We’ve had a large increase in archers in the past few months, this showed with the great turn out of combat archers at Northern Oaken War Maneuvers this past weekend.
At NOWM there were some questions about who combat archers are engaged with, what their target area is, and how hard a projectile needs to hit. I’m hoping to give some guidance on all three of those questions.
Combat archers are engaged with all combatants on the field at all times. You do not need to be aware of them for them to shoot you. Yes, this means you can be shot in the back (In fact, I was shot in the back at NOWM. It was 100% the tactically sound thing to do, I had lost my sword arm and was trying to get archers to yield to me. I praised the archer to his unit commander for this action).
Arrows and bolts have the same target area as thrusts from handed weapons. This means, the top and sides of the head are not valid target areas. The only part of the head that is a valid target is the face. The body is a valid target – excepting the wrists and from the knee and below.
A shot from a combat archer does not need to have the same amount of force as a thrust from a hand weapon. Generally, if you notice that you were shot in a valid target area you should take the shot.
Let me know if you have any questions.