Codex Martialis: Weapons of the A ncient World

Transcription

1 Codex Martialis: Weapons of the A ncient World Part II: Armor and Missile Weapons 1

2 Codex Martialis: Weapons of the Ancient World Version Credits Part 2, Armor and Missile Weapons Codex Martialis Copyright 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,2013 Jean Henri Chandler Codex Martialis Weapons of the Ancient World: Jean Henri Chandler Artists: Jean Henri Chandler, Reynard Rochon, Ramon Estevez Proofreaders: Michael Curl Special Thanks to: Fabrice C ognot of De Taille et d'estoc for advice, support and sporadic fact-checking Ian P lumb for hosting the Codex Martialis website and continuing to provide advice and support without which I never would have published anything independently. Victor Chernyavskiy for several photos of armor Michael Curl for C hinese F ire Lance Paul M. Ambrose Antiques for several photos of antique firearms Alina B oyden F or help with weapons and armor of the Islamic world and general technical assistance Lenny Zimmermann for proofreading and being a fashion model Michael Edelson from the New York H istorical Fencing Association w ww.new yorklongsw ord.com for permission to use his photos and cite the results of his field tests w ith mail and textile armor. Jake Norwood for continued inspiration and friendship. Lynx Sword Study Group lynxsword.com (Canada) and Gaukler Medieval Wares http :// for providing images of re-enactors in historically accurate replica armor. Steve Thurston, Rosa Mundi (UK) for images of re-enactors in historically accurate replica armor and kit. Ingo from Federechter (Germany) for providing images. Matt Easton of Schola Gladiatoria for various corrections, photos of his archery exploits, and letting me use his clubs forum as a sounding board and various members of Schola Gladiatoria forum for diverse forms of assistance and advice And to all the C odex Martialis fans and supporters who have contacted me from Boston, New Orleans, Miami, San Francisco, Austin, Madrid, Barcelona, Dijon, Sardinia, Galway, Gdansk, Prague, Pilsen, Tabor, Bristol, London, Trondheim, Augsburg, Stuttgart, Neu Ulm, Berne, Basel, Perth, Copenhagen, Gotheburg, on duty in Afghanistan and everywhere else around the world where they like a good gaming night with a few good friends and a couple of beers. I love to see a lord when he is the first to advance on horseback, armed and fearless, thus encouraging his men to valiant service; then, when the fray has begun, each must be ready to follow him willingly, because no one is held in esteem until he has given and received blows. We shall see clubs and swords, gaily coloured helmets and shields shattered and spoiled, at the beginning of the battle, and many vassals all together receiving great blows, by reason of which many horses will wander riderless, belonging to the killed and wounded. Once he has started fighting, no noble knight thinks of anything but breaking heads and arms better a dead man than a live one who is useless. I tell you, neither in eating, drinking, nor sleeping do I find what I feel when I hear the shout "At Them" from both sides, and the neighing of riderless horses in the confusion, or the call "Help! Help!," or when 1 see great and small fall on the grass of the ditches, or when I espy dead men who still have pennoned lances in their ribs. Bertran de Born, A Poem of Chivalry, 11th Century 2

3 Eras: Neolithic (before 3000 BC) Pre-historic ( BC), Classical Bronze Age (1500 BC 1000 BC), Classical Iron Age (1000 BC 400 AD), Dark Age s / Migration Era (400 AD 800 AD), Medieval (800 AD 1350 AD), Renaissan ce (1350 AD 1550 AD ), Enlighten men t / Baroque (1550 AD 1700 AD), Early Modern (1700 AD 1800 AD) These eras are designated for game purposes, the actual historical eras were different and actually varied considerably from region to region. 3

4 Credits... 2 Part I: Armor... 8 Armor Works... 9 Glossary of some Armor Terms Aketon Arming Doublet Arming Jack Bechterets Bevor Bracer Brigandine Byrnie Cap à pied Coat Armor Coat of Plates Chausses Coif Corslet Cuirass Cuir Bouilli Cuisses Dō Dō-maru Doubled Mail Doublet Fauld Gambeson Gauntlet Greave Gorget Gothic Harness Half-Armor Harness Haubergeon Hauberk Helm Helmet Jack Jazeraint Jerkin Katzen-Brust Armor Khazaghand Kozane Lamellar Lames

5 Linothorax Munitions Grade Mail Maximilian Harness Ō-Yoroi Panoply Pauldrons Plackart Poleyns Pourpoint Pteruges Tassets Three Quarters Harness Scale Armor Surcoat Toudei-Gusoku Vambrace White Harness Types of Historical Armor Textile Armor Leather Armor Scale, Lamellar and Brigandine Mail Armor Plate Armor Alternative Armor Materials Silk Buffalo hide Horn Bronze and Brass ( Latten ) Tempered Steel Munitions Grade Sidebar: What about Spider Silk? Considerations about Armor Situational Awareness and armor Sleeping in armor Armor and noise Armor and the weather Armor and Hygiene Armor Table Key (for all tables in this section) Hardness DR HP Min Strength Armor Components List Partial or Half Armor Medium Armor Khazaghand panoply Full Armor

6 Part II: Missile Weapons Rules to remember for Missile Weapons Use your range chart Armor Bypass Ready Bonus Aimed, Supported Shots Plunging shots Volley Fire Reloading and Prep-Time Cover and Concealment Tactical Movement Table II.1 Simple Missile Weapons Rock Throwing Stick Throwing Wood Throwing Club Throwing hammer Thrown Mace Throwing Dagger War-Dart Plumbata Hurlbat Crossbow, Hand Crossbow, Light Crossbow, Heavy Javelin, Light Javelin Half-Spear, Thrown Spear, Thrown Table II.2 Martial Missile Weapons Swiss Arrow Javelin, Thong (Weavers Beam) Soliferrum Pilum Heavy Pilum Short Bow Recurve Bow Crossbow, Slurbow Crossbow, Repeating Longbow Staff-Sling Table II.2a: Height advantage of thrown missile weapons Table II.3 Exotic Missile Weapons Thrown Dagger, Small Thrown Dagger, Large Axe, Throwing Francisca Axe

7 Hatchet or Hand Axe, Thrown Atlatl Crossbow, Windlass Crossbow, Arbalest Crossbow, Heavy Arbalest Crossbow, Gastrophetes Yumi Bow Flatbow English Warbow Indian Steel Bow Heavy Composite Bow Sling Table Notes Readying Missile Weapons Self-Bows and Indirect Fire Missile Weapon Range Sidebar: Fire-Arrows A Note on Thrown Weapon Ranges Table II.4 Missile To Hit and Armor Bypass Modifications by Range Increment: Table II.5 Special Ammunition Cover and Missile Weapons Using missile weapons with the Martial Pool Piercing Critical Hits and Missile Weapons (Optional) Strength, endurance and shooting bows Table II.6 Removing impaled missiles Critical Damage from Missiles (Optional) Shooting in Volleys Missile weapons and weather Broken Strings (Optional) Part III: Firearms Sidebar: Reiter Knights Firearms List Chinese Fire-Lance Chinese Fire-Spear Pistala Grenades and bombs Firing Mechanisms Touch-Hole Using Gunpowder Weapons A word on using Firearms in your Campaign Alternate Materials Range Special Ammunition OPEN GAME LICENSE

8 Part I: Armor Albrecht Durer s Study of a Knight, 1490 AD. This knight is wearing a fluted gothic or Maximilian harness, and carrying a longsword, a roundel or ballock-dagger, and a lance. 8

9 Armor Works Let s try a little thought experiment. Think for a moment of armor not as an ancient technology, but as a high-tech invention of the near future. Imagine a band of killer assassins from some cyberpunk novel protected by a thin layer of bullet-proof tempered spring steel so cunningly ta ilored to their bodies that they have complete freedom of movement. Imagine these guys armed with razor sharp s words a nd knives, charging into a room and slic ing up their victims. Think of mail not as an archaic uniform for T V ba d guys of yesteryear, but as a futuristic steel mesh which protects our Cyberpunk hero a gainst any bla de, exactly the same way as shark-protection suits protect almost miraculously against the teeth of 10 foot Bull Sharks. Think of mail as a human-proof suit. Imagine our cyberpunk assassin attacking a group of armed men, safe from their des perate cuts and thrusts while she slices them to pieces with her razor sharp sword, protected by a 13 pound riveted mail shirt and a steel helmet. Armor worn in 1470 was sim ilar to the type of steel as is found in ballistic vests today. In fact in most cases it was made to a higher standard. Then, as now, metal armor was worn in conjunction with textiles to improve ballistic performance, because then, as now, armor was used as protection aga inst guns. T he only real difference is that back then armor was also designed to protect aga inst cuts and thrusts and slices and crushing blows as well as from small bits of fast flying metal. The myths about armor are too numerous to list, and too tedious to recount here. Rather, I would prefer to focus on the happy fact that they are now being debunked, along with the general notion that our ancestors were stupid enough to wear gear that wasn t of any use. With the rise of the web, an unprecedented trove of excellent data has become available to those who are interested to know the historical reality. Thanks to academicians like Alan Williams, the Ewart Oakeshott of armor, systematic tests have been done and thanks to Google you can read the results online. When I was a kid, the best information you could really find about armor was from TSR, or maybe from the venerable tome of Charles Ffoulkes. Today we can see videos of real armor being worn by men and women running, jumping, doing pushups and vaulting onto horses. We can see it tested a gainst swords, longbows and firearms. We can see people fighting in it and how easily they move. We can watch detailed tutorials showing how armor was made, how thick it really was, how much it weighed, and all the surprising differences between the real historical gear and the fake Ren-fa ire stuff. Today we ha ve direct access to the amazing elegance and sophistication of the real thing. All you really need to know to start appreciating the historical reality of armor is that it worked. It worked well at its most important function: it protected you from harm. Most armor wasn t designed to stop a glancing blow, it was there to neutralize the attack, that is why people wore the stuff and spent so much time and effort and money to acquire it. The best way to deal with armor was typically to go around it, because through most of history armor was usually worn the way it is by well equipped soldiers today: to protect the torso and the head. During that period between the 13 th and 16 th Centuries when head to toe panoplies of armor were fairly ubiquitous the only real way to deal with armor was by using armor-piercing weapons. The design sophis tication of armor reached a peak in that time which modern engineers have frankly yet to achieve. The truth is our ancestors were not backward, far behind us when it comes to armor they were ahead of us in many ways. 9

10 Glossary of some Armor Terms Aketon Also known as an aketon, acton (an Irish variant), auqeton, hacketon, haqueton, wambais, wmbesium, or wams*, the aketon is a type of textile armor s imilar to the Gambeson and Coat Armor with which it overlaps quite a bit. It generally refers to a short sleeved padded jacket or coat with vertical quilting, extending roughly to the waist, which is made to be worn under armor. The name aketon apparently derives from the Spanish alcoton (derived from Arabic al-qutum, "cotton"), probably referring to the batting used to fill the spaces between the cloth layers, or possibly to the fustian cloth sometimes used to make the armor itself. Like the gambeson, the aketon came in hea vy (standalone) or light (under-armor) versions, each of w hich offered some protection aga inst cuts and thrusts, particularly from low-inertia missile weapons like arrows and crossbow bolts. An aketon could be w orn under metal armor to pro vide shock absorption w hich w as critical to making most mail or plate-armor e ffecti ve. The secondary but still important purpose of an aketon w as to reduce pinching and chafing fro m w earing plate or mail armor w hich can otherw ise be uncomfortable to the poin t o f restricting mo ve ment (particularly pla te armor). The aketon could also be w orn over hea vier armo r (which helped protect the armor itself fro m incremental da mage) and w hen used in this w ay or as stand-alone armor w as often patterned w ith heraldic standards or colors, or appliqué symbols. Aketons w orn over armor w ere also called a jupon or gupon, and this type later e vol ved into Coat A rmor. Superior quality aketons may ha ve b een made o f silk, though most w ere made of linen or fustian. Stand-alone variants in some places (Ire land and the Hebreides) had an outer layer of leather or doe-skin which may ha ve been treated w ith pitch to ma ke them w aterproof. There are also re ferences in the Icelandic (Viking) Sagas to enchanted armor made o f rein deer hides w hich may ha ve been a reference to an aketon w ith doe skin covering. the heavy armor worn over it. Arming doublets were almost always worn as under-armor. Another similar garment was called the pourpoint, which was a type under-coat with integrated laces used to attach armor, particularly thigh armor. The pourpoint was later made thicker as an under-armor and overlaps with the arming doublet. Late 16 th Century Jack of plate with a cut-thrust sword, Royal Armouries at Leeds. Note the pattern of the stitching. Arming Jack Also called a jack of p late, an arming-jack is a type of mixed textile and metal armor intended as stand-alone protection. It is essentially a form of p oor man s brigandine consisting of a canvas or linen jacket or doublet into which small overlapping iron plates have been sewn between two layers of cloth, also typically incorporating some kind of padding stitched in a trellis pattern. This type of armor was popular with common soldiers, during the Renaissance and Enlightenment period. As with brigandine the metal p lates were often s cavenged sections of captured plate harness cut up into small pieces. This armor was relatively effective but the armor itself was susceptible to being damaged incrementally as the cloth was cut up. The Mongols used a type of armor very similar to this called kuyak in Medieval Russia, the Japanese equivalent was the Tatami Do. The aketon began to be replaced as under-armor around the 15 th Century by the A rming D oublet. Arming Doublet Counter to the name, this is not a merely vest or a doublet but essentially a form of Aketon or Gambeson strengthened most commonly with some mail patches called goussets, as well as leather pieces, sometimes small plates, or chains partially or comp letely covering the sleeves, armpits, abdomen, or groin to provide extra coverage for the gap s in Two of the many forms of Bechterets armor 10

11 Bechterets Aka Behterets, Bakharets. The term may come from the Farsi (Persian) zereh baktar or zirah bakhtar which means foreign armor. Has two meanings. Bechterets was a general term for half Armor used in Russia and various Slavic and Baltic countries which could mean any armor combining two or more elements, such as textile and mail, mail and plate, scale and mail, lamellar and mail etc. It can also specifically refer to a specific type of Plated Mail or Mail and Plate armor which was in common use in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central and South As ia and the Middle East from early Medieval times through the Enlightenment period. T here were three types recognized in Russia during this time span: Bracer Armor for the forearm, usually stiff, can be in the form of an iron or bronze plate or several splints, or iron bands. Bracers could also be made of leather or other organic materials such as horn or bone. A bracer was typically worn by an archer to protect against the snap of the bowstring when loosing an arrow. Behterets aka Bechterets, Bachterets etc., (Russian: Бехтерец), from Persian behter small horizontal p lates arranged in vertical rows without gaps, joined by rings, and embedded in Mail Yushman (Russian: Юшман), from Persian jawshan - long horizontal plates embedded in chainmail and resembling cruder laminar armor such as Roman Lorica Segmentata and Japanese Môgami dô. Kalantar (Russian: Калантарь) square or round p lates embedded in chainmail, very similar to Japanese Tatami-do. The major difference is that kalantar are not sewn to a cloth backing as tatami-do are and the mail used is of a better quality. From the left, Replica of Brigandine jack, outside view; Inside view of antique Italian Brigandine armor from 1470 AD, Royal Armoury at Leeds. Brigandine A combination metal / textile armor which began to appear in the late 14 th Century, consisting of a large number of relatively small plates, riveted to a heavy cloth or leather backing, and sandwiched within a textile cover usually incorporating at least some padding. The outer layer of a brigandine armor could be of various colors and fabrics, ranging from velvet to leather, it could also be disguised as civilian clothing, or may feature heraldic designs, writing, slogans or symbols. Bechterets style armor from the Philippines, used by Moro tribesmen. From the US Museum archives. Bechterets could be effective armor, depending on the quality it could be very effective. It was a little heavier and somewhat more bulky than ordinary mail, generally speaking. Bevor A dished plate of metal armor s haped to protect the throat and lower part of the face, usually worn in conjunction with a helmet s uch as a sallet. Brigandine from Spain, 1480 AD. This one is made of leather with numerous horizontal plates. Perhaps this is the type of armor which made early RPG designers think of studded leather. Photo by Victor Chernyav skiy Brigandine was popular both with knights and common soldiers. Frequently brigandine armor was attached with a trio of rivets 11

12 called nails, and brigandine harness can be recognized in period artwork by groups of three rivets. The Japanese had a type of armor very similar to brigandine called Tsuzumi Dô, which is iron lamellar enclosed in textile armor, the only major functional difference from Europ ean type brigandine is the Japanese armor has more emphasis on shoulder protection in the form of large plates (sode) Byrnie A Byrnie is a short sleeved metal armored shirt or vest, reaching from the neck to the waist, usually protecting the shoulders, the torso, and the abdomen (both front and back). Most commonly a byrnie refers specifically to a Mail Corselet, though the term can also apply in period literature to s cale, lamellar, or even an iron breast plate. T he term was also used in historical documents in a more broad sense to refer to any form of armor. Cap à pied Literally means head to toe in French, refers to full armor covering the entire body, classified as Heavy Armor in this rules system. Cap à pied mail armor began to appear in the 12 th Century, Cap à pied transitional armor began to appear in the 13 th, and White Harness in the 15 th Century. Cap a pied armor gradually began to be phased out in the 16 th Century in favor of Half Armor and Three Quarters Harness, and then eventually the Cuirass and helmet. Coat Armor This is yet another form of textile armor which appeared in the late 14 th century, specialized for wearing over heavier armor similar to the Jupon (see Aketon). This is usually in the form of a short, sleeveless garment which reaches to the hips or mid-thighs, which would fit tightly over a cuirass, byrnie or brigandine, often well decorated with heraldic designs, this was essentially a more protective form of Surcoat. When worn as a sole protection, this type of armor was enhanced with sleeves and a greater overall length making it overlap with the Aketon and the Gambeson, and this armor sometimes also incorp orated metal or horn plates which overlaps with the Arming Jack. Coat of Plates Another hard on the inside / soft on the outside armor very similar to the Brigandine, with which this type overlaps, the only real difference being the size of the individual plates. This armor consists of a heavy padded coat like an aketon or gambeson, on to which a series of large carefully shaped metal plates are riveted, in turn hidden by another layer of textile armor. This is the type of the so-called Wis by C oat named after the armor found at the famous Medieval battlefield excavated at Wisby on the isle of Gotland, Sweden. A warrior wearing a mail haubergeon and coif under a kettlehelm, with mail chausses and poleyns also visible, from an illustration by Villard de Honnecourt (circa 1230 AD) Chausses Leg armor for the calves or thighs, similar to tassets except that these envelop the thigh like trousers. Usually refers to mail or plate armor, girding each leg individually, as opposed to a skirt format such as tassets (see Tassets). Coif Mail hood covering the top, back and sides of the head, the neck and throat, and part of the collar bones, leaving the face exposed. A peascod breast-plate with laminated plackart, made to improve flexibility and mobility. 16 th Century Corslet Also sometimes spelled corselet and includes breast-plates. An armored vest, usually refers to flexible metal armor such as mail, scale, or lamellar, but can also refer to a breast plate (see Cuirass) or mixed textile / metal armor such as a brigandine or a jazerant. During the Baroque period this term was sometimes used to refer to Half-Armor (see Half-Harness). 12

13 The simple breast plate (with no back) became popular with some troops in the 16 th -17 th Century because it was lighter and les bulky than a full cuirass. In Japan a riveted breast plate (made of lames riveted together) was called a okegawa dô, and a solid breast plate was called a hotoke dô consisting of numerous small overlapping plates, these were popular in Poland and Italy and were more often hardened. From the left, a bronze Musciule Cuirass from Ancient Greece, an iron cuirass made of several laminated bands of iron, probably Swiss, 14 th Century, and a sophisticated peascod Cuirass, 16 th or 17 th Century, probably bullet-proof. Cuirass A type of rigid metal torso armor, usually made of iron (or more rarely brass or bronze), consisting of a breast plate and back plate. Something like a cuirass existed in the Clas sical period of antiquity. It is not understood by modern scholars how the Bronze mus cle cuirass actually worked, or if it was a battlefield armor design or simp ly meant for ceremonies or parades, since modern tests indicate the bronze is too thin. We probably don t fully understand this armor yet, there may have been a textile component or some other factor of the Bronze. Rigid iron torso armor appeared in Europe circa AD which modern tests have demonstrated to be highly effective protection. The word cuirass comes from French cuir - leather. The word was probably first applied to Cuir Bouilli chest and backplates worn over mail and under surcoats, before coats of p lates. The word stuck. By the 15 th Century a typical cuirass was about 1.9mm 2.5mm thick steel. By the 16 th Century the terms cuirass and corselet seem to have meant roughly the same thing - breastplate, back plate and fault (skirt). Hardened / tempered steel and bullet-proof cuirasses began to appear as early as the late 14 th Century and gradually became more popular, but they were expensive and remained relatively rare through the mid 16 th Century. After the 1550 s cuirasses were less likely to be temp ered steel, and more iron was increasingly used as armor quality gradually declined. By the 17 th Century very thick (up to 6mm) iron cuirasses were being issued to cavalry, proofed against pistol fire. The peascod shape became popular in the 16 th Century, proving very effective at deflecting spear points and musket balls. Some Cuirass were also made of anima construction, A German half-armor featuring a peascod cuirass, 1580 AD. Notice three dents, two on the wearers left side and one on the right, probably from arquebus or musket balls, or lance strikes. It is not unusual to see dents or bullet holes in surviving armor. Photo by Victor Chernyav skiy The Cuirass was one of the last forms of armor (other than the helmet) to be phased out, and remained in use among some cavalry troops through the 19 th Century and into the 20th. Cuir Bouilli Cuir B ouilli is boiled leather, usually boiled in water though possibly also in wax or oil. The latter techniques are more dangerous but do not seem to make a more effective material. Either way the boiled leather is much harder and also more brittle. While still wet it is in a malleable state it can be s haped to create plates, greaves etc. (also various mundane personal items such as water bottles). Cuir Bouilli can also be made from other types of animal hide such as Water B uffalo hide, which was a popular source of material for armor in As ia. Cuir Bouilli was used in parts of Asia and the Middle East to make Lamellar armor, and was also used briefly in Europe during the Middle Ages as a stiffening component worn over mail armor. For more information about Cuir Boilli see the section Types of Historical Armor 13

14 Cuisses Thigh armor, usually in the form of a mail or plate armor covering of the top of the thighs, could also be s cale, splints (vertical plates), bands (horizontal plates), cuir bouilli, or quilted padding similar to an aketon or gambes on. A padded cuisse is referred to in academia as a gamoboised cuisse. The name cuisses probably derives from Cuir Bouilli, which were used for a brief period as stiffeners over mail armor on the thighs as well as the torso and other parts of the body. Dō Generic Japanese term for a breast plate or cuirass made of either lamellar, scale, or riveted plate armor. Dō-maru A special form of lamellar armor used in Japan, usually made of lacquered rawhide or leather (or more rarely bamboo) lames laced with silk straps, made into armor pieces covering the shoulders and torso but with no sleeves or leg protection. This type of armor was normally issued to lower ranking soldiers. The Japanese generally used a different type of lamellar than was found in many other parts of the world, with much smaller, thinner lames called Kozane, and each type leather, wood or iron were typically lacquered, which cut down on maintenance cons iderably. On the other hand the extensive lacing was difficult to clean, and was not ideal for sustained battlefield conditions. It could get dirty, get wet and retain moisture, and could become infested with lice. The laces themselves were also fairly easy to cut especially with the type of very sharp slashing weapons popular in Japan. The Dō Maru was later developed into the modern Toudei-Gusoku types of armor during the 15 th -16 th Century which incorporated considerably less lacing. Doubled Mail "Another Turk now climbed and started walking on the same wall between the two bastions. He was c arrying his sword and shield. There came out to meet him from the tower, at the door of which stood a knight, a Frank wearing dou ble-linked mail and carryin g a spear in his hand, but not eqquipped with a shield. The Turk, sword in hand, encountered him. The Frank smote him with the spear, but the Turk warded off the point of the spear with his shield and, notwithstanding the spear, advanced towards the frank. The latter took to flight and turned his back, leaning forward, like one who wanted to kneel, in order to protect hiss head. The Turk dealt him a number of blows which had no effect whatsoever, and went on walking until he entered the tower." Usama ibn Munqidh- Kitab al-i'tibar circa 1190 AD certainty of a hard fight. It s not something you d want to wear all day if you didn t have to. Doublet A type of sleeveless vest similar to a Corselet, but usually made primarily of textiles, sometimes in conjunction with mail, lames, scale and / or metal plates or bands. This term can als o refer to a coat, for example an arming doublet is actually a jacket with sleeves, see Arming Doublet. Fauld Overlapping or laminated pieces of plate armor connected to the bottom of a breast plate or cuirass, surrounding the hips and upper legs in the form of a skirt. Cuirasses, Half-Armor, Three Quarters Harness and iron Corslets began to feature Faulds from the Renaissance period through the Enlightenment. Modern gambeson replica, this would be a 14 th Century type. Many were made to open on the side. Gambeson A form of textile armor consisting of a quilted / padded jacket similar to the Aketon, except for having a longer tunic extending past the waist to the mid-thigh. The earliest evidence of gambesons was in the 12 th Century in Europe, and they were the normal armor worn under mail. Textile armors are notoriously short lived and the art before that time lacked detail, but it s quite possible that the gambeson dates back to the Migration Period or earlier. The Ancient Greeks and the Byzantines were both known to use textile armor (see Linothorax). Also known as Kings Mail, this is an 8 in 2 pattern of mail, essentially doubling the number of rings connected to each other ring. Alleged to be twice as strong, (almost) twice as heavy as regular mail, and probably three times as expensive, this is special armor to be worn by a wealthy man facing the 14

15 Articulated iron gauntlets, probably 16 th Century Gauntlet Metal gloves designed as armor to protect the hands. Various types include half-gauntlets which protect only the back of the hands, partially articulated mitten gauntlets which are shaped somewhat like mittens, or fully articulated gauntlets protecting each individual finger. Articulated p late gauntlets are some of the most difficult (and expensive) pieces of armor to create, in Renaissance Europe they were often used as a test masterpiece for aspiring armorers to establish themselves as Masters. When they could afford them, gauntlets were popular with polearm troops such as halberdiers or billmen whose hands were particularly vulnerable, and would be worn as late as the 17 th Century even when most other types of armor had been discarded. Greave Leg armor for the shins, knees and calves, often in the form of one-p iece shaped metal plate which could be bent around the calf and held in place securely. During the Bronze Age and early Iron Age greaves were widely used by heavy infantry including Greek Hoplites, but had largely disappeared by the Migration era. During the 13 th -14 th Century AD articulated greaves reappeared, often linked to iron cuisses. Laminated knee protection began to appear in the mid 14 th Century and remained p opular through the mid 16 th when leg armor was among the first type which began to be dis carded, because it was perceived to limit mobility. From the left: gilded Half Armor probably tournament armor, made for the Duke of Epernon, French 1606 AD; A very tough battlefield Half armor for infantry, Swiss, 15 th Century. Photos by Victor Chernyavskiy Half-Armor Can have two meanings. Usually refers to plate armor in which the bottom half (the leg armor essentially) has been removed to provide greater mobility at the exp ense of protection. This type of armor began to appear in the 15 th Century and became increasingly popular toward the end of the 16 th as the use of armor in general began to gradually decline, and rema ined in use through the 18 th. Gorget A type of protective armor like a broad collar, which covers and protects the throat, the collar bones and upper chest. The gorget was one of the most long lasting types of armor and continued to be used by cavalry soldiers into W orld War II. Gothic Harness A lighter type of plate armor develop ed in the Holy Roman Empire (greater Germany) during the 15 th Century. From the left: Very simple Half Armor for cavalry, English or German circa 17 th Century. Consisting of cuirass, pauldrons, burgonet helmet and faulds; Half- Armor in so-called anima laminated construction made in imitation of Roman armor, with barbute helmet, probably Italian, 1570 AD. This type of armor became fashionable for a period in late Renaissance Italy. Half Armor was closely related to Three Quarters Harnes s with which it overlaps. T his term can also refer to armor which has had the back plates removed from parts of the legs, bicep s, and sometimes the torso. Many Gothic Harness fall into the latter category. 15

