Stay on Target – Realms Archery by Carol "Charwindle" Eddy

At every UConn SMAC practice there comes the time when I put down the sword & shield and pick up the bow.  What I offer you is my perspective, no more and no less – what I have learned in 3 years of weekly war maneuver archery.  I am not a professional archer.  This series is not intended to be the be-all and end-all of archery in the Realms.  It is meant to make you think, question, and receive an archer's eye view of the battlefield.

This is the first installment of a seven-part series on combat as an archer in the Realms. It is my hope that this series will have something to offer all readers: for the new or aspiring archer, it offers advice, tactics, drills, and observations; for the veteran archer, a set of perspectives from a fighter-archer to compare and contrast with your own experience; and for the non-archer, a look into the mentality and tactics of your ranged friends (and enemies).  Hey, there's even a piece on how best to kill us.

PART 1: EQUIPMENT

A successful archer requires three things: a bow, an arrow, and a victim.  (Note this need not be a willing victim, though that is encouraged to prevent the destruction of friendships.)  It is also good policy for an archer to use gloves, to take measures to protect his bow, and to find a good way to carry his arrows and sword(s).  Equipment will address all these items.

Arrows.

The most important piece of equipment in an archer's arsenal is his arrow.  Even the Omnibus acknowledges that it is the arrow, not the bow, that is the 'weapon' of the archer.  A poor arrow cannot be salvaged even if fired from the best of bows; a great arrow can deliver death in the hands of the simplest and cheapest bow.  Most of your time, energy, money, and effort as an archer will be spent acquiring and maintaining your own personal collection of arrows.

Everyone has their own unique twist on making arrows; find someone whose arrows you like firing and ask them to share their secrets, or, perhaps, ask to commission arrows from a fletcher in the Realms.  There are a number of folks who make arrows to sell, if you are not sure you are up to trying your hand at your own.  Ultimately, however, I believe it in an archer's best interests to create and maintain his own arrows.  Then he will be in control of his own readiness for the fight, and be able to make the inevitably necessary minor repairs on his own.

The question them becomes: how many arrows do I need?

Well that depends - what are you going to do with them?  Questing will put a very different demand on your ammunition stock than war maneuvers – and even among them: you will never get a chance to fire all your arrows in an unlimited line battle, where in a bridge battle, you could easily bring three times as many as you normally carry and still run out.

My general rule of thumb is 3 / 6 / 15.

3 arrows is a good number for the new archer. You are just trying this out, and not sure you want to stick with it for the long term, but require arrows to practice.  Or, conversely, a friend of yours expressed interest in archery and you thought you'd give him a gift of his (first) arrows - get 3.

Three is the number of arrows an archer can comfortably have "drawn" - that is, actively handling along with the bow and not stored in a quiver.  I usually begin battle with one arrow nocked, and two in the drawing hand.  It's also few enough that you don't need a quiver yet.  You can tuck your weapon(s) under your arm, and practice opening the battle with a few shots, and then abandon the bow to fight the rest in melee.  This will give you a chance to hone your targeting skills before fully investing as an archer – and, with three shots, you have a real opportunity to do damage in the battle and get a feel for archery in mass combat.

For a dedicated archer, the magic number is 6. Used well, 6 arrows will see you safely through most general encounters. A line battle (limited or unlimited) rarely lasts longer than 20-30 seconds.  That is one arrow per four or five seconds – if you survive to the end.  Ideally, you will be shooting faster than that.  However in a late stage line battle, you will likely be taking the opportunity to scrounge arrows off the field as needed.  The same principle applies to questing.  Except for choke situations that resemble door/bridge battles, 6 arrows will allow you to support your questing line, and as the line advances, you will recover your arrows in time to use them again.

The last number, 15, is the minimum number of arrows I'd feel comfortable with in my quiver when starting a larger / longer war maneuver.  Yes, I will happily shoot 70 or more arrows if I have them, but transporting those arrows to and on the event site becomes a logistical challenge for a single archer.  One archer can comfortably carry 15-20 arrows, plus their weapons, armor, and other gear (water, etc) from place to place without weighing themselves down with unmanageable bulk.  Additionally, if you have the time/funds/energy to upkeep this number of arrows, you can carry them in a quiver into line battles and on quests in a manageable fashion, enabling you to shoot faster / go longer without having to scrounge, compared to the 6-arrow-archer.  It is certainly nice to have more arrows, but if you are on a budget or not willing to invest the time/money, 6 will serve you well under most circumstances.

