The Black Powder Armory · Chapter 11

Armour of the Powder Age

Armour did not vanish when the gun arrived. It got thicker, then shorter, then it was a breastplate and a helmet, and by 1700 most soldiers wore neither. This chapter covers what was still worn, and what came back in the trenches of 1915.

The rules are those of The Armourer, and they are complete here.

Resistance is added to the wearer's Resistance. No armour adds more than +3. Melee Defense and Ranged Defense add Bane Dice to attacks of that kind.

Deflecting X (type): attacks of that damage type add X Bane Dice. Deflecting from all sources does not stack above 2.

Vulnerable X (type): against attacks of that type, reduce this armour's Resistance bonus by X, to a minimum of 0. Resistance from Might is never reduced. Natural attacks do not trigger Vulnerable.

Cumbersome X on armour: the wearer needs Might X, or adds Bane Dice equal to the shortfall to every physical check. Add the full rating as Bane Dice to Stealth and to swimming.

Helm X: reduce Critical Injury rolls against the wearer by X times 10.

Every firearm in this book deals Ballistic damage.

Older Armour Against Firearms

A table using The Armourer alongside this book applies one rule.

Armour made before the gun is Vulnerable 1 (Ballistic). This covers every medieval body armour in The Armourer with a Resistance bonus of +2 or more: brigandine, mail, scale, lamellar, coat of plates, half-plate, and full plate. The padded jack and the leather jerkin are unaffected; they were never going to stop a ball.

This is why the knight's harness was put away. It is one more Vulnerable, on armour that already had one.

A sailor going overboard in a cuirass drowns. On a ship, most people wear a coat.

Buff Coat

Buff jerkin, elk-hide coat

A thick coat of oil-tanned hide. It turns a sword cut and does nothing for a ball. Cavalry wore it alone once the cuirass became too heavy to be worth it.

Munition Cuirass

Breast and back, pikeman's corslet

A plain breastplate and backplate from the arsenal. It stops a blade and a pike. A musket ball goes through it: Vulnerable 1 (Ballistic).

Proofed Cuirass

Pistol-proof cuirass, cuirassier's breastplate

A thicker breastplate tested by firing a pistol at it. The dent left by the proof shot is the maker's guarantee. It is the only armour of the period that deflects Ballistic attacks, and it is heavy and three times the price.

Three-Quarter Armour

Cuirassier armour, lobster armour

Plate from the helmet to the knee, the last full armour worn in war. It is superb against steel and it is the reason pistols were carried in pairs: it has two Vulnerables, and a ball finds one of them.

Pot Helmet

Morion, lobster-tail pot, cabasset, zischagge

An open steel helmet. Helm 1: reduce Critical Injury rolls against the wearer by 10.

Silk Vest

Bulletproof waistcoat, Zeglen vest

Many layers of tightly woven silk, sold from the 1880s to men who expected to be shot at close range. It works against the slow, soft bullets of the time.

Steel Trench Helmet

Brodie helmet, Adrian helmet, Stahlhelm

A pressed steel helmet issued from 1915 against shrapnel. Helm 1. This is the Steel Helmet of The Armourer.

Trench Armour

Brewster body shield, Sappenpanzer, sentry armour

Articulated steel plates for sentries and machine-gun crews, from 1916. It needs Might 4, and nobody advances in it.

Boilerplate

Ploughshare armour, bushranger's armour

Armour beaten from plough mouldboards or boiler plate by a blacksmith. It stops pistol and rifle fire on the chest and head. It needs Might 4, and it does not cover the legs: an attacker may aim low, adding 2 Bane Dice and ignoring the armour entirely.