16 Harness This is the technical term for a suit of articulated P late Armor. Armor other than plate which covered the whole body was typically referred to as a Panoply. Haubergeon Coat of armor, usually mail, reaching to the mid biceps and the upper -thighs. Helm Has two meanings. Can mean a helmet (see helmet) or a specific type of full-faced helm, (also great helm or heaume), armor for the head, covering the entire head including the face. Great helms were used from the 12 th through the 14 th C entury, they began to be replaced in the 13 th by visored helmets. Great helms were often worn over a smaller helmet such as a bascinet or a cervelliere underneath; the great helm would be worn during the lance charge then removed for hand-to-hand combat, sometimes held in place by a strap on the back of the torso armor. From the left: An exquisite Ottoman helmet, dating back to the 16 th Century. This gold inlayed masterpiece would have been made for a very high official. An Italian Barbutte, 15 th Century, in semi-excavated condition, French visored armet with bevor and gorget probably 16 th Century Mail Hauberk with coif. Note reinforced section of mail in the center of chest. Hauberk Coat of armor, usually Mail, reaching to the elbows and the knees. T he Hauberk or Hauberik began to appear in the late 10 th and early 11 th Century, and had become common by the 12 th. It was the fundamental garment of cap-a-pied mail armor until the advent of Coat of Plates in the 13 th Century. From the left: German visored sallet with bevor, 15 th Century; European visored cavalry helmet with gorget, possibly French, 16 th Century; Heavily patinated Bronze Hallstadt (Celtic) or Illyrian Helmet circa 6 th Century BC From the left: A great helm, English or French, 13 th Century; A 14 th Century pig-faced (visored) bascinet, probably French. This type became a very popular transitional design between the earlier great helm and the more sophisticated types which followed. The bascinet was originally an openfaced helmet worn beneath a great helm. From the left: A gilded open-faced helmet shaped like a lions head, from a late 15 th Century (functional) parade armor, Germany. Photo by Victor Chernyav skiy; Greek Corinthian Helmet, Bronze 6 th Century BC Helmet Originally this referred to an under-helm or a helmet which did not cover the entire face (see Helm) later the term came to represent any type of armored head covering. In Classical 16

17 times, a helmet was often designed to have partial face protection in the form of check pieces and side plates. Helmets of this type were revived during the medieval period as the barbutte. These offered good but not total protection for the face. Basic classical Roman cavalry often added a full face mas k to protect against missiles and spear strikes, but the face mask was close to the face, restricted breathing and did not protect against full force strikes from hand weapons, they were mainly intended to protect against missiles and glancing blows. During the Migration period full helmets were less common, being replaced by the simpler cone shaped nasaled helm or spangenhelm type helmets (see Iron Helmet) By the 11 th Century Medieval great helms which covered the entire face and head were worn during cavalry engagements but often removed during close combat so the fighter could see better (see Helm). During the late Medieval and Renaissance period more sophisticated helmets evolved from simpler small helmets such as bascinets, armets, burgonets or sallets to which a visor or a bevor had been added. The visor (or the helmet itself) could be lowered during a charge or when under missile attack or gunfire, then raised again for close combat or riding if necessary. Jack A somewhat generic term referring to a semi-rigid armored shirt or coat. Could be either a s leeveless vest or a jacket with full sleeves. This term overlaps with jerkin, doublet, coat armor and corselet, among others, this term is generic but often refers to armor with some kind of textile component which may or may not also have some metal components, designed to act as stand-alone armor rather than underarmor. This term can also specifically refer to an Arming Jack. Jazeraint Also jazerant, jazerain jazeranq, jazeran, gazerant, gazeranc, gazeran. This is a variant of, or another name for Middle Eastern Khazaghand armor. This variant may incorporate Scale Armor within the two textile layers rather than mail. This type of armor and the term jazerant were used in Europe as well as in the Middle East. Jerkin Generic term for an armored coat or vest, similar to a doublet, a corselet, or a jack. Could represent either a vest or an actual jacket. Katzenbrust armor, from a painting dated 1435 AD Katzen-Brust Armor A type of white harness from the Holy Roman Empire (essentially Germany) in the early 15 th Century featuring a boxshaped or gloubous breast plate. Khazaghand Salah Al din (Saladin) stood in his place until a part of the army joined him. He then said, "Put on your armor". The majority of those did so while I remained standing by his side. After a while he said again, 'How many times do I have to say "Put on your Armor?'' I said 'Oh my Lord, surely thou does not mean me?' 'Surely' s aid he. I replied 'By All ah, surely I cannot put on anything more. We are in the early part of the night, and my quilted jerkin (kuzaghand) is furnished with two coats of mail, one on top of the other. As soon as I see the enemy I shall put it on.' Salah al Din did not reply, and we set off. In the morning we found ou rselves near Dumayr. S alah-al Din (S aladin) said to me 'Shall we not dismount and eat something? I am hungry and have been up all night.' I replied 'I shall do wh at thou orderest.' So we dismounted, and no sooner than we had set foot on the ground, when he said 'Where is thy jerkin?' Upon my orde r, my attendant produced it. Taking it out from it's leather bag, I took my knife and ripped it at the breast and disclosed the side of the two coats of mail. The jerkin enclosed a F rankish coat of mail extending to the bottom of it, with an other coat on top reaching as far as the middle. Both were equipped with the proper linings, felt pads, rough silk, and rabbits hair. ' Usama ibn Munqidh- Kitab al-i'tibar circa 1190 AD (note this description with two coats of mail represents and exceptionally heavy khazaghand, the normal version would only have on coat of mail) Khazaghand or khuzagand is a combination mail / textile armor used in the Middle East and Central Asia from the 11 th C entury AD until the 19 th Century, in which Mail is sandwiched between 17

18 two layers of textiles and padding in the form of fur, felt, and / or raw silk. From the left, Lamellar Armor, Central Asia 16 th or 17 th Century Ottoman Khazagand, circa mid-16 th Century AD The construction is similar to that of a mail Haubergeon worn over a light Gambeson with a light Aketon or Jupon on top of that. The long sleeves of Khazaghand armor often covered the hands with something like mittens, and were frequently made of very good quality materials including a silk outer layer which may be embroidered or decorated with slogans or names, and dyed in many colors. The overall quality of a Khazaghand coat depended on the quality of the mail used, the best were made from Ferengi (European) mail. Kozane Means scales. This is the Japanese version of Lames used in the Japanese type of Lamellar armor, small rectangular or oblong shaped pieces of hard material pierced with multiple holes for lacing together. There were many different types of kozane. Before the Sengoku Jidai in the 16 th C entury Kozane were typically made of leather, bamboo, or water buffalo rawhide, or more rarely iron. Sometimes alternating patterns of rawhide and iron kozane were also used. After 1500 they were more commonly made of iron. All materials were also covered in heavy lacquer made of pine resin which made the kozone much more resistant to weather and rust and added some further strength. Sometimes whole sections of lamellar were lacquered after being laced together, creating a solid board. Lamellar Armor consisting of small plates (lames) laced together in overlapping parallel rows. Many different materials were used to make lamellar, the lames could be of bronze, latten, laquered leather, lacquered water buffalo hide, cuir bouilli, horn, iron or steel. T he laces were usually silk or some other very strong cord. Lamellar is an effective and relatively simple type of armor which can eas ily be mass produced, easily repaired and easily adjusted to fit the body of a different wearer. The longevity of the design is testament to its value and cost-effectivenes s, this extremely ancient armor was used from at least the 5 th C entury BC through the 19 th Century AD, for more than two thousand years. The armor itself is somewhat vulnerable to damage however especially under repeated blows, and a piercing weap on can also (rarely) find its way between lames to cause a catastrophic penetration. T he Byzantines Ottomans and Sarmatian heavy cavalry used to wear lamellar over mail, a type of armor which the Byzantines called K libanion (see Klibanion). For more information on Lamellar see the section Types of Historical Armor Lames The individual plates or pieces, us ually rectangular, oval or oblong shaped and p unched with a series of holes, which make up the principle component of lamellar armor. Lames could be made of leather, cuir boulli, rawhide, horn, bamboo, bronze, latten, copper, brass, steel, or iron. Lames could be put together to make a corselet, or alternately, individual metal plates which make up articulated armor pieces on knees, elbows, shoulders or thighs in plate armor harnesses. The Japanese called lames kozane ( s cales ) and would ty pically lacquer them which increased strength and made the material less susceptible to the effects of weather and moisture. 18

19 Modern reconstruction of a Greek Linothorax of the 3 rd or 4 th Century BC Linothorax This is a type of hardened textile armor worn by Greek and Eastern Mediterranean soldiers during the Classical period, as well as (in slightly different variations) by Byzantine soldiers through the Middle Ages. A Linothorax consisted of several (15-20) layers of hardened linen formed into a corselet, and often enhanced with scale armor. The linen itself was hardened with vinegar. Munitions Grade Increasingly throughout the Medieval period and into the Renaissance, cheaper quality armor or weapons were manufactured for armies, town guards, etc., until very gradually hand made military equipment had disappeared altogether. Munitions grade kit was also designed to fit off the rack as opposed to armor which is tailored to an individual wearer. In making mail armor, iron is pulled through a hole into wires, the iron wire is then bent into small circular links which are woven together typically in a four-in-one or six-in-one pattern. Some links may be solid forged, all links which are not solid are riveted together with tiny metal rivets in a meticulous and painstaking process requiring many hundreds of hours of work. This is known today as riveted mail to distinguish with butted mail which is made in modern times by hobbyists and at Renaissance Faire workshops by simply crimping iron wire together. There is no historical evidence however that butted mail was ever actually used on any battlefield in or near Europe, prior to the 18th Century. All mail armor found within this context was apparently riveted or a combination. There is some use of a type of butted mail in Japanese armor, (spiral linked like a key-chain) primarily in small sections between plates in the sides of the torso or on gauntlets. B ut this was not very effective protection compared to European or Central Asian mail, and was in fact later replaced by riveted mail after exposure to Europeans during the 16 th Century. Real riveted mail, worn with padding above or below, offers very effective protection against cuts, good protection against thrusts, and is very flexible, offering little resistance to movement, but it is a bit heavy, with most of the weight falling on the shoulders and the hips (it must be worn with a belt to fit properly) but does not weigh as much as most modern butted mail one may find at a Ren Faire event. The princip le drawback of mail was really that it is difficult and very time consuming (therefore expensive) to make. For more information on Mail see the section Types of Historical Armor Mail Mail is an ancient type of body armor apparently invented by the La Tene Culture Celts or possibly by the Scythians, or the Illyrians somewhere around 400 AD. T he oldest mail currently known to academia was found at a 4th C entury Celtic C hieftains burial-site in Romania. Maximilian Harness with a whimsical moustache on the visor, early 16 th Century. Photo by Maciej Szczepańczyk 19

20 Maximilian Harness Essentially a more sophisticated version of Gothic Harness, named after Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire. Maximilian armor usually featured either an armet or a close helmet with a bellows visor. The armor itself was characterized by angled, parallel fluting often covering most of the harness (but never the greaves), and etching, work. The cuirass often featured a narrow waist, and the sabatons (foot protection) were typically squared. T his type of armor is commonly made of tempered steel and incorp orates fluting (ridges) in the armor plate, both features allowing thinner and lighter armor to be used for the same or s uperior strength, though on harness of this type certain areas such as the helmet and the cuirass would be thickened for protection from arbalests and firearms. Harness of this type is also extremely well crafted for maneuverability of the wearer and well shaped to deflect arquebus balls, spearheads and other weapons. Italian "alla tedesca" (a la german) armour - is an Italian armour of with fluting and Maximilan style cuirass and knee-long tassets often worn with bellows vis ored sallet. This kind of armour is considered by Oakes hott as a kind of Schott-Sonnenberg Style armour made by Italians for the German market. Ō-Yoroi This is an elaborate harness of Japanese style laced lamellar including a corselet covering the abdomen (do), s kirts (haidate), shoulder pieces (sode), bracers and greaves (suneate), made of lacquered iron lames and riveted lames as well as larger s haped iron plates (also typically lacquered) worn with textile under-armor and a full helmet with an iron facemask. The corselet is c shaped and op ens on the right hand side, the opening in turn covered by a piece of armor called a watabi. This type of armor was only worn by nobles, it is a fairly old fashioned type of armor which existed back to the 12 th Century and began to be phased out by the 14 th in favor of the lighter Dō Maru or the more sophisticated Toudei- Gusoku Panoply Generic technical term for a complete outfitting of armor and / or weapons for a typical warrior of a given era and place in the world. It can also refer specifically to armor that covers more than the tors o, us ually incorporating a helm or helmet, torso protection, and some additional pieces of armor protecting the limbs. Pauldrons Shoulder armor. Often refers specifically to articulated shoulder plates. Sometimes they can be very large or exaggerated as if often the case in Japanese armor (called sode). The shoulders are hit frequently in hand to hand combat and are also highly exposed to descending missiles so pauldrons were an important and popular piece of armor kit. Modern re-enactors wearing gambesons and iron plackarts. Photo courtesy of Rosa Mundi UK Plackart Also placard, planckart or p lacate. A component of plate armor, usually iron, shaped to cover the abdomen. It was pop ular in the 15 th and early 16 th Centuries. Initially breast plates or cuirass were made of several laminated or riveted plates, eventually this evolved into two p ieces i.e. the breast plate which was overlapped by the plackart, thus providing good protection while still allowing some movement. In some cases the breast plate was covered in velvet, silk or some other cloth while the plackart remained uncovered iron. In some types of harness the plackart was riveted so as to allow movement, in others it was fixed in place and became part of a single plate, particularly in Milanese harness. In the 15 th Century it became a popular armor for common soldiers, along with helmets, gorgets or bevors, poleyns, and partial vambraces protecting the elbows. Poleyns Armored knee pads or knee guards, can be made of articulated iron plates or quilted padding or both. Poley ns were sometimes integrated with cuisses or more rarely, greaves. Pourpoint Yet another form of textile armor, this being specifically underarmor featuring buckles, laces, and / or straps to connect to pieces of armor, especially to hold up the leg and thigh armor. A pourp oint was often made at least partly of leather and may also feature sections of mail in the armpits, arms, groin and other vulnerable spots s imilar to an Arming Doublet. 20

21 Pteruges The fringe or skirt of leather or linen straps which hang from the waist of an armored corselet or epaulette-like strips worn on the shoulders, or on the back of a helmet to protect the neck. These were used in ancient Rome and Greece during the Classical period but fell out of use in Europe in the Migration era, though they continued to be used by the Byzantines and in some parts of Central Asia and the Middle East. The coverage of T hree Quarters harness varies, the default is assumed to have cuirass, gorget, helmet, pauldrons, articulated vambraces, and tassets. Components such as gauntlets or poleyns can be added piecemeal us ing the codex Armor components system. The term Half Armor and Three Quarters Harness were somewhat interchangeable in period, the exact coverage varied, so this type of armor overlaps with Half Armor in the Codex Rules. Tassets Armor to protect the thighs, usually in the form of overlap ping plates extending from a breast-plate or cuirass, like a kind of skirt of iron, such as can be seen on the Three Quarter Harness. Three Quarters Harness This is a type of armor including Helmet, Cuirass, Pauldrons, and Tassets, as well as sometimes Vambraces, which became popular both with cavalry and pike and polearm wielding infantry beginning in the late 16 th Century, and remained in use through the 18 th. From the left, Three Quarters Harness for common cavalry soldier featuring burgonet helmet, cuirass, gorget, pauldrons, and tasssets, Probably English, late 16 th or early 17 th Century; Three Quarters Armor for an aristocrat with armet helmet, fully articulated vambraces, gauntlets, tassets and poleyns, late 16 th Century, French (appears to be missing it s faulds) Three quarters harness was originally typical munitions grade kit issued to pikemen and cavalry, but eventually became popular with Aristocrats, many fancy panoplies survive with elaborate scrollwork, gold plate, bluing and etching. Some is also of very high quality armor featuring proofed cuirasses. Scale Armor Replica leather scale armor made in a roman style Armor consisting of small bronze, latten, iron, horn, or leather scales riveted or sewn onto a backing of leather, heavy textile such as linen or canvas, or some other fabric. This is a very old type of armor which persisted through the Medieval period, but it was never very pop ular in Northern or W estern Europe. T he Romans had two types of Scale armor however, one called Lorica Squamata was named after fish s cales, and was worn by cavalry and certain other specialist troops. The other called Lorica P lumata, after a birds plumage, was actually a layered armor cons isting of bronze or brass scales bent 90 degrees and pierced, and wired into a backing of very fine Mail armor. This type was only worn by officers and high ranking specialis t such as Aquillifers and Signifiers. Surcoat Also called a tabard, a type of apron or vest worn over armor to protect against heating during the summer, to protect iron armor from mud and rain, and to display the colors and heraldic devices of the wearer. The wearing of surcoats began in the 11 th -12 th century possibly as a result of experiences during the Crusades. Surcoats began to become rare by the early 15 th Century as White Harness became more pop ular. Toudei-Gusoku A somewhat generic term meaning modern armors, this is essentially a stronger, lighter more form fitting type of armor which began to appear in the 15 th Century. You could think of it as a more stream lined, lighter version of an Ō-Y oroi or a more elaborate version of a Dō Maru. T oudei-gusoku often incorporated elements of Europ ean armor, including riveted mail, European gloubus or Peascod type breastplates, 21

22 European style brigandine, and / or modified Europ ean (usually Portuguese) helmets, but also incorporating traditional Japanese style laced lacquered lamellar and textile armor. Some of these armors were proofed against Arquebus balls much like European armor was in the same era. Generally speaking, Toudei-Gosuku armors were made with less lacing, and more solid or riveted plates, and / or European style riveted mail. Vambrace Armor for the forearms, or articulated armor for the entire arms from s houlder to wrist. steel (or iron which is usually gray). Wearing uncovered white harness allowed the owner to demonstrate that he was well nigh invulnerable. It was a form of ostentation and intimidation. White harness became fashionable among the aristocracy in the 15 th Century, principally because the quality of the armor itself was becoming more impressive than any surcoat, or other covering could be. At the same time blued and bronzed armor was als o popular, particularly among mercenaries. Yushman This is another term for mail and p late armor, see Baktherets. The term derives from the Persian jawshan. White Harness This was a euphemism for uncovered steel plate harness (armor) worn without a surcout or tabard, and white i.e. polished steel as opposed to blued or bronzed or lacquered Elements of Armor 22

23 Types of Historical Armor Textile Armor Textile armor is a difficult concept for most people to understand today. T o kind of visualize it, light textile armor normally worn beneath harder armor like mail is roughly comparable to an oven mitt. Heavy textile armor of the type worn stand-alone, would be roughly comparable to an old fashioned baseball catchers chest-protector. Textile armors have probably existed as long as clothing has. The Aztecs and Incas used padded textile armor they called ichcahuipilli, both as stand-alone kit and as under-armor worn beneath harder materials, and when the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the New W orld they were already wearing essentially the same thing, which they called an Aketon or Gambeson. On the other side of the world in India they called it peti. Textile armor was known to the Ancient Greeks. They very recently dug up a piece of My cenean textile armor at Patras, during the Hellenistic period 500 years later they wore the linothorax, which was probably used by the Byzantines continuously from C lassical times through the Middle Ages. Due to the lack of literary sources and the innate tendency of textiles to deteriorate much more rapidly than iron or bronze we have less direct evidence of textile armor being us ed in Northern Europe until roughly the 11 th Century when it became recognizable in artwork. We do know from modern tests however that mail armor doesn t function well without a cloth backing, so textile armor probably was used in Northern Europe at least as long as mail (circa 4 th Century BC) and quite likely much earlier than that given the Hallstadt / Illyrian and Urnfield cultures sophisticated textile weaving technology which goes back into the early Bronze Age. Textile armor was also popular in Central, Southern, and Eastern Asia, in North Africa and the Middle East, going back into pre-historic times. The Medieval Europeans called them by various names: jupon, gambeson, aketon, arming coat, arming doublet, jack. From the left: a high-quality sword replica cuts about half way through a twenty layer linen jack, failing to penetrate; three arrows from a 70 lb draw bow bounce off a 20 layer linen jack from 20 away, failing the penetrate. Photos courtesy of Michael Edelson Modern tests have s omewhat restored the reputation of the lowly padded coat. It seems that 20 layers of linen can s top a knife thrust, a s word cut, or an arrow from a 70 lb bow shot from 20 feet away. Of course 20 layers of linen is pretty thick (imagine wearing 20 shirts) and wearing enough padded armor to protect yourself from swords and arrows would leave you looking a bit like the Michelin tire man. But that is a look you will recognize quite often in art from the 13 th 14 Th Century. There were also hardened textile armors, the archetypical variety being the famous Greek linothroax, which was apparently quite effective and relatively lightweight. The precise secret of its construction has been lost through the ages but modern reconstructions have been promising. The downside of all textile armor is that it s fairly easy to ablate or incrementally damage, especially with a slicing weapon, it is hot and bulky, heavy, and it soaks up moisture. The upside is it is cheap, effective, and light weight compared to iron, and being fabric it breathes at least somewhat. Textile armor in the Medieval period was usually made of linen, or fustian which is a heavy cloth made with a cotton weft and a linen warp, or later from wool and cotton threads. Silk was an optimal material being very strong (see Alternative Materials). Leather Armor Leather armor is probably the most popular light armor in role playing games, but there is very little evidence that it was widely used in a European Medieval context as such. There was 23

24 more use of stand-alone leather armor used however in Central Asia, China, and a few other places, perhaps most notably by the Mongols. Modern tests have not revealed leather armor whether hardened or soft, to be very effective at stopping cuts or thrusts from hand weapons or piercing by arrows and javelins. Leather was also pretty expensive in Medieval and Iron Age Europe, and leather of sufficient thickness and / or hardness to provide protection is more bulky and cumbersome than textile or iron (contrary to the depiction in most RPGs) though much lighter than the latter. It is possible that something new will be learned in the near future but it seems at this point that leather was fairly marginal protection as stand-alone armor and not widely used except as a component of some other type of armor, including the famous Cuir Boulli. The most significant use of Cuir Bouilli in Europe was as a stiffener for mail armor during the second half of the 13 th Century. Greaves, cuirasses, cuisses, and vam braces of C uir Bouilli were briefly popular, worn over mail to enhance protection against blunt trauma. One other value of Cuir Bouilli was that it could be stamped with patterns, and it was often used to display heraldic devices, slogans, and often beautiful decorations during the relatively brief period when it was in use. Using leather or raw-hide as a component of lamellar however seems to have been somewhat more effective and was more widely used particularly in Asia and the Middle East. This was probably used at least somewhat in Europe, but lamellar armor was never popular there. Middle Eastern and Asian Cuir Boilli was usually made of thick water buffalo rawhide, and the individual lames or scales would also sometimes be lacquered, as was commonly the case in Japan. This further enhanced its effectiveness. Another way in which leather was used in armor was as waterproofing protection for textile armors such as gambesons. During the Medieval period, it was apparently a common practice in the Hebrides islands to incorp orate a layer of doe skin over a gambeson and then cover that with pitch, creating a water-proof layer. Doe skin is soft and this would not be thick enough to provide much if any armor enhancement, but water proofing is a valuable feature particularly in a wet environment. It is possible this is also the nature of the famous magical reindeer-hide armor mentioned in the Icelandic sagas in a Viking context, particularly since these Hebridians were descendants of Viking settlers themselves. It is unknown how widespread this practice was, it could have been common all over Europ e or Central Asia, or it could have been just a local custom. French illustration, from a late 15 th Century manuscript. Soldiers wearing brigandine harness over mail, with gauntlets, and helmets. One guy near the center with a falchion is wearing a plackart. Note also the weapons, falchions and at least one scary looking short-handled a glaive with the haft broken off to about two feet. There are several examples of period art showing similar weapons. 24

25 Scale, Lamellar and Brigandine The next step from textile and leather armor were various combinations of metal plates or s cales with a textile backing, or sandwiched between two layers of textile armor, or laced together in overlapping rows. Lamellar consisted of hard plates of iron, bronze, latten, horn, cuir-boulli leather, rawhide, or even lacquered bamboo, tightly laced together in various overlapping patterns. This was effective armor, particularly good defense against arrows, making it one of the most popular types of armor in the Asian steppe, in the Middle East, and in Persia and South Asia, and Japan. But it was somewhat susceptible to cuts severing the laces which is perhaps why it never gained much ground in Europe where toe-to-toe shock combat was the preferred method of fighting and horse archery was rare. Lamellar remained in use in As ia for almost 2,000 years, being useful as light armor as well as for heavier more comp lete panoplies. The original knights in shining armor were Saromatian Cataphracts, clad in what the Byzantines would later call klibanion : lamellar armor worn over mail with splints and scale armor protection covering the entire rest of the body (and the body of the horse). Scale armor cons isted of small metal scales or p lates sewn or riveted to a textile or leather backing. This was also fairly effective armor of ancient lineage, useful protection against missiles, but eas ier to damage than lamellar and it had largely been replaced by other types by Medieval times (at least in Europe and the Near East). Finally armor of hard plates with textile covering and backing, brigandine, coat of plates et al, probably started naturally as soldiers began to harden their textile armors by adding available p lates of metal or other hard substances such as whalebone, horn, Cuir-Boilli, latten, rawhide etc., and inserting them into textile jacks. The coat of plates and its successor, the brigandine, proved to be the most succes sful types of layered armor, rivaling plate armor for protective value but at a fraction of the cost. It was also a convenient way to reuse captured armor which, being individually tailored, could not often be worn by any one other than its original owner. Rather than reshape a cuirass (which usually required a forge), it could be cut up into pieces which would then be riveted into your padded jack. Armor of this type was used in Europe, Central Asia, and Japan from the Medieval period onward, and remained popular with all classes of soldiers, from landsknechts and ashigaru to knights and samurai Mail Armor Some time around five hundred years B.C., somebody somewhere in C entral Europe really thought outs ide the box, leading to a quantum leap in armor development a shirt made entirely of interlocking iron rings. Mail armor was a design unlike anything which had come before, which p ushed armor technology in Europe ahead of the rest of the world, establishing a lead that was never really lost over the next two thousand years. Repeated cuts from several high-quality sword replicas fail to penetrate mail, only nicking a few links (the one broken link is from another test with a poleaxe). Photos courtesy of Michael Edelson. Note the rivets on the mail armor. We have learned a great deal about mail armor in very recent times. Until the 1990s, the general public and indeed most people in Academia believed mail was relatively ineffective. It seems strange now that nobody questioned why people in ancient times spent so much money and endured so much discomfort to wear ineffective armor, but the lack of curiosity about all aspects of European martial culture, from martial arts to swords, has been a fairly constant factor throughout the 20 th Century. This particular myth remained unchallenged by early reenactors and amateur medievalists who enjoyed making and using butted mail, which we now know did not actually exist as historical armor in Europe. This is because butted mail (mail made by simply crimping wire together with pliers) while relatively easy to make is essentially useless as armor protection. So this plays into the old RPG cliché that mail is light armor that offers mediocre protection, or as seen on thousands of films and TV shows, part of the uniform of villains who can easily be dispatched from a gentle draw cut across the mailed stomach... the equivalent cliché has unfortunately been spread by academics repeating the canard that armor is designed to stop a glancing blow but a determined strike would get through. It is now clear that all of the mail armor found in Europe which has been examined and / or x-rayed ( in the case of armor in excavated condition) has turned out to be riveted or a combination of riveted and solid links. Modern tests, such as those conducted by the Royal Armoury at Leeds, UK, have 25