That being said, if you have access to more arrows for war maneuvers... there's nothing quite like the expression on fellow archers' faces when you haul out another full quiver from the sidelines and offer them all to take a few.

Bows & Draw Weight.

I've spent all this time talking about arrows and still haven't touched on bows yet!  That is because, from my point of view, almost any serviceable bow capable of putting an arrow in the air is good for Realms use.  (Remember a bow must have a draw weight < 30lbs to be Realms legal.)

My first recommendation is: borrow before you buy.  All bows are a little different, and everyone likes a different 'feel' in their weapon.  Some bows throw their arrows, gently tossing them through the air in killing arcs.  Other bows drive their arrows in straight, hard lines – and this is not necessarily just a matter of draw strength.  Both kinds  feel very differently in your hands and put different stresses on your fingers and shoulders/back.  My brother has a fiberglass recurve bow that, though less in poundage than my latest bow, is much more demanding on my draw hand, and I do not like it as much as my wood/fiberglass compound bow. On the flip side, my friend Jess has a 22lb fiberglass bow that throws its arrows much farther than my old 15lb, but requires more arc even in short distances.

Every bow is different.  Approach archers that you know, and (politely!) ask if you can fire a few shots with their bows. Don't be put out if they refuse.  Bows are expensive, yo!  But try to find a "feel" that is best for you, before you purchase your own.

As for when you are ready to buy...

For a starting archer, I recommend the 10-12 lb bows that are available at Dicks or WalMart, for around $20. The Dicks bow has the added advantage of being collapsible... you can literally take it apart for easy transport.  (If/when you get a more powerful bow of 60”+, you will look back on those days with longing!)  This bow is plenty powerful enough for the typical Realms range, and make it difficult for a beginning archer to draw too hard on their shots - which is a frequent early problem.

The most often spoken-of downside to these 'toy' bows is they are also often kid's bows.  This means they are tiny - not just from tip to tip, but they have a really short draw that can make them awkward to handle.  I actually find this is an advantage.  You will almost NEVER draw a Realms bow the way you draw a bow for non-boff archery – unless it has very minimal poundage.  If you do, chances are you are putting far too much force into your shots!  Remember this is lightest touch combat, and that goes for archery as well as melee.  You want your shots to be strong enough to be accurate as they carry towards the target – but no more than that.  A 'toy' bow will actually train your drawing arm not to pull back to the full, comfortable non-boff archery draw length.  This will be a good habit if you ever do get a more powerful bow.

For a "better" starter bow, check Amazon.  A 50" fiberglass recurve bow with a 20 lb draw weight is a near-perfect Realms bow - but it will set you back more, $80-$90.

Realms allows for bows up to a draw strength of 30lbs, but the truth is, you are almost universally better off going with a weaker bow.  Why?  Realms is a short-range game.  Simply put, most of your shots will be taken from within a distance of 20 feet.  You will very rarely shoot a target more than 30 feet away. For one, it is a rare battle that begins farther than that.  NPCs "reset" close by, lines of sight are limited, or tournaments / war maneuvers start with teams or squads close to each other. And, with ammunition limited, for the most part taking long shots is throwing your arrows away.  The fighter or caster will have plenty of time to have the limb healed or reset their armored cloak even if you do score a hit.  Essentially, the higher poundage bows just are not necessary for our combat range.

The first 2 years of my archery career I used a simple fiberglass bow with a 13-15lb draw. It was compact (<50”), drove its arrows, made overdrawing difficult, and was perfect in the close range that Realms prefers.  Unfortunately I lost it when I moved :( and had to acquire another.  My newer bow is a 28-29lb draw, cost 3x as much, and is not as good as the old one *for Realms*. It is longer, with a more powerful draw, which translates to more difficult to use in compact melee or bridge battles (it gets in the way, especially when I pull trick shots), more difficult to carry through the woods/underbrush when questing, and more difficult to restrict draw strength to minimum pull necessary.  Also, it doesn’t stow neatly in my quiver when I am not using it.  I am Forced to carry it.  This is particularly annoying on quests.

On the plus side, I can pull off some pretty spectacular across-the-field/arena trick shots.  They're great for getting attention and instilling fear.  I will attempt them maybe, maybe one shot in fifty.  If my bow were less powerful, I wouldn't be tempted, which is a good thing.

