Lein Ranged Warfare

The Lein Army, as did all its predecessors, made use of high-quality ranged weapons, and ranged warfare - showering an enemy with missiles before actually closing in for combat - has always been an integral part of Tranon war tactics. The Lein Dynasty, by tightly organising the army and introducing extensive training for all bowmen in its ranks, refined the system tremendously, creating a fearsome force that could strike the enemy with near impunity.

The archers and bowmen of the army are mixed amongst the units of the army, though in battle they tend to operate as a single mass, raining arrows down on the enemy. Disciplined and hardy, they are often also equipped with light armour, and most of them purchase their own shortswords or knives in case they should be caught by an enemy.

Though horse archers also use bows, and were a new and powerful fixture in the army of the Lein, they are discussed in the page Lein Cavalry.

Weapons

Bows

The arsenal available to the Lein archers are the result of centuries of invention and innovation as the Tranon refined their methods of warmaking to the broad plains, where the use of massed archers instead of individual bowmen in the forests allowed them to wreak havoc en masse. To enhance this devastating capability they have put in much effort, improving the firepower of the ranged weapons greatly.

The primary weapons of the Lein bowmen were the fearsome composite foot-bows, known as bursang, as well as the crossbows, known as tushup. The foot-bows were symmetrical recurve bows, which could be up to 1.4 metres long, and which were derived from truly ancient Tranon designs; the crossbows, on the other hand, were a relative innovation introduced during the century of civil strife known as the Foreign Kingdoms and Warring States period. The strength required to draw many of these weapons is quite amazing, especially the bursangnon, most of which have a draw strength of around 180 pounds.

While the array of one-man weapons used by Lein bowmen is already impressive, other more impressive and fearsome weapons were also know. The datushup, or Great Crossbow, is in fact a wooden frame mounted with two crossbows, operated by winches and firing arrows up to 1.8 metres long; with an immense draw strength when fully strung, it could shoot its deadly projectile up to 600 metres or more, and at close range could often skewer two or three ranks of troops. Many stories told of three or even four men, nailed to each other and to a tree or wooden wall, with these long bolts.

Arrows

Long experience with arrows gives the Tranon great expertise in their manufacture and design, and the normal bowman sets out for battle with several types of arrows in his quivers.

Several main types of arrows are used. The first and oldest design, used originally for hunting, is a broad-headed arrow, meant for slicing through the flesh of unprotected targets or of animals; the broadness of the head makes it very difficult to remove, and it can provoke massive internal bleeding if anyone should attempt to extract it. The second sort, known as the haspeya or "one-point", is akin to the English bodkin arrow; long, narrow-headed, it was enhanced by the use of a long metal point to increase the weight and penetrative power of the arrow, as well as the tiny notches and barbs all along the arrow point that make extraction potentially fatal.

Besides being purely killing tools, the arrows were also an integral part of Lein signalling techniques. Whistling arrows are commonly used as a means to signal, as well as to terrify the enemy; while they retained their points and could also kill, they had shorter ranges due to their whistles. Nonetheless the use of whistling arrows in battles, where massed archers would fire off whole volleys all of whistling arrows, is well-documented; many enemy records spoke of the "awful sound as though of demons descending upon the field, blackening the sky with their flights, and striking our men down in their masses". Other more specialised arrows included fire arrows, often used for sieges to set entire camps and towns alight; they had a haspeya head with longer, forward facing barbs, behind which oily cloth was tied and set aflame, so that as they hit the arrow would "claw" onto a surface and set it alight.

As for the great crossbows, there were also multiple types of ammunition available; while the standard option was a larger version of the haspeya point, this time without any barbs but with an even heavier forward section to provide it with its legendary "man-skewer" ability, there are also fire arrows, as well as a unique blunt-headed arrow with small blades tied to its shaft such that, upon impact, the knives would be jerked free and bounce around, causing injury to anybody in the way.

Tactics

The use of ranged firepower to overwhelm enemies from a distance has always been an integral part of Lein army tactics, before the use of cavalry to encircle enemies; the archers would often be set up behind a strong force of infantry, to shower arrows down on enemies at range using arcing fire. The firepower used by these mass tactics can be truly horrifying: at the Battle of Uzake, the outnumbered Lein army nonetheless commanded 6,000 bowmen and 1,800 crossbows, and the order for volleying fire was given 38 times throughout the battle.