26 proven that it was nearly impossible to cut or slice through riveted mail with a hand weapon like a sword or an axe. This is apparently why armor-piercing weapons began to be invented right around the same time mail armor began to reach cap-a-pied (head to toe) coverage starting in the 11 th Century AD. Another myth about mail armor which was entrenched by butted mail, is that mail was very heavy. Butted mail has to be made very thick (as much as gauge depending on the material) or it will come apart under its own weight and develop a spontaneous moth-eaten look. Riveted mail does not suffer from this problem and therefore links are made much thinner ( gauge, less than 1mm) wire. A modern reproduction riveted hauberk weighs about 13 lbs. Mail armor was extremely effective, though it could be defeated by special armor-piercing weapons. By the 15 th Century, armor-p iercing weapons such as halberds and pollaxes had become ubiquitous, as had high-energy missile weapons like the arquebus, arbalest, composite bow and longbow. Something better was needed. sophistication and in many cases artistic beauty of the armor produced initially in Milan, and then later in several other centers in Germany, and to a lesser extent in Flanders, Sweden and Catalonia, was at the same level of superlative quality. Personal self protection as an artistic masterpiece. The best quality armor being produced in Europe by the 15 th Century was very well conformed to the body of the wearer, to which it was of course individually tailored (like any high fashion). Movement was not highly restricted, nothing like the lumbering clanking caricatures one sees in film or TV, in fact even the armor one typically sees in Renaissance Faires and popular re-enactor events particularly in the US is ty pically crudely made and ill-fitting, at best the equivalent of third rate munitions harness by Renaissance standards. In a quality 15 th or early 16 th Century harness, the weight was very well distributed, it was made of increasingly thin metal to lighten the harness, first of iron but later tempered steel, sometimes fluting added further strength. As a result weight kept going down, with some Gothic and Maximilian harness weighing as little as 40 lbs. This was not the end of the story of mail however. It remained in wide use as stand-alone armor and as enhancements to armor panoplies (such as in the armor protecting the underarms) and also as civilian body armor worn beneath clothing. Perhaps the ultimate proof of the genius of this invention came in the 1990 s, when various Corporations began to investigate creating stab proof armor for US prison guards and British Police (since a knife will pass through Kevlar fairly easily). They tried dozens of different materials and combinations and patterns of armor, returning to age old concepts like scales, lames, and metal plates. Eventually they found the only thing which allowed for a decent amount of movement and actually stopped knife thrusts was mail, which is now a component of almos t all modern knife-proof body armor being produced today. Plate Armor Plate armor is the best known European armor, which began to appear in the 14 th Century. It seems to have evolved from coat of plates, gradually the underlying plates were riveted together, and the cloth was removed until just the plates remained. Some early breast plates look a bit like riveted lamellar (with the metal plates directly riveted to one another) eventually they were made of one-piece of dis hed iron, and much later than that, eventually carefully shaped temp ered steel like modern sloped armor on a tank. The European armorers started somewhat tentatively, but as transitional p late harness gave way to fully articulated panoplies in the late 14 th Century, the sop histication of the European armorers craft reached a p innacle that was unmatched anywhere else in the world. Just as masterpieces of art and poetry were created in the Renaissance, the A formidable corselet for infantry, 15 th Century, probably German, of the black and white style often associated with landsknechts. 26

27 The biggest downs ide of plate armor in fact may have been heat. During the Imperial period the Romans created armored cavalry in imitation of Iranian Cataphracts who were probably the predecessor of the Medieval European knight. These Roman soldiers were called Clibinari, meaning oven men, since the armor was so hot. Solid iron does not breathe even as well as the thickest fabric, and your body can overheat rapidly, which is apparently what happened to possibly thousands of fighters at the huge Battle of Towton in England in 1461 during the War of the Roses. Fighting a longer and more desperate fight than they anticipated, many men died of heatstroke in the middle of snow flurries. The downfall of armor however came not from heat-stroke but the stroke of a cannon ball and the cras h of musket fire, especially the former, and due to the lavish cost of such expensive personal kit in a time when the size of armies was increasing exponentially. Armor was made proofed against first crossbows and arbalests, and later even musket balls, but there was no way to proof armor against cannon, and it was the cannon, starting with the earliest short-ranged handculverins used by the Hussites in the 15 th to break up German cavalry charges, for which armor could give no answer. But even that story may not be as simple as it sounds. Cuirasses were made bullet proof, even against muskets, Alternative Armor Materials requiring them to be thicker, (and therefore leading to less armor coverage being worn) but they continued to be thought useful enough by military commanders that Cuirassers (armored cavalry with steel breast plates and helmets) continued to be used through the 19 th Century. Even in WW I and WW II body armor did make some curious reappearances and was re-evaluated several times by various military forces. Their conclusion was that while it could be made effective, it cost a fortune to do so. It may be more accurate to say that armor did not so much become obsolete, as too expensive to be practical for individual soldiers in the new type of modern industrial army. As armies increased in size from 3,000-4,000 men, to 20,000, to 50,000, and then in short order armies 100,000 or 250,000 or more were becoming common. There was no way to mass-produce top quality tempered steel, let alone tempered steel armor hand-made to fit the individual bodies of millions of troops. With the advent of cannon and later, high-explosives, armor didn t confer the kind of definitive advantage it once did anyway, in the long run personal armor wasn t cost effective (but in another form, as the tank and the armored fighting vehicle, it was eventually reborn). In the age of massed industrial warfare, individual personal body armor fell by the wayside for a time, but today as armies have once again gotten smaller we can see it re-appearing again. The standard materials in armor listed here are leather, linen textile, and iron. But other materials were used historically, and if you like you can use armor with these alternate materials in your campaign. Silk Used for lacing in Japanese armor, silk was also used throughout the Asia and the Middle East for textile armor, and more rarely in Europe. This is more expensive than linen, how much more depends where you buy it. In Central or East Asia price = X2 over ordinary linen based textile armor, in Byzantium or the Middle East, X5. In Eastern Europe the price is X10, and in most of Western Europe X20 (the exception would be in a place like say, Venice where there was a brisk trade going on with the Orient, in which case use the Byzantine price). T he benefit is +1 DR and half the Armor Check Penalty (round down) since fewer layers are required. Buffalo hide This is a superior alternative to leather. Most leather armor used historically was apparently actually thick tough rawhide, sometimes made from buffalo skin, for examp le Chinese water buffalo with much Central and East Asian armor. This costs more (X5 C ost) than leather but confers +1 DR. It is possible that some hide armor in Europe may have been made from the Aurochs, a now extinct type of Buffalo native to Europe through the Medieval period. Horn Horn was incorp orated into armor as scales or lames by the Mongols, among others. Often alternating scales of horn and rawhide would be used. Horn was also used in Medieval Europe as a stiffener inside gambesons. Another similar material was various types of whalebone or baleen which had similar properties. Bronze and Brass ( Latten ) Bronze comes in various alloys, not all are suitable for armor, but the best are comparable to iron. It is a bit heavier than iron though, which is a fairly major drawback. The Romans nevertheless used brass cavalry helmets well into the period when they had iron weapons and armor, possibly becaus e they endured weather better. In the Medieval period a variety of copper alloys were used, most falling under the generic term of latten. Usually this referred to a brass alloy made from copper and calamine, and beaten into sheets (as opposed to being cast). Latten was used to decorate armor, helmets, s hields, 27

28 and weapons, and also as a metal stiffener inside coats of plates, gambesons, arming coats and the like, and to create bracers, splints and other small pieces of armor. Tempered Steel Tempered steel is the ultimate material for metal armor. Because of its superior toughness, flexibility and resilience compared to iron, it can be made much thinner, and therefore lighter, while actually being stronger than the equivalent iron armor. Every kind of iron armor was als o made with tempered steel from the early Medieval period onward. Though it was always a rare and expensive alternative, it became increas ingly common in the 15 th Century, then declined again in the second half of the 16 th as armies grew larger and such expensive armor could no longer be justified. Fine-linked tempered steel mail shirts were popular with young Italian aristocrats on the streets of Renaissance Florence and Milan, as proof agains t sudden ambush. It had an even greater effect with battlefield armor, forming the basis of the excellent Maximilian harness and most of the 15 th Century masterpiece armor panoplies made for the Kings and Lords of Europe. When steel is substituted for iron, DR is +2, weight is 75%, armor-check is reduced by one. C ost is X5, so a 1000 gp armor harness becomes a 5,000 gp armor harness. Note that some armor including Maximilian Harness, F ield Harness, and Kings Harness are already assumed to be made of tempered steel and this is already factored into their stats (and cost). The biggest downside of tempered high-carbon steel is that it was the most difficult material to work with and required a lot of time from the well equipped shop of a Master armorer to create. This effectively made it the most expensive material to use by a wide margin. Munitions Grade Not an alternative material but simp ly an alternative construction. Typically made one size fits all. Made for armies, town guards and etc. Cost is 1/3 the cost of ordinary armor. DR is -1, Bypass is -1, and Armor Check is +1. Cavalry Armor from the 30 Years War (17 th Century), Three Quarters Harness, Gauntlets, and Helmets. Side bar: What a bout Spider Silk? Spider Silk was not used historically, but it has been demonstrated to be possible to use. Though extremely labor intensive, it is possible to create textiles from this remarkable substance. An experiment was conducted in the early 19 th Century where silk was carefully unwound from tens of thousands of golden orb weaver spiders, and a fantastic golden tapestry was created. A second eleven foot long tapestry was created in Madagascar in 2009 from the silk of over a million spiders. Spider silk is potentially stronger than steel and many times stronger than ordinary silk which is the reason for the modern interest in the material. So in a fantasy setting where giant spiders or some other magical means (by exotic creatures such as dwarves perhaps, or by slave labor) of extracting the silk in laborious processes could be achieved, spider s ilk might make an ideal super textile for armor. 28

29 Photo of four men outfitted as heavily-armed Japanese Samurai, 1880 AD. Weapons include from the left, Yumi bow, Katana, Tanto knife, Tachi, Wakizashi, Naginata, Yari; armor includes tatami-do, mail hauberk (kusari katabira or kusari gosuko) and coif, and do-maru. This kit is virtually identical to weapons and armor used in the 16 th 17 th Century. It is uncertain if these men are actually samurai or not but the kit is authentic. 29

30 Considerations abou t Armor Situational Awareness and armor Armor, and especially helmets, affect situational awareness. The Armor Check penalty for a given armor panoply applies to skills related to movement, but for sensory related skills, like listening or spotting, the general rule of thumb is a - 2 penalty for any armor featuring a helmet, -4 penalty for any armor featuring a helmet which partially covers the face and ears, and -6 for a Great Helm, a full face helmet or a helmet with a face mask. Since medium and heavy armor are assumed to include a full helmet, P layers who wis h to substitute an open faced helmet (-2 spot check penalty) for a normal fully protective one may do so at a bypass penalty (a reduction of the bypass value of their armor) of -1. This was actually done frequently by warriors in period, you can see it in artwork and many surviving armor panoplies with full body protection but open faced helmets. Visored helmets and helmets with bevors designed to be pushed up or down, may be worn in an open or closed mode, which has the same effect on a temporary basis. In other words, a party member could open their visor or raise their helmet while searching through a forest glade, which would reduce the penalty for spot checks to -4 at the exp ense of dropping their bypass by one point, then when they are attacked slam down the visor which would raise the spot and listen skill check penalty to -6 but raise the bypass back to it s original value. Sleeping in armor Sleep ing in armor, especially full body armor, is extremely uncomfortable and will leave the wearer in a near exhausted state. One good rule of thumb is that the armor by pass penalty is the equivalent of the amount of non-lethal (fatigue) damage a player will suffer from a night of sleeping in their armor. a long time in armor or even fighting for an extended period would lead to exhaustion, especially in hot weather and especially if insufficient water is available. T his factor alone decided the course of many famous battles, such as at the Horns of Hattin during the Crusades period in the 12 th Century, among many others. Another major effect of weather on armor is moisture. Sitting in the rain in your armor is a very good way to ruin it. Iron rusts, steel rusts even more. Leather and rawhide can become weakened by saturation in water, textile armor will double or trip le in weight when soaked. These are all factors which should be considered when falling in a river or caught out in the open in the rain etc. Armor is a very valuable asset in the CM system, p layers should have to spend some time taking care of their kit if they want it to work for them. Lacquering or bluing armor, which was frequently done in ancient times all over the world, does moderate this effect to some extent, but not comp letely. Armor and Hygiene Armor can get filthy pretty quickly under battlefield conditions, and this is a particularly bad problem with textile armors. The most common way to clean it was by boiling, which had the added benefit of killing lice. Textile armor which is worn continuously for a long period of time will quickly begin to smell and soon after will rot. There is an anecdote from Ancient Greece where Alexander and his army removed their linothorax and burned them because they were so funky. Armor and noise Armor makes a lot of noise. Metal armor especially, but even leather armor creaks and rustles. Textile armor is the closest thing to quiet armor, but it s still nois ier to wear than ordinary clothing (think of wearing a large down parka). Armor and the weather Armor does make you very hot but I don t have the heart to introduce that level of realism into the game, it s also potentially too much book-keeping IMO. But it was a real factor and if you want to include it feel free to do so: running It s hard to kill a fully armored warrior, but it can be one. Here common infantry attempt to finish off a wounded knight and his mount. Note one soldier uses a dagger to find a gap in the armor while two of the others attack with the blunt back-ends of their axes. 30

31 Armor Components These are the various pieces which can be added to Partial or Medium armor to enhance coverage or protection. The purpose of these individual pieces is to give players the opportunity to customize their armor somewhat (for example when adding pieces of kit taken from vanquished opponents) without having to get into hit-locations and individual body parts. Therefore the system is essentially abstracted, and must be used with some common sense. If you run into something where the numbers don t add up, A) let us know right away (we will fix it quickly) and B) don t use it that way. Most of the armor components listed here are helmets or some form of limb protection. Helmets can be added to Partial Armor to create custom Medium Armor. Other pieces such as couters or gauntlets can also be added to medium armor to boost DR or Bypass. Worn with Partial or Medium Armor When wearing an armor Component with Partial or Medium Armor, each Component which has a higher DR than the original armor raises the DR by 1, for a maximum improvement of +2 DR over the original value of the Partial or Medium Armor in question for all Components combined. So for example a helmet worn with medium clothing would raise DR from 1 to 2. Adding a mail coif and iron bracers would raise it another point to 3. Adding poleyns to this combination would have no further effect on DR since it s already gone up 2 points, though it would still raise the bypass another ½. Bypass is increased in increments of a half a point or more. The maximum Bypass value which can be gained by any combination of Components and Partial Armor is 6, for Medium Armor is also 8. So for examp le a person wearing an Iron Helmet with an iron lamellar doublet would have a DR of 7 and a bypass of 5. An iron helmet worn with medium clothing would rate a DR of 4 and a bypass of Note that Medium armor already comes with a helmet so you can t add another, but you could add a pair of gauntlets or bracers for example. As stand-alone armor If worn as stand-alone armor, these armor comp onents use the stand-alone DR value listed, and a Bypass value equivalent to their Bypass Bonus, rounded down. For example a person wearing an iron helmet and nothing else would have a DR of 8 and a bypass of 1. Someone wearing a more Mad Max style piecemeal kit consisting of say, an iron kettle hat (bypass 1), an iron gorget (1 ), iron half gauntlets (0.5), iron poleyns (0.5), and leather bracers (0.5) would have a DR of 8 and a Bypass of 3. (Any half values are rounded down). Components can only be worn in a manner reflective of common sense, you cannot wear two sets of gauntlets for example, though you can wear a coif under a gorget, and you can actually wear a great helm over an iron cap but this will not have any effect in the Codex rules. Component* Cost Stand-A lone Bypass Bonus Armor Speed Weight DR Check Leather Cap 5 CP ½ lb Iron Cap / Cervelliere 2 SP 6 ½ -1-2 lb Iron Kettle hat 3 SP lb Iron Helmet 5 SP lb Iron Full Helmet or Helm SP 8 +1 ½ -1 or lb Steel Helmet or Helm SP ½ -1 or lb Iron Face Mask (face) 10 SP 6 + ½ lb Iron Bevor (face) 5 SP 8 + ½ lb Iron Greaves (shins) 2 SP 8 + ½ lb Iron Shin Splints 1 SP 7 + ½ lb Iron Poleyns (knees) pair 3 SP 8 + ½ lb Iron Couter (elbows) pair 3 SP 7 + ½ lb Leather Bracers(forearm) pair 2 CP lb Splint Bracers (forearm) pair 5 CP lb Iron Bracers (forearm) pair 2 SP lb Iron Half-Gauntlets pair 7 SP 6 + ½ -1-1 lb Iron Gauntlets [air 15 SP lb Iron Plackart (abdomen) 5 SP lb Arming Cap 1 CP 2 + ½ lb Mail Coif 2 SP lb Iron Gorget (throat) 1 SP lb *Bronze or Brass can be substituted for iron here *DR bonus is limited to a maximum of DR 10 ** Bonus granted for armor with a DR lower than 8 31

32 Armor Table Key (for all tables in this section) Cost Cost is of course, somewhat arbitrary, since armor listed here existed in various distinct eras sometimes centuries and thousands of miles apart. The costs here are but it would be closer to reality to list the value in silver coins rather than gold. Of course even there is a big difference in value between a silver coin the size of a dime and a silver coin the size of a cookie the prices here are somewhat balanced. Customize as you see fit for your own campaign. DR If you are not using the "Attack Types vs. Armor" Optional rule is still listed in the Core Rules Optional Rules section, the only DR value that you need is the main value which is in Bold. If you are using the Attack types vs. Armor optional rule, the first (Bolded) value applies to Pierce / Bludgeon attacks, the second value represents the DR vs. Cutting attacks, and the third value to Slashing attacks. Bypass This is the To Hit penalty for an attacker to get around the armor, so that you suffer no DR on your damage roll. Armor Check The Armor C heck penalty is also the Max Dex, so an Armor Check Penalty of -3 means the Maximum Dexterity bonus which can apply to defense is 3. Technically you could say the absolute value. When combining components, partial armor and medium armor Speed This is your maximum movement speed when wearing the listed type of armor. Weight Weight in pounds. Not really relevant to the game rules, just listed for information. Hardness DR This is the DR of the armor for res isting damage when the armor itself is attacked. This is something of an achilles heel for certain types of armor. So for example, a heavy gambeson has a DR of 4 as armor, but if someone tries to cut the armor up instead of the person under it, the DR is only 2. This DR applies regardless of the attack type used. HP This is the amount of damage in Hit Points the armor can take before being rendered functionally useless. Min Strength This is the minimum strength required to wear a given type of armor. Layered armor It was not generally possible to have very heavy armor on every part of your body equally, so it was common historically to wear armor with different layers of different materials. One might for example wear a breast plate over a lighter underarmor of textile or lamellar. To better simulate this in the Codex, we list two armor values for some types of Medium and Heavy armor in the following tables. On these entries, you will notice two rows one in black and one in gray. The first row represents the strongest part of the armor, with a higher DR but a lower bypass number representing the limited coverage, the second row ( in gray) represents the secondary part of the armor which us ually has less protective value (lower DR) but more coverage (thus a higher bypass number). There will also be a des cription in the entry on the armor explaining what the two layers actually are. Both of these values should be listed on your Character sheet. Your opponents can choose to try to bypass just the strongest part of your armor, in which case use the first bypass value but still apply the DR for the secondary armor, or they can attempt to bypass all the armor you are wearing in which case use the second bypass value and if they still hit, there is no DR. If you prefer not to use this rule, simply use an average of the DR and Bypass values listed. 32

33 Armor Components List Leather Cap This is just a thick leather cap of something like saddle leather, sometimes reinforced with some iron or bronze bands making a kind of a frame. T his type of poor mans helmet provides similar protection to a large fur hat which were also often worn by soldiers (particularly cavalry men) lacking in better armor from the early Iron Age through the 19 th Century particularly in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. And also possibly the famous p hrigian cap worn by infantry in Anatolia in the Bronze Age. T reat any very strong, large substantial hat as significantly the same as this leather cap. Iron Cap This is a small helmet such as a cervelliere or a bascinet, fairly tight-fitting protection for the top, back and sides of the head but not the face. In the Medieval period, a small helmet like this would often be worn beneath a great helm (see Iron Full Helmet), both as an additional layer of protection and as something to wear for hand to hand combat after the charge, when the larger full helm would typically be removed. Iron Kettle Hat Includes all Medieval tin hat type helmets, later vers ions such as a combed morion were better made and shaped but amount to the same thing for game purposes. Iron Helmet Includes but not limited to the following types of helmets: sallet, armet, bas cinet, Phry gian (greek) helm, Corinthian (Greek) helm, Imperial Gallic ( Roman) helmet, nasaled helmet and spangenhelm with cheek p ieces. These were a step up from the Iron Cap in that they provided better coverage and were usually stronger and better shaped. German sallet Helmets, circa 1500 AD Iron Full Helmet Includes but not limited to the following types of helmets: Great helm, C lose helm, Visored Sallet, Visored Armet, Visored Bascinet, Great Bascinet, Pig-Faced Bascinet, Corinthian (Greek) Helm, Imperial Gallic (Roman) Helmet with facemask, and the Barbute Helm. A full helmet offers an extra +2 ½ Bypass, a visored helmet offers +2, a partial face helmet like a Roman Imperial Gallic or an Italian Barbutte offers +1 ½ points, as do Enlightenment era Cavalry helmets with partial face guards and lobster tails for the back of the neck. Visored helmets cost more (up to 150 gp) but are much less obstructive to vision and movement than Great Helms (Armor Check is -1 instead of -2. Iron Face Mask Face masks were worn in many parts of the world from ancient Roman cavalry to 16 th Century Japanese armor to the Saxon Sutton Hoo helmet from the 9 th C entury B C. They are not ideal protection because they restrict breathing and are close to the face making it vulnerable to blunt impact, but they can be a life-saver when facing a swarm of arrows. Roman cavalry used to wear facemasks made of silver with creepy expressions designed to terrify their opponents, and the same effect was clearly sought by Japanese facemasks many of which were made to resemble demons. You may or may not want to assign a morale effect (or an enhancement to intimidate rolls, for example) for individuals wearing decorative facemasks and / or full-face helmets designed for intimidation. Bevor A bevor is a shaped metal plate which fits over the neck and the lower part of the face. Some helmets such as the sallet are designed to be worn with a bevor. T he bevor provides good protection to the throat and the face but these areas are not as exposed as the shoulders or the top of the head so the Bypass bonus is small. Iron Greaves These are kind of metal sheathes which protect the knees and lower legs. Greaves have been used since the Bronze Age, and comprised a common part of the Greek hop lites panoply well into the Iron Age. They largely disappeared in Europe during the Migration Era but when articulated plate armor began to appear in the Middle Ages greaves returned, usually incorp orated into articulated leg and knee defense. Iron Poleyns 33

34 These are articulated iron knee guards made of at least three pieces, a partial thigh covering, a partial shin covering, and a knee piece. Leather Bracers Also called a vambrace, a bracer is something like a really broad bracelet that covers the forearms to protect them from cuts and strikes. Leather bracers offer some limited protection against glancing cuts but won t hold up to a full cut from a sword or thrust from a spear. Leather bracers ( or a single bracer) were also frequently worn by archers to protect the forearm from the slap of the bowstring. Splinted Bracers Bracers made from vertical plates or splints of metal, typically latten or iron, linked together with leather and rivets or mail. Iron Bracers Solid iron bracers are much more effective than leather and can be counted on to deflect sword cuts and the like. They usually fit well and don t slow the wearer down very much. Iron Half-Gauntlets The hands are some of the most exposed parts of a fighters body. Half Gauntlets protect the back of the hand but not the fingers. Half gauntlets were not uncommonly made with ridges or spikes to be used for punching like brass-knuckles. Iron Gauntlets Articulated iron gloves to protect the hand. Masterwork gauntlets reduce the Armor Check penalty to -1. Iron Plackart Plackarts were rigid plates which protected the abdomen, often in conjunction with (and eventually as a component of) a cuirass or breast plate. They were often worn as individual p ieces by ordinary infantrymen such as pikemen and archers, and remained popular into the 17 th Century. Arming Cap A padded cap worn beneath a helmet or alone as a marginal protection for the head. Mail Coif A mail hood (see coif in the Glossary) Iron Gorget A Gorget made of iron. Gorgets were often worn by cavalry as late as the 19 th Century even when no other armor was worn, as the neck was one of the most popular targets for a saber cut in a cavalry encounter. Mount St. Michel, Normandy, France, Photo circa

35 Partial or Half Armor This is body armor which provides either partial or limited coverage as stand-alone armor, but in many cases would be combined with armor components or other partial armor to create a panoply suitable for combat. Partial Armor does not normally include a helmet or under-garment unless otherwise stated. Partial or Half armor can be combined with Armor Components or with other Partial Armor, within the limits of common sense. You cannot wear two cuirasses for example, although it is possible to wear two mail byrnies or a mail byrnie under a cuirass, though the Armor Check Penalties stack. For more information on these various types of armor, see the relevant section in the glossary. Armor Cost DR Pierce / Cut / Slash Bypass Armor Check Max Dex Speed Weight Hardness DR Medium Clothing * 1 / 2 / * Heavy Clothing * 2 / 4 / * Felt C oat 1 SP 3 / 6 / lb Buff Coat 3 SP 3 / 6 / lb Light Coat Armor 5 SP 2 / 4 / lb Heavy Coat Armor 7 SP 3 / 6 / lb Light Aketon 3 SP 2 / 4 / lb Light Gambeson 5 SP 3 / 6 / lb Heavy Gambeson 7 SP 4 / 8 / lb Arming Doublet 10 SP 3 / 6 / lb Leather Doublet 1 SP 2 / 4 / lb Heavy Leather Doublet 2 SP 3 / 6 / lb Leather Lamellar Jack 5 SP 4 / 8 / lb Cuir Bouilli Lamellar Jack 6 SP 4 / 8 / lb Dō-maru (rawhide& horn) 8 SP 5 / 10 / lb Dō-maru (Iron) 10 SP 6 / 12 / lb Arming Jack 6 SP 5 / 10 / lb Light Mail Corslet 12 SP 5 / 10 / lb Scale Corslet 8 SP 4 / 8 / lb Lorica Plumata 20 SP 6 / 12 / lb Iron Lamellar Jack 7 SP 6 / 12 / lb Brigandine Doublet 12 SP 7 / 14 / lb Iron C uirass 15 SP 9 / 18 / lb Mail Shirt (Byrnie) 18 SP 8 / 16 / lb Heavy Cuirass 16 SP 10 / 20 / lb Peascod Cuirass 18 SP 12 / 24 / lb Peascod Cuirass, Proofed 30 SP 14 / 28 / lb Heavy Iron C uirass 20 SP 12 / 24 / lb HP Min Str Medium Clothing Ordinary street clothes for winter consisting of two or more layers (under and outer clothing) do provide some protection against injuries from weapons. Heavy Clothing Outdoor or travelling clothes for winter including a coat or heavy jacket provides fairly significant protection. Felt Coat A coat made of thick felt, which can be worn as underarmor or as stand-alone armor. This is essentially a very primitive type of gambeson, it offers fairly good protection but the armor itself is vulnerable to destruction. Buff Coat This is a special type of textile armor made of so called Buff Leather (buffalo rawhide) over padding, in the form of a long coat with sleeves. These were worn in the 17 th century. Light Coat Armor Not a coat at all but rather a sleeveless padded doublet of 5-10 layers of linen, fustian, or canvas, quilted with s ome padding like horse-hair or wool. Primarily intended for us e as under-armor, makes the wearing of a mail byrnie or iron 35

