[MR] Archery in volleys?

[Andrew Barrett]

At 01:16 PM 7/29/2003, Jennifer Drury wrote:

>You are assuming that the gentle archer was actually *targetting* a man 
>who was unhelmed.

I'm changing the topic almost entirely, so I've re-titled to make a new 
thread. My question isn't really relevant to the discussion of the incident.

I'm new to the Kingdom, hailing just recently from the Midrealm. In the 
Midrealm, the archers (and there seemed few, compared to Atlantia) rarely 
if ever fire in volleys to target small areas of the field - opting instead 
to take aim at individuals.

I've read that, in the period, squads of archers were trained to shoot in 
volleys, and in sets of two shots. That is to say, the archers could aim 
the first shot high and arching, quickly nock a second shaft and aim low 
and straight at the same target area. In this way, each archer could place 
two arrows on the target area at the same time.

A squad of archers employing this method could track on an approaching 
group of close combatants and decimate or eliminate them before they could 
get to wherever on the field they were headed.

Do combat archers in Atlantia often employ that sort of tactic, or as in 
the Midrealm, is it the tendency to aim for individuals? I only ask, 
because I'd love to practice with a group of archers who employ similar 
tactics, so I could learn them.

Cheers,

Androu.