Part One
Prelude: Choose Your Weapons
Lesson 1: The Draw
Lesson 2: Aiming
Lesson 3: Distance Shots
Lesson 4: Awkward Shots
Lesson 5: Archery Forms
Part Two
Lesson 1: Arrows
Lesson 2: Using Your Arrows
Lesson 3: Battle Tactics
Lesson 4: Formation Shooting
Lesson 5: How to Spar
Part One
Darvan Goemal walked out in front of his class, looking over them as he did. Was this the best they could do? He would have to make do. "Right, listen up! You've come to learn something new. The standard of archery at the tower has been to low for too long and I'm going to change that." He started walking down the line, taking in each of their faces. "The bow is an excellent weapon, far superior to any other. Why bother to learn fancy sword forms when you can spit your foe from 200 paces? Or the crossbow, sure, it can out-distance this," he indicated his own bow, tucked under his arm. "But in order to do so it sacrifices speed, not even the weakest of crossbows can come close to the rate of fire of the upright bow. When I am finished with you, you will have the basics of shooting under your belts, after this class," he paused, turning and walking back the way he had come. "After this class you will only need practice, you will know the stance, have a perfect draw, aim swiftly and loose arrows with consistency and grace."
Darvan walked through the ranks of student to a table he had prepared. "Here are your bows, for todays purpose there are two kinds; longbow," he picked on up from the table, "made of yew, note the two distinct colours, red heartwood for the belly, and a stripe of cream sapwood on the back." he replaced the bow on the table and picked up another, this was shorter, with limbs that curved back on themselves. "Or, we have these. These are composite bows, a strip of wood backed with horn and coated with boars tendon. They are lighter to hold, yet have a draw weight similar to the longbow." He paused, hoping they were taking this in. "The bows we have today are relatively light, this is to make learning the basics easier," 'that and the tower didn't have any better.' he thought, grimly.
Darvan stepped away from the table, leaving a free passage to it. "Ok, the choice of bow is yours, also, get yourself one of these," he held up a wide strip of thick leather, fitted with cords to strap it on. "It's a bracer, you'll need it to protect your arm from the bowstring. When you're kitted out, I'll be over here." He walked off, giving his students time to choose their bow.
Darvan walked out in front of his class that he had lined up across the field. "Ok, now that we are kitted out, lets start with the shooting." he had his bow in his left hand, and shifted his feet to a natural shooting position. "First up, stand sideways on to your target. if you're shooting right-handed, then your left shoulder is forward. If you're left handed, then your right shoulder is forward. Keep your back as straight as possible and look over your shoulder at the target." he indicated the butts, large mounds of turf with an upright, rounded arch-shaped front. Fixed to these were small white disks.
"Next, we have the arrow." Darvan drew one out of his quiver. "Arrows have four parts: pile," he pointed to the metal point, "shaft, fletchings," he brushed his thumb along the three goose feathers glued and bound to the shaft. "And the nock," he held the arrow up to show the narrow slit. "this is where the arrow rests on the string." he held his bow upright in his left hand. "When nocking the arrow to the bow, rest the shaft on the third knuckle of your forefinger. Slot the arrow onto the string with the cock feather, that's the one I've dyed a different colour, towards you." He had dyed it to make it easier for them to see which way around the arrow should be positioned, nocking the arrow the other way would mean one fletching catching the bow on the loose, deflecting the arrow or tearing the fletching off. "The draw is with the first three fingers," he continued, " first finger above the arrow, other two below. String resting behind the first joint of each. Hold the bow out, towards the target then draw the string back, pushing the bow forward with the other hand as you do so. Bring your draw-hand back till it brushes your cheek, then release." he demonstrated the full action, drawing the string back slowly then releasing it without a break in his drawing motion. His hand continuing its motion after the string had left it, ending resting on an arrow in the quiver on his back.