36 corselet much more comfortable and enhances the effectiveness of the armor considerably (+1 to DR of any metal armor). T hese can also be worn over a byrnie or a cuirass, which has the same effect plus it provides extra protection for the metal armor (this acts as DR vs. any attempt to damage the underlying armor) though the coat armor itself is vulnerable. The Romans probably wore something like this beneath their lorica hamata (mail) and lorica segmentata armor, modern Roman re-enactors call the equivalent textile armor a subarmalis. Heavy Coat Armor A heavy sleeveless padded doublet consisting of layers of linen plus padding such as felt, hemp or horse hair. Contrary to the name this is a sleeveless vest not an actual coat. T his type is meant as standalone armor usually for common soldiers, can be fairly effective protection. If worn over a cuirass or byrnie (as it sometimes was) it confers +1 to the DR but Armor C heck penalties stack. Light Aketon A short sleeved quilted / padded garment reaching to the waist. (See Aketon in the Glossary for more) worn in conjunction with plate harness (in lieux of a gambeson or aketon). Medium or full armor which incorporates a gambeson can be fitted out with an arming doublet as an alternative for an extra cost of 55 gp, this would confer an additional +1 Bypass (no DR bonus). Light Gambeson Another textile armor similar to the aketon, in the form of a long quilted coat with long sleeves and extending to the knees, made of several layers of linen with some kind of filler material like horse hair or felt. Very good quality gambesons would be made of silk (these would rate an additional +1 DR). Like an aketon, a gambeson could be worn under or over mail or plate armor (or both) conferring a +1 DR to any armor which does not already incorporate a gambeson in the description. If worn over armor which already includes a gambeson underneath, the DR and the Armor Check penalty are both cumulative. Heavy Gambeson A thicker gambeson with up to between layers of linen in the most vulnerable areas, and about 10 layers in the areas which need to flex. Fairly stiff and heavy, something like a baseball catchers chest protector, except longer and with sleeves. These were a very popular type of armor particularly in the 14 th Century, both as stand-alone protection and to be worn over mail. Leather Doublet A vest of relatively thick but soft leather, like a modern leather jacket. Provides marginal protection. Heavy Leather Doublet This is a doublet or corslet of stiff, quite thick leather like saddle leather. It is fairly rigid and restricts movement similarly to an iron cuirass, but is much lighter. It is not very efficient armor and offers only limited protection, there is little evidence of this type of armor being used in Europe, but it s better than nothing. (Leather armor of this type may have sometimes been used in Central Asia) This soldier from a 16 th Century painting wears an arming doublet over a mail shirt, with chains reinforcing his sleeves. Arming Doublet Terminology is a little tricky here, while C oat Armor is just a vest, the Arming doublet is actually a long sleeved coat with some sections of mail embedded to protect weak spots in the armor worn over it. This makes very effective under-armor for p late harness, granting +1 Bypass when Leather Lamellar Jack A lamellar vest made of thick leather pieces like saddle leather, strung together on heavy laces. Provides adequate if not excellent protection. Dō-maru This is a hardened leather lamellar corselet used in Japan. It is made of very small p ieces of either leather (or rawhide) and horn, or iron, which has been lacquered, laced together with strong silk laces, and made into rectangular pieces. T hese comprised a chest section which wraps around the torso and large epaulettes (sode) to protect the shoulders. Technically all Dō-maru means is a Dō ( corselet) closed up on the right, 36

37 which is where the Dō-maru is laced up. But this also represents a class of light armor used in Japan by ordinary foot soldiers from the 11 th C entury into the 19th. Arming Jack This is a sort of poor-mans brigandine armor consisting of small metal plates sewn inside two layers of textile armor. It was used by common footsoldiers in late Medieval through Renaissance Europ e. Scale Corslet This is a jack of scale armor (metal scales sewn or riveted onto a textile backing), usually at least somewhat padded. The Romans called this type of armor Lorica Squamata ( fish scale armor ), which is not to be confused with Lorica Plumata. Light Mail Corselet This is a type of Mail armor coat made of thinner gauge wire, significantly lighter and less bulky than ordinary mail, but also less effective protection. Sometimes light mail was made of tempered steel which would be far more effective (and more expens ive, and very rare see Special Materials). Lorica Plumata Lorica Plumata ( birds feathers armor ) is a special type of combination s cale and mail armor used by the Romans, in which each individual scale is bent 90 degrees and wired into a backing of light mail. This is very time-consuming armor to make and was used as prestige armor for aristocrats, officials, and standard bearers (Aquilifer and Signifier). T he s cales of Lorica Plumata were very small, historically often made of brass, bronze, or silver plated iron, sometimes in various patterns. This is a very good quality light armor made at great expense. Iron Lamellar Doublet This is a sleeveless vest of iron lamellar armor. Provides good protection against cuts and low inertia missile weapons like arrows, and cheap and easy to manufacture. Brigandine Doublet A sleeveless vest of brigandine armor, consisting of two layers of textile armor with overlapping metal plates sandwiched in between. Quite effective protection. Iron Cuirass Iron breast plate with a back-plate. glossary. See Cuirass in the Mail Byrnie A mail Byrnie was a corselet or vest of mail, covering the torso, abdomen, shoulders, and sometimes a small part of the upper arms. Mail Byrnies in antiquity often featured a second layer protecting the shoulders in the form of a mail collar or shoulder piece. Mail isn t really effective without some kind of padding worn underneath so it s assumed that mail here will be worn with a light coat armor or aketon. For more information see the entry on Mail in the Armor Glossary, and also see Mail Habergeon and Mail Hauberk). Heavy Iron Cuirass Heavier than an ordinary cuirass, typically bullet proof, these began to appear in the 16 th Century, and were used by heavy cavalry through World War I. The shape of a heavy cuirass could be of the gloubus type, the box-shaped type, or relatively form-fitting. Peascod Cuirass A cuirass with specific type of shape featuring vertical central ridge, called the ta pul, which split the middle of the breast plate like sloped armor on a tank. This type was very good protection from both missiles and lance strikes. The Japanese adopted the peascod cuirass from Portuguese soldiers, in many cases incorporating foreign made cuirasses into their own modern armor panoplies (Toudei-Gusoku), and also copying the design. They called the peascod breast plate specifically Hatomune dô or pigeon breast armor 37

38 Medium Armor This is combination armor consisting of different types of armor worn as a panop ly, enough to cover the head and most of the body. Normally Medium Armor includes torso protection in the form of a coat, corselet or jack, a helmet of some kind, and some kind of at least partial limb protection. Generally speaking the addition of the helmet with lighter armor boosts the effective DR here by 1 point. These can be thought of as a package of combined Half-Armor and Armor Components. Bypass is from 5-7. For more information on these various types of armor, see the relevant section in the glos sary. It should be noted that by C odex rules Medium Armor does not require Medium Armor Proficiency Feat unless it reduces the movement rate (i.e. the listed move rate is less than 30) Ty pe Cost DR Pierce/ Cut / Slash Bypass Armor Check Max Dex Speed Weight Hardness DR Gambeson & Helmet 8 SP 8 / 16 / lb Gambeson 4 / 8 / Leather Armor & Helmet 10 SP 8 / 16 / lb Leather 4 / 8 / Cuir Boilli Armor & Helmet 12 SP 8 / 16 / lb Cuir Boilli 4 / 8 / Cuir Boilli Lamellar Panoply 15 SP 8 / 16 / lb Lamellar 4 / 8 / Dō-maru Panoply ( Leather) 6 SP 5 / 10 / lb Dō-maru Panoply ( Iron) 18 SP 6 / 12 / lb Brigandine & Gambeson 17 SP 6 / 12 / lb Gamb eson 4 / 8 / Lorica Segmentata 10 SP 7 / 14 / lb Light Mail Haubergeon 15 SP 5 / 10 / lb Tatami Do 10 SP 5 / 10 / lb Brigandine & Mail 60 SP 10 / 20 / lb Mail - 8 / 16 / Bakharets Panoply 40 SP 9 / 18 / lb Mail 7 / 14 / Mail Haubergeon 20 SP 8 / 16 / lb Mail Hauberk 30 SP 8 / 16 / lb Khazaghand panoply 80 SP 9 / 18 / lb Light Aketon 2 / 4 / Doubled Mail Hauberk 100 SP 10 / 20 / lb Half Armor 50 SP 10 / 20 / lb Half Armor Of Proof 100 SP 12/ 24 / lb Three Quarters Harness 100 SP 10 / 20 / lb Heavy Three Quarters Plate 120 SP 14 / 28 / lb Ō-Yoroi 150 SP 7 / 14 / 21* 5* lb Butted Mail 3 / 6 / 9 7* 1 1 Toudei-Gusoku 100 SP 8 / 16 / lb Textile Armor 5 / 10 / * +1 DR, +2 Bypass vs. Missiles Gambeson & Helm This is a simp le helmet (see Iron Helmet), worn with a heavy gambeson. This heavy gambeson is typically a quilted coat made of layers of linen and stuffed with horse hair or felt. The thickness varied on each part of the body, more exposed areas being thicker with more layers, and there were usually holes in the armp its to enable movement. Sometimes there was an outer layer of doeskin to make it waterproof. Fancier gambesons could be made of better grade linen or HP Min Str even silk in fewer (8-15) layers. (DR 4 armor check -2, speed 30, cost 50 SP) The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, with DR 2, the second value represents the protective value of the Gambeson. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works. Leather Armor & Helm This is a suit of armor made of heavy leather similar to saddle leather, and softer leather similar to a leather jacket. Torso and 38

39 lower limb protection was in the form of harder leather, beneath which a leather coat was worn. This type of armor was not frequently worn in Europe but does appear in Central and East Asian steppes where leather was relatively cheap and iron relatively scarce, Mongol light cavalry troops apparently sometimes wore leather armor. The first row represents the protective quality of the helmet, the second row represents the protective quality of the leather armor alone. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works. Cuir Boilli Armor This is armor consisting of plates of stiff, hardened leather. A breast plate, shoulder pieces, articulated greaves and vambraces of hard leather plates. This type of armor was rare in Europe but may have had some use in tournaments during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A few partial panoplies of Cuir Boilli armor have been preserved from Italy, it is unknown if this was tournament armor or parade armor or actually used as primary personal protection for civilian or military use. One of the advantages of this type or armor is that it could be stamped with slogans, patterns, or shapes such as Fleur de Lis or a family crest etc. Cuir Boulli is not fantastic armor but it does provide somewhat better protection against blunt attacks and slices than most textile armors, though arguably inferior protection against piercing and chopping attacks. The first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet, the second value represents the protective quality of the leather armor alone. Cuir Boilli Lamellar Lamellar was by far the most common form of leather armor. This was the most ubiquitous and arguably the most effective form of leather armor used historically. Fairly flexible and relatively good protection. Plus it floats. The first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet or the Brigandine over the Gambeson, the second row represents the protective quality of the Gambeson alone. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works. Dō-maru This is the same as a Dō-maru jack of silk laced lacquered rawhide and horn or iron lamellar except it is a more complete panoply including large shoulder pieces (sode) skirts (haidate), and bracers and greaves (suneate) to protect more of the body. The Do-Maru is better fitting than the more archaic type of O-Yoroi armor and more suitable for infantry. For more information see the entry in the glossary. Replica Brigandine doublet worn with a gambeson. Note the typical pattern of three rivets. Brigandine & Gambeson This is simply a brigandine vest (see Brigandine Doublet) worn over a heavy gambeson (see Gambeson and Helm), and a full helmet. T his is medium weight, reasonably light armor which provides good coverage and pretty good overall protection. The first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet or the Brigandine and the Gambeson, the second row represents the protective quality of the Gambeson alone. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works. Lorica Segmentata This is the banded iron armor worn by the Roman legions, consisting of a chest p iece of iron p lates laced together. It covers only the chest, abdomen, and shoulders. The Japanese had a similar type of armor called Okegawa Dô. Light Mail Haubergeon This is a type of mail armor coat made of thinner gauge wire, significantly lighter and less bulky than ordinary mail, but also less effective protection. Sometimes light mail was made of tempered steel which would be far more effective (and more expensive, and very rare see Special Materials). Tatami Do This is a type of Japanese armor which is a composite of textile, light mail and small iron plates. These are small metal rectangular plates or lame linked with mail rings over a padded cloth backing or (more commonly) riveted directly to the p added backing. This was usually munitions grade armor us ed by Japanese infantry. Similar armor was also found in K orea and China, and was in use by Waco pirates operating throughout the Pacific Rim and in the Philippines. 39

40 Brigandine & Mail This is a brigandine vest worn over a mail hauberk and a light gambeson. The first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet or the Brigandine over the Gambeson, the second row represents the protective quality of the Gambeson alone. Mail Hauberk Essentially a bigger vers ion of a Haubergon, this is a knee length mail coat with sleeves at least to the elbows. Usually slit along the sides or front and back in order to allow the rider to sit in a saddle. This includes a light gambeson. Khazaghand panoply A Khazaghand aka Jazeraint is the Arab / Central Asian variant of a mail Haubergeon, of long sleeves with integral p adding both above and below the mail built into the armor. The cloth is usually silk and the version listed here would include a high quality hauberk, either of foreign ferrengi origin or from a top quality Muslim armorer. Some Kazaghands incorporated inferior quality mail, these may cost as low as half the normal price (if the buyer can determine the quality of the mail he is buying) but the protective value is reduced to 6/12/18. From the left: plated mail armor from Central Asia, possibly Persian, 17 th Century; plated-mail Russian, 17 th Centrury. Both styles had already existed for several centuries by that point. Bakharets Aka Plated Mail, Banded Mail, Behterets, Bachtarets. This is a type of armor of integrated mail and small metal plates, used in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and in Central and South As ia. It closely overlaps with the similar Yushman armor. Another common term for it is mail and plate armor. The extra plates may have been added to the mail due to the relatively poor quality of iron in most of these areas comp ared to Central European iron (South Asia being an exception to this). There are various forms of Bakharets (see Bakharets in the Glossary) In the armor table, the first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet or the Bakharets, the second row represents the protective quality of the Mail alone. T his Mail is slightly weaker than Western European Mail. Mail Haubergeon A Haubergeon or Habergeon is a mail shirt similar to a Byrnie with incrementally (maybe 10-15%) more coverage: sleeves come mid- way down the upper arms, and the shirt itself passes to the mid-thigh level. This version includes a light aketon or padded jack. The Khazaghand represented here would consist of fine quality mail Haubergeon with several layers of silk both above and below the mail quilted with a thin padding of rabbits fur, raw silk or felt. The textile component of these armors was thinner and less bulky than a standard European Aketon or Gambeson while being equal or superior in quality, making these highly desirable panoplies which were sometimes imported into Europe and used by European soldiers or knights. Some Khazaghand actually incorporated two Habergeons or a Habergeon and a Byrnie, these would be equivalent to a Doubled Mail Hauberk. For more information on the Khazaghand check the Glossary entry. The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, or the Khazaghand, the second row represents the protective value of the Light Gambeson usually worn beneath it. See Armor Tables Key, Layered armors for more about how this works. Doubled Mail Hauberk This is simply a Hauberk of Doubled Mail or Kings Mail (8 in 2 weave or 6 in 1 weave). It is considerably heavier but also more effective than ordinary 4 in 1 mail. Normally worn only by cavalry or during a siege, this is not easy armor to run around in let alone march in. But it definitely could save your life. 40

41 A Half-Armor made for Louis De Conde, 16 th Century Half-Armor Also sometimes referred to as Half Harness, this means armor which includes a helmet and gorget, breast plate or cuirass, pauldrons to protect the shoulder, and articulated vambraces to protect the arms, and faulds to protect the hips, but there is little or no thigh protection (sometimes short tassets). Bronzed and blued armor were widely used in the 15 th Century, as seen here in this depiction of the storming of a town. Three Quarters Harness Similar to Half Harness, this is plate armor, worn with a helmet, sometimes munitions grade i.e. one s ize fits all, sometimes custom-made for wealthy aristocrats. This armor covers the head, torso, s houlders, arms, and thighs down to the knees but not the lower legs. Three Quarters harness of Pirre Bruner, French, 1590 AD 17 th Century German Three Quarters Harness with Totenkopf helmet. None of the old emphasis on style here, just deadly efficiency. Heavy Three Quarters Plate This is a heavier, somewhat crude version of Three Quarters Harness which began to appear in the 17 th Century, and was designed to be literally bullet-proof. This heavier armor was usually made of iron, and much thicker than earlier 15 th C entury 41

42 armor. T his remained in limited use by some heavy cavalry and (more rarely) pikemen, (typically officers, bodyguards, or standard bearers) through the 18 th Century. By this time the ability to make steel armor had been nearly lost and to compensate this iron armor was so thick that it was significantly heavier than a full panoply was in the early 16 th Century. That is why armor of this type was us ually only worn by cavalry. Ō-Yoroi This is an elaborate harness of Japanese laced lamellar armor including a corselet covering the abdomen (do), skirts, shoulder pieces (sode), bracers and greaves, made of lacquered iron lames, and larger iron plates (also typically lacquered) worn with textile under-armor and a full helmet with an iron facemask. This type of armor was only worn by nobles, it is a fairly old fashioned type of armor which existed back to the 12 th Century and began to be phased out by the 14 th. The des ign of Ō-Yoroi is somewhat odd in that the corslet is c shaped and does not cover the right side, an additional section covers the right side. T his is because the Ō-Yoroi is designed for horse- archers. Due to the large Sode (shoulder pieces) and other components of Ō-Yoroi, it is particularly effective against missiles, (+2 Bypass, +1 DR against all missiles) but very cumbersome on the ground. The first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet or the Laced-Lamellar, the second row represents the protective quality of butted Mail and mail-and-p late armor which is used to cover weaker spots. T his Mail is made of very thin wire in a 4 in 1 weave, and is not riveted. It is much weaker than Western European Mail. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works. Toudei-Gusoku A type of Japanese armor, from a somewhat generic term meaning modern armor, this is essentially a stronger, lighter more form fitting type of armor which began to appear in Japan in the 15 th Century. More streamlined than the older Ō-Y oroi, it was essentially an enhanced version of a Dō Maru, sometimes incorporating elements of European armor. This included riveted mail, European type gloubus or Peascod breastplates, European style brigandine, and modified European (usually Portuguese) helmets. Traditional Japanese elements such as laced lacquered lamellar and textile armor were also included, but one of the characteristics of Toudei-Gusoku is that less lacing was used, riveting being used instead. Some of these armors were proofed against arquebus balls much like European armor was in the same era. Some other variations included riveted bands or strips of steel plate arranged in horizontal or vertical rows. The first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet or the Riveted or Laced-Lamellar, the second row rep resents the protective quality of textile armor worn under the main panoply. This textile armor is usually made of silk which is more effective than European linen, cotten or fustian based textile armor. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works. 42

43 Full Armor Full armor consists of complete cap-a-pied panoplies covering every part of the body from the toes to the fingertips, although some types have a few gaps in coverage. Bypass is from 8-15 A detailed study of a top quality full Maximillian harness, circa 1520 AD, front and back. Note the backs of the thighs are not protected. This is armor for fighting on foot. Note the fluting. This armor would be of proof, probably sufficient to protect against a.357 magnum pistol. Weight would be around 50 lbs. 43

44 Ty pe Cost DR P / C / S Bypass Armor Check Max Dex Speed Weight Hardness DR Mail Panoply 120 SP 10 / 20 / lb Single Layer Mail 8 / 16 / Heavy Backhterets 60 SP 9/ 18 / lb Mail 7/ 14 /21 10 Klibanion 20 SP 10 / 20 / lb Mail 7 / 14 / Brigandine Panoply 80 SP 11 / 22 / lb Mail 8 / 16 / Partial Plate Harness 100 SP 10 / 20 / lb Mail 8 / 16 / 24 9 Plate Harness 150 SP 10 / 20 / lb Mail 8 / 16 / Gothic (Light) Harness 200 SP 9 / 18 / lb T hinner 6 / 12 / 18 9 Gothic Harness of Proof 400 SP 11 / 22 / lb T hinner 7 / 14 / 21 9 Milanese Harness 250 SP 12 / 24 / lb Mail 8 / 16 / Milanese Harness of Proof 500 SP 14/ 28 / lb Mail 8 / 16 / Maximilian Harness 1,000 SP 10 / 20 / lb T hinner 7 / 14 / Maximilian Harness of 2,000 SP 12 / 24 / lb Proof -T hinner 9 / 18 / Field Harness (Proofed) 3,000 SP 14/ 28 / lb T hinner 10 / 20 / Kings Harness (Proofed) 8,000 SP 15 / 30 / lb T hinner 10 / 20 / Mail Panoply This is a mail hauberk worn over a light gambeson, with a mail coif, mail chausses (leggings) and mail (mitten) gauntlets, and a helmet or helm, and an aketon worn over the mail. The various pieces overlap somewhat which provides extra protection. The hauberk is often reinforced with a second piece of mail either on the chest and / or shoulders. Cap-a-pied (full coverage) Mail panop ly first appeared around the 11 th Century AD, peaked in the 12 th Century, and remained in use through the 14 th. This type of armor was often used during the first Crusade. It was common to also wear a jupon or aketon over the mail armor, as represented here. The helmets worn with this armor often included a partial helmet with a facemask, or alternately in a cavalry context a great-helm worn over a bascinet or a cervelliere. The first row represents the helmet and the thicker parts of the armor where there are usually two layers of mail plus the aketon. The second row represents a single layer of mail over the light gambeson. HP Min Str A 12 th Century Hungarian knight on Crusade in the Holy Land, photo by Deak József 44

45 on foot. Normally a type of panoply worn by heavy cavalry (called Cataphracti or Clibinari by the Romans and Persians, this type of armor had it s original origins with the Scythians and Sarmatians, and became well establis hed by the Parthians and later by the Sassanids of Persia. Used by Byzantine soldiers from at least the 8 th Century (possibly much earlier) through the 14 th, similar armor was also worn by Ottoman Turks, Persians, Mamelukes and other Central Asian and Middle Eastern Cavalry forces. Heavy Cataphract armor goes back as far as the 3 rd Century BC though its actual precise composition in that period is difficult to determine. Turkish Mail and Plate armor, a formidable heavy panoply, with horse armor Heavy Backhterets panoply This is a full cap-a-pied panoply of heavy Backhterets mail and plate armor, worn with padding underneath, and typically including overlapping layers in several areas. Heavier than ordinary Backhterets, this type of armor was popular with the heavy cavalry of the Ottomans, Mughals, and Mamelukes, by the Byzantines and also in Russia and certain parts of Eastern Europe. This was effective though fairly heavy armor, normally worn only by heavy cavalry. There is quite a bit of variation within this class of armor. Specific types can be anything from fairly simple mirror armor to elaborate panoplies of tightly integrated mail and plate armor similar to lamellar (as depicted here), so DR could vary from 7 to 9. Byzantine Cataphract on an armored warhorse. Note lamellar over mail. Though this type of armor could be worn by footsoldiers fighting as heavy infantry, it was normally intended for heavy cavalry such as the Ottoman Sipahi. The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, or the Backhterets, the second row represents the protective value of the Light Mail worn beneath it. See Layered armors for more about how this works. Klibanion This is a Byzantine term for a type of armor worn from the time of late Antiquity through the Medieval period, consisting of a lamellar corselet worn over a mail hauberk and a light gambeson, with a full helmet plus bracers protecting the forearm and overlapping plates, shin splints or greaves to protect the lower legs. This is heavy but effective armor, suitable for fighting on horseback but not Sassanid King Khosrau II equipped as a 6 th Century AD Cataphract image by 45

46 The first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet and the lamellar over mail, the second row represents the protective quality of the Mail alone. This Mail is slightly weaker than Western European Mail. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works. (bevor, coif or gorget) protection, which can be added to improve the Bypass penalty. Highly effective protection though there were some gaps in coverage. The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, or the Plate armor, the second row represents the protective value of the Mail worn beneath it. See Layered armors for more about how this works. Brigandine armor worn over mail, including greaves and tassets from a 14 th Century painting. Brigandine Panoply This is a harness of brigandine and plate armor, worn over mail, popular in the 14 th Century. A full helmet, a brigandine jack, a mail hauberk, a light gambeson, and articulated arm (vambraces) and partial leg (greaves with poleyns) made of plate armor or more brigandine (plates riveted to cloth or leather backing), and iron half gauntlets it also includes thigh (cuisses or tassets). This type of armor first appeared in the early 14th century and remained in use through the 15th, originally worn by knights it was also adopted by mercenaries and common foot-soldiers. For more about brigandine see the entry in the Glossary of Armor Terms. The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, or the Brigandine over the Mail, the second row represents the protective value of the Mail worn beneath it. See Layered armors for more about how this works. Partial Plate Harness The earliest form of plate armor which appeared in the early to mid 14 th Century and remained in use through the middle of the 15th. This is a light mail haubergeon worn over a light gambeson, with a helmet, a cuirass, articulated vam braces and greaves over that, worn with a full helm or later, a visored helmet, and iron half-gauntlets. It does not include thigh ( cuisses or tassets) or neck A modern re-enactor in an accurate representation of late 14 th Century style plate harness with a pig-faced (visored) bascinet helmet. Note how closely fitted the armor is, which is more characteristic real historical kit than what you typically see in a Ren Faire. Photo courtesy of Lynx Sword Study group. Plate Harness This is a complete cap -a-p ied articulated plate harness of a fairly simple des ign, of a type which first appeared some time around in Central Europe and spread quickly throughout the continent. This type of plate armor offers excellent protection but is relatively heavy compared to the more sop histicated types of plate harness which appeared in the 15 th and 16 th Century. This particular type of armor remained in use by men at arms and mercenaries as munitions grade armor through the 16th Century. The only areas not covered by armor were the back of the thighs and parts of the inner thigh around the groin (though some wore an armored codpiece). Neck protection is from a mail coif. It was not uncommon for plate armor in this era to be bronzed, blued, and / or lacquered. There is a great deal of surviving artwork depicting plate harness in various colors. 46

47 The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, or the Plate armor, the second row represents the protective value of the Mail worn beneath it. See Layered armors for more about how this works. This armor us ually includes a light gambeson and often s ome mail, either a light haubergeon or some individual pieces of mail sewn directly onto the gambeson or arming coat which is worn underneath the harness (see Arming Doublet). Gothic harness may be munitions grade but more often than not was custom made for a specific individual. The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, Cuirass, Pauldrons, and Vambraces, the second row represents the protective value of the thinner parts of the armor such as on the thighs and the back. See Layered armors for more about how this works. Gothic style Harness, probably German late 15 th Century Gothic (Light) Harness This is a lighter form of p late armor developed in Germany during the 15 th Century, first appearing around 1440 AD and rema ining in use through the 16 th Century. The armor takes advantage of careful shaping of the plates to enhance the protective quality of the metal itself, while designed to be as ergonomic and manageable as possible, all to emphasize combat movement. Gothic harness is well suited the dy namic, fast moving style of German fencing in the 15 th C entury. It s much lighter than earlier types of plate armor; some surviving Gothic harness panop lies weigh as little as 40 lbs. It does sacrifice some protection however, the plates though well shaped are thinner, only the front half of the thighs or biceps are protected by plates, though there is complete neck and groin protection. In some Gothic harness only the front half of the cuirass is used. (For this reason this type of harness is s ometimes called half harness which is not to be confused with half armor. See the glossary entry for Half Armor.) Milanese style harness, 15 th Century Milanese (Heavy) Harness Milanese Harness was developed in Italy, like gothic harness during the 15 th C entury, specifically around 1430 AD remaining popular well into the 16 th Century. During the Renaissance, as today, Milan was the fashion center of Europe, only in this period the most popular designs were in steel rather than silk. Milan was one of Europe s primary centers of armor production throughout the Renaissance and Milan produced armor in every style for customers in France, Germany, Spain and as far away as England. This type represents a heavier kind of harness which was popular in Italy in this period. Milanese harness typically included an entire mail haubergeon worn under the p late, 47

48 making it extra strong, and it was also frequently made of steel rather than iron, often at least partly tempered steel (the stats are listed for untempered steel, for tempered steel harness adjust DR and price accordingly). It is not known why heavier armor was preferred in Italy, some have speculated that the proliferation of early firearms and very powerful crossbows in use by urban militias were probably a major factor, others have cited dangerous groups of bandits who also favored the same weapons and made travel in certain areas risky. As with gothic harness, this type of armor is more carefully shaped and better made than ordinary Plate Harness. Like Gothic harness Milanese harness may be munitions-grade but more commonly is an individually-tailored, masterworkquality panoply. The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, C uirass, Pauldrons, and Vambraces, the second row represents the protective value of the thinner parts of the armor such as on the thighs and the back. See Layered armors for more about how this works. Maximilian Harness Technically Maximilian Harness as such appeared around 1500 AD, but similar armor was seen as early as the 1470s, and this type of armor remained in use through the 17 th Century though it was only widely pop ular in Western Europe for about 50 years. This is essentially an enhanced or deluxe version of Gothic harness, named after the armor of the famous Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I who founded the Landsknechts among other notable accomplishments and had an intense interest in the technical aspects of warfare. Maximilian armor was made of very high quality temp ered steel and featured several notable design features, a baffle visor helmet, extensive fluting or ridges on the armor p late itself (which allowed the armor to be made even thinner than ordinary Gothic harness), rounded wide toed sabatons equally suitable for cavalry or foot combat. This was very strong, light weight armor of the top quality, believed by many in the time period to be the ultimate sweetspot for armor, s ufficiently protective to be effectively bullet proof against anything but a heavy musket yet still light and well fitted enough to energetically fight on foot or on horseback. This is very close fitting armor which would always be custom designed for a single individual. To adapt such armor to another person would require the assistance of an armorer and the use of a forge. (and this could only be done for an individual of roughly the same size and weight). The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, Cuirass, Pauldrons, and Vambraces, the second row represents the protective value of the thinner parts of the armor such as on the thighs and the back. See Layered armors for more about how this works. Maximilian style Harness, 16 th Century German. Note extensive fluting and squared off sabatons for fighting on foot.. 48

