The Black Powder Armory ยท Chapter 4
Matchlocks and Wheellocks
The first firearms, from the hand gonne of about 1400 to the heavy musket of the pike-and-shot armies. Their period ends around 1650, though the matchlock lingers a century longer where money is short.
Every entry fires once and then takes three or four maneuvers to reload. Most carry Slow Match: the gun needs a burning cord to fire, it cannot be fired in rain, and the glowing match shows in the dark.
| Lock | Reload | Fires in rain | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand-held match (Hand Gonne) | Prepare 4 | No | Lowest |
| Matchlock | Prepare 3 | No | Low |
| Wheellock | Prepare 3 | With 2 Bane Dice | Seven times a matchlock |
What these guns buy is damage that ignores a lifetime of training. A longbow in The Ranged Armory needs Might 3 and years of practice. An arquebus needs an afternoon.
Skill: Heavy Ranged, except the Wheellock Pistol (Light Ranged).
Hand Gonne
Handgonne, pole gun, tiller gun, fire lance
7 4 Short 4
Heavy Ranged 80 Common Ballistic Prepare 4, Slow Match, Unreliable, Inaccurate 2, Cumbersome 2
An iron tube on a pole, fired by touching a match to a hole. It is the first firearm one person can carry. It frightens horses, it goes through mail, and it hits what it is pointed at about one time in three.
Prepare 4 is the slowest reload in the book, and Inaccurate 2 applies to every shot.
Arquebus
Caliver, hackbut, tanegashima, harquebus
7 3 Medium 3
Heavy Ranged 150 Common Ballistic Prepare 3, Slow Match, Unreliable
A shoulder gun with a trigger that lowers a burning match into the pan. It is light enough to aim without a rest, and it is the gun of the pike-and-shot armies.
Damage 7 at Medium range. Prepare 3 to reload; a bandolier of measured charges (Chapter 2) makes it 2.
Matchlock Musket
Heavy musket, Spanish musket, rest musket
9 3 Medium 5
Heavy Ranged 250 Military Ballistic Pierce 1, Prepare 3, Slow Match, Unreliable, Cumbersome 3
A heavy gun fired from a forked rest, built to put a two-ounce ball through a breastplate. Damage 9 and Pierce 1.
It needs Might 3. Planted on its rest, which is part of preparing it, the requirement is ignored.
Wheellock Pistol
Puffer, dag, reiter pistol
6 3 Short 1
Light Ranged 900 Rare Ballistic Prepare 3, Concealable 1
A pistol fired by a spring-driven wheel striking sparks from pyrite. There is no match to light, so it can be carried loaded under a cloak and fired with one hand from a saddle. It was the first concealable firearm, and several princes banned it for that reason.
The lock is a watchmaker's work and is priced like one. Spanning the wheel is part of its Prepare 3.
Wheellock Carbine
Petronel, cavalry carbine, hunting wheellock
7 3 Medium 3
Heavy Ranged 1100 Rare Ballistic Prepare 3
A short wheellock long gun for horsemen and wealthy hunters. It has the arquebus's numbers without Slow Match and without Unreliable, at seven times the price.
