Playing with Francs archers

[Erpingham]

Not sure whether this should be in rules discussions or here.

I have mentioned elsewhere my current interest in later 15th century French armies.  One particular element of these intrigues me - the Franc archers.  For the uninitiated, these were an attempt at a national infantry force.  Communities were assessed by "hearths" (a population measure) to recruit a number of men.  The designated community members received tax relief (they franc - free - of taxes).  They were a part time force (they had regular jobs), so essentially a militia. Their designated equipment was comparable to English and Burgundian archers of the time (though, like Englishmen of the same time, musters showed that not everyone had the equipment they should have). One final quirk is that a lot of them weren't archers. In some areas, crossbowmen replaced archers and there were also voulgiers, guisarmiers and coulveriniers (handgunners).

I'm particularly interested in the period from their foundation in 1448 to their first dissolution in 1480 (they were reformed and dissolved several times).

Finally, the question  The Franc-archers have a terrible reputation for military incompetence. In the 16th century they were a joke and referred to as franc-taupins - free moles. They were also blamed (perhaps not entirely fairly) for the French defeat at Guinegate in 1479. It was this failure that led to their dissolution in 1480. The question for me is how to represent them on the table, not equipment wise but in terms of morale, fighting ability, command and control etc. ? At present I am minded to treat them similarly to English commission of array troops - a mediocre militia.  So, the second part of the question.  How do others approach them?  They must be covered in lots of rules and lots of army lists. Can we pull out some examples to help me scan the current gamer thinking?  Particularly if explained within their own setting. Inferior militia (exceptionally superior) might be what the rules say but what does it mean in terms of battlefield performance 

Thanks in advance for any input.

[Duncan Head]

They're Irregular Bows (Inferior) in DBMM. This has always seemed a tad harsh, but I'm not sure any of the alternatives available are better.