Best (Realistic) Archer Torso/Minifig Design (A Discussion)

[svede]

I have been searching the forums for ideas for good archers and have not found a lot. I like what Solus did here with the Village of the crown as far as the hoods go, but I am still not 100% satisfied. I figured I would get people's opinions on a few opposing possibilities and perhaps also generate some discussion.

Fundamentally, which of these two "major" torso-style designs for castles (each faction seems to have them) do you think is more realistic for an archer?
The "scale armor" torso or the "heraldic tunic" torso ?

Or are the other castle or non-castle torsos that you feel are a more realistic representation of a medieval archer?
What about this torso?
Are the forestmen torsos more accurate (even being green)?

What about the hat/helmet? Bullet helm, kettle helm, farmer's cowl, jedi hood, forestmen hat???

Please share your opinions and knowledge on this discussion. I realize some of it may be subjective, but I am looking for a good discussion and creative ideas.

Thanks so much!!

[krzyzak]

Well, having good archers is nice, but real archers in those times wore whatever they had. However, I like the mail on the crown knight archers.

[Username]

I personally like this for archers:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=973pb914c01

[svede]

Well, having good archers is nice, but real archers in those times wore whatever they had. However, I like the mail on the crown knight archers.

Yeah, I agree with that, but I sort of wanted a core contingent that were easily recognized from the "rabble" - or maybe I am just taking the complete wrong approach?

I personally like this for archers:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=973pb914c01

Oooh, I hadn't though of that, but that's not a bad idea...looks pretty good as an archer torso especially with the pouch... maybe mixed together with other peasant torsos??

I'll have to experiment with some of these I think. Keep the ideas and discussion going!!

Thanks so much!!

[Hoboman]

I personally like this for archers:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=973pb914c01

That is a good one. I had not used that one myself, but I will now.

[OverLoad]

For Archers that go along with a specific faction, I use the "heraldric tunic" with the farmer's cowl. If they don't belong to a specific faction then they get the mail torso referred to as "scale armour" on BrickLink, with either a nasal helm or a kettle helm as their helmet.

[quaraga]

For a standing army of archers, generally, I use the heraldic body with apropriate colour grey legs (light or dark depending on faction) or sometimes black, brown, etc. Basically no flamboyant legs. and they usually have a kettle helm with exception of my black falcons who use bullet helms because A) they look wrong in either grey or chrome armour and B) what's the use of having bullet helms if you can't use them.
-T.R.

[Shadowviking]

Hmm... a little vague...
"Most realistic?" Historically? To what time period? To what culture? Practically? To what location? With what technology?

For the most part, though, you're probably looking at light dress and armour- tunics, leather, mail. Not or; and. In a historical setting, you won't have uniforms.

Helmets change with the time period and personal preference.

Here are some different historical archers:
1
2
3
4



Of course, for a fantasy setting, you have a lot more leeway

[Elbadar]

I'm partial to the heraldic tunics myself, since they look lightly armored. Also, many real world archers did wear something to signify their alliegance, but they didn't all match with eachother so you'd have men with all sorts of national symbols ranjing from colors to crests to animals to religious symbols or just about anything that could be associated with their homeland. Since that would require dozens of different heraldic tunics for each faction, I'm content to use just one, though I, like to give them cowls and jedi hoods when possible to make them feel rabbleish. A few of my archers (the elites mainly) do get bullet or kettle helms, but they're usually multipurpous guardsmen rather than pure archers.

[Albatross_Viking]

I prefer my archers (and troops in general) more or less un-uniformed, especially for earlier armies. Sadly, I am not able to equip a large amount of soldiers that way, and the look of my archers varies. In case of elite-like archers, I may uniform them but usually, I just give them any kind of neutral torso, legs and headgear along with a quiver & bow. Historically seen, the first uniformed troops in Western Europe I know of were Welsh longbowmen serving in the British army. As the Welsh did not all speak English, this helped the Englishmen to recognise friend from foe. During the campaign ending at the Battle of Azincourt, I even think the whole British army was uniformed with the Sct. George's Cross.

[footsteps]

For my archer 'troop', I liked the look of this torso.

[AK_Brickster]

For my archer 'troop', I liked the look of this torso.

Ooh, nice! I do think that could really look good. Too bad it's not very available.

[svede]

Thanks for all the great feedback. This has been really helping to fuel my creativity and design my armies.

It looks like I am going to do a mix of uniformed and mobbish... and I got over 20 of the torso that Username shared and plan to make a group of them out of that... I will try and share pictures when I get that far...

Hmm... a little vague...
"Most realistic?" Historically? To what time period? To what culture? Practically? To what location? With what technology?

For the most part, though, you're probably looking at light dress and armour- tunics, leather, mail. Not or; and. In a historical setting, you won't have uniforms.

Helmets change with the time period and personal preference.

Here are some different historical archers:
1
2
3
4



Of course, for a fantasy setting, you have a lot more leeway

Hahahaha, true enough, I should have been more specific. My focus is more on the european (more western european) of the early to middle (and maybe a little high) middle ages... which is quite broad I know... so basically a middle period... like William the Conqueror, William Wallace, etc - pretty much right along with most of the photos you provided - which by the way were very helpful, thanks!!

For my archer 'troop', I liked the look of this torso.

I never would have thought of that for medieval, but it could really actually work...

[rapsmocs]

Sorry I missed this earlier. I am partial to this red torso. I mix in some red or brown legs and a hood or hat and it looks ok. Sort of motley and sort of uniformed. I like that some of my archers are not armored. My crossbowmen are armored for the most part.

[Flobnomdob]

Well, I perfer this torso, and red is the most common colour in my minifigs.