From: [j--o--s] at [sage.cc.purdue.edu] (Kirsten Maloney)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Guns appropriate to AD&D (~600 lines)
Date: 3 Jan 1996 23:47:58 -0500
In Trouthe, the Devels owen Devis: Medieval Firearms for Class-Based
Roleplaying Games
Copyright 1995 Bryan J. Maloney ([b j m 10] at [cornell.edu]), all rights reserved.
Unauthorized distribution is explicitly prohibited. Permission is granted
to distribute unaltered on a purely non-profit basis so long as the author
is given a copy or granted access
Gonnes, from the Latin "cannulus" or tube, were the earliest European
firearms. They were metal or metal-reinforced wooden tubes with a hole at
the butt to which a hand-held slow match was applied. A handle was added to
the tube's rear to put the touch-hole further from the gonner. While gonnes
were used to fire everything from rocks to arrows, the lead bullet became
the projectile of choice.
Gonnes are the appropriate firearm for a typical medieval-flavored
setting. Other weapons, like the Arquebus, are simply too high-tech for
anything but a late Renaissance setting and have no place in a high Medieval
campaign.
Rules for Gonnes
These rules presume a character-class based game system wherein
characters amass great amounts of hit points. This includes, but is not
limited to, _Dungeons and Dragons_, _Advanced Dungeons and Dragons_, and
_The Palladium Role-Playing Game_. Everything that follows is a
simplification with aid from BTRC's _Guns! Guns! Guns!_ (from [b t rc] at [aol.com]).
These trademarks are the property of their respective holders and are
mentioned solely for the purposes of identification. These trademarks are
mentioned without license. No challenge is made in any way to the ownership
of the aforementioned trademarks by their owners, and only a paranoid idiot
could decide otherwise.
There are two gonne proficiencies, handgonne and long gonne. Gonnery was
easier to learn than either bow or crossbow use. However, gonnes were
dangerous and fairly nasty to both their users and their targets. Their
greatest advantages were the horrible noise they made, their low cost, and
the ease with which a gonner could be trained.
Therefore, gonne proficiencies can be taken by any non-scholar who would
not otherwise be forbidden use of smelly, dirty weapons. For example,
Wizards cannot take the gonne proficiency for the same reason that they
can't learn other easy-to-use weapons that don't have a clich! association
with the profession.
Full-time warriors who don't have to split their attention between
fighting skills and other arts can specialize in either handgonnes or long
gonnes. The effects of specialization are identical to those for the heavy
crossbow.
The base rate of fire for gonnes is 1 per two minutes. This includes a
reload time of one full minute. Greater skill with a gonne will result in
shortened reload time, thus the ability of specialists to shorten their RoF
at higher levels.
Gonnes automatically have a -10% penalty for all "to hit" rolls (-2 on a
d20) in addition to penalties due to range.
A natural to hit roll of 5% or less, (natural one on 1d20) is a
backflash. The user is blinded for a round and takes one point of damage.
Furthermore, roll another 1d20. If 1-3 is rolled, the gonne has burst, doing
full damage to the user and destroying the gonne.
Any natural 20% (4 on a d20) or less is a misfire. If a misfire occurs
the gonner can attempt "immediate action". This consists of clearing out the
touch-hole and trying to fire again. This takes about 30 seconds to do. If
the gonne misfires again, the gonne is jammed. The round has to be pulled,
the gonne cleaned and reloaded. This will take ten minutes.
A gonne that weighs less than one quarter a character's weight allowance
is a one-handed weapon. A gonne that weighs more than two-fifths a
character's weight allowance must be braced upon a wall or strong rest.
Lead is cheap and easy to work. It would almost be never sold as bullets.
Instead, it would be sold in ingots that cost around the price of a good
beer or less per pound. A bullet-casting kit would cost around five good-
beer-equivalents (GBE). Anyone can make bullets with a campfire, lead, and a
little time.
Powder can have one of two costs. If you are using the "gunpowder is a
magic item" model, you're on your own. If you want to use normal black
powder, it would cost one to three GBE per pound. Powder is also very simple
to make once the formula is discovered. The amount of powder used for a
single handgonne shot is 1/12 the weight of a bullet. Long gonnes use 1/6
the bullet's weight.
