[Castellum]1st Kaugzi Horde (Basic Shortbow) *guide*

[Gauls]

Cycle 3 in the Month of Imperos,
in the Season of Autumn, Era II of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XIV Post Fractum

The first Kaugzi Horde has taken the field. There are two firsts which make this horde special. For one thing, they are the very first horde of 3500 non-orc races from Orckon (called Kaugzi) to start their training as support forces to the Great Horde of Orckon. The second thing is the fact that they are the first to step foot upon the new archery training field at the Narim Castellum. This field was constructed by the orc clan that inhabits the Castellum, a great orc clan descended from the once powerful clan of founding orcs called the Stone Rot Clan. The Stone Rot were engineers in their day and they once again showed their heritage and prowess in the construction of this archery facility. Not as shabby as one would expect to be build for orcs to use, the Kaugzi were expected to treat this field with a little more respect thus more effort was put into its construction.

The field filled up with bodies up to thousands. 3500 mostly goblins but also other dark races grouped themselves under the grand pavillion sitting upon the ground waiting for their shortbow lessons to start. This cycle was to be given to the basics of the shortbow. Many of the goblins were already proficient with the shortbow, the only bow that they were strong enough to wield, and so this group was not expected to have any troubles gaining the basic skill needed to mesh them into the workings of the Great Horde.

Goblins had the priviledge of joining a Kaugzi Horde without actually joining the Great Horde. They were considered a detachment force capable of supporting the Great Horde or any garrison the Horde Master saw fit for them to bolster. Other dark races besides goblins or orc were required to join the horde at the recruitment hovel in Orckon prior to showing up here for shortbow training. Once the trainers were confident that they had the 3500 bodies to start the class, they proceeded their introductions.

"SHHHUUUT UUUUP!" one high pitched goblin voice blasted out. Immediately the pavillion grew silent. Obedient were kaugzi under the constant thumb of their lords, the orcs. They responded well to orders.

Now with introductions out of the way, the actual classroom portion of the training cold take place.

"You ratta are 'ere to learn tha basics of tha shortbow."

There was a goblin, tall for his race, standing upon a raised wood platform in the center of the pavillion. Thousands of kaugzi sat upon the ground around the platform and so the goblin could turn a full 360 degrees to see every recruit and they him.

The Basic Components

: Holding up a shortbow :

"This thing'a shortbow for those of 'ew tha' don' know."

Some of the goblins in the class already had shortbows either hooked to their belts or slung in some manner across their little bodies. So were some of the other races sporting their own personal shortbows but they held on to theirs a bit more loosely some holding them in their hands or lying them upon the ground next to where they sat.

"They usually 3 feet in length, formed out of flexible wood an' have tapered ends." the class leader continued. "Tha string's made of tendon and are protected by oil or wax."

As the class leader spoke, carts were being pushed out by orcs down the sides of the pavillion and parked in rows spaced out evenly. Each cart was overflowing with shortbow and quivers of 15 arrows each.

The class leader picked up the volume of his high pitched voice to draw the attention of those that were watching the cart bearers working back to what he was speaking about. "Draw weights! Draw weight is tha resistence to tha pull you place on tha string. Tha shortbow only has a draw weight between 40 and 65 pounds. That be why we not git bigger bows. Maybe you vysstichi wit' more skill and strength you can git one bigger but maybe other bows too big fer goblins to handle."

The class leader turned upon his platform demonstrating his draw back to the class so they can see the resistence or draw weight that he experiences.

"Shortbows are short-to-medium range weapons, their maximum normal effective range is 'bout 40 yards, but are best used within 30 yards."

When the goblin mentioned this close range for the bow, whispers rose up from the class. A 3 foot goblin with just a dagger and this little bow getting within 40 yards of an enemy was unbelievable.

"Don' worry, that is why tha Kaugzi fight with orcs. They do tha protectin' an' fightin' while we do tha shootin'! Tha small size of tha bow means they are easily carried and can be used while mounted."

The goblin paused and waited for the whispers to die down then added, "Are there any questions?"

Hands flew up instantly. The class leader would spend the next few moments calming the class's fears.

Secrets : *this class is open to all to join. The only rule is that you must join the Horde in Ire before posting here

[Gauls]

The class leader was finally wrapping up his questions session with some final remarks...


"Wit 'yer bow, you will be used to intimidate, harass, demoralize, and cause casualties at long range. In tha Horde, archers provides tha capability to cause casualties at range in order to 'soften' enemy ranks before close fightin' starts. You will take your places deployed where you will be protected by a force of infantry that has better close combat capabilities. The skill level of archers does not need to exceed professional level since archers are expected only to send up a dense volley of arrows that will then rain down upon the enemy. In large skilled group, archers can keep up a moving curtain of arrows that would precede a force of advancing allies."