Darvan turned back to his class as his assistant ran along the line
issuing arrows, "right now I don't mind where the arrow goes, as long as
it goes in that direction, it's fine." he pointed with his bow towards
the butts, here they were only 20 paces away. "Right now I'm only
looking for you to get the correct shooting action. Once we have that we'll
start aiming. As you are shooting I shall move down the line and correct
you where I can." He stepped back through the line of students, not
particularly wanting to get hit by their first volley. "Alright, you may
start shooting."
Darvan waited till his class returned from retrieving their arrows, some with more success than others. "Alright, now that we know how to shoot, lets concentrate on how to shoot." He again strung an arrow to his bow, but this time he pointed it straight up in the air. "Some of you may have noticed that your shot did not go exactly where you wanted them too. As you can see, the bow is thicker than the string, so the arrow does not rest straight, it lies at an angle. The result of this is that, when the string is released, instead of flying straight off the bow, the arrow flexes." He took his arrow off and placed the back of his hand against bow and bowstring, there was more to it, but that would do for a start. "When the string is first released, the arrow flexes inwards, like so," his hand bent so that the back of his hand came in between bow and bowstring. "Then, it flexes the other way. "His hand bent back, fingers bending the wrong way for their joints. "The result of this is that the arrow bends around the bow." He took his hand away and dropped the bow to his side. "The amount it flexes can be changed by the power of the bow, the thickness and length of the shaft, the archer's loose, the weight of the pile or length of fletching." he almost grinned, something his face seemed incapable of. "However, you need not worry about this now. Since the arrows are identical, you only need learn how they work with your bow." he stepped up to the shooting line "let me explain, I know, from practice, that my technique is pretty good, I know that if I shoot several arrows in the same manner they will end up in or around the same spot. If I aim one at the centre of the target..." he did this and loosed, the arrow sped into the butt above and left of the centre circle. "Now that I know where it goes if I aim there, I can adjust." this time he aimed one lower, and to the right of the circle. The arrow left his bow, shimmered through the air, then struck the target in almost the exact centre of the circle. He turned back to his class and spoke up again. "That works for me because I have practised my shooting till my draw is natural and consistent. Your technique is still new, it will take time before you can do this as I can. Your task for now is to be able to group arrows, shoot one, then try to get the next one in the same spot, even if both land 50 paces past the target, the idea is to get as many as you can into the same area. Once you have grouped successfully, and we are convinced it is not luck or poor shooting, then we can adjust your aim accordingly."
Algain walked forward, his first time so far without having arrows to distribute or fetch. "Uhh, right, a few differences in the aiming of longbow and composite," he started nervously, speaking in front of one or two he could manage, this many... he ran his fingers through his hair nervously and continued. "With the longbow, aiming takes place through the draw, that is, you aim first, then draw the string back maintaining that point-of-aim. Once at full draw, you need to steady, then loose quickly." He paused again, wondering if this made sense. "You see, a good longbow at full draw is nine-tenths broken," he glanced at Darvan who had told him this, then continued, "these, are NOT good longbows. We've checked them several times but..." he shrugged, they were expecting new bowstaves soon, then there was the simple task of shaping them... he shook his head and continued, too much work really... "When at full draw, pause long enough to steady your hand, then loose. The composite bow, because of its design, can be held at full draw. Also, when drawing, aim the arrow above the target then bring it down as you draw, then steady and sight along the arrow before loosing." it was a slight change, but significant. The longbow would loose power if held, but the composite was too light to be held steady through the draw. The small difference made all the difference.
Darvan walked out in front of his class with an almost relieved expression on his face. "Alright, I didn't think these would arrive on time, however, they are here now." He walked over to a large sheet, covering what could have been an oversized porcupine. "Here we go!" He threw back the sheet to reveal a long rack of bows. "Your new weapons! Lightest draws to the left, strongest to the right!" he pointed to the right hand end where there was a longbow that looked like a quarterstaff with a bow string attached. "You can put your old bows to one side, we'll find a good use for them after." firewood, most likely. "Then, find a bow thats right for you, try drawing one till you find one which you can draw, and then hold without losing control. do not loose the string without an arrow. you will most likely break your arm. Once you've found one, try a few arrows at the close targets. you'll find that they puish you more for your mistakes, yet reward you when you shoot well. once done, then come and join me over on the other side of the field."
