Bow draw weights and skill

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by JazzJedi

So I'm doing a historical campaign set during the 100 years war, and I wanted to come up with rules for draw weights and bows. Do these rules exist anywhere? I have a little archery experience: I own a 45-lb. super-grizzly recurve, and a 70-lb. Optimus compound bow - I've gone bow hunting about a dozen times in the last 20 years, but I don't shoot as regularly as I should - maybe 2-3 times per month for a couple of hours each time. I've tried firing a 100-lb warbow, and it is difficult, but I can shoot it 5-6 times before I need a good rest. I imagine I could pull a 130-pound bow maybe once before needing to rest for a good minute.

Aside from "The Deadly Spring" and GURPS Tactical Shooting (oriented towards firearms and contemporary US thinking), GURPS Martial Arts has rules for archers in heavy bow traditions buying up Striking ST for the purpose of archery. (Heavy bows were a fad in 16th century Eurasia, but its not at all clear to me that all traditional archers used heavy bows for war).

That Mongol anecdote does not sound like either of the two Eurasian archery traditions I know (shower shooting from long range, and sending single riders to gallop close, loose a few arrows at point blank range, and gallop away while the next rider approaches and picks her prey).