All gonnes have one of two range classes (RC), based on the velocity and
mass distribution of the projectile. The meaning of each RC is summarized in
table I, below. There are five range bands. Short, Medium, and Long ranges
have penalties of 0%, -10%, and -25%. Shots at Extreme range have a -50%
penalty. Shots at Ridiculous range have a -100% penalty. It is quite
possible for a projectile to be sent beyond the Ridiculous range, but it is
pretty much impossible to intentionally hit anything beyond that range.
The gauge of a gonne is related to the weight of a single bullet. A 96-
gauge bullet weighs 1/96th a pound. Caliber is in inches, as is barrel
length. Weapon speed only applies if the weapon is already loaded. Recoil is
only important if a multiple-barreled weapon is used. See "special designs"
below.
Damage for gonnes is summarized in tables III and V. The damage listed
for all gonnes is to be rolled as is. If you are going to accept the
assumptions behind the enormous amounts of hit points had in certain games,
then don't try to weasel around them with special damage rules for one kind
of weapon. If you want realistic combat in a fantasy world, go buy WarpWorld
from BTRC.
The "Large" and "Small" damage categories are for those games that
recognize these differences. If your game does not discriminate damage on
the basis of target size, use the "Small" damage.
Ball Damage is the damage from using a single lead bullet. Shot Damage is
the damage at the muzzle for the same weapon loaded with small shot instead
of a bullet. Shot damage is halved every 20 yards the target is away from
the muzzle. Thus, shot damage is halved at 20 yards, quartered at 40 yards,
divided by eight at 60 yards, etc.
When rolling shot damage (as opposed to ball or duplex) add the target's
"Shot Armor Category" to the rolled damage. This is because shot is deadly
to lightly-armored creatures but each individual pellet can be stopped
fairly easily by good armor. Shot Armor Category ranges from 12 for an
unarmored man to 0 for a man in Elizabethan "Plate of Proof" (plate armor
that has been successfully tested to resist firearms). You will need to
distribute your game's armor types along this scale. Do not include magical
or dexterity bonuses if these bonuses make a target harder to hit in your
system.
Thus, a character wearing armor with a rating of eight, hit with a 1d4
shot attack, would actually suffer 1d4+8 points of damage. Shot is
especially devastating to Large creatures, since they have a larger body
area to be hit by more pellets.
The RC for shot is 1, regardless of the weapon's normal RC.
Duplex Damage is the damage for a weapon loaded with two bullets. Roll
two attacks for a duplex load at -10% to hit on each attack. Roll damage
separately for each attack that hits. Both attacks from a duplex round must
be rolled against the same target. Handgonne duplex RC is 1, regardless of
the weapon's normal RC. Long gonne duplex RC is 2.
Special Designs
Humans are always trying to "improve" things. One such improvement was
the multiple-barrel gonne. A multiple-barrel gonne can have up to three
barrels (more is impractical with a hand-held match ignition system). Any
more barrels makes the weapon a ribald or organ gonne (see "Artillery",
below).
Multiple barrels increase the maximum possible rate of fire for the
weapon to the number of barrels per round. However, the character must then
take one round per barrel reloading. Furthermore, each shot fired in a
combat round beyond the first takes the "recoil" of the weapon as a
cumulative to hit penalty. (The second shot takes recoil, the third takes
twice recoil, etc.)
The weight of a multiple-barreled gonne is found by multiplying the
weight of the original gonne by the number of barrels. The price is the
price of a single-barreled gonne plus 110% for each additional barrel.
Table I. Range Classes (Ranges are in tens of yards)
RC S M L E R
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 4.5
2 2.5 4.5 5 10 15
Table II. Handgonne Characteristics.