After the trainees had fired their new bows, with a mixture of pain and delight, and had walked the short distance across the field, Darvan continued. "Now that we know how to hit close up, we are going to try at distance." He pointed down the field where, about 200 paces away, where a large circle of animal hide had been stretched over a wooden hoop, forming a target. This was angled upwards slightly and had a large red spot painted on it. Standing nearby was Algain, looking a little worried, if nothing else. "This should be easily in range even for those with the lightest bows."
"To shoot this distance, requires elevating the bow, aiming high above the target. The principle remains the same as for the close shooting, since you do not know how far a shot at a certain elevation will go, use you first arrow as a marker and adjust from there. That's why Algain is there!" He pointed again at Algain, who seemed to look more nervous. "At this distance, it is hard to tell how far off the target your shots lie. Algain will signal with his flag how far short or long the arrow lies. Let me show you." Darvan drew an arrow, nocked it, then angled his body slightly upward and loosed. "That will fall short" Algain paused for a second, then pulled the flag from behind his back, held it to his right and flapped it up and down five times. "That means my shot fell 5 paces short, if I shoot long then the flag is held to the left and waved to show the distance you miss by." he paused, looked down at Algain then looked back to his class, his face seeming to want to smile. "If you hit the red centre, this happens." He turned back and nocked another arrow, aiming slightly higher he loosed, the arrow arced through the air, then came down with a definite 'thunk' Algain collapsed backwards, kicking his legs and throwing his flag high into the air. Darvan spoke up again without looking round, "if the flag doesn't go up, we have a problem." He stepped away, any remnant of a smile gone. "One last point, when angling your shot up, bend at the waist to do so, if you simply elavate your bow-arm, you shorten your draw and lose power and consistency. Right, now you try, and don't kill my assistant!"
The class milled back into the training yard, some carrying their bows with pride, others as if they wished they had never even seen one. the warder yard had changed though, it was empty and in the middle stood a fofty-foot pole, with what looked like a wooden bird perched at the top. ropes hung taut across it, higher at one end. darvan waited till the last few trudged in, then started explaining.
"Here we have a small test for you. As you know, when shooting you very rarely have a chance to dictate the circumstances and situation. therefore, you must be ready to adapt to be able to truly shoot well." he walked over to the pole and leaned against it. "at the top of this mast is a wooden bird, your task here is to knock it off. we have special blunt arrows for this." he pulled out an arrow missing its pile, instead a leather pouch filled with wool was strapped tightly to the end. "this will stop you getting hurt on the return! you have 10 arrows to hit it with. if you knock it down, you gain the honour of being able to shoot well at difficult targets. the downside is, if you hit it, you get to put it back up there!"
Darvan moved away from the pole and went to the ropes. "this section deals with moving targets. here we have a man-shaped target, which slides down the rope towards you. your task is to hit it as many times as possible. I can shoot 7 arrows in the time it takes for him to reach me, you should be trying for 4. once that has been attempted, you will shoot at one moving across in front of you, then, to finish, with both moving at the same time. if both are 'dead' at the end.." he paused, then shrugged "let us just say that would be shooting I would not expect from beginners such as yourselves."
Darvan walked back over to the mast and picked up the blunt arrows. "right, who's first?"
"After the fun of that last shoot, we will finish the class with something a little more serious." Darvan waited as his assistant came through carrying a bow that towered 3 feet or more over his head. It was polished black, and the binding for a grip was not central, it came a third of the way up. "This is a different bow to any you have shot, it is very different to shoot than either the composite or longbow. We will use it because it is used for something similar to sword forms, this is an archery practice that will help with your concentration." He took the bow and walked towards the butt, stopping 30 paces away from them.
