Question regards massed archer /bowman units.

[FightingPoultry]

Ive just discovered the massed ranged death storm joy that are massed archers . They are obviously packed in to dense formations unlike their light archer cousins and i assume they act and behave akin to medium infantry. Question is, in melee do they fight as effectively as say irregular infantry or are they just total fodder like the light archers ?(assuming that is that they are no going up against anything horrid like pikes or romans etc )

[w_michael]

Bowmen usually have no impact or melee capabilities, so Irregular Foot is usually better in close combat. An exception are the Persian Sparabara and Immortals, which are foot with bow, spear and pavises. Irregular Foot comes in at least a couple of variants: one with light spears (Persian), and one with light spears and swordsmen (Scots-Irish).

[FightingPoultry]

ok - so really the only real bonus they have is lots more arrows per volley compared to light archers?

[SnuggleBunnies]

Since they are formed troops they can cause cohesion drops if they flank attack engaged infantry or elephants.

[jomni]

Ive just discovered the massed ranged death storm joy that are massed archers . They are obviously packed in to dense formations unlike their light archer cousins and i assume they act and behave akin to medium infantry. Question is, in melee do they fight as effectively as say irregular infantry or are they just total fodder like the light archers ?(assuming that is that they are no going up against anything horrid like pikes or romans etc )

The unit class is “bowmen” and not ”medium foot”. They should do worse. There are POAs specifically against bowmen. Check the manual.