All this fancy speaking has impressed many but merely lowered the level of concern in others.

Basic Terms

"Ok, 'fer you to understand some of what I am saying, 'ere be some terms you gotta know. First, Maximum Accurate Range: Tha maximum distance at which an archer can consistently strike a 3’ diameter target. Second, Effective Kill Range: The distance at which an archer can consistently strike a 1’ diameter bulls-eye. An archer can generally guarantee a kill or called shot (with 1' diameter variance) at this range. Steel plate armor is completely ineffective against the archer within this range. Third, Maximum Rate-of-Fire: Tha number of arrows an archer can release accurately on target within one minute. If accuracy is not required in tha case of firing a mass volley, this number increases by 150%. And last, Targeting Ability: Tha type of target upon which an archer can exercise their maximum or kill range."


The goblin paused and looked over his group to give a second for all that to sink in.

[Gauls]

"Ok, everyone tha' don't have a bow or quiver of arrows, go to tha carts and get one!"

It was a welcome change. Some eyes in the group were getting heavy listening to the class leader ramble on about draw weights, bow components, etc. None of which were very interesting to a goblin. The vysstichi saw it as boring just because they thought this type of class was way beneath them. They were elves for Haya's sake!

String/ Unstring

After all of the recruits had a bow, the leader on his platform reached down to an aide standing beside the platform on the ground holding his bow and quiver. Slinging the quiver cross-bodied, he held up his bow.

"Now, take your bow an' grasp both ends. Squeeze the ends together as hard as you can. If you not strong 'nough, stand tha bow on one end on tha ground an' push down. Use a knee to help bend tha bow enough to loosen tha string enough to where you can unhook it from the top end."

The goblin demonstrated this to the class and actually was not strong enough to squeeze the bow ends together so he had to stand it on end and use the ground and his knee to aide him. He looked around the pavillion to see when all the recruits had the string removed.

"Good! tha' be called "unstrung bow" You do that when you need to change tha string, repair tha bow shaft, or need to store tha bow or destroy it so it can't be used against you. Removing tha string makes sure that no enemy able to turn your own bow against ya!"

The students all looked at one another's work making sure that they had done the unstringing correctly.

"Now do tha same thing but in reverse." the goblin showed how to put the string back on the bow by following the same procedure in reverse. It seemed easy enough. Now they moved to the next lesson.

Intro to Arrows

: Drops his bow and pulls an arrow from his quiver :

"That container that be holdin' your arrows is called a quiver but many of you should already know that." Upon hearing this, the vysstichi in the group rolled their eyes and huffed. So degrading that this goblin would think that they don't know what a quiver is.

The class leader upon the platform continued turning to each direction as he held up an arrow. "Now how many of you know what tha parts of an arrow are?"

There was a short silence then a vysstichi spoke out near the base of the platform. "Arrowhead or "tip", shaft, nock, and fletchings" he said.

As the vysstichi spoke, the leader pointed to each piece that was named on his arrow. "Good. If you notice, tha shaft is a bit short and the whole arrow is not very heavy. These arrows are light arrows that are made for small bows. There are heavier sizes of arrows for bigger bows. If you use tha bigger arrows on a shortbow, your range will be greatly affected. If you use light arrows on bigger bow, when you release string, tha arrow gonna fly in some strange direction an' maybe kill your own people!"

This was better info. Some goblins were not aware of this and were shaking their heads listening to the lesson.

"Now, when you are not using that arrows, make sure ta put them back in your quiver. If you damage tha feather part (pointing to the fletchings) the arrow won't fly straight."

There was another pause while he waited for the group to examine their arrows and then put them away.

[Gauls]

Basic Stance

The goblin continued with the class trying to go slow enough to where he doesn't lose any students but not too slow for the impatient vysstichi in the group. Standing with shoulder width apart, the goblin took a relaxed step back with his right foot. There, he planted it holding his bow in his left hand dangling freely at his side. His left shoulder was presented to the front but not squarely centered. His chin could be seen aligned parallel with his left shoulder.

"This be called tha "basic stance". Everyone get into this postion...

The goblin watched as the group grumbled then slowly moved to their feet. The goblin leader was furious and helped them get more motivated... "MOVE YOUR LAZY CARCASSES!" he bellowed. It didn't take long and the class was at their feet and copying the stance that the leader showed them.