When I lost my first bow, I got a new one: I use a PSE Razorback set for a 28-29lb draw weight; it stands 62" and runs about $120.  And no, I don't get 6 times as many kills with this bow as I would with the simple kids version from Dicks. It is an excellent bow, and DOES let me take those long shots when the time comes - provided, of course, that I have an arrow that will stay on course over that distance! (See my comments above about good arrows being a better investment than a good bow!) That being said, I personally like having the flexibility to take the long shot. But you do not need to drop $100+ to have an excellent Realms bow that will serve you well.

Other advice: avoid compound bows with multiple strings, bows with attachments that will interfere with boff arrows (at least make sure they can be removed), or bows that load the arrow through the arm of the bow - our arrows won't fit.  Also, make sure your bow is left- or right-handed appropriately (or can be used with either hand) before you buy it.  Common sense, but it bears repeating!

Protecting your bow.

Now that you have a bow, the next step is protecting it.  It's nice, it's shiny, it's new, it may have logos on it or it may not.  Either way, I highly recommend covering it with duct tape.  It will not matter so much out in summer events in the grass.  But one stop by Hicks Arena at UConn and the concrete will put dangerous splinters in your fiberglass, and eventually even wreck the bow completely.

If you do use duct tape, I humbly recommend avoiding black or green.  Trust me – it's freaking impossible to find a green or black bow them after you drop it in the grass.  My current bow is red and white.  Not so subtle at night – but I do NOT recommend night archery anyway.

For the safety-conscious, build foam tips around the ends of your bow out of blade foam, and then seal with duct tape.  Turning to respond to a threat, or even your bow getting hit in combat, can cause those dangerous pokey ends to find someone's eye.  Foaming them only takes a minute - and will also protect the bow from unforgiving concrete. You will be dropping the bow on the ground, and often, during practice!  Protect it!

Lastly, if your bow has a rubber grip / handle / nock, I highly recommend you build it up with camp foam and then cover it with duct tape.  This serves two purposes: it gives a reliable platform from which to launch your arrows - which will make reloading much quicker - and second, the rubber handle will otherwise wear down over time as arrows pass over this.  I did not heed this advice originally.  After only a few practices, I could visibly see the wear on my handle/nock. Now, it is only the tape which wears, and that can easily be replaced.

Quivers.

When you get to more than 3 arrows, you run into the problem of how to store them. Unfortunately historical archery is not terribly useful to us at this point, because the arrows we use are (for safety reasons) much bulkier and more difficult to carry around than classic arrows.

Most quivers fall into two types: side, and back. I used a side quiver my first event – and never went back.  That's right, ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to read is pure propaganda for the back quiver.

I must begin with a disclaimer.  Your mileage may vary on this one. A number of long-term, respected archers use side quivers.  I offer Kaz as an example.  But I have found that for the style of archery I play – which is as a mobile, active, and aggressive “front line” archer, I cannot afford to spend a free hand managing a quiver at my side.  Yes, it takes some practice to be 'used' to reaching for arrows on your back you cannot see, and managing the weight shifts that will put arrows or sword in your hand right when and how you want them  But, as with any other skill, practice leads to dramatic improvement, and you will find the fact that you physically can't be looking for the arrow you are looking to grab at means you are open to scan the field, choose targets, and assess threats while in the process of retrieving that arrow – which means in turn less wasted time between delivering death to those threats.

So, I offer you the range of reasons I use a back quiver.

1)      Mobility.  Most of my archery experience comes from weekly SMAC practice, where they have learned to hate me and love to kill me.  When you are being stormed by Panther/Shandar/Dystar/Aeston/your name here at a full rush, you are going to want to be able to MOVE.  Hopefully your fighter friends have read Panther's guide and will intervene.   But maybe they're dead, or on the other side of the field, or distracted, or any number of things.  It is often up to you to use your own teammates as moveable obstacles (even when the teammates aren't aware of it) That means being able to adjust yourself rapidly to the changing field.  For someone as clumsy as I am, I want zero chance that I am going to tangle in my quiver.

2)      # of arrows.  When I am carrying a full load of 25+ arrows, my quiver is bigger around than I am.  A back quiver is a better way to transport the large number of arrows needed for drawn-out war maneuvers... or on quest.

3)      Storage space.  Speaking of on quest: I have had many anecdotes from Ranger (who also uses a back quiver) of the number of swords, axes, five foots, random magic/silver weapons, and other schlock that he has been able to tote in his one-size-fits-all quiver.  I myself once carried around a brace of axes on a quest that came in mighty useful later on. (Then again, maybe you see pack mule capacity as a drawback!)

