Amazon Elite Scout
Though the scouts are similar in appearance as the longbow archers, as the armor, the double-bows, and swords they are issued are the same. The Elite Scout unit has military insignia(s) on their helmets, usually something easy to identify on the battlefield and frightful to the enemy.
In case of the Geothe Amazon, their scout has a pair of wings mounted on top of their helmets. Hence their nickname "winged maidens".
The scout does not use arrows, they carry a pair of arrow shafts as a rail component, and shoots iron encased lead cylindrical block about the diameter of a thumb with the iron casing ended with a sharp tempered tip. The other end section of the iron casing is fluted so as to cause fast spinning of the projectile during the flight. The fast spin stabilizes the projectile and the missile's external ballistics is not dissimilar to modern day armor-piercing bullets. So instead of carrying a back quiver, the scout carries hip ammo-container which allows her to have 60+ shots of such missiles. This affords the scout a very good stand-off capability.
In contrast, the regular longbow archers are very limited in the amount of arrows they can carry, because of their over sized double-bow requires arrows with extra long shafts and larger diameters to cope with the correct spine stiffness. Once their limited amount of arrows ran out, they will lose their stand-off capability, so they either have to withdraw from the battlefield or charge the enemy with their swords.
In comparison, the initial velocity of the iron encased lead cylinder is slower than the longbow archer's long arrow. But because of its superior ballistic coefficient, iron encased lead cylinder retains more velocity at much longer range. and that terminal velocity is the key for better anti-armor capability at distance. Whereas, at long range, the longbow arrow would lose so much velocity such that it will not be able to penetrate armor or shield but the iron encase lead shot will still go through enemy's armor or shield.
As for the cost comparison of shooting lead cylinder vs. shooting an arrow: As the Amazon Total War weapon whitepaper stated, to function properly, an arrow's wooden shaft must be selected, and cured for 2-5 years, re-inspected, and then precision hewn or lathed to guarantee straightness. It was then attached to the arrow head which need tempering, and then carefully fletched with feather or with thin woven reeds. To guarantee the accuracy, the concentricity of the three components (arrowhead, shaft, and fletch+nock) must be re-checked. Then the evenness of the fletch inspected, because any uneven fletching will cause the arrows to spin into helical trajectory which reduces its terminal velocity. So even with the faulty arrows rejected or relegated to training purposes, to be effective, the arrow-smith industry requires the availability of quality wood supply, a great amount of controlled storage, a team of knowledgeable experts, a great number of skilled crafts people, and careful planning to be able to maintain a steady supply of arrows for combat deployment.
Whereas, the lead can be mined and easily purified by melting and then formed into lead cylinders with ingots, which make each cylinder almost guaranteed in weight. For war time deployment, however, the iron casing would be applied, which increase the complexity of the manufacturing process, nevertheless, the casing is still cheaper than the cost of making an armor-piercing arrowhead.
The scout still retain the tradition of carrying the sword on her should strap. Using back quiver and carrying sword in the back is actually preferred over carry quiver or sword on the hip. With the scout and other units shooting iron cased lead as exceptions, back quiver allows faster draw of arrow. And shoulder strapped sword gives the soldier easier access and allows the sword to strike once it is out of the scabbard.
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