"As you stand, you arms are bent outwards with your hands resting against your hips. The bowhand holds the bow, angled down, and the three arrows which are held point down in the fist. The first motion is to bring both arms up till they are slightly away from the body, at eye level. The draw hand takes an arrow smoothly and nocks it, then the bow is raised above the head, still away from the body. Pause here, then take a deep breath in and as you do so draw both arms down till at the full draw position. Here you pause again for a few heartbeats, focusing on the target. Here, the target is the only thing that exists; there is nothing in between, no distractions, no distance to separate you. You are one with the centre. When you feel this, loose the arrow. After release the bow drops to the side and both hands return to their start position. The process is repeated with the next two arrows."
Darvan began the slow demonstration, his arms moved slowly, but smoothly between the positions. His hands high he breathed in, and let the outside world melt away. Here, there was just him and the white spot, it seemed to grow larger, and larger until it was impossible to miss. He loosed and this impossible world vanished, leaving him with a class gawping at the arrow quivering slightly in the exact centre of the target. Smoothly his arms dropped, then began the slow procession to get to full draw. Whether he held at full draw for longer or shorter this time he could not say. Just that, after release, the second arrow rattled against the first, seeming to have entered in the exact spot as the first had. The third sent gasps up from the class, it struck in between the first two, forcing them outwards and shaving fletchings from each. Chipped wood and horn fell to earth as the nocks of both arrows had been hit.
Darvan turned and handed his bow to the nearest student. "The shooting of this bow is awkward, and leaves little room for error. Do not expect to get grouping anything like mine. Maybe after 10 years or so, but not after so few lessons. If all shots lie in the white circle, then that is good shooting. Shooting this way will help you concentrate, it will relax your body and mind. Concentration is an archers greatest asset, learn it well."
Part Two
ooc: "any old stick make bow, good arrow damn heap work." with thanks to the unidentified seminole native amercan who said that, I feel we can all learn a litte from this...
"Today I will introduce you to the different types of arrows, as well as explaining their uses." Darvan stood in front of his class who sat at their desks in the classroom. "First of all we have the shaft, the heavier the bow the thicker the shaft should be. Using thin arrows on a powerful bow could cause them to break on release, driving the broken end into the archers hand. If the arrow is too thick, the arrow will not flex enough, and will not shoot straight.
"After the shaft, we have the fletchings. These stabilise the arrow in flight, balancing out the pile. The heavier the head of the arrow, the longer the fletching is required to be. However, longer fletchings slow the arow down, reducing the range. Therefore; long fletchings are used for short range shooting and short fletchings are for long shots. In addition to this, fletchings can be glued and bound to the shaft twisting around it slightly. That is, the front of the fletching is positioned as normal, then the tail is positioned 20 degrees or so off. The result of this is that the arrow spins, stabilising its flight much quicker. This is commonly used for hunting arrows, where heavy broadheads are used at close range." Darvan paused to pick up one of the many arrows he had lying on the table beside him. "Fletchings are first glued on, then bound with fine thread. This is due to the fact that the fish or animal glue used is not waterproof, and a loose fletching can drive into your hand on release."
Darvan leaned back against the table, it creaked a little under his weight. "The last part of the arrow is the pile, these vary considerably. First of all we have the broadhead." He held up an arrow whose point consisted of a narrow tube which attached the shaft to a triangle of metal, sharpened at the front point. "These are commonly used for both hunting and war. Hunting heads tend to have more rounded sides and sharper edges. Warheads tend to be heavier, even going up to something like this." He pulled up a second arrow, this one had a massive inverted 'v' shaped head, sharpened at the front and at its cruel-looking rear facing points. "This arrow is barbed, once it has gone in it cannot be brought out the same way, or the wound will be ripped open. To remove these they must be pushed through and out the other side." he looked at it for a few seconds, then shook his head and replaced it on the table before speaking again. "The main use of broadheads in battle is to kill horses. You take out the horse, the rider finds himself with a long walk to get to you. Broadheads however, are ineffective against armour. That is what these are for."
Darvan brought out another arrow, this one with a four-sided pile which stretched out into a sharp point. "This is the bodkin, it is designed for the sole purpose of penetrating armour. To this, chain-mail becomes a series of loosely connected holes. Plate armour fares little better, even at long range. Bodkins vary in length, some can be 5 inches long." He replaced this arrow on the table and reached for another with a grin. "This last pile is also the meanest looking, they are sometimes called 'flesh tearers'." The arrow he brought out had a crescent-moon shaped head, presenting two points and a sharpened concave curve to the fore. "This arrow acts as the reverse of a broadhead, it does all of its damage on the way in." He put it down on the table, "not something you want to see coming at you."