49 Warfare in the Renaissance was extremely brutal. The triumph of Death, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1562 AD 49

50 Personal body armor and horse-barding of Kaiser Maximillian I, circa 1520 AD (Maximilian Harness) 50

51 This is very close fitting armor which would always be cus tom designed for a single individual. To adapt such armor to another person would require the assistance of an armorer. (and this could only be done for an individual of roughly the same size and weight). The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, Cuirass, Pauldrons, and Vambraces, the second row represents the protective value of the thinner parts of the armor such as on the thighs and the back. See Layered armors for more about how this works. Kings Harness This is the top quality harness a Master armorer could make, very closely fitted to an individual wearer. T his is masterp iece quality expertly tailored plate harness made of temp ered steel and normally of quite thin metal. Carefully shaped to the individual owners body, featuring very sophisticated articulation, this armor fits well and does not severely inhibit the wearer from movement. 16 th Century Field Harness Field Harness This is custom plate armor of a very high quality, which began to appear in the mid-16 th C entury and rema ined in use into the late 17th. This armor was made in a variety of regional styles, mostly by the Milanese, suitable for French, Dutch, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Hungarian or P olis h fashions. In this era full armor was becoming increasingly rare but was still worn on the battlefield by high ranking nobility, field commanders and also sometimes by elite heavy cavalry or heavy infantry. This type of armor would typically be made with elaborate scroll work, gold and silver plating, bluing. This repres ents the very finest harness which was extraordinarily rare but available, for the right price, as early as the late 14 th C entury and remained in limited use through the 17 th Century. By the 16 th Century armor of this quality was typically bullet-proofed. This is very close fitting armor which would always be cus tom designed for a single individual. To adapt such armor to another person would require the assistance of a master armorer (and this could only be done for an individual of close to the same size and weight). The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, Cuirass, Pauldrons, and Vambraces, the second row represents the protective value of the thinner parts of the armor such as on the thighs and the back. See Layered armors for more about how this works. Alhambra palace, Granada, Spain 51

52 Part II: Missile W eapons A modern re-enactor outfitted as an armored mounted crossbowman, wearing mail armor under a gambeson, iron poleyns, a sallet helmet and a bevor, armed with a ballock dagger, an arming sword, and a heavy crossbow. Image courtesy of Steve Thurston, Rosa Mundi 52

53 Rules to remember for Missile Weapons Keep the following rules in mind when using Missile Weapons. Use your range chart. Missile weapons vary in effectiveness widely based on range. Table II.4 is your friend. Armor Bypass Missile weapons can only bypass Armor at C lose (Melee) or Short Range. B ut on a Critical hit (natural 20) the shooter has the choice to either bypass or take the extra crit damage. Ready Bonus Most missile weapons have two ready bonuses listed, one is for having the weapon prepared (i.e. loaded or inhand) the other is for actually aiming before a shot. With a bow this may mean an arrow knocked vs. an arrow pulled back, with a crossbow or a gun it may mean cocked vs. p ointed at a target. That first shot can be a really important one and the Ready Bonus makes it more effective. Aimed, Supported Shots Guns and crossbows get a very valuable Free Dice when supporting their weapon on a window ledge or the gunwhale of a boat or a fence rail or an aiming stake. This is very useful for Marksmen or Gunners so keep it in mind if you are one! Plunging shots Bows and vaned darts to not suffer any of the longrange penalties to Penetration or Damage from the range chart (Table II.4). Volley Fire Using the Volley Fire MF allows bows and thrown weapons to be much more effective. Reloading and Prep-Time Preparing weapons in advance or using help (an assistant to load an extra weapon) helps! Cover and Concealment Remember Cover provides one Active Defense Free Dice per 25% coverage. But you have to have p oints left to use this. Tactical Movement You can also move 100% behind cover by using an MP for movement either before or after you shoot. 53

54 Table II.1 Simple Missile Weapons Simple Missile Weapons Cost Weight Ready Bonus Range Increment Max Range Prep Time AP Basic Damage Attack Type STR Bonus Plunging Shot Rock, Thrown (T) **** - 1 lb B Y Y Throwing Stick (S) - 3 lb B Y N Throwing Wood (S) - 2 lb B Y N Throwing Club (S) - 4 lb B Y N Throwing Hammer (S) B Y N Thrown Mace (S) B Y N Throwing Dagger (T) 1 SP 1 lb * P Y N War- Dart (S) 1 lb P (Y) Y War -Dart, Plumbata (S) 2 SP 2 lb P (Y) Y Hurlbat (S) 5 SP 2 lb C or P (Y) N Crossbow, Hand (S) 100 SP 2 lb +2/ +4 5 ** 20 * P N N Crossbow, Latchet (M) 50 SP 3 lb +2/+4 10 ** 50 * P N N Crossbow, Light (M) 8 SP 4 lb +2/ ** 60 * P N N Crossbow, H eavy (M) 12 SP 5 lb +2/ ** 80 * P N N Javelin, Light (M) 2 SP 1 lb 0 20 ** P (Y) N Javelin (M) 3 SP 2 lb P (Y) N Half-Spear, T hrown (M) - 3 lb P (Y) N Spear, T hrown - 4 lb P (Y) N Explanation of the Chart C olumns: Cost = T his is a very rough estimate based on standard OGL / SRD coin values, filtered through historical prices based on the price of arms and armor in Silver Kreuzer (typically 7 grams of silver) in 15 th Century Germany. In different parts of the world the value would be at a different rate, armor was much more expens ive in the early Medieval period for example. This cost is listed only for ease of integration with standard OGL or Pathfinder or other OGL games. Weight = An estimate of the weight in pounds. Ready Bonus = T his is a to-hit bonus for a weap on which is ready vs. one that is actively prepared. For examp le a bow with an arrow nocked is ready, a bow actively aimed in the targets direction before shooting is prepared (and receives the bonus after the slash) Range Increment = The Range Increment represents how far each range band is for that particular weapon. So for example for a P lumbata, the range increments are: 40 ( close), 80 (short), 120 (medium), 160 (long), 200 (very long), and 240 (extreme). For most weapons the maximum range is equal to 6 times the range increment, but this is not always true. Some weapons have a shorter maximum range and only go out to 3 or 4 range bands, others have an extended Long or Extreme range band which may be far longer than their range increment. This represents the difference between how far the missile can go and still be lethal, vs. how far it can be aimed accurately at an individual target. Weapons with a low range increment but a long extreme range can often still be effective with the Volley Firing MF. (see Codex Martialis, Core Rules) Max Range = Maximum range of the weapon. The default is 6 times the range increment for the weap on, but some weapons cannot be used beyond Medium range, others have an extended long or extreme range category (see above). Prep Time = The number of MP required to prepare another shot. Weapons with 0 Prep time can be shot once per MP, but only if they are already held in the off hand. Normally only 3 javelins can be held in one hand for example. W eapons with prep time of 1 or more require extra MP to reload. So for example a Bow takes 1 MP to shoot, 1 to reload, 1 to shoot again, costing 3 MP for two shots. A Heavy Crossbow with a Prep time of 3 can effectively shoot one bolt per round, whereas an Arbalest can effectively only shoot once every other round. An alternative to this is to make Prep time equal the number of rounds required to prepare the next shot. AP = Armor p iercing bonus Basic Damage = Damage caused by the weapon with a successful hit. Attack Type = T his means both Attack Type for the type of damage caused as well as Primary Attack Type. STR Bonus = Strength Bonus applies at melee, close, and short range only. Plunging Shot = T his is a new category for missile weapons. Weapons capable of p lunging shots ( like bows and some wardarts) have two prop erties: 1) They can s hoot in such a high arc that they obviate horizontal cover like walls. 2) Due to their ballistic arc and / or the aerodynamic qualities of the projectile they do not lose speed at long range, and therefore suffer no penalty to damage or armor-piercing at long or extreme range ( 5 or more range increments). 54

55 The downside of plunging shot is that overhead cover protects against falling arrows, and these weapons cannot be used at 5 or more range increments unless there is enough room overhead to shoot in an arc. * Flat trajectory only (max 4 range increments). ** +4 To Hit if readied beforehand (or Cocked and loaded). *** All bows can fire up to double maximum range as indirect fire, see below: **** Fist sized, hard, heavy rock (granite, obsidian) ***** 10 radius required for throwing Rock Probably the most ancient weapon known to man, rocks make good missile weapons and were used not just in sieges but to good effect in open field combat by such redoubtable warriors as the Swiss Confederates and the Bohemian Hussites, among many others. Many Medieval and Renaissance armies had professional rock throwers, as odd as that sounds. Try to imagine somebody like a baseball pitcher throwing rocks made of material like obsidian or granite. The rock depicted here is a 3-5 lb rock (depending on hardness) and does D6 damage. Each 5 pounds additional weight is another step up in damage so at 10 lbs 1-8, 15 lbs 1-10, 20 lbs 2-12, 25 lbs 2-16, 30 lbs 3-18 and etc... Rocks can be very dangerous! Max range als o decreases by half with each step as well (round down), s o a 10 lb rock would have a max range of 30, a 15 lb rock would have a range of 15, and 20lbs or more has a range of 5. But if you are throwing y our rock from a height advantage, your range improves (see Table II.2a height advantage for thrown missile weapons). Rocks make very effective anti-siege weapons. Throwing Stick These are typically thick sticks designed to be thrown at a target, typically for hunting. They were typically made roughly the thickness of the throwers wrist, roughly symmetrical, and sometimes with pointed ends. T he throwing stick overlaps considerably with the Throwing Wood and the Throwing Club. Throwing Wood The term throwing wood was coined by Sir Richard B urton in his book of the sword. It is therefore a modern term which refers to a sub-type of throwing stick. Some, like the famous Aborigine boomerang, the Egyptian lysan, and the Celtic teutona were shaped for a longer, faster, smoother flight than the simple hunting weapon depicted here. They were still primarily intended for hunting but could have some utility as a real weapon (such as the socalled war-boomerang ). It is an ancient weapon to be sure, a boomerang like throwing wood was found in the Carpathian mountains in Poland dating back to 30,000 BC. Throwing Club Some ancient throwing sticks were made of hardwood with a weighted or curved end to one side to impart momentum so the stick stays straight and does not wobble in mid-flight. A heavier, more asymmetrical weapon intended for hunting larger game or for warfare. The so-called skull crusher throwing stick falls into this category, as does the famous Maasai orinka. Throwing hammer Probably a direct des cendant of the throwing club, this can also represent either a war hammer or an ordinary blacksmiths or carpenters hammer which has been thrown, although technically a throwing hammer would be far more effective as a missile. Early versions had stone striking heads, (see Stone Tomahawk, Codex Martialis Weapons of the Ancient World Book 1). This type of weapon existed in Europe only in dim echoes of the past, may be the inspiration for Thor s Hammer and for certain Olympic games. A crude but quite effective weapon at short range. Thrown Mace An ordinary mace which has been thrown at the target. This was a common tactic, particularly by cavalry on the Stepp es. Throwing Dagger A dagger designed for throwing. These are much easier to throw point first even at a distance, but tend to be lighter and more symmetrically balanced, making them less dangerous than a real dagger. War-Dart A dart about 24 long, something like a modern lawn-dart, with vanes similar to a large arrow though typically made of wood, leather or metal, and featuring a hardened steel p oint. Used by many armies from antiquity into the Enlightenment period, especially in certain places such as Ireland and the Pyrennes Mountains. The exercise of the loaded javelins, called martiobarbuli, must not be omitted. We formerly had two legions in Illyricum, consisting of six thousand men each, which from their extraordinary dexterity and skill in the use of these weapons were distinguished by the same appellation. They supported for a long time the weight of all the wars and distinguished themselves so remarkably that the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian on their accession honored them with the titles of Jovian and 55

56 Herculean and preferred them before all the other legions. Every soldier carries five of these javelins in the hollow of his shield. And thus the legionary soldiers seem to supply the place of archers, for they wound both the men and horses of the enemy before they come within reach of the common missile weapons. -Vegitius, De Rei Militari, 4th Century AD Plumbata Apparently originally invented by the Ancient Greeks, this weapon had become the Roman version of a war-dart by the Imperial era. Like its larger cousin the pilum, it had a long armor-piercing point and a lead weight. Typically from three to five of these would be carried on the inside of the shield of a Roman Legionnaire. Apparently these can be thrown very far indeed. T hey were considered the longes t ranged weapon in the Roman arsenal at the time, outranging bows and slings. Only certain Legions appeared to use these, and they seem to have gone in and out of fashion but are well documented during the 3 rd -4 th Century AD. Hurlbat A special type of throwing hammer actually something like an axe-shaped blade with sharp pointy edges in all directions. Very similar to some African Throwing knives except for the overall shape. The whole thing was made of a single piece of metal, it was a handy weapon for striking out at close range, it was small, accurate and unlike a throwing knife heavy enough to cause some harm, and almost guaranteed to cause some damage due to all of the sharp surfaces. These were used in Europe from circa , though the bas ic idea goes back much further to the Francis ca etc. An Italian Balestrino crossbow, circa 1450 AD Crossbow, Hand This is a small but quite powerful crossbow with about a lb draw weight (requiring a mechanical device to span) which can be shot one handed and can be somewhat easily concealed. For this reason such weapons are often considered suspect by the authorities. There may have been many types of serious hand crossbows during pre-industrial times (in addition to toys or weap ons for hunting very small game) but one specific type which did actually exist historically has been called a Balestrino, meaning small "Balestra", "Balestra" is the Italian name of the Crossbow. The name is possibly derived from the ancient Latin "Balista" (which, in its own turn, derives from the ancient Greek word "Ballein" which is to throw... you can find it in the word "Balistic").. Though very small indeed, (some examples can almost fit on your hand), like most Renaissance or medieval crossbows, these Balestrino had a much heavier draw weight than their modern equivalent. T hat is because with a short prod and a narrow spanning distance, you need a lot of power to move a dart at a sufficient speed to serious ly injure a human being. So to span these, you have to turn a screw, which you will notice as something like a butterfly wingnut on the surviving antiques such as the one pictured above. T hese weapons show up in auction sites from time to time, almost always with a similar des ign featuring the same type of spanning device. There are rumors in the historical record that these were used as assassination weap ons, which is a rather titillating idea. In spite of the more powerful prods however, many modern scholars consider the Balestrino a mere toy. They make the argument that a real assassin would not use such a relatively weak, and (since most s urviving Balestrino bows are expensive weapons made with rare materials and workmanship) instead of something cheaper and more effective. Like say, a stiletto or a pistol since these crossbows appeared contemporaneously with firearms. A reasonable argument to be s ure. But in Renaissance Italy, assassinations were not just the vocation of the kind of low-level professional criminals we typically think of today, but also the hobby of high ranking Aristocrats, patrician burghers and even members of the College of Cardinals all of whom cheerfully assassinated one another fairly routinely particularly in the 16th and 17th Centuries. And these p eople liked their weapons to be beautiful and well made. Just like their jeweled rings with hidden poison compartments, and their silver inlayed stilettos. Small crossbows and pistols both created a minor outrage and a mini-legal cris is when they first appeared, due to the danger of assassinations. Pistols are much more effective as weapons, but they were also very loud and created a telltale plume of smoke, instantly marking the assailant. A crossbow like this could be concealed within the clothing, then used with some hope of effectiveness, concealed again briefly, and discarded at the first opportunity, all without drawing any undue attention. It is also possible that these types of weapons were used with poison, like the C hinese repeating crossbow. Regardless of their actual historical use, it is plausible enough to use weapons of this types for assassins in Role Playing Games. 56

57 Crossbow, Light An ordinary crossbow of a type which was very common in Medieval Europe, and also in many other parts of the world from the Middle East to Vietnam. The draw weight is between 80 and 120 lbs. Suitable for hunting small game, they can also take down larger game or peop le especially when used with poison darts as they often were in Asia. An example of this weapon is the Skåne lockbow found in southern Scandinavia during the Medieval period. Crossbow Latchet This is yet another unusual type of crossbow which appeared in the late 16 th or 17 th Century and was known to have been used in several places, notably by border Reivers in the B ritish Isles. It is a crossbow with a built in spanning device, similar to a goats foot, which makes spanning the weapon very fast and easy. They were expensive, and tended to be small, but the simplicity of spanning the weap on made it useful from horseback. Crossbow, Heavy This is the type of heavy crossbow called a Knüttelarmbrüste or Knottelarm brüste by the Germans, which first appeared in Europe around the 7 th or 8 th Century AD and rema ined in use for both hunting and warfare, through the 16th. Though not as powerful as the composite and steel prod types which came later, they had a notable effect on the battlefield. A moderately powerful crossbow roughly equivalent to a modern hunting crossbow with a draw weight of roughly lbs, this weapon launched fairly heavy quarrels with a variety of different types of heads for hunting or warfare. Quarrels were s horter and stouter than arrows, and less aerody namic. T hey typically featured just two leather or paper vanes rather than feathers. Crossbows are relatively accurate and can be held in readiness almost indefinitely, but are less suitable than bows for indirect shots and were not typically used to shoot over the heads of friendly troops in the front ranks or over walls during a siege in volleys the way bows were. Instead they were used to individually target specific enemies. The Knottelarmbrüste commonly featured a thick wooden prod made of different types of wood (most commonly yew) with strings that were vulnerable to moisture, and unlike a bow they could easily be unstrung. For this reason they were typically carried with a leather sheath over both the prod (bow) and the string, and the quarrels or bolts were carried in a special type of wooden quiver covered in fur. Though of moderate power, is weap on quickly achieved an important role in warfare and it had a disruptive social effect as well, because it was somewhat effective against armor. Javelin, Light This is a smaller, lighter Javelin which can be thrown longer distances, sometimes these were vaned like darts. Javelin A javelin is a relatively light spear specialized for throwing. This was arguably the most common weapon on the battlefields of both Europe and Asia from the Bronze Age through the late Medieval period. Javelins thrown individually can be caught and thrown back, but javelins thrown in volleys can be extremely devastating, especially to troops lacking shields or heavy armor. Javelins were used from chariots, from horseback, and by infantry. Half-Spear, Thrown A half spear (see Codex Martialis Weapons of the Ancient World Part 1: Melee Weapons) that has been thrown. Spear, Thrown An ordinary dual-purpose spear which has been thrown. At short range a thrown spear has greater penetration than one used in a thrust. 57

58 The 13 th Centurry Byzantine Monestary at Suemella, Turkey Table II.2 Martial Missile Weapons Weapons Cost Weight Ready Bonus Range Increment Max Range Prep Time AP Basic Damage Attack Type STR Bonus Swiss A rrow (S) 3 SP 0.5 lb P (Y) Y Javelin, Pilum (M) 5 SP 1 lb P (Y) N Javelin, H eavy Pilum (M) 8 SP 2 lb P (Y) N Javelin, T hong (M) 2 SP 3 lb P Y N Soliferrum (M) 10 SP 6 lb P Y N Short Bow (M) 7 SP 1 lb +1/ P N Y Recurve Bow (M) 150 gp 2 lb +1/ (400 )*** P Y Y Crossbow, Slurbow 90 gp 5 lb +1/ ** 80 * B N N Crossbow, Repeating 50 gp 8 lb P N N Crossbow, Stirrup (M) 100 gp 5 lb +2/ ** 180 * P N N Long Bow 75 gp 2 lb +1/ (360 )*** P Y Y Staff Sling 3 gp 4 lb - / * B (Y) Y For explanation of the C hart Columns see table I.2 Simple Missile Weapons above. * Flat trajectory only (max 4 range increments). ** +4 To Hit if readied beforehand (or Cocked and loaded). *** All bows can fire up to double maximum range as indirect fire, see below: **** Fist sized, hard, heavy rock (granite, obsidian) ***** 10 radius required for throwing Plunging shot Swiss Arrow A Swiss Arrow is not necessarily Swiss and is not really an arrow, it s basically a war-dart or a small javelin which has a notch in it for the use of an amentum (see Javelin, Thong, below) which gives it better range, as well as (typically) vanes like an arrow. Weapons of this type were widely used in Europe from Classical times through the Renaissance, and are recorded in historical records, literature and artwork from Ireland to the Ukraine. Javelin, Thong (Weavers Beam) This is an ancient type of javelin which is made with a strap or thong in the middle called an ankyle, or an amentum, which goes around the wrist and can be wound around the haft of the javelin. In throwing, this imparts a spin which stabilizes the weapon and vastly improves accuracy. The Romans called this weapon a veritum but it is far older than Rome, going back to pre-historic times. In fact weapons of this type were used from chariots by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. 58

59 Next to the armor-piercing pilum type this was probably the most pop ular type of javelins and also for smaller darts (see Swiss Arrow, above). Javelins were later used with detachable amentums which would uncoil when the weapon was launched, remaining in the throwers hand. Soliferrum This is a solid iron javelin, a special armor-piercing weapon with a long pedigree. It was apparently invented by the ancient Celts as far back as the Hallstadt period, but disappeared in much of Europe during the late Iron Age except within the Iberian Peninsula. Celitiberian and Lusitanian forces used it with success against the Romans during campaigns in the 1 st and 2 nd Century BC. The weapon reappears in the historical record 1400 years later in the Middle Ages, as a favorite of the much feared Almogavar mercenaries of the Pyrennies region, and under their famous leader Roger De Fleur they re-introduced the weapon to Greece and Byzantium (point first). This weapon has very limited range but has outstanding armorpiercing characteristics which the Almogavars found useful against heavily armored knights. difficult to remove from shields once they had pierced a shield. This was not the primary purpose of this weapon however, which was to kill. The pilum is an armor-piercing javelin, shields were the most common form of personal protection used in Antiquity, and disabling a shield removed most of the protection a typical soldier had. B ut this weapon could also punch through armor and helmets, not to mention skulls and ribs, and was just as hard to pull out of your leg as it was to remove from your s hield (and a lot more painful). As to the missile weapons of the infantry, they were javelins headed with a triangular sharp iron, eleven inches (279 mm) or a foot long, and were called piles. When once fixed in the shield it was impossible to draw them out, and when thrown with force and skill, they penetrated the cuirass without difficulty They had likewise two other javelins, the largest of which was composed of a staff five feet and a half long and a triangular head of iron nine inches (229 mm) long. This was formerly called the pilum, but now it is known by the name of spiculum. The soldiers were particularly exercised in the use of this weapon, because when thrown with force and skill it often penetrated the shields of the foot and the cuirasses of the horse Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De Re Militari 450 AD The pilum was the primary battlefield weapon of the Roman Legions for roughly 500 years, during the period of the height of their power. In battle they were ideally thrown in three volleys just before the charge. Heavy Pilum This is simply the heavier version of the pilum, weighted either by a removable lead weight near the base of the iron part of the shaft, or by a heavier overall construction. When available, it was the last of the three pilum volley, it had shorter range but better penetration. Short Bow This is the ordinary, ubiquitous type of bow, used for hunting or warfare, but not extraordinarily powerful. It is the equivalent of a modern hunting bow. Bows of moderate power were still used in combat in antiquity, but were not primary battlefield weapons. Pilum, left, and heavy pilum, right. From Legio XV, Graz Austria, photo by Mathias Kabel Pilum The pilum was a special type of armor-piercing javelin used by the Romans. It is fairly well known that pilum were eventually modified to break or bend upon impact, s o that they could not be thrown back, and that they were Recurve Bow This is a type of bow which originated on the Central Asian steppes probably as far back as the second millennium B C. The recurve bow has a characteristic double-humped or w shape and designed to be spanned in the opposite side of the curve ( hence, re-curve). Recurves are made of at least some composite materials such as horn or bone and different types of wood and sinew on the back, often covered over with birch bark or even leather to provide some protection from the elements. Recurves were far 59

60 more powerful than ordinary bows while also small enough to be shot from horseback. Matt Easton of Schola Gladiatoria UK, takes aim with his replica Hungarian recurve, of 65 lb draw. Various tribes of the Central Asian Steppes gradually perfected this complex weapon over the centuries, notably the Parthians (inventor of the Parthian shot ), the Scythians, the Sarmatians, the T urks, the Huns, the Magyars and the Bulgars, among others. The Mongols later developed a more powerful version called a Composite Bow in this document, though in Academia the term recurve often applies to all weapons of this general type. T he recurve bow was particularly vulnerable to moisture with its glued and lashed together organic materials, and on the steppe both bow and arrows were stored in a dual-purpose sheath called a gorytos. Crossbow, Slurbow This is a special type of crossbow which shoots lead bullets or s haped stones, similar to sling stones. It is essentially a smaller version of many more ancient forms of torsion spring artillery (siege weapons) used by the Romans and Greeks and their various rivals in Antiquity. The slurbow appears in the late Medieval period as a hunting weapon, which has the benefit of stunning or crushing small game rather than puncturing them. It was not primarily intended as a weapon of war though it could cause serious injuries. Chinese repeating crossbow Crossbow, Repeating This is a light crossbow with a built in cocking-lever and an integral magazine containing up to ten quarrels. These weapons were used by the Chinese from the Bronze Age into the 19 th Century, and this technology was also apparently known to the ancient Greeks. They were als o not extremely powerful, and because of the magazine-loading design, this weapon used quarrels with no fletchings, making them relatively inaccurate except at short range, though the weapon could shoot darts a long way. They were in fact designed for use en-masse, and the quarrels were frequently coated with poison to make them more dangerous. Unlike most crossbows this weapon was often used for indirect shooting in high arcs, with a large number of quarrels or darts launched (a rate as high as 10 shots per minute was possible) and holding a magazine of up top ten darts, these could be quite dangerous. They were often used during sieges. It is worth keeping in mind that this weapon does have to be spanned after each shot, it s a clockwork machine gun as often portrayed on TV. From the left, two European heavy crossbows with foot stirrups and a belt hook, heavy crossbow with foot stirrup and a windlass. Crossbow, Stirrup During the 13 th Century Mongol invasion of Europ e the European heavy crossbow created a profound impression on the Mongols. T hey mentioned it several times in their surviving records and reported that it was the cause of many casualties. T he Arabs and Turks als o learned to fear this new weapon, naming it qaws Ferengi, or "Frankish bow. They soon adopted it for themselves primarily for siege warfare. 60

