LANIK 2.0 - Weapon Guide

Contents

Armor
Hand weapons
Missile weapons
Artillery

Armor

Remarks

Armor includes helmets, which may range from leather caps, via open helmets to fully enclosed helmets. Gloves, shin guards, boots etc. are also included. Full plate of armor is personal and does not fit persons of a different build than the owner.

Weapons

Hand weapons

Remarks

Missile weapons

Remarks

Missile range

Many missile weapons have maximum ranges far beyond those listed in the table above, some even up to 1000 meters or beyond. However, these ranges are made at record attempts under the most favorable conditions. Hitting a target at these ranges must be considered sheer luck, this is why only effective combat ranges are listed in the table.

Atlatl

Darts and light javelins can be thrown using an atlatl, a spear-thrower. This device is about 0.6 mtrs in length and weighs about 0.06 kg. With, the range of a projectile can be doubled, but the fire rate gets a +1 penalty. The atlatl can be reused with every shot.

Slings

Sling stones and bullets are oval, average width being 3 - 3½ cm. Average weight is 0.05 kg, max. about 0.15 kg. Staff sling stones are larger and heavier, about 0.5 kg on average. Ranges listed are for well-rounded stones and balls. Natural stones tend to be rougher and have about 25% less range.

Bows and crossbows

Bow arrows: Length depends on bow length, usually around 0.6 mtr. for medium bows and up to 0.9 mtr. for longbows. Crossbows bolts are about 50% shorter, max. 0.6 mtr. for a heavy crossbow. A flight arrow weighs about 0.01 - 0.02 kg, this is what the figures in the tables are made for. Heavier war arrows (about 0.015 - 0.025 kg) range ¾ as far, but their damage score is 1 point higher.

A longbow or composite medium bow requires a minimum strength of score 12 to pull to full length. Minimum scores for medium bows and composite short bows is 11, for shortbows 9.
If minimum strength is not met, the bow cannot be pulled full length. In this case, apply a 15% range and 1 point damage penalty for each point of strength shortage. When range or damage score drops to 0, the bow cannot be effectively used at all.

Short and medium bows can be fired from horseback (though this gives penalties on attack score, see combat guide). Longbows are too large to be used effectively from horseback. The Japanese daikyu is an exception because it has a low grip.

Guns

Early guns were so-called "smoothbore" guns. Initially they used slow burning fuses to ignite the gunpowder, which were very unreliable and prone to misfire. Later they were replaced by more elaborate and more expensive, but also more reliable and quicker reloading lock types: flintlock, wheel lock and caplock. Another improvement was the replacement of the wooden ramrod by an iron one, improving reload speed even more and also increasing accuracy.
The first handguns are called handgonnes, which were quickly replaced by arquebuses. These were in turn superseded by the heavier muskets, which needed a fork to rest the gun on while firing. Later muskets were lighter and could be fired without a supporting fork.
The smoothbore gun was replaced by the rifle, which has a spiraling pattern of grooves cut into the bore so that the bullet rotates around its length axis when leaving the gun, greatly improving accuracy. Rifles and sucessive firearms (machine gun, automatic gun, etc.) are not listed here.

Artillery

Remarks

Siege engines

Siege crossbows use torsion to violently fire their missiles in a straight line. Siege catapults use counterweights to swing their projectiles in an arced trajectory. Below are average values for crew size, projectile weight and damage against structures.

The rate of fire of a siege engine is cut by a factor of 3 if only half a crew is available. A half crew is minimum, less the number cannot load the machine.
With mangonels, perriers and trebuchets, stone projectiles of minimum ¼x and maximum 2x the average weight can be used. The range increases/decreases with a factor [sqrt(average weight / new weight)].
Catapult ranges are maximum ranges, where the projectile is launched at an about 45° angle, flying about half as high as far. The release angle can be increased, shortening range but increasing maximum height and giving a sharper angle of approach at impact.