# Great Guns
*The Heavy Armory, Siege Engines, Great Guns, and Vehicle Weapons for Exodus NDS. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/heavy-armory/great-guns*
Muzzle-loading guns on carriages, from the first that could be moved to the last before the breechloader. *The Black Powder Armory* stops at the swivel gun on the rail. This chapter starts with the gun beside it.
**Named by the weight of the ball.** A nine-pounder throws a nine-pound iron shot. The entries group them into four sizes.
**Slow-Firing is the drill.** Sponge, load, ram, prime, run out, lay, fire. A good crew does it in the listed rounds. Chapter 3 says what a short crew does.
**Every gun here is Unreliable** until the last decades of the period, and all of them make smoke.
## Shot
A smoothbore gun fires any of these. The crew chooses when it loads.
| Shot | Effect | Price |
|:--|:--|:-:|
| **Round shot** | The listed profile | x1 |
| **Grape or canister** | Range becomes Short. Against people, Blast equal to the gun's Hull damage, with no Boons needed. Against vehicles and structures, half damage | x1 |
| **Chain or bar shot** | Range one band shorter. Against a sailing ship: 2 less Hull, and System Damage equal to half the gun's Hull damage | x1.5 |
| **Heated shot** | Forts and shore batteries only. Adds Burn 2 against wooden ships and buildings. Slow-Firing 1 higher | x1 |
| **Double shot** | Range becomes Short. Add 2 Hull. Add 1 Bane Die | x2 |
| **Shell (from 1820)** | Guns of Heavy mount only. Adds Blast 4 and Burn 1. Unreliable even on a gun that is not | x3 |
##### Light Gun
Falcon, minion, three- and four-pounder, grasshopper
Light
3
4
Long
3
1500
Military
1400
Ballistic
Crew 3, Slow-Firing 2, Unreliable
The smallest carriage gun: a battalion piece on land and the armament of a sloop or a merchantman at sea. Two horses or six men move it.
##### Medium Gun
Saker, six-, nine-, and twelve-pounder, field gun
Standard
5
3
Long
5
3000
Military
1400
Ballistic
Crew 5, Slow-Firing 2, Unreliable
The standard field gun of every army and the main battery of a frigate. A battery of six on land, or a broadside of fourteen at sea, is what most fights of this period are decided by.
##### Long Nine
Chase gun, long gun, bow chaser
Standard
5
3
Extreme
5
4500
Military
1650
Ballistic
Accurate 1, Crew 5, Slow-Firing 2
A nine-pounder with a long, carefully bored barrel, mounted in the bow or stern to fire during a chase. It is the gun a captain lays himself.
##### Heavy Gun
Culverin, eighteen- and twenty-four-pounder, siege gun
Heavy
7
3
Long
8
6000
Military
1400
Ballistic
Pierce 1, Crew 8, Slow-Firing 3, Unreliable
The lower-deck gun of a frigate and the breaching gun of a siege train. On land it needs eight horses and a road.
##### Great Gun
Demi-cannon, thirty-two- and forty-two-pounder
Heavy
8
3
Long
12
8000
Military
1400
Ballistic
Pierce 2, Crew 12, Slow-Firing 3, Unreliable
The lower-deck gun of a ship of the line, and the gun of a coastal fort. It is too heavy to take on campaign. A broadside of these is the heaviest blow of the age of sail.
##### Carronade
Smasher, gunnade, short gun
Heavy
8
4
Short
4
3500
Military
1650
Ballistic
Crew 4, Slow-Firing 2, Inaccurate 1
A short, light gun throwing a heavy ball a short way. It needs a third of a long gun's crew and weight, which lets a small ship carry a big ship's broadside. From 1779.
##### Mortar
Bomb, coehorn, siege mortar
Heavy
7
4
Medium to Long
5
5000
Military
1400
Blast
Indirect, Blast 5, Burn 1, Emplaced, Crew 5, Slow-Firing 3, Inaccurate 1
A squat tube that lobs a hollow, fused shell over a wall. It is the only gun of the period that hits what is behind cover. At sea it is carried by a bomb vessel built for nothing else.
##### Field Howitzer
Licorne, obusier, royal howitzer
Standard
5
4
Medium to Long
5
4000
Military
1650
Blast
Indirect, Blast 4, Crew 5, Slow-Firing 2
A short gun on a field carriage, firing shells at a high angle. One or two march with every battery to deal with troops behind a hedge or a wall.
##### Organ Gun
Ribauldequin, volley cart, death organ
Light
2
4
Medium
3
1200
Military
1400
Ballistic
Blast 3, Crew 3, Limited Ammo 1, Prepare 6, Unreliable
A row of small barrels on a cart, fired together. It defends a gate or a breach with one devastating volley and then takes six maneuvers to load again.
##### War Rocket Battery
Rocket troop, rocket boat frame
Standard
4
4
Long
4
2500
Military
1650
Blast
Blast 3, Burn 2, Inaccurate 2, Salvo 4, Crew 4, Limited Ammo 12
Frames or troughs firing iron-cased rockets in volleys. They set fire to towns and ships, frighten horses, and land almost anywhere. From 1805.
##### Spar Torpedo
Torpedo boat spar, the davit charge
Standard
10
3
Engaged
4
1500
Military
1840
Blast
Pierce 2, Limited Ammo 1
A powder charge on a long pole over the bow of a launch, pushed against a ship's side below the waterline and fired. The launch takes one quarter of the damage it deals. From 1863.
