Quote Originally Posted by Red Harvest
I come up with this "crap" by reading and studying the subjects. Anyway, fire arrows tended to be used more in sieges. Fixed settings with fairly specific purposes. Rather than every archer unit dragging pots of naptha around with them.
I suggest that the reason fire arrows were not used much if at all on the battlefield is that attaching some flaming material to your arrow would clearly have a marked effect on its range, accuracy and penetration.

Fire arrows would only be useful in sieges where you were trying to hit and set fire to a large flammable target like a siege engine. I've never read of fire arrows being used against troops on the open battlefield, and I regard them as simply another titillating addition for the swords and sorcery brigade.