Gauge Caliber Barrel Cost Weight Size Type Speed RC Recoil
Length (GBE) (lbs) Factor
96 .37 4 10 1 S B 0 1 -5%
96 .37 8 20 2 S B 0 2 -5%
96 .37 16 80 3 S B 1 2 -5%
64 .42 4 40 1 S B 0 1 -5%
64 .42 8 60 2 S B 0 1 -5%
64 .42 16 140 4 S B 1 2 -5%
48 .46 4 60 2 S B 0 1 -5%
48 .46 8 100 2 S B 0 1 -5%
48 .46 16 200 4 S B 1 2 -5%
32 .53 4 140 2 S B 0 1 -10%
32 .53 8 200 3 S B 0 1 -10%
32 .53 16 320 5 S B 1 2 -10%
24 .59 4 200 2 S B 0 1 -10%
24 .59 8 280 4 S B 0 1 -10%
24 .59 16 420 6 S B 1 2 -10%
16 .67 4 340 3 S B 0 1 -10%
16 .67 8 420 4 S B 1 1 -10%
16 .67 16 600 8 S B 1 2 -10%
Table III. Handgonne Damage Characteristics.
Gauge Barrel Ball Damage Shot Damage Duplex Damage
Length Small Large Small Large Small Large
96 4 1d3 1d2-1 1d2-1 2d8+1 1d2-1 1d2-1
96 8 1d4 1d3-1 1d2-1 2d10 1d3-1 1d2-1
96 16 2d2 2d2 1d2-1 2d12 1d2 1d2-1
64 4 1d4 1d3 1d2-1 3d6+2 1d3-1 1d2-1
64 8 2d2 1d3 1d2-1 3d8 1d2 1d2-1
64 16 1d6 1d8 1d2-1 4d6 1d3 1d2-1
48 4 2d2 2d2 1d2-1 3d8 1d2 1d2-1
48 8 2d2 2d2 1d2-1 3d8+1 1d3 1d2-1
48 16 1d6 1d10 1d3-1 4d6+1 1d4 1d3-1
32 4 1d6 1d8 1d2-1 4d6 1d3 1d2-1
32 8 1d6 1d10 1d3-1 4d6+1 1d4 1d2
32 16 2d3 2d4+1 1d2 4d6+3 2d2 2d2
24 4 1d6 1d10 1d3-1 4d6+1 1d4 1d3-1
24 8 2d3 1d12 1d3-1 4d6+2 1d4 1d4
24 16 1d8 2d6 1d2 4d6+3 2d3 2d3
16 4 2d3 2d4+1 1d2 3d10+1 2d3 2d3
16 8 1d8 2d6 1d2 4d8 2d3 2d3
16 16 2d4 2d6+1 1d3 3d12 1d6 2d4
Table IV. Long Gonne Characteristics
Gauge Caliber Barrel Cost Weight Size Type Speed RC Recoil
Length (GBE) (lbs) Factor
24 .59 24 1,160 12 M B 1 2 -10%
24 .59 36 1,500 18 M B 2 2 -10%
24 .59 48 1,860 23 L B 3 2 -10%
16 .67 24 1,580 15 M B 2 2 -10%
16 .67 36 2,020 22 M B 3 2 -10%
16 .67 48 2,460 29 L B 3 2 -10%
12 .74 24 1,960 18 M B 2 2 -15%
12 .74 36 2,460 25 M B 3 2 -15%
12 .74 48 2,980 33 L B 3 2 -15%
8 .84 24 2,620 22 M B 2 2 -15%
8 .84 36 3,260 31 M B 3 2 -15%
8 .84 48 3,900 41 L B 4 2 -15%
6 .93 24 3,220 25 M B 2 2 -20%
6 .93 36 3,960 36 M B 3 2 -20%
6 .93 48 4,720 47 L B 4 2 -20%
4 1.06 24 4,280 31 M B 3 2 -25%
4 1.06 36 5,200 45 M B 4 2 -25%
4 1.06 48 6,140 58 L B 4 2 -25%
Table V. Long Gonne Damage Characteristics
Gauge Barrel Ball Damage Shot Damage Duplex Damage
Length Small Large Small Large Small Large
24 24 2d4+1 2d10 2d2 6d6 1d8 2d6
24 36 2d4+1 2d10+1 1d6 4d10+1 2d4 2d6+1
24 48 1d12 2d12 1d6 4d10+1 2d4 2d8
16 24 1d12 2d10+1 1d6 5d8+1 2d4 2d8
16 36 1d12 2d12 2d3 7d6 1d10 2d8+1
16 48 2d6 4d6 2d3 4d10+3 1d10 2d10
12 24 1d12 2d12 2d3 4d10+2 1d10 2d8+1
12 36 2d6 4d6 2d3 7d6+1 1d10 2d10
12 48 3d4 4d6+1 1d8 4d12 2d4+1 2d10
8 24 2d6 4d6+1 1d8 4d10+3 2d4+1 3d6+1
8 36 3d4 3d10-1 1d8 4d12 2d4+1 3d6+2
8 48 2d6+1 3d10 2d4 5d10 1d12 2d12
6 24 3d4 3d10-1 1d8 7d6+2 2d4+1 3d6+2
6 36 2d6+1 3d10 2d4 5d10 1d12 3d8
6 48 2d6+1 5d6 2d4 5d10+1 1d12 4d6
4 24 2d6+1 4d8-1 2d4 6d8 1d12 2d12
4 36 3d4+1 4d8 1d10 6d8+1 2d6 4d6
4 48 3d4+1 4d8+1 1d10 6d8+2 2d6 3d8+2
Explosives
Explosives at this level of technology consist of various amounts of
powder plus a fuse. Table VI summarizes the explosive power of various
weights of black powder. Explosives can be thrown, fired from a crossbow, or
delivered by catapult or ballista. Use your game's rules for "flaming oil"
or similar missiles for determining the effects of a miss.