Darvan got up and walked around the table until he was standing behind it, "any questions? If not, I shall see you next time out on the field, where you shall try shooting these different arrows."
Darvan strode out to the waiting body of students. "Everyone remember the theory from the last time? Alright, because now we will put it onto practice." He led the way out to a far corner, where he had several special targets set up. "First of all we have a rampaging band of whitecloaks," he indicated a group of horse-shaped targets, mounted by straw men. These had been decked out in whitecloak livery and armour, the plate and mail glinting in the sun. "try out broadheads on the horses, bodkins against the men. Vary your distances, use different length fletchings and familiarise yourself with shooting them." Darvan waited as bales of arrows were handed out to each waiting archer. "Remember, each different arrow will shoot very differently. Be prepared to miss." He looked out over the targets sadly. They had taken hours to make and set up. With these arrows they would be destroyed in minutes. "Also we have some very still deer." He indicated the second set of animal-shaped targets. "They are made of stuffed deer hide, I didn't think that live ones would stay around very long once you started shooting!" He walked away to one side, "if you have any problems, come and see me. You may shoot when ready."
Darvan waited as the last of his students filed into the classroom. His arrow table had gone and all he had now were two blackboards, both with complicated maps an diagrams chalked onto them. "Everyone here? Right, today we will go over archery in the battlefield. I'll give you a few basic points about positioning and tactics, then I'll talk you through an example of these in practice." He took up a chalk and pointed to the first blackboard.
"Your best use of archers in battle, whether offensive or defensive, is to form them up in herses, a triangle with the frontal apex cut off. ideally archers should make up the greater part of your forces. The ranks must be staggered, since the archers must be able to see their target. The more ranks, the greater the spacing between archers. It is possible to have the front ranks kneeling, although the terrain plays a greater part in this than necessity. This formation provides a semi-circle of possible fire." he drew this on the board, the circle covered the extreme range of the archers. "for greatest effect, these herses should be deployed thrusting forward from the ranks. Depending on the terrain, two or three may be used. Two at the flanks, with the third in the centre. Deploy the remainder of your soldiers in the gaps between, an advancing attack will be forced in-between the archers. Your troops will hold back the attacks whilst the archers pour arrows in from the sides. The attack is disordered and repelled." Darvan pointed this out on the board, the straight ranks of soldiers were broken by forward-thrusting echelons. "Of course, this depends on your terrain. For this to be effective you must have established a position where the opponent cnnot out-flank you, he must not be able to attack from the side or rear."
Darvan turned away from his board, "these tactics sound simple, but they require a well-trained army to carry out, here is an example of these tactics used correctly."
"Here we see two armies, for convenience we shall call them army A and army B. Note that B is larger than A, but A has the benefit of choosing the battlefield, and this is the side with correct deployment of archers." On the board Darvan pointed out the field, army A were atop a small rise, a river to the right,a wooded slope to their left. Army B were on an opposing hill, with a wide, flat bottomed valley in between. "A has a greater proportion of archers, 7000 out of his total 12000. He deploys them in forward-harrows, with gaps in between filled with his other troops." Darvan then drew on the distribution of B's forces, these consisted of a large body of crossbow men and the mounted troops. "B's army is maybe 3 times the size of A's and he uses this advantage to attack first. His first attack comes from his crossbow men, they walk forward till in bowshot, then fire their first volley, however, as we all know, a crossbow cannot compete with the rate of our longbows. As the crossbows' bend down to reload they are hit by a volley of arrows 'so thick that it seemed to snow' they are pierced in their hundreds, heads, arms, legs, coats of mail. They begin to recoil. Some threw down their bows and ran.
