With a highly interactive contest, like a swordfight or a debate, I can understand what the AP bets mean: a low bet means playing it safe, a high bet means taking a gamble on risky but possibly devastating move. To some extent, I can see what differing APs mean when using thrown weapons: a high bet is a desperate, powerful throw that leaves the thrower sprawled on the ground. But with a bow (assuming the target can't hit the archer), every shot is the same. Also, each shot has very little risk for the archer but can be devastating for the target.
And what do lost APs mean for archers? I would guess fatigue and a loss of arrows, but I can't really see the rate of AP loss being affected by any (non-ranged) ability of the target.
So, how should archery be played in HW? I would imagine that he archer would get a reasonable edge (over and above the weapon/armour comparison) to reflect that arrows can be devastating without risk to the archer. Bets should be limited to reflect that the archer _can't_ make one shot more powerful than another[*]. The target could defend with a hide ability, or a dodge with a hefty penalty.
If the target wanted to charge the archer, that would be represented as a separate parallel contest, with the APs representing the distance left to close. Each exchange, each participant would determine which contest they would act in, either changing the distance between them (by charging or retreating), or by shooting and dodging.
However, this all seems rather complex to me. What do other people do?
Neil.
[*] But what about aiming? I would call that an attempt to augment the target number of the archery skill, using a 'Keen eyes' ability or somesuch.
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