Bows: How Do You Use Them Properly?

[Alex Bostwick]

Zen, which options are you using for your army? Did you end up with three bow and two spear, or one bow and four pike? Or are you using a different list option?

I find that my tactics with bow vary somewhat depending on a few things. Firstly, the makeup of the army I'm facing. Secondly, how many bow elements I actually have. Finally, whether I am the defender or the aggressor.

If, for example, I'm playing my Medieval French list (1 KnG, 4x Kn// BD, 1x Art, 1x BD, 2xSp, 3xBw is my preferential choice- I think it's option C) and I'm playing against an army with, say, a bunch of knights mixed with blade and bow, my original deployment makes a big difference. Assuming that I'm the defender, I have the unhappy disadvantage of deploying first, and must therefore do so in a way which minimizes my weaknesses. The obvious matchups that a typical player will attempt to get are: Knights on heavy foot, heavy foot on bow, bow on knights. Considering that my opponent will have the opportunity to see my pre-swap deployment and set up his own army based on my decisions, I will need to mitigate that disadvantage as best as I can, and I like do it with bow.

Many players without extensive tournament experience will mass their lines based on troop type; knights with knights, blade with blade, bow with bow. I, personally, like to mix things up to maximize defensibility.

For example, my deployment in the matchup listed above might look something like this:

KN Bow KN SP Art Bow KN Bow BD
KN SP KnG

Or, something like that. That way, no matter where he deploys any given element, it will be near something it doesn't like; if he tries to match up a blade againse one of the bows, for example, there is a knight nearby to offer aid (and probably pick up a kill). It also ensures that his knights will HAVE to contend with the bow: there is no way to attack this line frontally without getting shot- unless, of course, my opponent uses his own bow for another exceedingly useful purpose: soaking off bow fire. In DBA, an element that shoots in a bound has to shoot an element that can shoot back if it can, unless it has already shot this bound.

If my opponent has been sly and positions his bows to pull their shots away from the knights, here is where you can be sly in return: use your swaps to mass your bow in an area where HIS bow is either lonely or relatively unsupported. This will allow you to either A) soak off his bowfire to one of your elements, freeing up your remaining bow to pick off another target or B) gang up ruthlessly on one of his bows, and at a 2-0, kill it 41.7% of the time (pretty damn good odds). An opponent using an army with knights facing bow that has now bow of its own (either because they didn't bring any, or they're all dead) will end up contorting his line like a yoga instructor to avoid the bow- usually, anyway.

It really boils down to how you want to use it: offensively, or defensively. Leaving your bow in a mixed line like the one I described above is a pretty solid defensive tactic, and, if you get lucky (something I, unfortunately, can pretty much never count on, as my poker standings have demonstrated) you can pick up a kill or two with them. If you want to be more aggressive, mass your bow (or buddy them up in pairs) and use them against appropriate targets.

But never, ever, if you can avoid it, leave a bow hanging, solo, in the open. They work best when supported well by elements which fare better against foot, or in tandem with another bow or two.

Another fun thing to do with bows is shminkle them a little bit. Take three bows and cock the two on the outside by a few degrees- like this, but far less acute: \_/. If you have an element on either side of your miniature "U Of Death," your opponent will only be able to attack two of them at once because their stands just won't fit, (and some funky ZoC situations) but you won't adversely affect your ability to fire. It will reduce your effective arc of fire, sure, but only by a bit.* **

*Note: This is considered cheesey, and should only be used against either people you dislike, people who bring Hussites or if your situation is desperate (there may be some overlapping in the Venn Diagram of these qualifiers.)

** This tactic has been mitigated in more recent rules, namely 2.2+, which will force the two elements on the end to conform to a group. 3.0 also does this somehow, but I have no idea how it works because it's worded in a manner which obfuscates the reasoning ability of any rational mind- or, at least, my mind, which may or may not be rational.

Hope this helps somewhat, because bows are one of the most useful elements in the game.

Alternately, you could play an uber-manly army like the Ancient Britons and simply charge, with none of this sissy-man missile fire nonsense.

-A-Bos

[dbawilliam]

Alex,
Loved the website...belly-laughed several times (schadenfreude or too close to my younger days ?)
Cheers,
Bill