shade." And even here ther reference was probably to the thousandsw of archers not a smaller number firing a huge number of shots.
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Old 12-07-2012, 01:54 PM   #52
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Default Re: Do the Archery rules cover this?

Quote:
The bow he used and the draw he used was quite common for short bows, where the draw was to the chest. Once the Welsh longbow became common in military use the short bow was discarded becasue it was no longer good enough.
The longbow has been used in Europe since the Mesolithic period with little change. It is likely that the average draw-weight of 14th C English warbows were a little heavier than 11th century Welsh bows but not by much. The only major change was how they were deployed. Many more archers were used and new tactics were adopted to maximise their effectiveness.

Quote:
A memory from reading about medieval warfare is that the English archers would fire their first shot in an arc and their second shot straight on so that it arrived at the same time, meaning that the active defense counted only against one or the other.
Sounds like a myth to me. Volley shooting makes no sense when the enemy is close enough for direct shots - unless you can convince them to stand still and wait for the arrows to fall on them.
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Last edited by DanHoward; 12-07-2012 at 02:06 PM.
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Old 12-07-2012, 04:13 PM   #53
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Default Re: Do the Archery rules cover this?

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Originally Posted by DanHoward View Post
Sounds like a myth to me. Volley shooting makes no sense when the enemy is close enough for direct shots - unless you can convince them to stand still and wait for the arrows to fall on them.
There might at least be a grain of truth to it, unless they were volley shooting at the 45 there would be the option to stack a shot above the 45 with its reflection below the 45, which would result in a more irregular arrow arrival. (example: if to arrive at your target you were shooting at 50 degrees then you could also shoot at 40 degrees to arrive at the same point, 50 would have more air time however).

I make no claims of the veracity of the statement, just pointing out that it is at least mathematically plausible.
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Old 01-24-2015, 01:26 PM   #54
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Default Re: Do the Archery rules cover this?

I'm closing this thread so we can consolidate all of the discussion in this one:

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=119813

And please note my response:

Quote:
Originally Posted by PK View Post
What he's doing has no relation to combat skills in GURPS. He isn't using Bow, he's using Bow Art, which covers using a bow for techniques that look amazing despite being of no actual martial use.

If you want to simulate what he's doing in GURPS, roll vs. the lower of Bow Art or Fast-Draw (Arrow), with all applicable penalties for both, but bonuses for TDM and appropriate gear (e.g., a low-draw bow and custom quiver). Success fires one arrow in the general direction of a target, plus one additional arrow for every two full points of success, in a single second.
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