Unprotected Bowmen

DaiSho · Post by **DaiSho** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:34 pm

Hi All,

I've always been a bit... shy of using:

Medium Foot/Unprotected/Undrilled/Bow/-/- @5 AP.

I've thought "well, won't they be the target, but the other day I played against a guy who had two BG's of 8. They worked quite well with one another, covering each others arcs etc.

Maybe it's just me, but I've never felt much success with archer units, not that I've used them in FoG at all.

I'm quite partial to the Bow*, but the Bow itself... without another side arm... scary.

On the flip side, however, whenever I've taken on bow I've always felt a bit scared about 'going in disrupted and them having more dice'... so I dunno, what's people's experience?

Ian

Scrumpy · Post by **Scrumpy** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:47 pm

My bow usually suck, my opponents stand there all day.

I now blame Dan's dice at the IWF.

DaiSho · Post by **DaiSho** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:51 pm

Scrumpy wrote:My bow usually suck, my opponents stand there all day.

I now blame Dan's dice at the IWF.

Yeah, ok, so apart from Scrumpy the dice demon, has anyone any bow experience?

Ian

gozerius · Post by **gozerius** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:27 pm

You could try to get some enclosed fields to hide in. You still shoot at full effect but the terrain negates the enemy's shooting advantage. That's my strategy when using crossbows against bow or longbow armed opponents. I think that shooters of all types benefit from larger formations. I recently beat up 2 BGs of 6 MF bow with a pair of 8 LF bow BGs. Same amount of shooting dice, but the 8s were more resilient.

Scrumpy · Post by **Scrumpy** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:00 pm

More the demon dice, rather than a dice demon.

hazelbark · Post by **hazelbark** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:20 pm

I think there are a few things to think about.

1) What can assist the bow if say enemny serious foot apprach.
2) Do you have a TC to commit to hepl them and commit at the impact phase. 2nd rank shooting with re-rolls on 5s you may get lucky and generate enough hits.
3) In 8s you have some ability to withstand enemy bow fire.
4) You can't stand still you have to push enemy LH or have someone else push for you.

I think the question is what else can help them is critical. If it is just them they are in trouble.

guitarmeniac · Post by **guitarmeniac** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 12:21 pm

if there mf bring at least protected because your stuffed if charged as you can't flee but i would bring unprotected lf as it saves points and you do what lights do best run

deadtorius · Post by **deadtorius** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 7:19 pm

I have used MF unprotected bow in my Selucid army a few times. Being undrilled you better make sure they are opposite and pointing at the intended target, they can't manouver worth a darn. I use mine in 6's started with 8's but the extra frontage makes it harder to get anything else in there and when they go makes for a real big gap. I have been lucky so far that when they get hit, and you know they will, they have managed to stand for 2 or 3 turns before breaking and running. Keep them out of your main line as this leads to big gaps forming. LF bow would be better there in 8's since they can move through any friends behind them. The MF being able to shoot from the 2nd rank on impact is nice and can disorder the enemy if you are lucky. If you go up against heavy weapons you have no armour to counter so your best bet to stick against them since their basic tactical advantage is moot. Now my only experience with them has been against Romans and ancient Spanish but they have done ok for me managed to break 2 units in 2 games so far just from shooting casualties. Thing about bows is the more you can bring to bear the more dice the better the number of hits you can get. MF with LF bow for extra support is good combo since the undrilled will likely not be able to move into a useful position as easily as the lights will.