4)      Access to weapons.  Since you cannot carry a hand weapon and wield a bow at the same time, the quiver is the natural place to store your go-to weapon of choice.  I am an archer, but I am also a fighter.  I carry a two-stick florentine combination in my quiver, and have gotten quite skilled at dropping the bow and pulling both swords to defend myself in range (much to the surprise of my assailants).  I have tried a variety of ways to carry those swords at my side, and simply have not found any good/reliable way to draw the weapons from a hip quiver.  This problem is further complicated if you use a 4'6” or 5” (see: Ranger, Dystar).  The long, protruding bamboo handle easily fouls the bow when it is stowed at your side, or becomes a liability to any fighters standing around you in close quarters as it swings about with your quiver.  This item can be safely stowed at your back and drawn at will.  Yes, there is the added difficulty of reaching for your swords and ending up with an arrow in your fist instead (or vice versa), but you will be amazed how quickly you can identify the hilt of your weapon.  Indeed, the more you use it in your back quiver, you will come to learn where the weapon naturally “rests”, and will be able to grab it unerringly every time you reach for it.

5)      Speed reload.  I have a lot of thoughts on techniques for rapidly shooting off multiple arrows within seconds in an uninterrupted rhythm, which requires its own section (Part 2: Mechanics of Archery).  Let it be said that the motion of drawing an arrow over my right shoulder – I am right handed – blends seamlessly with the placement of the arrow on the bow; in addition, the motion of raising the bow and drawing the string with my right hand integrates in a single movement into withdrawing the second arrow from over my shoulder.  This economy of motion minimizes changes in direction, allowing for surprisingly rapid fire.  This is especially great when facing a rush from more than one opponent.

Yes, there are downsides to the back quiver.  For example: arrow dodging by turning sideways to avoid an incoming arrow really doesn't work (lol).  Also, while I usually have no trouble feeling melee blows on my quiver - trust me, those guys REALLY want you dead - it is difficult to feel magic missile or lightning bolt props through the quiver.  It is important to be extra sensitive to these when you are running from/past sorcerers and always, always be specially attentive to other players and nearby marshals in case you miss the prop impact on your back.  And, of course, you cannot actually see the arrows/weapons you are reaching for when you are reloading or switching combinations.  I, however, consider this an advantage of the back quiver, in the habits it forces the archer to develop.

Back quivers are easily constructed with the most basic sewing skill.  (It is, I think, the only thing Dystar has ever sewed in his life – and he loves his.)  You are essentially building a bag that is 2/3 of an arrowlength deep, with a circular or rectangular base large enough to accommodate your desired number of arrows.  (If your arrowheads are 3” in diameter, and you want to carry 12 of them, make yourself a 12” by 9” bag.)  I recommend folding over the top into a “sleeve” into which you can slide a rope as a drawstring, and therefore tighten your bag to keep arrows upright or loosen it to accommodate additional ammunition.  A pair of fabric backpack-like straps with adjustable buckles completes the affair.  I use black denim for my standard quivers; it's rugged, sturdy, and unobtrusive.  Alternately, stiff leather makes for an excellent quiver, especially for smaller 6-arrow sizes.

Gloves.

I recommend gloves under all circumstances for Realms fighting; I've been piped in the knuckles one too many times.  Gloves will also protect your fingers from the wear and tear of the string.  If you are going to be doing archery, lighter gloves are better, so you can feel the arrow/string and your own fat fingers do not get in your way when trying to nock your arrows.  I have found some motorcycle gloves with light rubber reinforcing on the knuckles that are suitable for both melee and archery combat, at a cost of $15.

Don't forget...

An archer's final, VITAL piece of equipment is his sword.  Whether it's a 5', a florentine pair, your trusty 3', or heck, a set of daggers, an archer who takes to the field without a melee weapon deserves the death that comes stalking him.  And oh, it will... but more on that later…

A final note.

If you're tallying in your head, you've struck upon one of the surprising truths of archery - it's expensive.  A healthy set of excellent arrows will cost you as much as a set of chain, and require just as much (or more) maintenance.  A 'good' bow runs cheap, but a fancy one is more expensive.  Despite the initial investment, if you are willing to take it slow and carefully maintain your equipment, bow and arrows alike will serve even the most active archer faithfully year after year.