If the little man with the stringed twig hasn't taken out you and five of
your mates in ten minutes, he deserves to be run down. In a competition
speed round (30 sec.), the range of shots fired seems to average 4-8 shots
(I've known of some to fire 12 shots in this time, but the accuracy is way
down). English archery units of the time were taught to shoot in rounds.
One person per unit (who did not fire), would call something like "one..
two.. Nock.. four.. five.. Aim.. seven.. eight.. Loose. The timing varied,
but even at worst, this would mean 3 controlled, aimed shots per minute and
still be fresh enough to go hand to hand with swordsmen. As was pointed
out earlier, that lovely plate armor didn't slow up arrows that much, and
as it was standard to use stakes, archers didn't really need to be chased
down unless they left their area.
Also in the battle quoted above, the English limited the French avenue of
attack between heavy woods (too thick for cavalry), over a muddy field
which slowed the cavalry charge further. On a side note, that while this
was a good setup for archers, it was as good, possibly better for the
crossbowmen - the phrase 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory' seems
applicable.
_________________________________________

Thanks much for the real history input and practical experience. My own
archery is limited to making a fool of myself at SCA affairs and mild
practice with a compound bow. Too bad the cams I have aren't legal for
hunting (they have a 93% letoff) but they're great for practice and
"goofing off" so to speak.

My information on the Agincourt battle was taken directly from a letter in
issue 248 of Dragon. I had heard of that same battle several times before,
but had no direct figures - sorry if my information was not up to snuff
My assumption was that there was a great deal more that happened there
besides weapon superiority, but I had no verifiable facts (library isn't
exactly open at 2 AM - hehehe)

If anything - this whole string bears the danger of falling into a
continuation of the much overhashed "warcards rant" string. We all know
that the warcards are not accurate... at all. No matter what is done -
they will never be accurate. Furthermore - I'm not looking for historical
accuracy here - I want a game system that will allow me to run a battle
between two armies and not take up 12 hours of gaming, because my other 6
players are going to get really, really bored. I don't have the time for
accurate systems. AD&D itself is highly inaccurate, but guess what, the
system works with itself and provides an enjoyable evening. If I had the
time, I'd play Rolemaster, unfortunately I don't have six hours a night to
run twenty rounds of combat. Anyone can take this for what they will, its
just my "2 GB," as the prominent quote goes.

l8r
Tim