Archery in the Adrian Empire
Archery in Adria includes both target archery tournaments and combat archery where we shoot at each other. Of course, for combat archery we use specialized equipment since friends don’t put holes in friends with arrows.
Members can earn an archery knighthood by participating in tournaments, attending demonstrations, and winning tournaments. There are three levels of knighthood in archery: Archer, Forester, and Warden. New archers start on the bowman’s list and, after gaining experience and winning at least one tournament against other bowman, move up to the huntsman’s list.
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We also conduct crossbow tournaments but only for target archery. The construction and operation of siege weaponry also falls generally within the auspices of archery.
Target Archery
For standard target archery we utilize wood bows including the common longbow as well as recurve and horse bows. Modern compound bows are not allowed. The arrows must be wood and we use a standard target tips. Generally, the bowman’s list shoots from a slightly closer distance than the huntsman’s list.
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There is no age limit for archery as long as the prospective archer is mature enough to safely participate and has sufficient strength to draw a bow. In general, we use bows between 20 and 50 pound draw weights with 35 being very common.
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Archery tournaments are run by a range master and on-site instruction is a regular occurrence so interested new members can jump right into archery fairly easily making it an excellent starting point for anybody interested in medieval pursuits.
Combat Archery
Combat archery replaces the inanimate target with fellow members, properly armored of course. The draw weight for bows utilized in combat archery is limited to 35 pounds or less for safety purposes and we use padded arrows designed to be safe to shoot at each other.
Most often combat archery will be included in war scenarios where a group of combatants take the field together but on occasion we will conduct a tournament with combat archery where the archers shoot at each other.
In order to participate in combat archery in a war scenario the archery must be qualified for the combat style and wear the same required armor with a few minor modifications such as reduced armor requirements for the hands. Archers, while using the bow, cannot be hit in melee combat although if they set aside the bow and pickup a melee weapon they are fair game.
Crossbow
The crossbow is used only for target archery and is run as a separate tournament due to the differences between bows and crossbows. As a relatively new addition to Adria crossbow tournaments are less common but do occur.
As with the bow, we do not utilize modern crossbows. For use in our tournaments the crossbow must be a reproduction of a period European single shot crossbow. The tiller (stock) must be made of wood and the prods can be wood, metal, horn, or a historically period laminate. We do allow fiberglass substitution as this tends to be a safer material but the must be covered to appear to be a period material. Maximum draw weight for the crossbow is 160 pounds and it must have a period style releasing mechanism. No modern sights are allowed. Bolts must be made of wood with target points
Siege
Siege weapons include the ballista (oversized crossbow), catapult, trebuchet, and other medieval mechanisms for hurling solid objects.
For safety purposes, we have design requirements and limitations and these devices, aside from demonstration purposes, are used only in war scenarios. Similar to combat archery, siege engineers must be qualified and properly armored for the type of combat they are participating in with minor exceptions.
