Shooting wholly together

[Imperial Dave]

Collating Holly's experience:

we shot 'blind' on command in volley

We would be charged to fire on the opposing rear units of the enemy or the other archer blocks.

When we trained we would try for a minimum of 10 shots a minute but on the field it would be a lower rate due mainly to stock of arrows

bow units were drawn up 2 or 3 ranks deep with a decent amount of spacing so that there was room to nock and draw arrows. All ranks shot at the same time and at angles approaching 45 degrees so as to clear our lines. flat shooting is a last resort (and also a H+S nightmare)

Given the shallow formation depth and the spaced out formations seen in the photos, were you really shooting "blind" i.e. unable to see the target?

If angles were always "approaching 45 degrees", how did you control range? Or did you only do this at targets that were at the corresponding range?

What was the range of those bows?

'blind' meant either we shot en masse at a body of troops obscured by our our lines in which case we were lead by our unit commander's eyes and ears (who might have a runner from the cinc) or we were on the flanks and were partly obscured. practice using a 35lb draw longbow and you know roughly where the arrow will land from experience. may have to make adjustments on the fly due to wind etc after the 1st shot. range of the 35lb bows depended on wind, arrow weight and angle of shot but happily able to shoot 200-250 yards on a good day

[LawrenceG]

So you could see something of the target unit between the heads of the friendly troops ahead of you, or maybe spears or flags sticking up? It wasn't like shooting over a high wall based purely on range and direction (literally no idea where the target was), or was it?

I infer that you adjusted range by changing angle (i.e. "approaching 45 degrees" may not have been that close an approach). As long as you cleared the friendly troops (with some margin for error) it was fine. I note that some of the arrows in the photos are going at more like 30 degrees. What would you say your minimum range was for an "indirect" engagement?

Sounds like your max range was a bit (maybe 30%) less than a warbow unless the warbow is using an unusually heavy arrow, with the lighter arrow partially compensating for the weak bow. That means your elevation angles would have been steeper for a given range (or your minimum range would have been shorter than possible for a warbow archer doing the same thing ). 

[Imperial Dave]

depended on the circumstances re the angles and also what arrows we used on the day. If we were doing a small engagement we would actually use flu flu arrows which is a laugh to try and get them to go further than 100 feet let alone 100 yards! 200-250 yards is a good distance with a 35lb longbow regardless of the angles and also always used blunts which does also snip a bit of distance off the flight. re angles of course we would have a range from 30 to 60 but trying to get to around 45 as a rule of thumb (but better over than under). Flat shooting was only by mutual consent as even with blunts is not pleasant at all to be on the receiving end!

re the sighting thing, I can say that if you are in a body of archers stood behind a company of your own clankies it is very difficult to judge distance to opposing troops even if you think you can see them (which I found difficult unless on undulating ground). Its hard to describe but its a real experience to be involved in even if you know its just for 'show'