Alternatively Armed Armies

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Mohoender

I agree that you need less training but some people use bows from instinct. Just select the good guys and train them (arrows are easy to make). I also remind you that the british archers who decimated the french chivalry were lightly trained peasants.

I have to correct you here. Yes the English longbowmen were peasants but they weren't your typical bonded serfs, they were for the most part a class of freeman called a yoeman. Yoemen weren't owned by their feudal lord like serfs were, they rented land from their lord and paid some or even most of their rent through military service. That military service was highly valued because yoemen were actually quite highly trained, just in a specialised area - in the use of the longbow.