Explosives must be lit by hand before being fired. Setting the fuse is a
delicate process; the grenadier must make a to hit roll with his artillery
proficiency against an unarmored target. If the roll succeeds, the grenade
will explode on impact. If the roll fails, the grenade will explode either
late or early. Those in the blast get a bonus to their resistance roll equal
to the amount by which the roll was failed.
Explosive damage is a sphere centered on the explosion. Everyone within
the "radius" of the explosion must takes the full rolled damage or resist
Dragon Breath or Explosion for half damage. In addition, rolled damage is
halved for every multiple of the radius that a victim is away from the
center of blast.
Explosives shot from a bow cannot have a payload larger than 4 ounces.
Explosive quarrels are tricky to make and will cost at least ten times as
much as normal quarrels. It is not yet possible at this level of technology
to make a reliable explosive round for any hand-held gonne. Explosives can
also be fired from artillery. Rules for explosive artillery shells are in
the "Artillery" section below.
It's immediately apparent that these explosions can have more damage than
the arbitrary maximum damage in some games. This is for two reasons: The
maximum is within the context of magical spells. Thus, the limit may be one
of the many bizarre and arbitrary features of magic. Second, guns and
explosives are vicious, nasty things, and there is no practical limit to the
carnage they have wreaked in our history. Look at it this way: One nuclear
weapon can obliterate a mountain--that's a little more than a handful of
dice. Guns represent the death of Chivalry, so it makes sense that they be
more horrible than magic.
Table VI. Explosive Power
Weight Damage Radius
(lbs) (yds)
0.5oz 1d10 0.5
1oz 2d8+1 1
2oz 3d8+1 2
3oz 5d6 2
4oz 4d8 3
8oz 5d8 4
1 6d8 4
2 9d6 5
3 7d8+1 6
4 5d12 6
5 6d10+3 6
8 8d8+3 7
10 7d10 7
16 6d12+3 8
20 13d6 8
32 10d8+2 9
40 7d12 9
64 11d8+1 10
80 9d10+1 10
128 8d12 11
160 8d12+2 11
320 9d12 12
640 11d10+3 13
1280 10d12 14
Artillery
There is a single "artillery" weapon proficiency that can only be taken
by full-time soldiers or similar people. Artillery is an explicitly military
class of weapons and requires a professional. Foresters wouldn't concern
themselves with such urban weapons, and these filthy devices are beneath the
notice of the high-and-mighty crusader. It is the common man who ends up
being the master of artillery.
It is possible to specialize in artillery. Artillery specialization only
has effect if the specialist is the gun captain (head of the crew). The
artillery specialist reduces all range penalties by 2 (thus, short range is
0, medium is 0, long is -3, etc.). At skill levels 7-12, the specialist
doubles the firing rate of the piece he commands. At levels 13 or above, the
firing rate is tripled. Furthermore, specialist gun captains can reduce the
scatter of missed shots (see below).
