Absolute agreement from me here Alex!
I think the trap that some narrators can fall into (me included) is to tend
to see AP and the results of lost AP as 'wounds'.
In fact the outcome of such a contest could be:
Archer loses AP, but his 'side' wins:
Archer is sickened by his side killing so many people he loses stomach to be
as effective with his bow (-1, -50% or whatever of his Ranged Combat rating)
Archer loses AP, irrespective of which side won: The contest (as has been stated in many similar conversations on this list) is not initially about Close Combat Guy killing Archer, but rather about getting into a position where he can hurt Archer...so perhaps the results of this contest are about the Archer suddenly finding his Close Combat ability impaired (again, -1, -50% etc) because CC Guy has managed to close on him before he had a chance to prepare himself properly, or maybe he is just in such a poor tactical position that his skills are at a disadvantage (or something).
The suggestions made by Andrew Graham about fumbled results are neat but very deprotagonising* IMO, and heroes should only have such things happen in extra-ordinary circumstances!
Rusty
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