"Many of B's noble lords, mounted on their steeds, saw this and were enraged, they charged forth in heraldic splendour, trailing colour and gleaming in steel. They rode through, and over, their own archers, at the right flank of A's forces. . the next wave of B's mounted knight came to the left, then to the middle. The archers were protected up close by potholes and sharpened stakes, this slowed the charge, and made easy pickings of the front ranks. This helped funnel B's charge in between the harrows, to A's dismounted troops. These were positioned in flat ranks, with enough distance between to conveniently use their weapons. They stood as far separated as necessary to enable the second line to support the first, and so on, each rank stepping in to fill the gaps left by the fallen. These stopped B's charge, leaving the archers to pour arrows in from the side's.
"There were 14, 15 or even 16 charges made at one point of A's line or another, sometimes against the whole reachable front. Wherever they came the archers braced and shot, those in reserve running behind the lines to distribute new sheaves of arrows. In between charges A's archers came forward to retrieve arrows, this was the only movement from the ridge, their discipline was absolute. B continues his charges till dark, then the fighting stops. So many of the leaders were dead, there was no-one left to lead the army."
Darvan stopped, it seemed he had been talking for hours. "This battle shows how disciplined archers can overcome even forces many times their size. Does anyone have any questions about these tactics? If not, what would A have done if B had not made the first charge?"
Darvan walked out in front of the class, it was a cold day, but with little wind. "allright, this is the last of the lessons, after this we only have one thing to do. whilst you have become reasonably profficient shooting by yourself, archery in war requires you to be able to shoot well as a group." he pointed out to the butts, here set at 200 paces. "there is your first target, stationary for now, here we will practice shooting together. we will shoot at 6 arrows a minute. I know you can all shoot faster, but getting your rate the same as others takes practice. as you improve, so we shall increase the rate." <{>Darvan stepped back. "when I shout 'nock' draw an arrow from your quiver and nock it to you bowstring, when I shout 'loose' draw the string back and loose. got that?"
Darvan strode down behind the ranks, "everyone ready? right, NOCK!" his voice bellowed out at battlefield volume and Darvan grinned as several archers jumped as they fumbled for arrows. "LOOSE!" there was a creak as many bows bent to full draw, then a loud swish as they loosed, not all together, Darvan noted, but close enough. "needs improving! now, NOCK!..."
After all students had retrived their arrows, Darvan turned them around, to face the hill behind them. "to end, we will increase the realism. at the top of the hill," Darvan pointed to the crest. "we have a cart with a target fixed. when my assistant cuts the rope, it will start to roll towards us." at the top of the hill Algain waved down at the class, then picked up the rope holding the cart at the hill and waited. " at the top it is out of bowshot. those with the most powerful bows could shoot before the others, however, this makes little impact on an advancing army. we need to shoot together. for maximum effect. I have positioned a marker stone at 200 paces, that should give you some idea of when to start shooting." a large rock stood to one side, painted red. "also, I shall not shout commands, it is up to yourselves to maintain your discipline." he turned to signal, thn turned back. "one last point, when the cart gets too close, get out of the bloody way."
He signalled,and the rope was cut. the cart started to trundle down the hill. "wait for it...wait for it..." Darvan stepped back, "the field is yours."
Darvan led his students through the corridors of the tower, down several flights of steps and into a large room. "when I was scouting the tower I found this place. I believe it will be perfect to test out your skills. here we have a large chamber filled with pillars, they are wide enough to hide behind, but too narrow to shelter behind for long." the room had a high ceiling, with pillars stretching to the roof. these were positioned some 3 paces apart, leaving avenues inbetween. "there are two doors, this one and another at the far end. for the spar the two archers will enter from different ends at the same time. you must then use the cover to protect yourself from their arrows, whilst trying to locate your opponent." he paused to pull several arrows from his quiver. "for this you will have 4 arrows, blunted so's to prevent injury. remember, a shot arrow can be retrieved, either by you or your opponent."
Darvan returned the arrows and picked up his bow. "this room can also be used to spar with opponents armed with different weapons, they must use the cover to get closer to you, but it should provide a challange for them. are there any questions? if not, any volunteers to test out my sparring theory?!"