Gotcha: They can use bows, yeah, but using bows is ill-advised in these old dungeon crawlers, because you manually have to pick up every arrow again.
It's actually pretty baffling why no one thought about implementing Grimrock's auto-pickup system back then.
The old Might and Magic games did it right from the get-go
by simply not implementing ammunition, so bows are useful and convenient throughout the series.
In MM1-2, shooting from the back of your formation for great damage, and in MM3-4-5, to soften up enemies you see before they reach melee range.
At least in EOTB missile weapons are useful in a few key situations (Spiders in EOTB1, blast spores in EOTB2)
In Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 they are 100% worthless. Not only do you have to pick up your ammo manually, but they have weight, and the shooting trajectory curves downward, so they have pitiful range.