Archer Designs
An arrow sliced past the attackers’ shield wall, embedding itself in Varic’s left eye as they stormed up the beach. The general’s head jerked back, dead almost instantly. Varic’s body toppled into the sand. General Willot grimaced despite his rage. Considering how small the slits in those helmets were, some archer was either insanely skilled or insanely lucky.
—Excerpted from First Empress
Hi folks! So, I’m working on equipment designs for the soldiers in my novel, First Empress. Starting with the archers. Female and male design featured above, though equipment varies from soldier to soldier. Any thoughts on the designs are most welcome.
Queen Viarra tries to make sure her archers have at least a simple cuirass of leather armor, though those who can afford their own armor prefer the linen cuirass. Non-melee fighters, archers prefer brimmed hats over a helmet. Most archers provide their own bows, but arrows are generally provided by the military. Tollesian bows have fairly mediocre armor penetration, thus mass-fire tactics are necessary during field archery. Shields and sidearms are optional.
At best, archers are merely a supplementary component in most Tollesian armies. Their bows’ sub-par armor penetration makes them fairly useless against hoplites, and most generals deploy archers to whittle down lighter infantry or suppress enemy archers and skirmishers.
Additional notes:
Her majesty’s archer commander is Captain Kellor, who later goes on to co-design an early version of the crossbow. In her first battle, Queen Viarra leads a company of archers against the invaders from Andivel. When on campaign beside her majesty, Handmaid Elissa prefers to fight beside the archers.
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