Has anyone done much reading on the Scythian tribes and their arrows?
They were barbed, but they were also poisoned!
A curious biological toxin/infectious agent.  They were somehow able to clarify blood in order to obtain the plasma (the white blood cells that fight infection).  They would mix this with human excrement, and put it in a skin bag and bury it in  warm area.  They would then kill an adder, submerge it in another skin bag filled with more plasma, and bury it somewhere warm.
After letting these two bags "age" for a while- they would then mix the contents together, and smear this on the arrowheads.
The wound would not be a pretty one- after getting the arrow out- their would be the immidiate problem of the snakes venom, followed by the infections from the human waste which had been incubated in white blood cells.  Almost as if the mix was designed to grow in human white blood cells- the more your body tried to heal it- the more food was given to the toxic bacteria!
The historian Herodotus wrote of their "twice envenomed arrows" (barbed and poisoned!), and the wounds they created would fester for years- usually killing the target.  They were said to believe themselves to be descendants of Hercules- perhaps believing their arrows were much like his.
I got this information from a truly interesting, and easy-reading book called "Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs:
Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World" by Adrienne Mayor
Not exactly the types of weapons we can use at re-enactments, but, an interesting read!!

Great Book.

It would also make a good culture medium for the fecal bacteria.

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Or a pretty usefull weapon when you are known for using hit-and-run tactics. Scythians were famous for coming at your (greeks/romans) troops, shower them with arrows from horseback... and continue the shooting while fleeing if you send men against them.

So minimal exposure, maximum damage... and it continue to pile up after the encounter.

Sure, it may seem coward if you want "manly" close quarter fights

But I think it may be quite adequated to their way of life.

HurlinThom wrote on Jul 15^th, 2011 at 8:59am:

Their descendants are the Iranians. Doesn't that explain a lot?

It wouldn't get any more uncomfortable for the US-based members than anyone else (though I get what you're implying about the Ottawa Conventons.) Everyone does horrible things in a war. If they didn't, it would be called "war."

I don't think poisoned arrows are as cowardly as you do. Being a coldly rational b@$%@^d, I see the poison as serving a practical purpose. The goal of war is the prevent the other side from fighting back, not necessarily to kill all of them. Poison arrows extend the recovery time of even glancing blows so that just a scratch can take weeks to recover from before the warrior can get back on the field (if he ever does.) During the American Revolution our troops used ball and shot for basically the same reason. Musket balls aren't terribly accurate, so even if you miss the person you're aiming at you can still hit the guy next to him with a pellet of bird shot. Not deadly by any means, but it ties up resources. Torture however, is utterly useless. The fear of torture will make a man tell you what you want, but torture itself will only make him tell you what he thinks you want to hear.

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The ends don't justify the means; I just draw my line in the sand in a different place than you. Poison makes the arrows a more economically effective weapon because (as the book says) Everyone Poops. Using blood as a source of bacteria and feces to cultivate it literally costs nothing, but makes it easier to become infected from a glancing blow. At the time medical knowledge was mostly religious/superstitious so there was still a good chance of getting an infection from an arrow that wasn't poisoned. Comparatively, the poison isn't all that worse than leaving the arrows untreated. Treating blankets with the same poison and giving them to civilians who weren't a part of the conflict is crossing the line, however.