I dunno for certain: IIRC, last thing I saw there were explicit caveats about 'judge according to the situation'. For example, it's suggested that in melee it maxes out at six opponents, but it's a rather dim hero that would let exactly six people attack him exactly simultaneously, from exactly 60 degrees apart: equally if you're fighting against a charging phalanx, then - -15 might be letting you off a little lightly.
The aforementioned does seem a somewhat harsh scale of penalties to me to use it in missile combat, depending on how one is countering the attacks. (Contrariwise, in a melee -3 is a trivially small penalty in 'realistic' terms for fighting two people at once.) If one is worried about 'gritty' HW is[n't], I'd suggest this would be a good place to start...
The bottom line ought to be "whatever you feel is narratively appropriate". If you think such a penalty is ludicrous, it'd be silly to apply it for 'mechanical' reasons; if you think they're lettin' 'em off lightly, beefing them up would be pretty easy. I hope this sounds like stating the obvious (which it is), and not a cop-out: if this is a storytelling game (and by intent, it is), then it seems only reasonable to expect that some 'fine-tuning' is required if the stories _you_ want to tell are different in character to those the author had in mind.
> I am not quite clear exactly
> what happens if, say, the archers lose 180AP.
Depends on how the opponent was trying to counter being arched at. If he was responding with harsh language (stiff penalty for this use, methinks), then some of them are sobbing for their mothers; if he was dodging elusively in some manner, he's ducked behind a nice piece of hard cover, say, significantly hampering their attempts to perforate him. Etc, etc. This sort of thing will take some fancy mental footwork in some cases (and sit-mods aplenty), but it's what being a 'storytelling' game is all about, after all.
Cheers,
Alex.
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