# Engines of the Ancient World

*The Heavy Armory, Siege Engines, Great Guns, and Vehicle Weapons for Exodus NDS. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/heavy-armory/engines-of-the-ancient-world*

From the first siege to the first cannon. Everything here is built of timber, rope, sinew, and iron by a carpenter with a plan.

## The Engines of *The Ranged Armory*

The bolt throwers and stone throwers are already in print. *The Ranged Armory*, Chapter 8, has their full entries, their prices, and their crews. They are personal-scale weapons with the **Siege** quality, and this is what they do at vehicle scale.

| Engine | Damage | Siege | Hull damage | Range | Crew | Slow-Firing |
|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|:--|:-:|:-:|
| **Wall Crossbow** | 9 | 2 | 1 | Extreme | 2 | 2 |
| **Scorpion** | 9 | 2 | 1 | Extreme | 2 | 2 |
| **Carroballista** | 9 | 2 | 1 | Extreme | 3 | 2 |
| **Springald** | 10 | 3 | 3 | Extreme | 2 | 3 |
| **Ballista** | 13 | 3 | 3 | Extreme | 4 | 3 |
| **Perrier** | 9 | 4 | 3 | Long | 3 | 2 |
| **Onager** | 12 | 5 | 6 | Extreme | 4 | 3 |
| **Traction Trebuchet** | 12 | 5 | 6 | Extreme | 8 | 2 |
| **Counterweight Trebuchet** | 14 | 6 | 8 | Extreme | 6 | 3 |
| **Naphtha Siphon** | 7 | 2 | 1, and Burn 3 | Short | 3 | — |

Add 1 Hull for each Success before dividing, as Chapter 4 says. The four stone throwers are **Indirect**.

The entries below are the engines that book does not have.

<img class="framed" src="https://exodusnds.com/assets/sourcebook/heavy_armory/heavy-armory-ancient.jpg">

##### <span class="weapon-bar crush"></span>Battering Ram
<span class="weapon-aka">Ram, tortoise, the sow</span>

<div class="weapon crush ship">

<span class="mount">Standard</span>
<span class="dmg">4</span>
<span class="crit">4</span>
<span class="range">Engaged</span>
<span class="crew">8</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="price">300</span>
<span class="avail">Common</span>
<span class="from">Ancient</span>
<span class="type">Crushing</span>
<span class="qual">Emplaced, Crew 8, Slow-Firing 1</span>

</div>

A tree trunk with an iron head, slung under a wheeled shed. It attacks only a structure it is touching, with an Athletics check by its captain at Easy difficulty. The shed gives its crew heavy cover from above. With a crew of 16 it deals 5 Hull.

##### <span class="weapon-bar thrust"></span>Bore
<span class="weapon-aka">Pick, mouse, wall drill</span>

<div class="weapon thrust ship">

<span class="mount">Light</span>
<span class="dmg">2</span>
<span class="crit">—</span>
<span class="range">Engaged</span>
<span class="crew">4</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="price">200</span>
<span class="avail">Common</span>
<span class="from">Ancient</span>
<span class="type">Thrusting</span>
<span class="qual">Emplaced, Crew 4, Pierce 2</span>

</div>

An iron-pointed beam turned or driven into the joints of a wall, under a shed. It is slow and almost silent. It attacks like the Battering Ram and cannot inflict a Critical Hit.

##### <span class="weapon-bar crush"></span>Galley Ram
<span class="weapon-aka">Bronze beak, rostrum, waterline ram</span>

<div class="weapon crush ship">

<span class="mount">Heavy</span>
<span class="dmg">8</span>
<span class="crit">3</span>
<span class="range">Engaged</span>
<span class="crew">—</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="price">4000</span>
<span class="avail">Military</span>
<span class="from">Ancient</span>
<span class="type">Crushing</span>
<span class="qual">Pierce 1</span>

</div>

The bronze-sheathed bow of a war galley. It is the ship's weapon and is used by ramming: see Chapter 3. A galley that rams takes one quarter of the damage it deals in place of half.

