Fast archery

[Blue Ghost]

When I saw Peter Jackson's LOTR's films, I thought Legolas was a bit much with his archery, but, after seeing this clip, I've found a new respect for the character;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o9RGnujlkI

 

[Carlobrand]

WHERE IS HER BRACER??? The woman is mad! Mad, I tell you!

I used to do that kind of stuff in the SCA. Of course, they were SCA arrows, which meant a padded head and a bunch of wrapping to keep the thing together if it broke, and a really lightweight bow, and rules on helmets so people didn't lose eyes - and it was still a little dangerous. Yeah, those were the days. We did speed rounds at some of the archery tournaments too.

Idea was pretty basic - if you've got a line of fighters ahead of you, you don't have to be terribly accurate 'cause there's this solid mass of targets, just get the arrows out there as fast as possible and they'll hit something. That, and you were going to be dead in a minute anyway 'cause that line was going to come charging at you once they noticed you, so might as well get rid of as many as you could before they got you. Of course, a lot depended on whether they were polearm or shieldmen - if the shieldmen noticed you, you were usually better off running for it or just kneeling and yielding, unless you really thought you could best a shieldman with just your backup weapon. I sure couldn't.

BUT I USED A BRACER!

 

[Spinward Scout]

I wonder what her aim is like. Fast AND accurate usually don't go together. It's hard to tell from the video.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Start looking for mounted archery competitions (based on the Mongol and Cossack styles). There's some speed and accuracy. From the back of a moving horse. That little girl had it easy - neither she nor her target was moving.

(And, yes, it was a roleplaying PC that had me looking that stuff up. SOme day I may get to play him. )

 

[aramis]

BUT I USED A BRACER!

I didn't. But with the armor required for Light Infantry (during that WK experiment), a bracer would have been redundant. Quilting was the minimum for the limbs... And shooting with leather gloves on isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world, but it's doable.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Start looking for mounted archery competitions (based on the Mongol and Cossack styles). There's some speed and accuracy. From the back of a moving horse. That little girl had it easy - neither she nor her target was moving.

(And, yes, it was a roleplaying PC that had me looking that stuff up. SOme day I may get to play him. )

I rode horses as a kid. Didn't like it much. I still don't. My dad on the other was a champion equestrian. Horses are great in story books and in movies. No place else

I've yet to try archery, but am curious.

Cool vid.

 

[BlackBat242]

WHERE IS HER BRACER??? The woman is mad! Mad, I tell you!

I used to do that kind of stuff in the SCA.

.....

BUT I USED A BRACER!

I didn't. But with the armor required for Light Infantry (during that WK experiment), a bracer would have been redundant. Quilting was the minimum for the limbs... And shooting with leather gloves on isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world, but it's doable.

I used to do archery... both in 1981 in a college archery class (PE credit) and a decade+ later in the SCA (target, not combat).

Once I got my muscle-memory trained so that part of the draw-motion was automatically rotating my elbow, I dispensed with the bracer, as it was not only not needed, but the string would hit the bracer and alter the shot far more often than it would graze my forearm.

All I had to do was wear a shirt with close-fitting sleeves of heavy cloth (felt-lined linen or a brocade) and my arm never got "stung" at all.

 

[Epee]

Impressive. I see that the target is a loose hanging blanket. This and the ease with which she draws the bow leads me to believe that the draw weight is probably on the light side compared to say, a modern hunting bow.

Notice that the bow isn't drawn to the chin or ear Western Euro-style and that the bow is an "active recurve".

 

[Carlobrand]

...Once I got my muscle-memory trained so that part of the draw-motion was automatically rotating my elbow,...

Yeah, I had the devil of a time with that.