Archers are used to targets where the highest point value is in the center of the target; a concentric circle, the peg in a roundel target, etc. So if your aim is a bit off you still can get the next highest point value.

With the Fitz-Rauf Triangle Target which is an equilateral triangle, with one of its points straight up, divided into three equal width horizontal bands, the highest point value is the top part of the triangle. So, if you are aiming for the highest value and your aim is a bit high, left or right, you can miss completely and receive no points. Those that try for the highest value have a

greater chance of making no score if they miss, than those that aim for the lower value areas. This provides a high scoring area for the better archers and still has a large lower scoring area for the average archers. This provides a interesting change from the standard concentric target faces.

The three parts of the triangle target from medieval Asia were said to represent a warrior on horseback. The top, high scoring, triangle was his head. The middle band was his body. The largest band, the bottom, was his horse. The area of the highest scoring part, the head, is one-fifth the

area of the horse and the warrior one-third the area of the horse. So a logical way of scoring is: Head is five points. Body is three points. The horse is one point.

My addition to this target is to make it a bit more challenging for the highly skilled archers by drawing one additional horizontal line at the upper third of the top or head triangle. This would represent a visor slot and would be one  forty-fifth the area of the horse. However, this would give a point value of

forty-five which would be too high, because one lucky shot to it and five misses of the target would give more points than hitting the head with all six. A reasonable compromise would be to give a value of fifteen points. However, slight errors in aim are even more apt to create a complete miss and zero points when attempting the highest scoring area.

To fit on a 30 inch round target mat, the triangle should have a maximum of 27 inch long sides. The triangle may be made in any size suitable to the range being shot and the skill level of the archers and the size of the matt or backstop. 

 Ends may consist of any number of arrows. In period in Europe, ends were usually only two arrows or sometimes three.

The gold section in this photo shows up as white. It is a 27 inch triangle on a 36 inch matt.
The target was first used at West/An Tir War, 2012.

Above is a drawing of the target showing the three equal width bands and the visor area.
I hope that this target will  provide some more variety to the target faces used in the SCA.

Sir Jon Fitz-Rauf, West
July 18, 2012

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For questions related to this article please contact the author: Sir Jon Fitz-Rauf at sirjon1@pacbell.net

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