61 This new crossbow was the Steigbügelarmbrust, the stirrup crossbow, with which the Crusader armies faced well-trained and highly mobile Arab and Turkish horsecavalry armed with their formidable recurve bows. T hat this could actually done with success, most notably by Richard Ceour De Leon during the Second Crusade, is testament to the effectiveness of the weapon, which ironically utilized the same composite-bow technology of Arabic recurves to make more powerful type of composite crossbow prods. T hese new weapons were used in early European arbalests beginning in the early 13 th Century. The Steigbügelarmbrust was a medium s ized, powerful weapon, with a draw weight of roughly between lbs (a 14 th Century document from the Teutonic order refers specifically to a 330 lb draw weapon). Prods were usually made of comp osite materials including different types of wood, whalebone or baleen, and goat or bulls horn. Though somewhat rare initially, these became an increasingly common military weapon in the 13 th Century and remained in use through the 16th, long after being eclipsed by the more powerful arbalest crossbow, the longbow and the firearm. Due to their power spanning (cocking) was difficult, requiring a foot stirrup mounted onto the prod of the weapon, often augmented with a belt hook. Simp le mechanical devices such as a goats-foot (Geissfuss) or the wooden lever (Wippe) were also not uncommon. Thes e aided in repeated spanning and re-spanning of the weapon in battle. On the battlefield crossbows would ideally be deployed behind a pavise shield, a wall, or a wagon. With two people working together, one weapon would be spanned while the other was deployed. By this method a trained crossbowman with an assistant could manage as many as 6 or 7 shots per minute vs. 2-3 shots for an individual marksman working alone. In a fast-moving close combat type situation the crossbow was essentially a one-shot and discard weapon, the same as early firearms. The crossbow had three major differences in use from a bow. First and most infamously, a relatively slow rate of shots, equivalent to early firearms. Also like the early firearms, it shot in something more like a strait line and was not as useful for indirect shots, nor could it be shot over the heads of friendly troops or over walls or the freeboards of ships in high arcs the way a bow could. This was both an advantage (to short range accuracy) as well as a limitation (to tactical versatility). special flight bolts and whistling bolts (gadflies) were used which caused relatively little damage but were useful for harassment of enemy troops to a distance of up to 300 meters. (Damage D4) On the plus-side, like early firearms, a crossbow once loaded could be kept in readiness indefinitely. Of all the Medieval and Renaissance ranged weapons, the crossbow arguably had the best effective range for a direct s hot, and therefore made the best sniper weapon. Unlike a culverin or a matchlock arquebus, a crossbow did not require a lit match which would give away the shooters position. These factors combined to make the crossbow the most pop ular and ubiquitous high-powered missile weapon in Central Europe through the Medieval and early Renaissance periods. Longbow " and he should proceed like those prudent archers who, aware of the strength of their bow when the target they are aiming at seems too distant, set their sights much higher than their designated target, not in order to reach to such a height with their arrow but rather to be able, with the aid of such a high aim, to strike their target." Niccoló Machiavelli, the Prince, 1513 AD One of the three or four most iconic weap ons of the Medieval period, the Longbow was also one of the very few pre-industrial European weapons which survived the Victorian era with its reputation fully intact, probably due in large part to the propagandizing skill of W illiam Shakespeare one of the few artists who truly transcended the cultural gap between the Renaissance and the Industrial Age. The longbow has also emerged from the current period of intense re-examination of many of the myths and legends of Medieval weaponry unscathed, and if anything, it s reputation has been enhanced by modern testing and scientific analysis. The efficacy of the Longbow is no myth, it was a formidable weapon. Archeological evidence indicates the design originated in the Bronze Age, and was indigenous to the British Isles and Scandinavia. It did not become a prominent weapon until the early Medieval period, when it swiftly became the most important ranged weapon in England until the late 15 th Century, and rema ined in wide use in the British Isles through the 16th. The small, heavy bolts of the most powerful crossbows did not fly well after the energy from the weapon had dissipated, but the initial energy was higher than that of an arrow and they had a somewhat longer direct range, in the neighborhood of 80 meters. For longer range shots 61

62 famously the French during the 100 years war at Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt). The longbow was also an important asset in naval and land battles against the Scots, the Spanis h, the Dutch, and every other enemy of England. It soon evolved into an even more feared weapon, the English Warbow. English soldier (left) using a staff-sling to throw a pot of quicklime while another prepares a fire-arrow in the battle of Sandwich, 1219 AD An archer strings a longbow, painting is circa 16h Century, artist unknown The longbow differed from ordinary bows in that it was stiffer, longer, and was generally speaking used to shoot larger heavier arrows. The bow itself was of fairly simp le construction, typically made from yew staves, sometimes a second piece of wood would be inserted into a slot cut out at the compression point, enhancing the stiffness of the bow. Staff-Sling This is a sling mounted on a staff. Standard damage in the table represents throwing a large rock, but these were more typically used to throw firepots, quicklime, or grenades (see Firearms) The Welsh used the longbow to good effect during their long but ultimately futile guerilla struggle against the conquest of their land completed by Edward I in the 13 th Century. After subduing Wales, the English Monarchs recruited Welsh archers as soldiers, and not long after began to train their own subjects in the use of the weapon, as well as encouraging marksmanship contests and generally raising the prestige of the culture of archery, which they astutely recognized as a strategic asset. The English made effective use of their new cadre of trained archers, influencing their tactical doctrine in the centuries to come. The longbow archer formed a critical part of the highly effective English infantry-heavy combined-arms units of the 14 th Century, leading to a series of dramatic victories against many opponents (mos t The Paladin in Hell as a deranged peasant matron: Mad meg, a character from Flemish folklore, wielding a longsword and wearing a breast plate while on her famous raid to pillage hell, from a Pieter Brugel the Elder painting, 1562 AD 62

63 Table II.2a: Height advantage of thrown missile weapons One of the reasons defens ive fortifications were p ut on top of hills is that throwing things at people far below you is much more fun and effective than having things thrown at you from above. Height confers a major advantage with missiles of all types, particularly thrown weapons like spears, javelins and rocks. Height over target* To Hit Range Category Max Range Damage: Bow, Axe, Crossbow, Hurlbat etc D D6 * the height over the target must be included in considering the total distance to the target for determining range category. Damage: Rock, Spear, Dart, Javelin, Sling Crossbows from a 15 th Century painting, image courtesy Gunpowder Ma. Note the smaller size of the cranequin weapon, and the discarded cranequin itself on the ground next tot the red-clad archers knee, the cut-thrust sword, and the fur covered wooden quiver with three bolts. 63

64 Table II.3 Exotic Missile Weapons Exotic Missile Weapons Cost Weight Ready Bonus Range Increment Max Range Prep Time AP Basic Damage Attack Type STR Bonus Thrown Dagger, Small (T) - 1 lb * P (Y) N Thrown Dagger, Large (T) 0 2 lb * P (Y) N Chakrum / Quoit (T) 5 gp 1 lb S (Y) N Axe, Throwing (S) 8 gp 2 lb C (Y) N Fransica Axe, Thrown (S) 10 gp 2 lb C (Y) N Hatchet or Hand Axe (S) C (Y) N Atlatl (M) 5 gp 5 lb P (Y) N Crossbow, Windlass (L) 350 gp 12 lb +2/+4 60*** 400 * P N N Crossbow, A rbalest (M) 300 gp 7 lb +2/ * P N N Crossbow, H eavy A rbalest (M) 400 gp 8 lb +2/ * P N N Crossbow, Gastrophetes (L) 150 gp 10 lb +2/ * P N N Flat Bow (L) 80 gp 6 lb +1/+3 20 (150 )*** P Y Y Yumi Bow (L) 120 gp 7 lb +1/+3 40 (300 )*** P Y Y Heavy Composite Bow (M) 350 gp 6 lb +1/+2 30 (600 )*** P Y Y English Warbow (L) 100 gp 8 lb +1/+3 25 (500 )*** P Y Y Ind ian Steel Bow (M) 500 gp 12 lb +1/+3 25 (100 )*** P Y Y Sling (S) ***** (400) B (Y) N Lasso ****** N For explanation of the C hart Columns see Table I.1 Simple Missile W eapons * Flat trajectory only (max 4 range increments). *** All bows can fire up to double maximum range as indirect fire, see below: ***** 10 radius required for throwing ****** Grapple at a distance +6 Thrown Dagger, Small An ordinary dagger is hard to throw accurately so that the point will touch in the target rather than the pommel or the side of the weapon. T his is much eas ier to achieve with a weapon like a throwing knife which is designed and balanced to be thrown. The tradeoff with throwing knives is that an ordinary dagger is heavier and does more damage. Thrown Dagger, Large Same as a small thrown dagger, only bigger. Chakrum / Quoit The Chakrum is an ancient, unique weapon of the Punjab region of what is now Northern India and Pakistan, made famous by the Sikhs, who used them against the Mughal Empire and against the British Empire well into the 19 th Century, apparently with good effect, as the Sikhs were some of the toughest opponents faced by either group. This is a flattened, hollow metal disk, sharpened on the edges, s omewhat s imilar to a modern Frisbee style toy called an aerobie. The weapons were carried worn on a turban, could be flung with a finger to arc into attackers from the side, which made them more effective at causing wounds. Plunging shot Axe, Throwing This is an axe specifically balanced for throwing, hand-axes and battle-axes were balanced in this way. Many "...each man carried a sword and shield and an axe. Now the iron head of this weapon was thick and exceedingly sharp on both sides while the wooden handle was very short. And they are accustomed always to throw these axes at one signal in the first charge and thus shatter the shields of the enemy and kill the men." The Wars of Justinian Procopius, circa 500 AD Sikh warriors with Chakrum and muskets, 1844 AD, artist unknown Francisca Axe Much as the Sax became the ethnonym of the Saxons, a special type of throwing axe popular among a large confederacy of various Northern tribes called the Franks lent that particular group its name. The Francisca was widely used by the Franks during the Merovingian dynasties 64

65 of the 5 th 7 th Centuries, though the weapon pre-dated the Frankish Confederacy and was also used by the Vandals, the Lombards, Visigoths, and other tribal groups. The Francisca was apparently an effective weapon, the unique feature being a rounded off back-end and a flared blade, giving the weapon an aerodynamic appearance and apparently causing it to fly through the air better. Period reports describe the weapons being used en-masse in the opening attack, bouncing off the ground to s lam into opponents shields, with the wild Frankish warriors allegedly stepping onto the weapons haft still embedded in an enemies shield to hack him down with another. The Francisca design remains popular for the sport of modern axe-throwing, which today is usually done at stumps or targets rather than s hields and people. Hatchet or Hand Axe, Thrown An ordinary hand-axe or hatchet which is not specifically balanced for throwing, thrown at a target. Atlatl Aka spear-thrower, estolica (Spanish), prop ulseur (French), and woomera or miru (English versions of the most common Australian terms). One of the most ancient weapons known to man, the atlatl has been in use since roughly the upper Paleolithic, or approximately 17,000 years ago, pre-dating the bow by about 5,000 years. The atlatl is a type of spear thrower which throws a light javelin or dart long distances. Essentially a stick with a handle on one end and a hook or socket on the other, which when thrown in a flipping motion propels a light spear much faster and farther than it could be thrown by hand alone. The word atlatl (pronounced at-latal or atal-atal) comes from the Nahuatl language of the Aztec, who were still using them when encountered by the Spanish in the 16 th Century. Maximum range is up to 400 meters, for aimed shots effective range is closer to 20 meters. The atlatl was used for hunting large game, and had good penetration especially up close. Like many other preindustrial weapons, the atlatl has seen a revival in interest by modern enthusiasts and throwing clubs have sprung up around the world (see Web Resources at the end of this document for more information). T he atlatl is also still used for hunting seals by at least one Inuit tribe in Alaska, and by Aborigines in Australia for hunting small game. The English Winder, Windlas Crossbow circa 14 th Century Crossbow, Windlass This was a large, very powerful siege crossbow which incorporated a complex system for spanning involving the use of cord and pulley (Seilrolle), or a windlass (Winde). These were known in Central Europe as the English Winder and appeared in the 14 th Century. Though it is not clear where they were invented they were popular throughout Europe and appear widely in period art. These large weapons were made with extremely powerful composite prods up to 1500 lb draw, and were quite deadly, but they were complicated and slow to span, and very large and cumbersome to wield. As a result while they remained popular for siege warfare they saw less and less use on the open battlefield. They were gradually phasedout in the 15 th Century in favour of the arbalest and the firearm. The Australian woomera also doubled as a shield, to carry food (wet vegetable matter which could be used for drinking) and as a cutting implement us ing a stone or metal point. 65

66 Arbalestiers were s ought after infantry troops paid as much as longbowmen or gunners, and were typically recruited from zones where use of the weapon was well established in the local culture, notably several of the Italian city-states such as Genoa and Pisa, as well as various towns in Flanders, B ohemia and Switzerland (where the tradition of the Crossbow was immortalized in the legend of William Tell). Detail of a fine quality Hunting arbalest (crossbow) with a composite prod and silver engravings featuring Diana, Swiss 1420 AD Crossbow, Arbalest Beginning in the late 14 th Century, a new type of very heavy crossbow called an arbalest began to appear in Central Europe. These were smaller weapons than the earlier heavy crossbow with a very powerful composite prod (the bow part of a crossbow) and a draw weight of between lbs (the typical examp le here is about a 500 lb draw weapon). These had the longest direct-shot range of the Medieval battlefield at this point, capable of accurate aimed shots at people up to 100 meters away. U nlike a bow however, it was not very effective for indirect shots. Weapons of this power also required increasingly complex and powerful spanning device called a cranequin and unlike the heavy crossbow, this was not a weapon just anybody could quickly learn to use. Both the weapon and the ratchet winder were expensive and an accident in spanning can cause serious injuries, and maintenance of the weapon was tricky. It was very effective however and was feared by those who had to face it. The compos ite prods (bows) and strings of these weapons were sus ceptible to excessive moisture, and for this reason were kept covered in waxed leather sheathes when not in use. The grand daddy of the crossbow family. A heavy arbalest with a steel prod, probably German or Czech, circa 15 th Century. Similar weapons were used by the Burgundians, the Swiss, the Italians, and the Dutch, among others. Note the size and shape of the bolts in the foreground. Also note the lack of a foot stirrup, indicating this is a weapon spanned with a cranequin only. Crossbow, Heavy Arbalest One of the four heavy-hitters of the Renaissance. Also known as the schwer stahlarmbrust or as the stachel or stinger, this weapon represents the 15 th -16 th Century version of the arbalest, a much more powerful, but smaller weapon than the earlier heavy crossbow, with a more efficient design making the it s uitable for mounted use, and therefore popular for hunting. T he most significant improvement over the earlier arbalest was the introduction of a very powerful forged spring-steel prod nearly half an inch thick, the string had meanwhile gradually evolved into a heavy cable made of sinew and other natural fibers. There was also a composite prod version of roughly equal power which came out around the same time and may have performed better in extremely cold weather. These weapons could be up to 1500 lbs draw (though the weapon represented here is an arbalest of roughly 1200 lbs draw weight). Spanning these weapons required a special rack-and-pinion winding device called a cranequin similar to the jack you use to change a tire on your car, called the German winder in Central Europe. These devices made even the heaviest crossbows suitable for cavalry, since there was no longer any need for a footstirrup. 66

67 Draw weight is not the only means by which the power of a bow is measured, the other factors being length of the bow and how far it is pulled back before shooting. The heavy prods on these crossbows were smaller than those on heavy crossbows (and much smaller than an ordinary bow) and they were spanned a fraction of the distance, requiring shorter projectiles (quarrels or bolts) reducing their potential energy somewhat. But make no mistake, the Renaissance arbalest was a real beast, far more powerful than any modern crossbow commercially available today, it was actually considered more effective than the early arquebus and other contemporary firearms of its time, until the arrival of the musket. Modern tests with weapons of this type are done on a rifle range rather than an archery range. Only a handful of experts around the world today can forge steel prods as powerful as the arbalests of the late Renaissance, and the technology for creating the earlier organic composite prods has been lost, so sadly not enough testing has been done on this weapon yet for us to know precisely how it performed, we can only make guesses based on period documentation, but there is no doubt this was a feared weapon. T he arbalest reached its zenith for military use by the middle of the 16 th Century. It had become a very expensive and difficult weapon to make, and was more complex to maintain than early firearms, which also had the advantage of making a loud bang. Fortunately for posterity the arbalest remained pop ular among aristocrats for hunting long after it had been eclipsed on the battlefield by handguns so a significant number of very powerful antiques rema in from the 17 th and 18 th Century, including many exquisite masterpieces made with rare woods, ivory, precious metals, and artistic scrollwork and etchings of breathtaking beauty. Crossbow, Gastrophetes This was a type of siege crossbow used by the Greeks and the Romans. An ingeniously simple design which consisted of a large, powerful composite bow too strong for a man to draw, mounted on a large stock which culminated into a sort of half-circle into which the marksman placed his stomach, pus hing the front of the weapon down in the ground, which pushed the mechanism back one step at a time up a toothed track. A higher powered Gastrophetes was called the Scorpio, used for sniper attacks during seiges, but this term was also used contemporaneous ly by the Romans for a type of torsion spring ballista. (Ballistae will be covered in another document dealing with artillery.) The Gastrophetes was a big weapon, more suitable for outdoors than inside a building or the passages of a cry pt, but it is a powerful and simple weapon capable of piercing armor or brining down just about any kind of game. Yumi Bow This was the unique type of bow used in Feudal Japan, a long bow (over 6 long) made of laminated construction with materials including wood, bamboo, and sometimes horn or sinew, which was of moderate power, stronger than a short bow but not as powerful as a European Longbow or a Central Asian recurve. The Yumi may be related to the Flatbow. This weapon had an unusual s hape in that the grip of the bow was not centered but rather located more toward the top of the weapon. This was so that it could be more easily shot from horseback. The culture of Japanese archery emphasized accuracy and the Yumi was an accurate weapon, capable of rapid precise shots. Period records indicate that most of the casualties in Japanese warfare were caused by the Yumi bow. Flatbow The Flatbow was yet another type of bow, apparently an archaic though by no means obsolete design used in various parts of the earth. T hese weapons were found with North American tribes such as the Lakota Sioux and the Seminoles, by the Saami people of Finland, and by the Andaman islanders in the Indian Ocean. T he deign apparently dates back to at least 2,000 BC and may have been widely ubiquitous during the Neolithic age. Some flatbows are not very powerful and were only used for hunting small game, these can be treated as size L shortbow in C odex rules. The type represented here is a stronger version suitable for warfare or large-game hunting, usually used with stone arrowheads which proved remarkably effective against Conquistadors and American settlers. Flatbows could be made of ash, elm, or maple, or even very dense hickory, some Native American tribes made bows out of special woods such as osage orange. Sometimes flatbows were laminated, with or without sinew reinforcement on the back which could enhance strength, and could be of formidable draw strength up to lbs. Some modern archery enthusiasts claim that this design featuring a rectangular shaped stave is of the most efficient self bow designs, and is the basis for an American design called the semi-indian bow developed in the 1930s. Whether the design is more or less efficient than other types of bows, it does have the advantage that it can be made from less exotic woods than the yew heartwood preferred for the Englis h longbow. English Warbow As the culture (and cult) of the longbow matured in England, so to did the weap on itself. The longbow became 67

68 increasingly powerful, leading to the creation of what we now call the Englis h Warbow, a weapon tuned to the extreme limits of human capability. It was known in some other parts of Europe such as Burgundy and Flanders, but it was a quintessentially English weapon. It was a fairly simple yew bow, often made with a piece of hardwood inserted at the compression point in the center, with typically up to lb draw, not a weight most men can pull back to their ear. Some examples recovered from the famous wreck of the Tudor warship Mary Rose may have been stronger than that, possibly as powerful as lbs draw or more. English yew Warbow, photo taken by James Cram A bow with lb draw requires years of training to use, typically as many as 7-8 years to train adequately, which also meant building up the powerful back, leg, shoulder and arm muscles required to draw and accurately shoot the weapon. For this reason, a Strength score of at least 14 is required to use this weapon. Like the longbow before it, the English Warbow was used with relatively heavy yard-long arrows, both for direct and indirect shots, but its principle military value was for the latter. English yeomen were trained to shoot en-masse at large targets such as huge colored sheets laid out upon the ground, as far as 200 meters away. A trained English yeoman archer could manage 7 or 8 arrows per minute, an impressive rate which easily surpassed both the arbalest and the arquebus, the principle rivals of this weap on in Europe. And that was how it was used, this brutally powerful bow would be shot by well trained (and one would imagine, rather burly) archers at a steady (high) rate something like a mortar barrage during an intense period of several minutes or more which was usually sufficient to break most enemy armies under the right circumstances. The biggest disadvantages of the longbow were that it was too large to use very effectively from horseback (though it could be and occasionally was done), and it required years of training to shoot effectively. But this was also a kind of Strategic advantage because it meant the weapon could not be quickly adapted by enemies even after its efficacy had been demonstrated at their expense. weapons which were made of a composite of steel, wood, and horn. Some were apparently made with Wootz steel. The metallurgy of these weapons had to be phenomenal, and the Indians were among the top ferrous metallurgists on the planet so they were a likely candidate to make this unusual weapon work, which they seem to have done. Many of these weapons were of very high quality with exquisite decorations. In the city of B idari, north of Hyderabad, steel bows and other weapons were made with a particular form of decoration called 'bidri'. Once the bow had been formed, the steel s urface was treated with copp er sulfate, which turned the surface black. It was then incised with a sharp blade in patterns, and silver and gold were hammered into the incised channels. Several antiques survive which are of exquisite beauty. Due to the various catastrophes which befell India starting with the Mughal invasions in the 16 th Century, detailed evidence of how the steel bow was used in action is somewhat sparse. In the Agnipurana the use of steel is specifically mentioned as a material for bows. It states that a steel bow must have a small grip, and that the middle portion is said to resemble the eyebrow of a lady. In another section it mentions that a steel bow should be inlaid with gold. More s ignificantly the steel bow also appears in Mughal paintings depicting war scenes with archers riding horseback while using steel bows, and is also mentioned in Ottoman and Persian records from the 16 th and 17 th Centruries. This weapon would have been used by a high ranking aristocrat. These bows did not have a very good range but they shot very heavy arrows, sometimes made all or partly of steel, designed for armor-piercing. Though originally developed in India, the steel bow spread throughout Pers ia, the Ottoman Empire and other regions of Central and South Asia, and the fact that it was adapted by the Mughals is an indication of its effectiveness. There was another type of steel bow (not depicted here) which was simpler, of poorer quality (munitions grade) which was issued to ordinary troops. The principle benefit of this one was that it could be kept in arsenals almost indefinitely without losing its effectiveness (which was not the case for normal bows). Indian Steel Bow This was an interesting development of the bow, made entirely of tempered steel, apparently evolved from earlier 68

69 An Indian Steel bow, decorated and inlayed with silver and gold, from the 19 th Century. A third type was a very small steel bow some people have called a cup id bow which was apparently used from horseback. I haven t yet been able to determine if this was an effective weapon or not so it s not yet been added to this book. Heavy Composite Bow This represents the Medieval Composite bow of the Mongols and the later weapon used by the Ottomans in the 15 th -17 th Centuries, as well as some other examples of very powerful Compos ite recurve bows used in various places throughout Central Asia. The Mongols arguably perfected the Composite bow somewhere around the 12 th C entury, during the pinnacle of their military power under Ghenghiz Khan. T his was a development of the earlier recurve, made more powerful (and more difficult to use). This was a powerful weapon, with a draw weight comparable to an Englis h Warbow, more difficult to draw but also more powerful pound for pound. Mongol warriors would often carry two bows, a heavy bow for long range (indirect) shooting, and a lighter bow for close- range shooting (this would be a normal recurve bow, which has a shorter Prep Time). With these two weapon the Mongol horse archer could attack from far or near, with direct s hots at point-blank range or indirect like an artillery barrage. The combination of this weapon with their excellent horsemanship, battlefield intelligence and discipline allowed the Mongol hordes to conquer a wider region of the globe than the Roman Empire and under Ghenghiz K han and Timur the Lame, to slaughter tens of millions of people and erase dozens of great cities and entire kingdoms from the face of the earth forever. The Mongol type recurve was exceptionally difficult to make, typically it took months to dry one out after it had been put together and glued. Like the English Warbow, this weapon also required years of training and considerable strength to draw. Therefore a minimum Strength score of 13 is required to use this weapon. Unlike the Longbow or the Warbow the Mongol C omposite used relatively light arrows intended for long range, it is in fact the longest ranged missile weapon in this book. A special type of slide could also be used with this bow to enable s hooting even smaller arrows like darts which enhanced the range of this bow even further (see Special Ammunition). The Mongols also used special signaling arrows which made different types of whistling sounds when shot, and typically carried a variety of different 69

70 specialty arrows in their quivers or gorytos (a combination quiver / bow sheath). The decline of the s ling may have been simply a matter of less bored shepherds being around who grew up using them. The sling is long-ranged, it s pretty easy to throw a stone a long, long way with one but it is not accurate except in the hands of a skilled expert, and the kind of skill needed to be an expert can take a lifetime to acquire. Can you spot the sling in this early 15 th Century French Illustration? A Mongolian woman in traditional attire takes aim with a composite bow. Mongol armies included some women warriors, a tradition which goes way back on the Steppe among many tribes. The Ottomans developed a similar, slightly smaller weapon to the Mongol recurve which also gained a fearsome reputation in the hands of their Spahia cavalry. This weapon was considered a potential threat to even armored troops and was effective enough to remain in use alongside firearms for more than two Centuries. Archers in Asia used a different type of grip to draw back their bows, with the thumb holding the string instead of forefingers as in the W est. This technique required the use of a thumb-ring to protect your hand, typically a cylinder of jade was used. The arrows and bow were both principally made of birch wood, which was both suitable and plentiful on the Steppe. The arrow was also held on the right side of the bow rather than the left as with European bows. Sling A deceptively simple weapon, easy to make, easy to use, quite difficult to use effectively. Slingers were a valued component of many Classical era armies and slings continued to be used intermittently for Centuries after the Classical period. Some special classes of skirmishers troops including (Greek) Peltasts and (Roman) Velites were sometimes specialized as slingers, though javelins were more common weapons. According to surviving records, slingers were usually recruited from certain places such as Rhodes, Sardinia or the Balaeric Isles, where local herdsmen had a culture of using this weapon effectively. The ancient Greeks emp loyed slingers effectively using lead bullets, sometimes stamped with slogans or insults (quite a few have been discovered by archeologists). Lead bullets have a far greater range, accuracy and hitting-power than shaped stones or ceramic bullets (which are shaped like footballs), which in turn have a far greater range and accuracy than ordinary river pebbles, which in turn have a far greater range and accuracy than random jagged pieces of rock. One other significant feature of a sling is that they require an open field to be thrown, they cannot be safely loosed over the heads of friendly troops the way bows can. Table Notes Prep Time This is the number of MP required to prepare another shot. Weapons with 0 Prep time can be shot once per MP, but only if they are already held in the off hand. Normally only 3 javelins can be held in one hand for example. Weapons with prep time of 1 or more require extra MP to reload. So for example a Bow takes 1 MP to s hoot, 1 to reload, 1 to shoot again, costing 3 MP for two shots. Archers can increase available ammo for rapid fire by putting arrows into the ground (this is what the longbow archers did). A Heavy Crossbow with a Prep time of 3 can effectively shoot one bolt per round, whereas an Arbalest can effectively only shoot once every other round. (A more traditional alternative to this is to make Prep time equal the number of rounds required to prepare the next shot.) Readying Missile Weapons Readying a missile weapon before firing can confer an additional to-hit bonus because it simp lifies the process of attacking. 70

71 Bow and C rossbow Attack Bonus and Initiative B onus Bows, meaning self bows as opposed to crossbows, may be prepared in advance for use in a fight. If a bow has an arrow nocked, the bonus is +1 To Hit and +1 to Init. If a bow is readied, i.e. p ulled back to fire, the bonus is +3 / +3. Bows can only be readied for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the STR bonus of the wielder. Crossbows gain +2 To Hit / Initiative when loaded before combat, and +4 To Hit / Initiative when aimed at a target for at least one round before firing. Unlike bows, crossbows can rema in cocked indefinitely. Crossbow Spanning Devices A multitude of devices were invented historically to assist in spanning the ever more powerful crossbow, and they were increasingly necessary for their use. By necessity, these devices had to be at least somewhat tailored to the specific weapon they were designed for. Device Effect Cost Goats foot -2 prep time 20 gp Wippe -1 prep time 10 gp Belt and Pully +1 prep time 1 gp Windlass (see windlass crossbow) 5 gp Latchet (see latchet crossbow) * Cranequin (see arbalest crossbow) 50 gp Self-Bows and Indirect Fire Self bows can fire at up to double their maximum range as indirect / area fire, range is considered Extreme. This requires the Volley Firing MF. Missile Weapon Range Range is something you should pay attention to with any missile weapon. If you look at table II.4, you will notice that close or short range are good places to be shooting from. You gain a bonus to damage and / or to-hit. Melee range is not ideal for bows which suffer a penalty but thrown weapons size S or smaller such as axes, thrown daggers, or darts do not suffer this penalty, and neither do pistols or pistol crossbows. Some weapons have a very long range but their range increment is low, making them suffer a big penalty for long range shots. At long range they are basically only useful for volley shooting. Unless you are a superb shot! You may also notice that some Missile Weapons have a maximum range longer than six times their range category. This is an extension of extreme range. It s what the modern military calls maximum range, well past the point of aimed shots, it s how far the projectile remains dangerous, even well beyond the range at which you could actually aim at anything. For example, a Heavy Composite Bow s hooting at a target 400 away is still considered at Exreme range p er the range table. Sidebar: Fire-Arrows What historical film or BBC / Sci F i-channel fantasy series would be complete without a breathtaking scene of firearrows streaking across the night sky. This cliché trope has worn grooves in the minds of many fans of fantasy and historical fiction, to the point that one can automatically sense when it is coming and know it is but the precurs or building to the triumphant crescendo of ingenious ly improvised trebuchets flinging bathtubs of napalm over the castle walls. Fire-arrows were used historically but one should keep a coup le of facts in mind about them. Adding bits of cloth and flammable oil to an ordinary arrow does bad things to its balance and aerodynamics, typically enough flammable material to keep an arrow burning for more than a few seconds of flight will double or triple the weight and ruin the balance, and that will affect range and power accordingly. This is why special arrowheads were made for fire-arrows. The best way to make a fire arrow burn is with an accelerant like naptha or pitch, or distilled spirits. These highly flammable substances while available historically, were not quite as ubiquitous in ancient times as Hollywood might lead you to believe. There was no naptha gas station where you could load up on fifty or sixty gallons to fill your bathtubs before flinging them past the moon from your home-made trebuchet. In fact naptha was only to be had at all in certain parts of the world (i.e. in the Middle East) where it was fairly rare, and pitch, resin, p ine tar etc. while more common in Europe were also fairly valuable commodities not usually just sitting around everywhere by the dumpster full. T he most common form of lamp oil from antiquity through the Middle Ages was a type of inedible olive oil, which does not burn spectacularly well. T his began to be replaced during the Enlightenment / Baroque era by whale oil, which lit the streets and inns of Europe with a stinky smoky light well into the Industrial Revolution but was also less than ideal for creating giant explosions or fireballs. The bottom line is, while fire-arrows are possible, they require careful preparation and some experience to make and use effectively, as well as fairly rare substances which at the very least should require some planning on the part of your players to acquire, and some time to prepare on the part of your antagonists or NPCs. A Note on Thrown Weapon Ranges To keep it in perspective, top Olympic javelin throwers manage a range of about 240 feet, that s a 40 range increment in the game. That s throwing for distance only, not accuracy. 71

