You can also duplicate this pretty cost efficiently with sacred mage + bow of war for certain nation, more specifically it's best for those nations with cheap sacred mage with a water path for a quicken self.
Clarification requested: Because with quicken self you cannot melee attack twice but you can fire a bow twice? (If it's one of those bows which only fires every other turn, q.s. doesn't make it fire every turn, does it?)
You attack twice in mele if you use quicken self. It gives you quickness effect = increased action points + 2 attacks per turn(or two shots with a bow) It doesn't affect spell casting so you still will be casting only one spell per turn.
And about the crossbow question: Yes it would fire every turn with quickness.(given that it fires 1 time for 2 turns.)
Think before quickening archers, though, as the extra action points seem to cause them to move forward each turn no matter how you script them. It can still be good to get more shots off early, but you don't usually want unarmored archers rushing into melee.
And about the crossbow question: Yes it would fire every turn with quickness.(given that it fires 1 time for 2 turns.)
That's very interesting! I had assumed the "once every two turns" was a "feature" of the bow, like, I got too hot from firing sort of as a machine gun, or something ...