Artillery must have a crew of more than one person. The crew sizes in the
tables below include the gun captain. Crews have more men than are
absolutely necessary, just in case a few get killed. The effects of having a
smaller than optimal crew are as follows: From full strength to three-
quarter strength, no effect; from three-quarter strength to half strength,
rate of fire halved; from less than half strength to at least two people,
rate of fire quartered; having only one crewman divides rate of fire by
eight.
Types of Artillery
An organ gonne or ribald (a contraction of the Middle English for "a row
across a plank") is a rack of gonnes fixed to a carriage. It would cost the
price of the gonnes plus ten to twenty percent for the carriage. Carriage
weight is equal to the combined weight of the gonnes. The gonnes can be set
up to fire all at once or in clusters.
Organ gonnes have a maximum rate of fire per round equal to their number
of barrels, but they take one full round per barrel to reload. Organ gonnes
use the range and damage characteristics of their component long gonnes. The
minimum crew of an organ gonne is one per every four barrels or fraction
thereof.
The mortar, named for resembling a chemist's mortar, is for lobbing
shells over walls and obstacles. While they could be used for solid shot and
cannister, they wouldn't be effective. Table VII summarizes the traits of
mortars.
The howitzer, from the Bohemian "houfnice", or ballista, is a short-
barrelled, direct-fire weapon for firing shells towards the top of walls.
Howitzers are effective at firing solid, cannister, and explosive
ammunition. Table VII gives the attributes of Howitzers.
Cannons, from the Italian "cannone" or large tube, are long, heavy guns
that are for shooting directly into walls. They can fire solid, cannister,
or explosive ammunition. They are in table IX.
The bombard is a super-cannon, designed to hurl boulders through walls.
They fire solid ammunition and could theoretically fire cannister, but it
would be a waste of lead, since they take an hour to aim. Nobody would be
insane enough to load explosive ammunition into one. Bombards are described
in Table X.
Mobile gun carriages are unknown except for organ gonnes. Artillery was
moved by cart and emplaced on the ground for firing. Aiming was a slow and
laborious process. The gun team dragged the weapon around to aim it. All
artillery except organ gonnes have a -25% "to hit" penalty when firing at a
target with a movement rate greater than one yard per second. This penalty
becomes five percentiles worse for every person that a gun's crew is short-
handed.
An artillery piece could be fired once from its cart. The force of the
recoil would destroy the cart and do full rolled damage to whomever fired
it. The gun would then have to be dug out of the ground before it could be
used again. However, firing from a cart would remove penalties for target
motion.
Ship-board artillery was unknown in this period. Full-size artillery
could not be reliably used on a ship until the end of the Renaissance. Hand
weapons preceded ship-mounted weapons by centuries. Handgonnes and Long
Gonnes were mounted on swivels to act as "deck sweepers", but these were
purely anti-personnel weapons.
Artillery of this period are more unreliable than gonnes. On any natural
"to hit" roll of 30% (6 on d20) or less, most artillery will misfire. On a
5% or lower roll, the artillery will also backflash, coating the gunners in
soot (artillerists don't look at their guns while they're firing them--too
dangerous).
On a backflash, roll a d20. On 1-3 on the second d20 the gun explodes,
doing half its damage to everybody within ten yards if using solid shot. The
gun does full damage in a 10-foot sphere around the gun if firing cannister
or explosive ammunition. Bombards misfire on any natural "to hit" roll of
40% (8 on d20) or less. If the roll is 10% or less, roll a d20. The bombard
explodes on a 1-4 on the second d20.
All large artillery is rated in "pounds". This is the weight of a single
solid shot that would fit into the barrel. Thus, a "4-lber" would fire a
four-pound ball if it were firing solid shot.
The "Max RoF" listed for the artillery pieces is full-pressure "rapid
fire". This is not how these gonnes would be used during a siege or extended
bombardment. Use at full RoF is extremely dangerous, and there is a 2%
chance per shot after the first that a gunner will suffer a potentially
fatal injury from a gun mishap (loss of a hand, severe burns, etc.).
Professional gun captains will usually fire at a quarter the listed rate
unless ordered to do otherwise.
There are three types of artillery loads available at this level of
technology. Solid ammunition is a stone ball. It would be used for walls or
truly huge monsters. These cost 15GBE per pound of ball.
