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. And as a fighter working in the same line as them, I've learned a few things.
The first is that they will accidentally hit you. It happens. If they are doing their job right, then they are taking advantage of small gaps around you, and using you to obscure their actions from the enemy (Figure 2). If you aren't communicating with them, they let a shot go, and you dodge right into the path. Once you begin to communicate, a whole new world of techniques open up to you.
Archers are particularly useful in limited battles, and somewhat less in unlimited battles. The range of a missile weapon makes an archer powerful, but then weak once the arrow has been shot. A good fighter knows to charge the archer immediately after they fire. A good archer will have the ability to reload quickly, even on the run, but there's still a window of time where the archer is vulnerable before they nock a new arrow.
As a fighter, I'm always looking for ways to make combat more efficient and though it may seem counter intuitive, anything I can do to minimize how much fighting I have to do, in order to eliminate enemy combatants, increases my odds of survival, and therefore increases our teams odds of winning. I have found that there is great benefit in learning to work with an archer both for me as a fighter, and for the archer as well.
As a fighter, your first job is to be in between the archer and the enemy who might want to advance on them. Listening to the archer and having a sense of their position is important. You can stray apart so long as you are able to get back in front of them when an enemy decides to advance on the archer. You don't even have to be very offensive, just be defensive and give the archer time to ready another arrow. Most likely he'll take care of the rest.
The fighter's job is not necessarily to kill the enemy, but to open them up to the archer using a conservative offense. Right off the bat, this causes the enemy to focus on the fighter and not the archer. By forcing them to block your attacks, even if you have no expectation of landing those shots, the enemy commits to certain movements that the archer should be waiting for. As the fighter, you don't really have to open yourself up, or take big risks.
If the enemy catches on, and they turn their attention to the archer thinking you won't attack, well now you have the reverse situation where you can likely land a shot because the enemy is distracted by the threat of the archer. But you have to be in range to take advantage of this. Above all, you need to be in range, even if your offense is conservative. If you are not in range, you are not in a position to take advantage of opportunities. So as the battle begins, your method is to engage conservatively, either making opportunities for the archer, or taking opportunities created by the presence of the archer.
As the line degenerates and melees occur, the archer needs to communicate to the fighter which direction he's going, as well as whether threats are coming from other directions. Again, the fighter can't see behind him, and may be focused on enemies. The archer should be focused on the enemy with which his fighter is engaged, looking for an opportunity. If another enemy comes from a different direction, the archer should communicate this and the fighter should retreat from the first fight and place themselves in between the archer and the oncoming attacker. This may require both archer and fighter moving away from both enemies simultaneously to create the time for the archer to reset. Effectively, the fighter-archer team uses the Dot-The-I technique (two-on-one drill), minimizing their exposure to just one enemy at a time.
Both of you should be highly mobile. If the fighter or archer can take legs from one enemy, it will give them time to deal with the remaining mobile enemy. The focus here should be on minimizing the mobility of the enemies, not necessarily killing them. If the fighter can keep the archer alive and slow down the enemies, killing them later will be easier. An enemy with one leg can be conservatively engaged by the fighter, while the archer approaches from the side or behind. As before, the fighter will not have to risk much, either the archer will get him, or the enemy will give the fighter an opening when defending themselves from the archer. The fighter should be prepared for the enemy who sees the writing on the wall to make a desperate leap in an attempt to get at least one of you. In that case, back pedal and let them fall, it only gives the archer more time to position himself.
Throughout all this the archer should be focused on looking for those openings and taking advantage of the opportunities the fighter creates. He should also be aware of the fighter’s flanks and communicate incoming threats, but in such a situation it is most important that the archer has confidence in the fighter's ability to protect him. This comes into play most when faced with having to nock another arrow. A typical scenario goes like this: The fighter is engaged and the archer strays to one side, fires an arrow, and now an enemy has seen their line clear to close on the archer. It's natural for the archer to want to keep their eyes on the enemy bearing down on them. Fear does that. But you have to nock that arrow. It's infinitely harder to do when you aren't looking at what you are doing. Though it's hard to tear yourself away from that menace, you have to. He's either going to get to you first or not, you really don't have to see it happen. By focusing on your hands, you increase your chances of being ready before he gets there. You can look up to see him once you get the arrow ready. This is true whether you work with a fighter or not (Figure 4). If you work with a fighter you have the added benefit of calling him in, and back peddling toward him if needed. If he's doing his job as described earlier, he'll insert himself between you and the enemy to give you more time. You return the favor by shooting the person he's holding off.
These techniques work exceptionally well in limited battles. In unlimited battles they really require an additional fighter, with the plan being that you have three shots you can stack up, the arrow and each sword. It's harder, but in certain cases the same techniques, focused on the enemy’s chest and timed right, can chew through the armor before the enemy can be repaired.
In Figure 5 we see two spell-casters swordsmen on either side of the archer. The archer uses the space between them to shoot. Notice that the spell-casters are not running ahead to get engaged with enemies. They are listening to the directions of the archer. In Figure 6 the archer has shot his arrow. Notice that the enemy now steps up and becomes more aggressive, but the swordsmen step up and take a much more aggressive stance to make the enemy think twice about advancing. Also notice that the archer is completely focused on readying another arrow. He trusts the swordsmen to protect him. By the time we get to Figure 7, the 
archer is ready to go again, and has turned to hold off a new threat from his right while the swordsmen use the time the archer has given them to heal their arms and be ready for the next enemy.
A small squad like this communicating can employ all the techniques regular fighters do, such as Dot-The-I and Cross-The-T. They can work anywhere in the standard line, or skirmish on the open field. Together they can kill isolated enemy, wound and slow down multiple enemies and collect arrows from anywhere on the field to keep the archer effective. So at your next practice, find an archer and try out some of these techniques.