##### <span class="weapon-bar thrust"></span>Corvus
<span class="weapon-aka">Boarding bridge, raven</span>

<div class="weapon thrust ship">

<span class="mount">Standard</span>
<span class="dmg">1</span>
<span class="crit">—</span>
<span class="range">Engaged</span>
<span class="crew">4</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="price">500</span>
<span class="avail">Military</span>
<span class="from">Ancient</span>
<span class="type">Thrusting</span>
<span class="qual">Emplaced, Crew 4, Tractor 3, Limited Ammo 1</span>

</div>

A hinged gangway with a spike under its far end, dropped onto an enemy deck. On a hit the two ships are locked together and may be boarded by two people abreast. **Tractor 3**: breaking free is a Hard Operate check.

##### <span class="weapon-bar thrust"></span>Harpax
<span class="weapon-aka">Grapnel thrower, the snatcher</span>

<div class="weapon thrust ship">

<span class="mount">Light</span>
<span class="dmg">—</span>
<span class="crit">—</span>
<span class="range">Short</span>
<span class="crew">3</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="price">400</span>
<span class="avail">Military</span>
<span class="from">Ancient</span>
<span class="type">Thrusting</span>
<span class="qual">Emplaced, Crew 3, Tractor 2, Slow-Firing 2</span>

</div>

A catapult that throws a grapnel on a line, to be winched in. A held ship is drawn one range band closer each round its crew keeps hauling.

##### <span class="weapon-bar fire"></span>Fire Ship
<span class="weapon-aka">Hellburner, burner</span>

<div class="weapon fire ship">

<span class="mount">Capital</span>
<span class="dmg">12</span>
<span class="crit">3</span>
<span class="range">Engaged</span>
<span class="crew">2</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="price">1500</span>
<span class="avail">Common</span>
<span class="from">Ancient</span>
<span class="type">Fire</span>
<span class="qual">Burn 4, Limited Ammo 1</span>

</div>

An old hull packed with tar, brush, and later powder, sailed or towed into an anchored fleet and lit. It attacks whatever it is steered into, with an Operate check by its last crew before they leave. It is spent in the attack.

##### <span class="weapon-bar fire"></span>Rocket Cart
<span class="weapon-aka">Hwacha, fire-arrow cart, nest of bees</span>

<div class="weapon fire ship">

<span class="mount">Standard</span>
<span class="dmg">3</span>
<span class="crit">4</span>
<span class="range">Long</span>
<span class="crew">3</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="price">1200</span>
<span class="avail">Military</span>
<span class="from">Ancient</span>
<span class="type">Fire</span>
<span class="qual">Blast 3, Burn 1, Inaccurate 2, Salvo 4, Crew 3, Limited Ammo 4, Prepare 3</span>

</div>

A wheeled frame holding a hundred or more rocket-driven arrows, fired in ripples. Each of four ripples is one attack. It appears in the last century of this period and is as frightening as it is inaccurate.

<div class="glass">

##### <span class="weapon-bar crush"></span>Bombard

<img class="framed" src="https://exodusnds.com/assets/sourcebook/heavy_armory/heavy-armory-siege.jpg" alt="Bombard" loading="lazy">

<span class="weapon-aka">Great gun, basilisk, the big iron</span>

<div class="weapon crush ship">

<span class="mount">Heavy</span>
<span class="dmg">9</span>
<span class="crit">3</span>
<span class="range">Long</span>
<span class="crew">8</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="price">9000</span>
<span class="avail">Rare</span>
<span class="from">Ancient</span>
<span class="type">Crushing</span>
<span class="qual">Emplaced, Crew 8, Slow-Firing 5, Unreliable, Inaccurate 1, Prepare 5</span>

</div>

The first gun that could knock down a castle: a huge iron or bronze tube firing a stone ball. It fires perhaps seven times a day. It ends this chapter and begins the next.

</div>