Explosive ammunition is a metal shell filled with powder, to which a fuse
has been attached. Explosive ammo costs 60GBE per poundage rating of gun it
is to be fired from. Damage is in a sphere, resist vs. Dragon Breath or
Explosion for half. Basic damage is halved every multiple of "radius" a
victim is from the blast center (see "Explosives" above).
Setting the fuse is a fine art, and a gun captain must make a successful
roll to hit an unarmored target to ensure that the shell will explode upon
impact. Failure means that the shell will either explode early or late. The
amount by which the gun captain failed the roll is a bonus to the resistance
rolls of those in the blast.
Scatter rules for thrown items can be used with one modification to
determine scatter for explosive shells. Multiply the roll to determine
amount of scatter by one-tenth the distance the shell has travelled. The
longer the shot, the greater the scatter. Artillery specialists subtract
half skill level from the scatter roll before multiplying by distance. Any
result below zero is treated as zero.
Cannister is one-inch diameter lead balls, effective against formations
of infantry, and devastating to really big monsters. Cannister costs 2GBE
per pound rating of the gun. Cannister does damage to everything within a
six-degree cone beginning at the muzzle. This damage is halved every 20
yards from the muzzle, and victims can save vs. Dragon Breath or Explosion
for half damage. Cannister has no "to hit" roll.
Very large monsters present larger targets to cannister. Divide the
height of the monster by the height of an average man and multiply this by
20. Cannister damage is halved at this new increment instead of 20 yards for
monsters that large. For example: A 12-foot-tall giant is about twice as
tall as an average man. Thus, cannister damage would be halved every 40
yards for these giants. (12/6=2, 2*20=40). Cannister extends until modified
damage is less than one.
The amount of powder used for large artillery depends on the poundage
rating of the gun. A gun typically uses 90% of its poundage rating to propel
a round. Thus, a 16-pounder would fire a 16-pound ball and use around 15.5
pounds of powder to fire it.
Table VII summarizes the main traits of mortars. Tables VIII, IX and X
summarize howitzers, cannons, and bombards. If using explosive shells with a
howitzer or cannon, use the damage of a shell from a mortar of the same
type.
"Type" is the weight of a solid ball that would fit into the gun.
"Diameter" is the muzzle diameter in inches. Maximum Range is the absolute
limit that a round can fly. You will note from the RC table above that this
is very far beyond the Ridiculous range. All shots aimed at beyond this
range are assumed to miss the target and scatter.
Siege
Cannister is ineffective against fortifications. Each individual ball is
absorbed by stone or earthworks with little effect upon the whole. Explosive
shells and solid ball are more effective.
Effect rolls for single explosive charges of a given weight are in Table
XI. Make a percentile roll for each individual charge. If the roll is
greater than the target number, then a breach has been made with a radius in
feet equal to the percentile points that the target was exceeded. This is
meant to simulate collapse of adjoining structure as well as the direct
action of the explosion upon the material.
The above rule is modified if a harder substance is next to the actual
target. Use the target value of the harder substance for such situations.
For example, if a 320-lb charge were set off next to an Oak gate in a
granite wall, the target number of Oak would be 40. If the actual roll is
60, then a 20-foot radius hole would appear in an oak wall, to simulate
collapse of adjacent sections, etc.
However, the gate is only 20 feet across, so after the first ten feet
radius, you run out of gate. How much of the granite wall goes down? The
Effect target of granite for a 320-lb charge is 75. A roll of 60 is less
than this, so the granite is scuffed but not damaged enough to collapse
(immediately). This is not realistic, but it's good enough for roleplaying
games.
Effect Rolls for various materials against explosive shells are given in
table XII. Effect Rolls against solid ball are given in table XIII, XIV, and
XV. These Effect Rolls presume a full 12-hour "day" of bombardment by a
battery of at least four mortars, howitzers or cannon or a full day of
bombardment by at least two bombards. Every halving of this time, to a
minimum of 1.5 hours is a -10 to the roll. Every doubling of the time is a
+10 to the roll. Every gun short of a battery is -10 to the roll. Every
doubling of guns in a battery is a +10 to the roll.
The roll is to be made at the end of the time of bombardment, whether
this is reached by schedule, by physical disruption by enemy forces, by
running out of funds, or other causes.
