Bows a start (compounds Added)

Art basics and can add more if need (which I expect it will)
DESCIPTION

In the beginning the bow was very crude and shabbily made. The basis of the bow was a strong thin branch bend into a cresent shape and tied at each end with a strong and thin material material(from now on called the string). When the string is pulled the branch bends further and further back. As the string is realised the branch springs back realising the energy built up. (more info in origin section)

In short the bow is a very varied weapon which changes from tribe to tribe and from race to race. Each archer also usually personalies their bow and arrows.

Cetain things are common to most bows:

Drawlength:

This is how far the archer actually draws the string to “full draw” before releasing the arrow. The draw wieght of a bow is measured at 0.66 peds and increases / decreases by
2ob per 2 nailsbreadth drawn beyond / below that point.

Draweight:

This is the power the bow has at a drawlength of 0.66peds. The higher the draweight the more powerful the bow.

Staking:

This is when a bow is made to be a certain draw weight but through time the wood it is made of takes increases the drawweight . The only way to bring the drawweight back
down again is to retiller the bow.

Tillering:

This is the working of the wood , Bone etc into the bow..

The Flight of the Arrow:
While the traditional bows have an inital acceration and then starts to decelerate even before the arrow has completely left the bow the compond bow's arrow acelerates throughout the bow with the extra push as the string pushes the cams back through the cams giving the extra draw weight back to the bow.

One drawback of this bow is that if the strings break you would need a bowyer that knows what he is doing and owns a bow press to fix it.

ARROWS:

For bows:

These also vary from archer to archer and from bow to bow.

Arrows vary in thickness , length , number and type of flight, type and style of tip.

Length: This depends on the archer Idealy the arrows should be 2 nailsbreadth greater than the archers drawlength.

Thickness: This varies due to the poundage of the bow. The higher the poundage the thicker the arrow in general.

Flights: Usually 3 or 5 feathered flights shaped and tailored to the archer. The length of the feathers are usually 6 or 10 nailsbreadth.
The height of the feathers depends of the archer. Higher feather helps compansate for a bad loose (release of the arrow)

Tip: This can be made of brass or steel in various styles and weights to act along with the thickness of the arrow to have a good "Archers paradox " and a true line of flight.

There are the following types of bows:

Shortbow:

These actually don't exist their are just bows that are short (usually a form of composite bow).

Longbow:

These exquisite bows are alway made from wood.
The longer the bow the easier it is to draw. The wood has a "memory" and each bow should only be drawn by one archer or the bow can be damaged or break ( as all
archers draw differently) Higher the drawweight the further it shoots.
A bow of 30ob draw weight will have to shoot at a higher elevation to reach the same point as someone shooting a 60ob drawweight bow.
One extra problem with Longbows is that these bows usually stack. This means that and archer could buy a 30ob bow but through time may end up shooting a 70 or 80 ob bow.

Crossbow:

The maximum drawlength for a crossbow is 0.33 peds and are very accruate or short distances. They usually used to pierce armour but have the hinderence of being slow to load.
The drawwieght of the crossbow is usually a quite high poundage. These bows are usually made of a combination of wood and metal.

The crossbow is a favourite of the Dwarves ( Is that ok Bard?) as they have delveloped a type of bolt and method to help in thier mining.

Composite Bows:

These are any bows are made of a series of different woods (but not one only) or a combination of three substances joined together in three layers , but follow the main rules of Longbows.

The different layerings of the bow make the bow act differently depending on what the substances are used in the building of the bow. This is because each substance stores energyin different ways and the combination of all three layers is how the bow reacts.

Compound Bows:
This is much shorter than the traditional Long bow and Composite bow being about 1 ped in length rather than about 2 peds. The compound bow is approximatley twice to
three times the width of the Long bow to incorporate the cam system in the end of each limb. These bows are relitivley rare as the skill and engineering involved in making one. There are very few Boyers that can make a good Compound bow.

There are various types of bows and arrows in this world and this is but an overview. Different clans and tribes have various diferations on bows etc.

The Strings of a Compound:
Unlike the longbows and Composite bows which have one string which is attached to the end of each limb , the compound bow has a complex system of three strings /
cables. Two of the strings are attached to small holes in the cams in a X fashion whilst the third is looped around the cams.
Its is this third string the archer pulls back. The string pulls the cams round, Once the cams have been turned the drawwieght lessens considerabley. If the inital draw wieght
of the is 80obs then the "holding wieght"of the bow can be as little as 40obs. The lessened "holding wieght" gives a very powerful bow a handleable wieght to hold at full draw whilst the archer aims giving it more accuracy.

The Flight of the Arrow from a compound:
While the traditional bows have an inital acceration and then starts to decelerate even before the arrow has completely left the bow the compond bow's arrow acelerates throughout the bow with the extra push as the string pushes the cams back through the cams giving the extra draw weight back to the bow.

One drawback of this bow is that if the strings break you would need a bowyer that knows what he is doing and owns a bow press to fix it.

Brownie Bow: (you wanted one right Xarl)

This is a miniture verison of the compound bow with a modified cam system which lets the bow shoot about 1/4 of the distance of the compound bow.

Usage

The bow is used as a missile weapon to attack from distance or give cover to infantry advancement. Some bows like the short bows are also used as a hunting tool in forests and such like. To be able to be able to shot a bow can be quite easy but to be any good is extremly difficult and to master is a lifetime study.

Fighting Style

Archers tend to be at distance from the battle and stationary when shooting. However , some smaller bows are designed to be shot from horseback. Archers when giving covering fire usually stand in ranks shooting high above there own ranks into the heart of the ememy.

Origin / History

Depending on which race and which tribe you talk to the origin of the bow can be very different.

As skill and knowledge improved and Archers experimented with tailoring and and shaping the riser and limbs ( the part of the bow which used to be simply a branch) The bows became stronger and looked more elegent.

This varies from bow to bow
see separate entries

Origin of the Compound Bow:

In order to built a bow like this takes the skills of a master engineer and bowyer
working in harmonany There are not many who have these skills so the bows would be
scarce.

Bard Judith:- I was wondering if the Dwarves could be the inventors????

One drawback of this bow is that if the strings break you would need a bowyer that
knows what he is doing and owns a bow press to fix it.

A quick comparison:

Bow drawwieght bow material max distance shot

Shortbow 10 - 40 ob wood or bone 0.8 Dash

Longbow 30 -120 ob wood 2.5 Dash

composite 20 - 80 ob wood or bone 1.6 Dash
bow

crossbow 24 - 120 ob wood and metal 0.8 Dash

compound 20lb - 160 ob metal 3 Dash
bow

Any more needed????

LEGOLAS:" Uragels offical translator"life is like the flight of an arrowmake it true

Edited by: legolas acher at: 8/13/02 2:57:01 pm

Stormcrow