72 Max Range and Range Increments Some weapons have a final range category longer than a range increment. T his represents a dis crepancy between effective range (aimed s hots) and maximum range (how far the projectile can actually go downrange and still rema in potentially lethal in terms of impact). With the Volley-F ire MF which allows you to use area fire, even very distant targets can be hit when firing en-masse. Aimed, Supported Shot If you have a crossbow or a firearm, you gain a Free Dice if you can rest the weapon on an aiming stake, a wall, the crook of a tree, or other similar supporting surface to steady the weapon while aiming. Table II.4 Missile To Hit and Armor Bypass Modifications by Range Increment: Ranges Melee (0) Close (1) Short (2) Med (3) Long (4) Very Long (5) Ex treme (6) Damage To Hit -2* AP No AP Bonus No AP Bonus *Does not apply to pistols or thrown weapons such as axes, daggers, hammers, hurlbat etc., they receive +2 TH instead. This Table is very important when using Missile Weapons, remember that range effects penetration and damage dramatically. Keep in mind the range increment when using them! 72

73 Table II.5 Special Ammunition Special A mmunition Cost Wt Range To Hit AP Damage Light Bolt 1 sp 10= 1lb Light Hunting Bolt 2 sp 10 = 1lb ½ - -1* +1 Light armor Piercing Bolt 1 gp 10 = 1lb Gadfly / Bremsen Bolt* 5 sp 10 = 1lb X2 to Max Range only -1-2 Step Down Heavy Bolt 2 sp 4=1lb Heavy Hunting Bolt 5 sp 4=1lb ½ Heavy Armor Piercing Bolt 1 gp 4=1lb Arrow 1 sp 20=1lb Hunting Arrow 2 sp 20=1lb ½ - -1* +2 Fowling Arrow 2 sp 20=1lb * - Long Range Mongol arrow 2 sp 20= ½ lb + 10 / Step down (1-4) Flight Arrow 2 sp 30= ½ lb +5 / Step down (1-6) Armor Piercing Arrow 5 sp 20=1lb Pebble Rock - 25=1lb ½ Stone Bullet (small) 1 sp 20=1lb Stone Bullet (Large) 2 sp 15=1lb ½ Lead Bullet (small) 3 sp 5=1lb Lead Bullet (large) 5 sp 2=1lb ½ * The bremsen bolt makes a whistling sound which can affect morale. Cover and Missile Weapons Cover confers Free Dice for Active Defense. This can be between 1-4 Free Dice, 1 die (for every attack) for 25% cover, 2 die for 50% cover, and etc. T he equivalent is +2 for Passive Defense per 25% of cover. Active Defense makes much better use of cover, but you don t get the benefit unless you spend at least one MP of your own. Using missile weapons with the Martial Pool If you have read through the Codex so far you probably have a decent grasp of how to use the Martial Pool in melee. You may not have thought much about using your MP with a bow or some javelins. The MP works essentially the same way with ranged weapons. If you have played paintball you know one of the key dynamics is suppression, people hide behind cover, then emerge to take shots. People under fire or potential fire will behave much more cautiously, people taking a shot without themselves being under threat (such as when their enemy is pinned down ) can take more time to aim etc. Using your Martial Pool, if you are under threat of attacks by other missiles, you use more dice for Active Defense (to duck behind cover etc.) if you aren't facing this threat, you can use more dice to attack with or move. Like when your enemy is pinned down because your pal is shooting at him (if they have used all their pool for Active Defense, they are in effect pinned down ). So you can also use dice to s curry from cover to cover. Each die you expend from your pool allows you to move your normal rate, so for example if your move rate is 30' you could shoot, use two dice to move 60', then one dice for Active Defense when you get shot at as you arrive at your next tree. If you use all four dice you are running flat out but can't attack. You can also move around in a melee the same way of course, and from melee to ranged fire ranges etc. It is also possible to Feint using missile weapons. Just pointing a weapon at someone can keep their head down (cause a Bluff check to force them to expend an MP on Active Defense)... another way to feint is to feign vulnerability, stick your head out to lure a s hot, (or p ut a helmet on a stick) and get them to loose an arrow at you ineffectively... to simulate this allow the player to spend 1MP to make a bluff check, if they succeed their opponent believes them to be fully or partly exposed and will loose an arrow or fire a s hot. Piercing Critical Hits and Missile Weapons (Optional) A normal hit from a missile weapon is considered to have punctured and passed through or bounced off. A critical hit by a missile weapon has an additional effect. The defender who has been hit with a piercing critical hit or a bludgeon critical hit from a sling, firearm or crossbow bullet must contend with the impaling projectile still in their body. This effect can also be caused by a double critical from a melee weapon. Removal Once a missile weapon successfully impales a target, it must be removed. Removing the missile may cause extra damage. A Character with the Heal skill can remove an arrow or other impaled missile without caus ing extra damage if they make the DC check. Cons ult the table below: Strength, endurance and shooting bows Shooting a military grade bow, let alone a tru ly pow erful bow like an English Warbow or a Mongol Co mposite bow requires a great deal of strength, and players w ho shoot these w eapons should have some fin ite limit as to how many arrows they can loose before their arm beco mes numb and 73

74 w eak. In my ow n campaign I limit th is to one shot per point o f Strength, a fter w hich I ll start making the m roll Will saving throw s each round to keep shooting. After a pe riod of rest, this is recharged. You can consider this an optional rule. Table II.6 Removing impaled missiles A ction DC Damage caused by failure Remo ve spear or ja ve lin Remo ve barbed ja velin Remo ve arrow or crossbow bolt Remo ve barbed arrow or crossbow bolt Remo ve bu lle t or sling stone If an impaled missile weapon is left inside the body of a victim there is a 5% cumulative chance per day that the victim will contract gangrene. Once gangrene is contracted the victim will lose 1 point of constitution per day. Each day they may attempt to make 3 fortitude saving throws (DC 20). The disease will progress unless the victim makes 3 consecutive fortitude saving throws or dies, or until someone casts a Cure Disease spell upon them. Impalement by a missile weapon also effectively incapacitates the victim. Any violent action such as engaging in combat, running, climbing, jumping, dodging, etc., requires that the Impaled individual must make a Reflex saving throw (DC 15) or suffer an additional D10 of damage for each attempt. Critical Damage from Missiles (Optional) As an optional rule, to make Missile weapons scarier, you can rule that at close or short range all missile weapons cause D10 Crit damage on any critical hit, rather than the more typical D6 for most which cause piercing damage. Parthian Shot (Optional) The Parthian shot is a method by which a horse-archer can shoot at pursing targets while turning his or her horse away at full gallop. In game purposes, this involves a Ride C heck with a DC of 25. If s uccessful during the turn at a target in short range or less, the s hot is at +4 Damage in addition to the normal bonus for range. The technique was common in Central Asia, invented by the Parthians of Pers ia. At minimum, the Parthian shot just means shooting backward over the back of your horse, but the ideal version of the Parthian Shot is to charge toward your enemy giving the impression you intend to run them over, then wheel around at the very last second (ideally right out of spear range) and charge away, firing a s hot at the most high G part of the turn, imparting greater velocity to your arrow. This technique was also widely used during the feigned retreat, a favorite and highly effective tactic in Central As ia. Parthian shot by an Ottoman Spihai, horse Archer. Mounted Archery Ride Checks (Optional) Carrying a bow or any missile weap on on horseback is tricky, shooting one effectively while riding even more so. Whenever a ride check is required (due to tactical movement of the mount (turning suddenly), dealing with terrain ( jumping a fence) or performing some other type of action while carrying a missile weapon, y ou can apply a p enalty from the table below. 74

75 To Hit Penalty while mounted Instead of the default value in the SRD, use this table based on the weapons size. Sma ller weap ons are easier to handle on horseback (especially when it comes to firearms or bows) Ride check and To Hit penalty for missile weapons: Weapon Size Ride Check To Hit Thrown Weapon To Hit Bow To Hit Crossbow or Firearm T S M L Note that the Japanese Yumi bow and the Flatbow, due to their unusual construction, count as a size M bow for purposes of this penalty. Mounted Archery feat The Mounted Archery feat improves the ability to use all missile weap ons from horseback, it halves the To Hit penalty (round down), and confers a Free Dice on all ride skill checks made when using a missile weapon. Shooting in Volleys Volley shooting is a way to reduce the To Hit penalties for range and various other factors, by having several archers aim at the same area target, something like mortar fire. This can only be done with bows, javelins, darts, or other weapons capable of long range indirect area fire, it is not effective with crossbows except for the Chinese repeating crossbow. To conduct volley fire, at least eight weapons must be shooting or (in the case of firearms) firing in the same round, though they do not have to shoot simultaneous ly. If the archers in question are capable of shooting more than once in the round they may count double or triple for purposes of counting as volley fire (so conceivably three horsemen throwing three javelins each in a round would qualify). To qualify as volley fire, as a general rule all eight or more weapons must be targeting one or more individuals within the same ten foot diameter (but just use common sense). When volley fire is established, the To Hit penalty for all factors is reduced to no more than -4, but the total number of attacks made is reduced by half. So for example, ten Mongol archers shoot two arrows each at the same group of 3 knights 150 away, for a total of twenty arrows, instead of each of them suffering a 8 TH on each shot (-6 for Extreme range plus -2 for shooting from horseback with the Mounted Archery Feat) their TH penalty is reduced to -4 but only ten of the twenty arrows may attack. You can make bypass attempts when shooting in volley, this represents the natural tendency of a certain number of the missiles to land in unarmored locations and to some extent, the factor of aim even at long range. Volley fire is how many weapons including recurve bows, long bows, and javelins were typically employed in battle historically, and for exactly the same reasons as in the game. Missile weapons and weather Bows and crossbows are vulnerable to bad weather. This is especially true to those which have comp osite bowstaves or prods, (solid wood or steel bows / prods are less prone to disintegration when wet). Bowstrings of all bows are also especially vulnerable to rain or even damp ness. It is a good idea therefore to unstring a bow when the weather is very bad and protect the string. T his can be easier said than done with some weapons. Shortbows, Flatbows, Yumi bows, Longbows and English Warbows can be strung or un-strung fairly easily. Recurves and Heavy Composite Bows are much more difficult to string, heavy crossbows and arbalests are extremely difficult without special tools. Arrows can also be easily damaged by weather. On the steppe both bow and arrows were carried in a special case called a gorytos, which goes back to the Bronze Age. Crossbows had special leather covers for the prod (bow) part of the weapon and the bolts were usually carried in a hard wooden case which for some reason was often covered in fur. Rather than make up a rule for weapons to be damaged by weather, I think it s better to just use common sense, but it is a factor both GM and players should rema in aware of if you are trying to p lay a realistic game. Broken Strings (Optional) Another problem with bows of all types is the ever present threat of a broken bowstring, (in good weather or bad). As an optional rule, any time someone using a bow or crossbow of any type rolls a fumble (natural one on a die that counts, i.e. not one of multiple dice on a mutli-mp roll) then it means the bowstring has broken or become damaged, and the weapon will not be functional until this is repaired (or replaced). 75

76 Part III: Firearms This section introduces firearms and gunp owder bombs as missile weapons for use with the Codex Martialis combat system. You may or may not want to introduce gunpowder or firearms to your campaign, they can be fun, (not to mention loud and exciting), and the truth is, p late armor, pikes, halberds, flails, arbalests, and many other forms of kit evolved alongside firearms. But they can also be somewhat destabilizing. The old saw that there are few problems which cannot be solved by a suitable application of high exp losives can prove be somewhat true in an RPG with innovative and devious players given easy access to large quantities of gunpowder. In real life this was balanced to a large extent by the volatility and highly dangerous nature of early forms of black-powder which often led to the untimely death of ambitious enthusiasts, but one doesn t want entire parties to be blown up due to a little bad luck. In the Codex Universe Serpentine Powder (gunpowder) is an exotic alchemical substance whose secret is controlled by various Guilds and powerful States. Powder is rare and very mysterious, firearms even more so. The prices listed here reflect this, historical prices (especially for powder) would be lower, but feel free to adjust as you see fit for your own game. 16 th Century Gunner carrying an Arquebus. Note: cut-thrust sword, loops of extra match-cord, prepared charges hanging from bandolier, powder-horn, aiming stake or linstock, and what appears to be a peascod cuirass worn under his shirt, which is slashed in the manner of a Lansknecht or a Reislauffer. I m not sure what the tassels are for. 76

77 Table III.1 Basic Firearms Firearm Tech level* ** Cost Weig ht Ready Bonus Range Increment Max Range Chinese Fire-Lance (bamboo) lb +2/ D4 9 Chinese Fire-Spear lb +2/ D4 9 Fire-Lance (Bronze) lb +2/ D6 8 HandGonne, Small bore lb +1/ D6 7 HandGonne, Large bore lb +1/ D8 7 Hand Culverin lb +2/ D6 7 Culverin lb +3/ D6 7 Pistala lb +1/_ D10 6 Matchlock Arquebus lb +1/ D12 6 Matchlock Arquebus à Croc , lb +2/ D8 6 Matchlock Musket (Kabyle) lb +1/ D12 6 Wheellock Horse Pistol lb +1/ D6 5 Wheellock Pistol lb 0/ D10 5 Wheellock Blunderbus , lb +4/ D4 4 Wheellock Heavy Musket , lb +2/ D6 5 Wheellock Carbine ,300 6 lb +1/ D10 5 Wheellock Petronel ,100 5 lb +1/ D10 5 Snaphaunce Arquebus lb +1/ D12 4 Snaphaunce Carbine ,800 6 lb +1/ D10 4 Snaphaunce Musket (Kabyle) , lb +2/ D12 5 Wheellock Musketoon ,200 9 lb +3/ D4 5 Wheellock Musket , lb +2/ D12 5 Wheelock Hand Mortar ,300 8 lb +4/ D8* 7 Flintlock Blunderbus ,000** 10 lb +4/ D4 2 Flintlock Carbine ,000** 6 lb +1/ D10 3 Flintlock Petronel ,700** 5 lb +1/ D10 3 Flintlock Musket ,500** 10 lb +2/ D12 3 Flintlock Pistol ,500** 2 lb 0/ D10 3 Flintllock Horse Pistol ,750** 3 lb +1/ D6 3 * Hand Mortars fire hand-grenades or firepots as projectiles, damage is in a blast radius according to the payload. ** Prices for flintlock weapons are halved after Tech Level equivalent to 1700 AD is reached *** tech level in European context. Some weapons show up a little early in certain areas, date listed indicates when the weapon had become somewhat common. Cost in gp. Ready bonus shows TH bonus for immediate fire v s. prepared to shoot in advance as with standard missile weapons. For range increments and range rules, see the missile weapon rules. For Misfire, see Using Gunpowder Weapons, Misfire Check. Keep in mind most firearms get +2 TH, +2 Damage and +2 AP at short range (inside one range increment). Piercing critical hits and Missile Weapons. If you are using this optional ru le fro m the Codex, any critical hit by a firearm means a bullet has been embedded. Re mo ving the bullet is equiva lent to re mo ving a sling bu llet or stone (DC 20, Da mage 1d10). If you are using Dyna mic Critica ls, firearms beco me particu larly Table III.2 Bombs and Grenades Weapon Tech Cost Wt Blast Range Max Prep AP Basic Level Radius* Increment Range Time Dam Firepot gp 2 lb 0 / D6 6 Hand Grenade gp 3 lb 0 / D8 5 Smoke pot gp 3 lb n/a Petard, Small (5 lbs) gp 5 lbs 5 / D6 3 Powderkeg, Small (10 lbs) ,600 gp 10bs 10 / D6 3 Powderkeg, Large (100 lbs) ,000 gp 115 lbs 15 / D6 3 *Blast Radius. Anyone inside the first (smaller) range takes full Damage, anyone inside the second range takes half damage. All Firearms ha ve no Str Bonus and are Attack Type P Prep Time AP Basic Dam Misfire Misfire 77

78 Sidebar: Reiter Knights Although it is a popular myth that firearms made the knight obsolete, for a long period they co-existed, in fact the knight in shining armor, i.e. plate harness, appeared after firearms. One type of knight merged these two concepts, called the Reiter. Reiter actually means just rider or knight in German but during the late Renaissance period it came to refer to a special class of fully armored knights mostly from Germany, who carried as many as six pistols mounted on their saddles, which they used as primary weapons instead of lances, with swords as sidearms. In fact pistol-armed Reiter knights often fought with and against traditionally (lance) armed knights in many battles. Firearms List Chinese Fire-Lance Until the 15 th Century, the Chinese were by far the mos t advanced in the world in Gunpowder weapons, which were after all a Chinese invention. Probably the first significant firearm, the fire-lance can be thought of a combination one-shot flame thrower and shotgun. It is essentially a tube on a stick filled with various forms of gunp owder and explosive resin. When fired it acts like a rocket, except that you point the exhaust at the target. Early versions were made with bamboo barrels, which were obvious ly subject to failure (though not as much as you might assume), later fire-lances were made of cas t bronze barrels and were fairly reliable, though they remained comp lex to prepare for shooting, mainly due to the primitive proto-gunpowder then in-use. This weapon is believed to be a direct ancestor of both the firearm and the rocket for obvious reasons. Shrapnel and projectiles would be stuffed down the tube as well, and increasingly these became more important part of the damage, essentially transforming the weapon from a flamethrower into a shotgun as the burn rate of the powder increased. Most of what we know about the fire lance comes from the Huolongjing Fire Dragon Manual, a 14 th Century Ming Dynasty document written by Jiao Yu and Liu Ji. This manual describes different types of gunpowder compositions, including 'magic gunpowder', 'poison gunpowder', or 'blinding and burning gunpowder'. It had descriptions of the C hinese hollow cast iron grenade bomb (see firepot), shrapnel bombs (see hand grenade), and bombs with poisonous concoctions, as well as various forms of military rockets, land mines, naval mines, and the fire lance and fire-spear, and an early type of flint-lock used for mines and booby traps. The fire-lance was used by the C hinese possibly as early as the 10 th Century, there are some records of their use by the 11 th, but they did not become widespread until 1260 AD, when its use was documented by both peasant rebels and regular army units of the Song dynasty ( including by cavalry). It seems however that the Mongols adapted them very early and were us ing them at the battle of Mohi in 78

79 Hungary and, along with war-rockets, at the siege of Pes t that same year in They were widely used in siege warfare, and as a cheap but effective defensive weapon, remained popular for the defense of cities where they were still found in arsenals through the end of the Ming Dynasty in the 17 th Century. Demons wielding a fire-lance and a grenade, from a 10 th century Chinese painting. There is something particularly scary about demons with grenades. These weapons spread gradually into Central Asia and toward Europe. They were adapted by the Mongols in the 13 th Century and were known to the Persians and Byzantines by the 14 th. The Byzantines called the weapon kheirosiphonta, and made limited but effective use of their own version of it for siege warfare and as a short range naval weapon, as sort of a single-shot panzerfaust version of their infamous Greek Fire which was a type of flamethrower (and will appear in the forthcoming Siege Weapon document). Byzantine version called a kheirosiphonta, probably mid-14 th Century Fire Lances were reported in an Ottoman document as being used by Serbain forces in a siege in 1347, and were still being used by European armies at the siege of Malta in 1585, so it seems they were considered to have some utility beyond that of a more conventional firearm such as a musket or arquebus. On a personal note, while this weapon may sound like a bit of a gimmick, I ve seen some videos of demonstrations of it in use and like most early firearms, it is a lot more impressive than I expected it to be. It has a short range but it will hurt you badly within that range Tech Level: from 980 AD in China, widespread by 1260 AD, in limited use in Europe by 1347 AD. Chinese Fire-Spear The fire spear (rather synonymous with fire lance) is a small fire lance tube strapped to a spear, so that once can fight in melee before and after us ing it. Think of it as a spear with benefits. Tech Level: in use from 1100 AD in China, widespread by 1260 AD, unknown in Europe. Pistol From the Czech píšťala (flute or pipe, referring to the shape of an early Hussite hand gonne- see Pistala). Popular with cavalry, military commanders, and anyone else who could afford them. An all-steel flintlock pistol, 18 th Century Normally several would be carried if possible since reloading time was prohibitive. P istols have the additional advantage that they can be concealed fairly easily. Engraved Japanese matchlock pistol, circa early 17 th Century 79

80 Given the range at which pistols were used and their slow rate of fire, the pistol was something of a fire and forget weapon on the pre-industrial battlefield. Though it was ideal to carry multiple pistols, they were incredibly expensive. If several were available, as one was discharged, it would be replaced by another. Some cavalry during the apocalyptic Thirty Years War routinely carried 4-6 pistols in holsters on their saddles. Pirates during the so called Golden Age of Piracy als o carried as many as they could fit on their bodies. P istols were valuable prestige items and highly sought after articles of personal defense. Turkish Flintlock pistol, 18 th Century Wheelock pistol, possibly Czech, 16 th Century Pistols were effective killing weapons, capable of putting a man down with a single shot. Popular for personal protection and on the battlefield, their lethality led some heavy cavalry to use pistols as a primary weapon (see Sidebar: Rietter knights). As a personal defense weapon, a pistol could basically buy you a life, a man is charging with a sword, one carefully aimed shot and blam, no more threat. This made them very popular with those rich or lucky enough to afford one. Early 17 th Century Snaphaunce pistol, German Though invented as early as the 1450s, the pistol changed relatively little over the centuries. Different calibers became popular during different eras, very small bullets were in vogue in France during the 17 th Century, but eventually the larger calibers returned. The only really major change was in the firing mechanism, which evolved from tricky matchlocks in the earliest versions, to increasingly reliable wheellock and snaphaunce locks, and ultimately the flintlock. Other than that, it was essentially the same basic weapon for nearly 500 years. Other innovations like double-barrels, shotgun (blunderbus) barrels, and combination weapons of various sorts (pistol daggers, pistol-shields, pistol-axes etc.) were also attempted over the y ears, with varying degrees of success. Tech level: In Europe from the early 1500s, increasingly common by the mid to late 1500s. Primitive versions as early as the 1420s. Ottoman Empire by the late 16 th Century, Middle East and North Africa by the early 17 th. Remained popular in use until the mid 19 th -Century. Horse Pistol. A larger P istol designed for cavalry, which is not as easily concealed, being about the size of a s hort sword. This has a better range than an ordinary p istol. German flintlock Horse Pistol, 1742 AD 1759 Light Dragoons flintlock pistol, British Because they were fairly inaccurate, pistols were typically used at very close range. The armor-piercing capability of a pistol was also limited so when used in warfare agains t heavy cavalry it was recommended to shoot at almos t touching distance, at the riders face or thigh, where the armor was thinnest, or at an unprotected part of the horse. In the Codex rules this would count as a bypass attempt at s hort or point blank range (keep in mind, point blank range also confers +2 AP and Damage, see Core Rules, Table II.4 ). Bronze flintlock Horse-pistol, Albania, 18 th Century. caliber weapon. This is a smaller A wheellock pistol or puffer, from Augsburg Germany circa Octagonal then round smooth bore barrel in 12 mm caliber (roughly 41 caliber). A cavalry soldier might carry 4 to 6 pistols of this type. 80

81 magnum revolver, and when used properly these weapons proved to be effective at breaking up cavalry charges. Polish horse pistol, 17 th Century, silver inlay. Often carried by cavalry, typically a cavalry soldier like a Reiter knight would carry 4 6 p istols in holsters on their saddles. In a close-combat s ituation this would be a fire and discard (or fire and re-holster) weap on, as reloading takes a long time. Reiter knights carried pistols as a primary weapon, other cavalry such as Polish Hussars carried pistols as a backup weapon for use after the lance but before the sword. Some of the earliest battles in which they proved useful in Europe were during the Hussite wars when the Czech Hussites used them to very good effect from their tabor war-wagons against German heavy cavalry. Handgonnes like all early firearms were tricky to use and required some understanding of gunpowder culture to use with any degree of safety, and this was the major impediment to their early spread. The business end of a beautiful handgonne found in Danzig, circa The mouth of the smaller face is the touch-hole of the weapon. Handgonne The first European firearm, this is basically a small handcannon mounted on a stick, probably a direct descendant of early Chinese firearms such as the fire-lance. Thes e reached the Arab world before they were known in Europ e and may have been used by the Mamelukes in 1260 AD against the Mongols. The weap on is fired by touching a slow-match or a glowing hot iron wire to a touch-hole, without any kind of mechanical mechanism or lock. Many were made with hooks for hooking over the edges of wagons or walls to steady the recoil (these were also known as hook-gonnes and were the predecessor to the arquebus). The dividing line between a handgonne and a hand-culverin can be somewhat blurred, culverins being considered larger weapons for purposes of this document. Hangonnes lacking hooks are usually held with the pole under the arm while firing. Handgonnes assaulting a castle, with a longbow and a large bombard in the background. (1468 (Burney MS 169, British Museum) This weapon could be effective at very short range (maybe 20 or 30 yards). But like the arbalest, the longbow, and the recurve bow, it seemed to require a certain cultural factor to use, dealing with early gunp owder weapons was tricky and dangerous. Though the Hussites used them to very good effect in the early 1400s, few other armies were able to make good use of firearms in Europe before roughly 1450 when they began to be adapted by the Hungarians (using Czech former Hussite mercenaries). Tech level: These date from circa 1350 in Europe, in limited use possibly as early as 1260 in China (contemporaneous to the widespread use of the firelance). A rather crude, early (Mid-14 th Century) handgonne, probably French The earliest handgones were fired by touching an igniter of some kind, (a slow match, a piece of hot iron, a punt of burning cloth) directly to the powder ins ide the barrel. Later this was changed to a touch-hole bored into the side of the gun barrel. Handgonnes look primitive but modern tests have proven that they could be quite effective at short range if used properly. The muzzle energy of a 15 th Century hand culverin was roughly equivalent of a.357 Czech pistala handgonne, with a hook, Prague circa 1450 Pistala The pistala was a shorter version of the hand-gonne or hand-culverin, often with a longer barrel and usually incorporating a touch hole and sometimes a hook. It was invented by the Bohemian Hussites, who were among the first to effectively use firearms in Europe on a large scale 81

