Post originally by Oliver at 2003-05-06 02:14:51
Converted from Phorums BB System

In a recent quickstart game, the rules for which mimick the full version, we had a considerably outnumbering enemy cut down to size by use of archers. One had an arrow in his chest, two others had arrows through their legs before close combat started.

There's two points to keep in mind is that there is a lot you can do to evade an oncoming close combat attack. Against a missile attack, especially when unaware, or otherwise occupied, you have little but your toughness and armor to avert the damage, meaning that successes go to damage on a much more direct scale than in close combat.
Second, keep in mind that the ready archer is using his missile dice pool FOR THE ATTACK. In close combat, the dice pool will be split between two attacks, or an attack and evasion, and dices will be lost to pay for maneuvers, terrain rolls etc. That is it is much easier, with proper aim, to have a high number of dice in the missile attack. In close combat, the fighter has to pay attention to a whole lot of things and mimicks that by distributing his combat pool between all of them. A sniper with, say, a longbow will find it easy to put a whole lot of dice into a single attack -he'll start off with zero again once the arrow is flying anyway.