Mixed-gun bombardments are very tricky to calculate realistically. A very
rough rule of thumb would be to use the roll for the most numerous guns in
the array and add +10 to the breach roll for every doubling of basic hit
point damage over the total of the battery of the most numerous guns for the
type of ammunition used.
If a breach occurs through long bombardment, it will have a width
sufficient to mount an assault led by a full infantry company. This is
extremely unrealistic. For a more realistic-feeling result, you could roll
the dice and subtract the Effect target number from the dice roll. Add the
result to one, and this is the relative breach size compared to the default
"company-size" breach.
These rolls presume walls of around three feet thick. Every doubling of
this thickness is a -15 to the roll to breach.
Composite construction walls, like those of a European castle, would
require a weighted average. For example, a typical "ten-foot thick wall" of
a European castle might only have three total feet of granite or other hard
stone, about half on each side. The middle would be filled with rubble and
soil. Thus, you would add 3/10 of the "Granite" target to 7/10 of the "Soil"
target to get the actual target roll.
Such a castle wall would have a target roll of 78 ((85*0.3)+(75*0.7)) if
bombarded by a battery of four 12-pounder howitzers for one day.
Fortifications will always eventually fall to guns if the guns are able
to keep firing. Several things can disrupt this. The most likely is simple
expense.
To estimate ammunition consumption. multiply the Maximum RoF by 240,
increasing any result of less than six to six. Multiply this by the number
of guns in a battery and by the number of days of bombardment. There is a 2%
chance per day, cumulative of losing each gun. Roll for each gun after every
day of bombardment. If there are very many guns involved, simply calculate a
2% loss of guns per day. Half these losses can be restored within a day.
Loss chance is 5% cumulative per day for bombards. There is a 5% non-
cumulative chance per day that a damaged bombard can be restored in a siege.
Counter-battery fire can be attempted if both sides have artillery. This
should be played out as a battle with your game's combat rules. Unless on
their carts, artillery pieces are stationary targets.
Table VII. Mortar Characteristics
Type Bore Cost Crew Weight Max RoF RC Maximum Expl. Radius
Diameter (GBE) (lbs) per minute Range (yds) Damage (yds)
3-lber. 3.8 14,000 3 60 4/5 2 3,800 4d10 3
4-lber. 4.1 18,000 3 70 4/5 2 4,400 4d10+1 3
6-lber. 4.7 24,000 3 90 4/5 2 5,400 4d10+3 4
8-lber. 5.2 28,000 3 110 3/4 2 6,200 5d10 4
12-lber. 6 38,000 4 150 3/4 2 7,600 8d6+1 4
16-lber. 6.6 46,000 4 180 7/10 2 8,700 8d6+3 4
24-lber. 7.5 62,000 5 240 7/10 2 10,700 5d12+1 5
32-lber. 8.3 74,000 5 280 3/5 2 12,400 10d6 5
48-lber. 9.5 96,000 7 370 3/5 2 15,200 5d12+5 6
64-lber. 10.4 120,000 8 450 1/2 2 17,500 10d6+3 6
Table VIII. Howitzer Characteristics
Type Bore Cost Crew Weight Max RoF RC Maximum Solid Cannister
Diameter (GBE) (lbs) per minute Range Damage Damage
3-lber. 3.8 20,000 3 120 7/10 2 5,100 4d10+3 14d6+2