Drawing and Anchoring

"Very nice." he said pleasantly. Next, without taking out an arrow, he presented his bow as if ready to fire. His left arm was straight in front of him holding the bow where the center of the bow shaft was aligned with his nose. Reaching up with his right hand, he used his index, middle and ring finger to draw back the bow string until it was pulled back to his cheekbone. There, he used his thumb to set the draw into a resting place just below his cheekbone.

"This be a "draw" position. Anytime you 'ere me saw "DRAW" this be what ya should be doin'." The goblin returned to his basic stance then ordered his class to copy his draw movement.

Aiming

After he watched the class perform the correct draw position, the goblin returned to the draw position then explained, "While in tha draw position, close your eye closest to tha bow an' use tha other eye ta aim. You should form a "V-shape" with your hand grapsing the bow. Use tha top of this V-shape ta aim at targets".

The class leader was seeing that the class was following along with everything so far but could tell they were ready for some action. "Ok, who is ready to shoot at somethin'?"

The class let out a deafening roar.

[Gauls]

Now the class leader hopped down from the platform he was on and motioned for the class to follow. All at once the great magnitude of feet shuffling was heard as thousands rose to their feet and began to move out onto the firing range behind the leader.

They had walked out to the 100 yard line drawn upon the field with a white dust. There, the goblin turned to face his class.

"Now, make a line here along this line from one side of the field to tha other. Make about 3 ranks deep." he bellowed for all to hear.

Volley Fire

As the recruits moved into position, they could look down the field toward the large burm at the end and see several straw men hung on posts. These targets were in a row from one end of the field to the other and evenly spaced ever so many feet apart.

"Look down there!" the goblin continued. "There is tha enemy! Now we are gonna fire what's called a "Volley". Tha volley is tha easiest thing to do with tha shortbow. Just simply draw back tha string, anchor, then release! There is no special aiming except to get your arrow down in the general area of tha target. Tha whole point of tha volley is to put as many arrows in one area as possible, not trying to hit 1 specific target. One of tha main downsides to volley firing is tha waste of arrows. Many of them don't hit anything. The other is that you cannot aim at one specific target."

The goblin stopped and made sure that everyone was paying attention. He could see the confusion on the faces of some of the class members.

"You maybe wonder why we use volley firing then? When there is whole shara army packed together coming toward you, you don't have time to aim and the more close the enemy is standing together, tha better chance to hit them!"

The goblin turned and stood upon the firing line. He drew an arrow from his quiver and nocked it on the bow. Drawing back and firmly anchoring, he let out a slight breath then released the string. The arrow flew up in an arch then down and landed near to but not on one of the targets.

"As you see, this is the maximum range of the shortbow. Tha chance that I hit that target is small but watch this..."

The goblin stood back behind the line of archers now standing there then yelled, "Archers! Nock!"

The whole line 3 ranks deep all pulled an arrow from their quiver then nocked it...

"Archers! Draw!"

This was order was familiar as they were taught to remember it in class specifically. The whole class in one fluid motion drew back then anchored...

"Fire!"

The words of the goblin were drowned out by the *whoooshing* of arrows just released in a mass volley. Strings went limp, bows snapped back into their relaxed state, but the arrows were in all disarray. Some of them dug into the ground not 30 feet from the line while others flew wildly left, right, or sailed over the targets. The groups of arrows that did make it to the target area were close and a few actually did strike a couple of the targets hung on the posts.

"Well, at least nobody got killed." the goblin gested.

Range Finding

"See, some of you hit tha targets. Others got close enough that you can now do what is called "range finding". To adjust your arrows to get closer to tha target, look straight down tha arrow shaft when you draw looking directly at tha target. Then raise your arm 10 degrees up or down depending upon where your last arrow struck. Raise it up 10 degrees for every 50 yards tha target is from you!"

The class nodded in acknowledgment.

"Now, let's try again..." the goblin leader once again stood behind the third rank to direct the action. "Archers! Nock!"

All three ranks pulled another arrow from their quiver...

"Archers! Draw!"

The bows were pulled upon forming arches as they aimed slightly upward from their previous volley and all of the class seemed to be doing the anchoring correctly.

"Fire!"

This time more arrows than before actually went more than 50 yards in the same direction. There was obviously more control as only a couple arrows flew wildly in odd directions. There were visibly more arrows protruding from the straw dummies.

"Good! Now, next three ranks!"

The goblin was impressed and continued with three ranks at a time firing two volley's each.

[Gauls]

The firing went well. After a few more rounds of volley fire, the class seemed to get the idea. It was all that could be expected of the recruits at this point.

"Great job. Now I expect to see you here at least two more times practicing what you have learned here. Der be nothin' more I can teach you."

It was done then. The class was given the instruction and practical application and now with a couple more brightenings they would be ready to use their new skills in battle. For what good it will do them at this level.