4-lber. 4.1 24,000 3 150 7/10 2 5,800 4d12 15d6+2
6-lber. 4.7 32,000 3 200 7/10 2 7,100 6d8 16d6+2
8-lber. 5.2 38,000 3 240 3/5 2 8,200 8d6 11d10+1
12-lber. 6 51,000 4 310 3/5 2 10,100 8d6+2 19d6
16-lber. 6.6 62,000 4 380 1/2 2 11,700 8d6+3 12d10+3
24-lber. 7.5 82,000 5 490 1/2 2 14,300 4d12+6 16d8+2
32-lber. 8.3 100,000 5 600 3/8 2 16,500 6d10 14d10
48-lber. 9.5 132,000 7 780 3/8 2 20,200 10d6 18d8
64-lber. 10.4 160,000 8 940 3/8 2 23,300 8d8 24d6
Table IX. Cannon Characteristics
Type Bore Cost Crew Weight Max RoF RC Maximum Solid Cannister
Diameter (GBE) (lbs) per minute Range Damage Damage
3-lber. 3.8 26,000 3 210 3/5 2 6,700 4d12 8d12
4-lber. 4.1 32,000 3 250 3/5 2 7,700 6d8 10d10
6-lber. 4.7 40,000 3 330 1/2 2 9,500 8d6+1 11d10
8-lber. 5.2 52,000 3 400 1/2 2 10,900 8d6+2 11d10+3
12-lber. 6 68,000 4 520 3/8 2 13,400 8d6+3 12d10+1
16-lber. 6.6 84,000 4 630 3/8 2 15,500 4d12+6 20d6+1
24-lber. 7.5 110,000 5 830 1/4 2 18,900 6d10+1 16d8+3
32-lber. 8.3 134,000 5 1,000 1/4 2 21,900 10d6 12d12
48-lber. 9.5 176,000 7 1,310 1/4 2 26,800 8d8 18d8+2
64-lber. 10.4 220,000 8 1,590 1/7 2 30,900 8d8+1 19d8+1
Table X. Bombard Characteristics
Type Bore Cost Crew Weight Max RoF RC Maximum Solid Cannister
Diameter (GBE) (lbs) per minute Range Damage Damage
320-lb. 17.8 640,000 25 4,650 1/60 2 89,300 6d12+4 16d12
640-lb. 22.4 1,020,000 50 7,380 1/120 2 126,300 8d10+2 20d10+1
Table XI. Effect Rolls for Explosive Charge (d100)
Powder Granite Limestone Soil Pine Oak
Weight
0.5 oz 113 116 112 161 127
1 oz 110 112 109 147 120
2 oz 107 108 106 132 114
3 oz 105 106 105 124 110
4 oz 104 104 103 118 107
8 oz 101 100 100 104 100
1 lb 98 96 97 90 94
2 lb 95 92 94 76 87
3 lb 94 90 93 67 83
4 lb 93 88 91 61 81
5 lb 92 87 91 57 78
8 lb 90 84 88 47 74
10 lb 89 83 87 43 72
16 lb 87 80 85 33 67
20 lb 86 79 84 28 65
32 lb 84 76 82 19 61
40 lb 83 75 81 14 59
64 lb 81 72 79 5 54
80 lb 80 71 78 0 52
128 lb 78 68 76 -10 48
160 lb 77 67 75 -14 45
320 lb 75 63 72 -28 39
640 lb 72 59 69 -43 32
1280 lb 69 55 66 -57 26
Table XII. Effect Rolls for Explosive Shells (d100)
Type Granite Limestone Soil Pine Oak
3-lber. 95 90 90 65 85
4-lber. 95 90 90 60 80
6-lber. 90 85 90 55 80
8-lber. 90 85 90 50 75
12-lber. 90 85 90 45 75
16-lber. 90 85 85 40 70
24-lber. 85 80 85 35 70
32-lber. 85 80 85 30 65
48-lber. 85 75 80 20 60
64-lber. 85 75 80 10 55
Table XIII. Effect Rolls for Howitzer Solid Ball (d100)
Type Granite Limestone Soil Pine Oak
3-lber. 90 85 80 50 75
4-lber. 90 85 80 45 75
6-lber. 90 85 75 40 70
8-lber. 90 80 75 40 70
12-lber. 85 80 75 35 65
16-lber. 85 80 70 30 65
24-lber. 85 75 70 25 60
32-lber. 85 75 70 20 60
48-lber. 85 75 65 15 55
64-lber. 80 75 65 10 55
Table XIV. Effect Rolls for Cannon Solid Ball (d100)
Type Granite Limestone Soil Pine Oak
3-lber. 90 85 80 45 75
4-lber. 90 85 75 40 70
6-lber. 90 80 75 35 70
8-lber. 85 80 75 35 65
12-lber. 85 80 70 30 65
16-lber. 85 75 70 25 60
24-lber. 85 75 65 20 60
32-lber. 85 75 65 15 55
48-lber. 80 70 65 5 55
64-lber. 80 70 60 0 50
Table XV. Effect Rolls for Bombards (d100)
Type Granite Limestone Soil Pine Oak
320-lber. 75 60 45 -30 35
640-lber. 70 55 40 -50 25