82 during the Hussite wars of the 1420s-1440s. The Pistala (or píšťala, meaning flute ) was about three or four feet long, with what was usually an elegantly wrought, wellmounted gun barrel fired by a touch hole. The shooting stick was held under the arm while firing. The shorter size and relatively ergonomic design made these eas ier to handle than larger early firearms, hence the lower misfire rating. T he pistala tended to get s horter over time and is believed by many to be the direct ancestor of the pistol (hence the etymological similarity). Early touch-hole hacke-butt, or proto-arquebus, German or Swiss, 1465 AD. Small but powerful, proabably 15-20mm. Arquebus Also hackebutt, hackbus, hackenbush, harquebus etc. This early firearm was a distinct step up from the handgonne. Like most early firearms innovations, it was an invention of the Chinese. Mounted on a stock like a crossbow instead of a stick like a spear, this was designed to be held against the shoulder or under the arm when firing, with a serpentine matchlock mechanism at minimum for much easier and smoother firing. Though it has a short effective range (around 50 meters ) for targeting individuals, it had long maximum range for a medieval weapon, in that the bullets remained deadly at a distance well beyond where they could be accurately aimed. The arquebus was used for direct fire like the crossbow, it was not as accurate or as hard-hitting as the most powerful arbalests, but could reach further. It also made a really loud bang like a thunderclap, which soldiers and commanders liked (and the horses of enemy cavalry didn t). T hough not inexpensive, it was relatively cheap and easy to manufacture compared to crossbows in particular, and did not require the exotic materials of longbows or composite recurves. Stock and firing mechanism of an arsenal - made matchlock arquebus, German 1620 AD Landsknecht using a short arquebus or petronel, from a document 1500 AD Perhaps most important, the culture of using this weapon, while not as easy to develop as some modern writers assume, was transferrable, you didn t have to grow up using an arquebus, troops could be trained to use it effectively in a predictable amount of time. The arquebus quickly became very popular throughout the world, everyone used them. Along with the pike, the arquebus is one of the principle reasons armies began to get much bigger during the Renaissance. The Ottomans were the first to make really long barrels, which soon led to early matchlock muskets. But they stuck with the match-locks and eventually got left behind. Tech level: Dates from 1387 in China, circa 1450 in Europe, rema ined in use through the 17 th Century when it was gradually replaced by the p istol, musket, carbine, musketoon and blunderbus. The Japanese acquired the arquebus in the 1500 s from the Portuguese and really took to it. They continued using it through the 19 th C entury. Arquebus à croc Heavy Arquebus with a swivel mount or a hook, used on the sides of wagons or walls, too big to carry normally. Tech level from the early 1450 s in Europe. Scetch of a Dutch snaphaunce Arquebus, 17 th Century 18 th Century Richards Blunderbus with brass barrel and fittings 82

83 English Flintlock Blunderbus, 18 th Century Blunderbuss Essentially a very powerful, primitive s hotgun, effective but short-ranged. The wide bell shaped barrel on some earlier blunderbuss were to make it easier to load. Blunderbuss were often made with a brass barrel. Tech level: From the Late 1500 s through the 19 th Century Musketoon This is in-between a blunderbus and an actual musket. It has longer range than the former but better short range accuracy than the latter. It looks like a musket with an extra thick barrel, sometimes very thick (2-3 ). Like the Blunderbus, the barrels were often made of brass. This weapon can fire either a ball or shot but usually the latter. Tech level: Late 1500 s. Musket This was originally a very long-barreled arquebus, much more accurate but also bulkier and heavier. T hes e weapons had much longer range and far better armor penetration than the arquebus or the hand culverin, and they were used alongside the arquebus for many years, specifically as an armor-piercing weapon. Gradually the musket got smaller and handier and replaced the arquebus all together. The heavy construction of long barrel of early muskets made them rather unwieldy particularly at short range, and they required a rest to shoot from, but they also made a pretty good club to beat someone over the head with (Bayonets came later, somewhat beyond the timeframe of this document). Later muskets were smaller, and with better p owder, even more powerful. Matchlocks remained in wide use for rank and file troops through the 18 th Century due to their low cost and simplicity, but wheel-lock or matchlock muskets were the most desirable. Tech level: From 1440 with the Ottomans, early 1500 s in Spain, mid 1500s in the rest of Europe, 1560 s in Japan, early 1600 s in China. Stock of a Kabyle style flintlock musket, Berber 18 th Century. Kabyle Musket The Ottomans were the first to use really long-barreled firearms, pioneering the musket, but they were slow to adapt the more sophisticated wheellock or flintlock firing mechanisms and retained the use of match-locks for a long time after they had become obsolete, followed by a type of snaphaunce called a moukhala or agujeta. The Ottoman type of musket had a much longer barrel than a European musket (many were made specifically to be long enough to reload from camelback with the butt on the ground) which had the added benefit of making a more accurate weapon and consequently a longer effective range. These weapons were the primary firearms of the feared Ottoman Janissary corps, made up of foreign-born slaves raised to be soldiers. They were known for their accuracy and hitting power. Stock of an Afghan Jezail musket, mid 19 th century This basic long-barreled musket design remained popular throughout Central Asia and the Middle East for hundreds of years. Afghan Ghazi tribesmen used a similar weapon called a Jezzail well into the 19 th Century, it was their main weapon during the annihilation of the British Army in the Khyber Pass in Dutch wheellock petronel, 17 th Century Petronel/ Short Carbine A petronel was a very short musket or arquebus designed for use from horseback; a short-barreled rifle with a stock which could be dis charged with one hand in necessary. In game terms being smaller they are easier to fire from horseback (see Missile W eapons, Mounted Archery). 83

84 require a higher level of gunpowder skill to use safely. Tech level: from the early 1400s Dutch Wheelock carbine, early 17 th Century Hand Culverin A heavier Handgonne with a longer barrel, designed for powerful high-velocity shot. Unlike some handgonnes, culverines were made with a touch-hole drilled through the side wall of the gun and a flas h pan attached to the barrel. The flash pan had a leather cover, and later on a hinged metal lid fitted, to keep the priming powder dry until the moment of firing and to prevent premature firing. Thes e features were carried on over to subsequent firearms (see Firing Mechanisms). Carbine A carbine is an arquebus or musket which has been stepped down in size to make it easier to handle on horseback. Effectively the gun-barrel of a carbine is about midway between a pistol and an arquebus. The carbine first appeared in the 16 th century and were made with the more comp lex type of trigger ignition, snaphaunce or wheellock or flint-lock. The carbine gave a cavalryman greater range, s ufficient to be effective as mounted marksmen somewhat akin to horse archers, whereas the pistol was strictly a short range weapon with not much more range than a lance. Hand cannon being fired from a stand, "Belli Fortis", manuscript, by Konrad Kyeser, Note the gunners messer handle. Culverin The heaviest firearm in this document, it is a heavy handgonne which blurs the line somewhat between artillery and firearms. These weapons were sometimes mounted on boats or in temporary or permanent emplacements during sieges. Artillery and cannon proper will be covered in another document along with siege weap ons. A wel lmade Swedish or Baltic-German hand-culverin found in the Baltic Sea, dated to 1350 AD Hand culverins have to be steadied against something or mounted, as with Handgonnes many are made with hooks or swivel mounts. Range and penetration were pretty good. The Hand Culverin is one of those weapons requiring a touch hole to be ignited with a match cord, a punt, or a piece of red hot iron. Primitive weapons like this The culverin is one of those weapons requiring a touch hole to be ignited with a match cord, a punt, or a piece of red hot iron. Primitive weapons like this require a higher level of gunpowder skill to use safely than more sophisticated matchlock or wheellock weapons. Tech level: from the early 1350s in Europe, 1300 s in China. 84

85 An elegantly pugnacious looking Hand-Mortar from Augsburg Germany, probably 16th Century. Unfortunately the firing mechanism is not visible from this side. Wand of fireballs? A hand-mortar from Berne, Switzerland, circa 17 th Century Hand Mortar The Hand Mortar is essentially the Renaissance version of a grenade launcher. Des igned to throw fused grenades, they actually look a lot like a Vietnam era M-79 Grenade launcher, and their use was very similar, except more simple and quite a bit more dangerous to use, being muzzle loading rather than breach-loading. The firs t references to a hand mortar occur in a 1472 work entitled Valturius, where an incendiary grenade prototype may have been produced. The 'hand mortar' saw at least some widespread military use in the late 1600s and 1700s. The firing mechanis m could either flintlock, matchlock or wheellock, though flintlock was the most common after the 16 th Century. The barrel, often made of brass which is safer to work with (less likely to cause a spark when you don t want it to) was short, often between 2 inches (5 cm) to 4 inches (10 cm) long, and had a large bore to accommodate the grenade. After priming the firearm and adding the gunp owder, the shooter would light a grenade fuse, place the grenade in the muzzle of the mortar, then fire it at the enemy. However, catastrophic accidents could easily occur if the weapon misfired and the lit grenade remained in the barrel. The projectile for this is a hand-grenade or a firepot. Relatively few surviving specimens of this interesting firearm survive today, possibly indicating that it was not a very popular weapon, perhaps because it was so tricky and dangerous to use. But it was used and hand mortars were even found in the New World. References to a hand mortar being transferred in Maryland are found in the record of The Proceedings of the Council of Maryland in Another account in the journal of Alexander Henry tells of a hand mortar being loaded with a pound of powder, 30 balls, and fired in an action against Sioux warriors in Grenades and bombs "One of the Turks climbed, under our very eyes, and started walking towards the tower, in the face of death, until he approached the tower and hurles a bottle of naptha on those who were on top of it. The naptha flashed like a meteor falling upon those hard stones, while the men who were there threw themselves on the ground for fear of being burnt. The Turk then came back to us." Usama ibn Munqidh- Kitab al-i'tibar circa 1190 AD Firepot A simple ceramic, canvas, leather or paper pot filled with serpentine powder or alternately, Greek Fire (not covered in this document). Contains a pound of serpentine powder. Timeline from the 9 th Century in Byzantium, 10 th Century China Hand Grenade Similar to a Firepot only made of cast iron, thick glass or brass, which creates much more dangerous shrapnel with some armor piercing ability. C ontains a pound of serpentine p owder. Grenades were known from the 15 th Century, but widespread use of the explosive grenade is not recorded in Europe until the early to mid 1500's under Francis I of France. Tech level: from 1467 in Europe, 14 th Century in C hina. 85

86 Details of a wheellock hunting pistol, possibly French, circa 1620 AD Ottoman Musket, 17 th Century, engraved in gold 86

87 Smoke pot A firepot that does not exp lode but makes a large smoke screen, similar to the OGL Druid spell Obscuring Mist. Contains a 1 lb mixture of St. Peters salt (salte petre aka potassium nitrate) and other substances. Variant smoke bombs can be p urchased which make different colors. F or example when copper filings are mixed in it will create green smoke, with iron filings it will make red smoke. These can be used to blind a target, to provide cover, to assist in escape, for signaling, and for various other types of mischief (or just for fun). Matchlock Used in weapons which have a priming hole bored into the barrel, and (usually) a priming pan attached. The priming pan would have a leather or later a metal cover to keep the powder dry and from falling out. W hen ready to fire the p an would be uncovered. A section of slow match clipped to a lever called a serpentine rotates the match to strike the powder-hole or priming pan when pulled, acting as a simple trigger. Petard A small bomb principally used to blow up gates and walls when breaching fortifications. The term has a French origin and dates back to the sixteenth century. In a typical implementation, it was commonly either a conical or rectangular metal object containing 5 or 6 pounds of serpentine powder, activated with a slow match used as a fuse. To be hoisted by ones own petard means to be blown up (hoisted into the air) by ones own bomb, in a not uncommon accident (see Mis fire Table III.3). Powderkeg A barrel filled with black powder, with a hole in which a fuse (slow match) can be inserted. Firing Mechanisms Touch-Hole Before the Matchlock, early firearms were discharged by means of a touch-hole, to which a hand held match, punt, or even hot iron rod was touched. This is the second mos t dangerous way to use a firearm but one can get used to it. (The most dangerous method used with early hand-gonnes before touch holes were invented, one stuck a match or some other igniter into the actual barrel of the weapon to fire it). Early depiction of a serpentine lock, from 1411 (Codex Vindobana 3069, Austrian National Library, Vienna) Matchlocks came in a variety of designs of increasing complexity, ultimately leading through a kind of mechanical evolution to the wheellock. Most matchlocks had some kind of spring incorporated into the serpentine, one early type had a catch which would snap the lock closed when the trigger or firing lever was pulled. This allowed for a certain degree of precision but could put out the match. This was the type which was introduced into Japan in the 16 th Century, widely copied and remained in wide use there through the 18 th Century. That somewhat flawed design was replaced in Europe by another mechanism with a light spring which held the lock open; pressure on the trigger gradually lowered the match to the priming pan for ignition, then snapped it out of the way when released, which posed no risk of extinguishing the match and was easier to control. This type became well established in Europe starting in the late 16 th Century. Late 15th Century matchlock arquebus with serpentine. You can see the serpentine mechanism pretty clearly here, in use more match cord would be used. Note the priming pan and iron cover which is in the open position. Due to their simplicity, relatively low expense and comparative ease of manufacturing, matchlocks rema ined in widespread use long after the wheellock, snaphaunce and flintlock had appeared. Most regular infantry were still using match-locks in Europ e until the 18 th Century. 87

88 Tech level: Developed circa 1450 in Europe, 1387 in China Wheellock, French circa 1550 AD Wheellock Aka wheel-lock, a wheellock was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock and the first self-igniting firearm. The mechanism is socalled because a sparking agent, (usually iron pyrite for this type of lock) is used on a rotating steel wheel with a springloaded serpentine or cock (trigger) to provide ignition. A big step up from the matchlock since you didn t have to keep a match lit to fire the gun, therefore the gun was less vulnerable to rain, and the gunner much less obvious (no smoke, light, or smell to give him away). But it was a complex and expensive device. The wheellock made it feasible for the first time to conceal a firearm under clothing, and by eliminating the smelly, smoky open match, made firearms generally more reliable and more efficient. As with the later arquebuses, priming powder was p laced in a priming pan, which usually had to be manually opened before firing. Tech Level: Developed in Europ e around AD 1500, it was used alongside the matchlock and was gradually superseded by the snaphaunce (1560) and the flintlock (c. 1610). By the 18 th century the wheel-lock had largely disappeared. Snaphaunce A snaphaunce (also snaphance) is a more advanced typ e of wheellock with a covered flash pan that opens automatically before firing, making it less vulnerable to weather. As with the wheellock the snaphaunce typically used a p iece of iron pyrite as an igniter. The design is even more complex than the wheellock and tended to be expensive. Tech Level: Developed circa 1560, used through the 18 th Century. Flintlock This is the most sophisticated type of lock with a firing mechanism on a wheel flicking a flint like a modern cigarette lighter, similar to a snaphaunce, except that it was a simpler design and included a mechanism called a frizzen which both acts as the striker and automatically opens the priming pan, which is kept closed when not firing. Most Flintlocks also had a safety mechanism of some kind which makes the design less prone to a flas h in the pan, helps keep the powder dry and makes it less likely to spill, and therefore makes the gun more reliable and safer to use. The flintlock was also actually a simpler des ign than the snaphaunce or the wheellock and ultimately cost less to manufacture. The price listed here reflects an early availability in the early 17 th C entury, if you were p laying in a mid-17 th to 19 th Century campaign, the price would be reduced by half. Tech Level: Developed circa 1610, used through the 19 th Century. Using Gunpowder Weapons Misfire Check One of the realities of using pre-industrial gunpowder weapons of any kind, is that they were prone to failure for a wide variety of reasons, from the powder to the make of the weapon itself, or the loading technique. All early firearms failed on a pretty routine basis, some failed almost as often as they worked and bore a considerable risk of serious injuries or death to the op erator. The codex gives you three ways to handle this in your game. 1) Ignore this unp leasant reality and treat firearms like any other missile weapon (and ignore the Misfire table) 2) On the opposite extreme, be very realistic, and any time a gunshot is attempted, compare the T o Hit die roll to the value on the mis fire column for that weapon. If the natural die roll is equal to or lower than that number, you got a misfire so roll on the Misfire table below. 3) The compromise rule, when you fire a Gun or use a bomb of s ome kind, any time you roll a natural 1 on any of your dice, ( including if you use multi dice attacks) you must immediately make a Misfire Check. Roll a D20, you may add any Masterwork bonus for your firearm or for the powder. If you took 10 when preparing your weapon, you may roll two dice and keep the higher result for your Misfire check die roll. A die roll equal to or lower than the misfire rating of the weapon indicates a Misfire. Any Misfire requires rolling on the Mis fire Table (Table II.3). You may add your Gunpowder Skill bonus to your die roll. Firearms Attack Bonus and Initiative Bonus All firearms which have an actual lock gain To Hit / Initiative bonus when cocked before firing, and another To Hit / Initiative bonus when aimed at a target for at least one round before firing. U nlike bows, firearms can rema in cocked indefinitely. Use of an aiming-stake, or when steadying the weap on on a wall, a window sill, wagon etc., 88

89 raises this value to +4. F or this reason, most professional gunners carried aiming stakes. Berber Miquelet (snaphaunce) musket, early 18 th Century British Brown Bess Flintlock musket, mid 19 th Century Ta ble III.3 Misfire Ta ble (add Gunpow der Skill to d ie roll, Bad w eather = +2 on roll) Die Result 1 Explosion 1d10 damage, Weapon destroyed* 2 Explosion 1d8 damage, We apon destroyed* 3 Explosion 1d6 damage, We apon destroyed* 4 Explosion 1d4 damage, We apon damaged* 5 Explosion 1d2 damage, We apon damaged* 6 Explosion, Weapon damaged* 7 Explosion, Weapon damaged* 8 Misfire, Weapon destroyed 9 Misfire, Weapon destroyed. * in the event of an explosion Grenades, bombs, powderkegs etc. simply do their normal damage and are always destroyed. Damaged firearms are unusable until repaired, requires a Profession: Gunsmith skill check, DC is determined by rolling 4d6 89

90 Ta ble III.4 Equipment Item Gun Pow der, one ounce Gun Pow der, one pound Gun Pow der, Masterwork, one ounce Gun Pow der, Masterwork, one pound Slow Match, one foot Lead Ball, Sma ll Lead Ball, Large Grapeshot, one load Iron ball Springel, Sma ll Springel, Large Cleaning Rod Flint Linstock Aiming stake Gun powder This is your basic black powder. One ounce is sufficient to discharge a firearm, two ounces for large handgonnes or hand-culverins. In most places, gunpowder was treated as something of a weapon of mass destruction, ( which it is). Gunpowder can be potentially very destabilizing to a game if freely available in quantity, so we have also made the cost very high, but feel free to change the cost to suit your own Campaign setting. Saltpeter (aka St. Peters salt aka potassium nitrate) was discovered in China sometime in the 1 st Century AD, and began to be used in weapons (firepots) by the 8 th or 9 th Century at the latest (probably much earlier). Apparently its explosive potential was discovered during an alchemical experiment seeking to make a potion of longevity. The event was noted in a Taoist text in the mid 9 th Century AD. Some have heated together sulfur, realgar, and saltpeter with honey; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house where they were working burned down. -Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe circa 850 AD Various formulae for pyrotechnic powders variously described as white snow or flying power were made with potassium nitrate compounds, with a formula close to actual gunpowder appearing in China in the 11 th Century and used in weapons (see Fire Lance). The first record of gunpowder in Europe are from a book called De Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae" of 1248, in which the author, a monk named Roger Bacon gives the formula for gunpowder disguised in an anagram. This sort of secrecy was common practice in alchemical texts, in fact many of Roger Bacons ciphers have yet to be cracked even today. Bacon first published the formula in un-encrypted format in 1268 in the Opus Majus, in a Cost 10 gp 160 gp 20 gp 320 gp 1 gp 5 sp 10 sp 15 sp 5 gp 10 sp 1 gp 5 sp 5 sp 3 gp 1 gp description of how to make firecrackers. "that children's toy which is made in many parts of the world". Albertus Magnus described it as flying powder in another book in F rom then on, the genie could not be put back in the bottle. The mid 13 th Century is also when records indicated the use of firearms in China and by the Mamelukes in Egypt (in combat against the Mongols) both starting in the 1260s. Roger Bacon may have learned about Saltpeter from Arabic sources he was corresponding with in Spain. Gunpowder formulas published in the next 150 years gradually changed, reducing the formula to 3 ingredients (saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal) and with an ever increasing proportion of saltp eter for the most part. The next really major step in the evolution of Gunpowder was the introduction of various types of corned powder in the late 14 th Century which due to being moistened in alcohol and then pushed through a mes h and dried out in evenly sized pellets, did not have to be mixed immediately prior to use and burned very evenly. This was vastly more reliable, and for convenience sake is what is represented here. Earlier forms of powder will separate out over time or when shaken, and do not burn as fast, though there is some evidence that early firearms were tuned to the older types of powder and perform well with them. Gun powder, masterwork This is gun powder of better quality, so you get +1 on Gunpowder rolls. Slow match, one foot This is cloth rope which has been soaked in Saltpeter. One foot of slow match will burn for an hour and is suitable for multiple shots. Match-cord is obviously useful for a variety of applications besides firing weapons. Usually a 6 piece is attached to a firearm. 90

91 Lead Ball, Small Your basic bullet. Does not come with powder! Lead Ball, Large Larger bullet for big guns. Grape Shot, one load A packet of smaller lead balls. Used primarily for Musketoons and the Blunderbuss, can also be used with any other firearm. If used in a pistol, arquebus, handgonne, culverin, or musket, it reduces the range increment by half and the max range by 75%, and subtract -2 from any AP bonus (0 minimum) but gain +2 to Hit and caus e an extra D6 damage. Iron ball, Small Cast iron or steel balls are used in the culverins and various cannons not covered in this document, as well as in Muskets and Arquebuses as special armor-piercing ammunition. T his is a lighter but harder hitting projectile with better p enetration. -1 on Mis fire table roll. Damage, +2 AP. Springel, Small This is a type of dart or arrow similar to a modern sabot or flechette round, which was still used as an alternate form of ammunition well into the 17 th Century. A small Springel is suitable for an arquebus, handgonne, or blunderbuss. Max range is 50%, AP is +2 Springel, Large Same as a small springel, only used for larger weapons (large handgonne or culverin) +2 AP Cleaning rod A brass rod with a little slot for inserting a piece of cloth, the indispensable device used to clean all firearms between uses. If you do not have a cleaning rod, subtract -2 (cumulative for each shot) from all misfire rolls when using any firearm. Flints Small piece of flint used to automatically fire your powder with all flintlocks. Linstock A metre-long staff with a fork at one end to hold a slow match. Derives from the Dutch lontstok, "match stick". These were used by cannon crews ( cannons are not covered in this document) but also by arquebusiers and any troops using match triggered firearms. Linstocks had serpentine jaws to grip the slow match and a sharp point at the base to stick in the ground. In emergencies gunners could use the spear blade as a weapon (treat as a half sp ear). Like most early modern military equipment the linstock had a second function; 16th century examples had measurements in inches and a protractor engraved on the blade to allow the gun captain to check the angle for artillery placement. Aiming Stake Most arquebusiers and musketeers carried a four foot aiming stake, somewhat similar to a linstock, which could be driven into the ground and used as a rest to aim the gun. If you have a crossbow or a firearm, you gain a Free Dice if you can rest the weapon on an aiming stake, a wall, the crook of a tree, a boats gunwhale or other similar supporting surface to steady the weapon while aiming. Berdyche The Russians used to use a Berdyche (the Sparth Axe in WOTAW Part 1) as an aiming stake, with the dual-purpose benefit of always being ready to hack someone to pieces if your firearm failed to get them. A word on using Firearms in your Campaign Here are a few things to keep in mind regarding the use of Firearms. Tech level In the description of each weapon in this document a Tech Level is indicated. T his is so you can decide which weapons to include in your campaign. For example, in a Viking Age campaign, you could have firepots, but no other gunpowder weapons (actually firepots would use Greek fire or Naptha or some similar substance) which could be used by Byzantines, Arabs, or possibly by Vikings who had fought for the Byzantines in the Varangian guard. In a campaign set in Europe in the High Middle ages (14 th Century) you could already have some early firearms; including a few hand gonnes, hand culverines, and grenades (a campaign set in China would have these as early as the 13 th century, as would a Chinese or Mongol army invading Europe in this period). Arquebusses don t appear until the Renaissance (and then only with matchlock or at the most wheellock firing mechanisms), but it s worth remembering, neither does full plate armor, arbalests, zweihanders, rapiers, or numerous other weapons which are common in many RPGs. Muskets and flintlock weapons don t arrive until into the Baroque / Enlightenment period and this is a different era than the typical Medieval RPG, but ideal for more of a Three Musketeers Swashbuckling or Pirate setting. Of course this is not a rigid rule, only a guideline. You can mix and match as you please, there is no reason why s ome relatively sophisticated and organized culture (a big Empire like Byzantium or China, a powerful human City-State such as 91

92 Florence or Venice for example, or say, or an imaginary Dwarf or Gnome kingdom) might not have discovered firearms earlier than their neighbors did. The Tech level of each weapon is included so you can keep in mind roughly which era they belong to. Smoke and noise Keep in mind that a lit match makes smoke, light and a distinctive smell. This is an important consideration for anyone using matchlock weapons or more primitive firearms, as well as grenades (which always had fuses in the pre-industrial period). Black powder weapons create a considerable amount of smoke when fired, marking the area where the gunner is. When multiple shots are fired (either by the same gunner or multiple gunners) they may have their vision obstructed, but this can also be used as cover. You can treat this as similar to an obscuring mis t spell, with each shot creating a mist in a five foot radius for 1 round. Firing any gun, particularly early firearms covered in this document creates a very loud noise which will likely have an effect on many types of animals and less intelligent monsters capable of fear. Repeated firearms use also will make it hard for the gunner or anyone around them to hear anything. Keep in mind bows can be used for area fire over obstacles, whereas most firearms cannot (with the exception of grenades). F inally weather has a major impact on black powder, especially with anything more primitive than a matchlock, how you handle this precisely is up to you but a rainstorm can be real bad news for someone planning to use firearms.. Alternate Materials Copper alloys, such as bronze or brass were actually considered better for certain types of early firearms because they were far less likely to create an accidental spark and brass gun barrels were usually less brittle than early iron gunbarrels (and therefore less likely to crack or explode in use). Some of the weapons listed here, including the blunderbuss, musketoon, and hand-mortar are assumed to be of bronze or brass construction. For a bronze or brass-made Arquebus or p istol you may want to allow a -1 to the misfire number (making them less prone to accidents). Range As with other missile weapons, it is important to keep track of the range when using firearms with the Codex system. Keep a mental note of the range modifier of the weapon and use the range table (Table II.4 Missile To Hit and Armor Bypass Modifications by Range Increment) to determine the effects of distance. The effectiveness of most pre-industrial firearms varied drastically with range, both in terms of accuracy and armor penetration and damage. Most of these firearms are actually less accurate (as represented here by range category) than other contemporary missile weapons such as crossbows. Energy also falls off quickly: At point-blank range, most firearms can be a threat to even the strongest armor, but more than a hundred meters or so (any type other than a musket) are relatively ineffective against armored targets. By consulting the firearms table you will notice that most firearms had a poor range increment, this was an indication of their notoriously bad accuracy at anything beyond short range, so adjust To hit modifiers accordingly. Crossbows are actually more accurate than early firearms. Special Ammunition By the mid 16 th Century, iron or steel bullets were routinely used when gunners were likely to face armored troops, particularly musketeers expecting to face heavy cavalry which tended to have the best armor. T his ammunition confers a significant armor piercing bonus. A combination pistol / axe, origin unknown to this author, possibly Italian, est. circa 17 th Century. Using firearms as hand weapons. Numerous exotic combination weapons (pistol daggers, pistol shields, arquebus-axes etc.) were made with Firearms, these will be covered in another document, as will plug bayonets and etc. Ordinary firearms make for fairly good weapons however. A pistol or a horse pistol can be treated as a Club, a Blunderbus or a Carbine can be considered a Heavy Mace, all other long barreled firearms may be treated as a Great Club or a Gunstock War Club, according to GM preference. Many period firearms were actually made with an eye toward being useful as clubs. 92

93 An early 17 th century Dutch musketeer prepares to initiate a firing drill with a match-lock Musket. From a period manuscript. 93

94 94

95 Statistics on Armor and Firearms Here are some statistics from 'Knight and the B last Furnace': Chapter 9, p Data on modern firearms is from this wiki http ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/muzzle_energy Energy required for penetration of armor by 15 th - 16 th Century firearm Armor type Thickness Joules required for steel ball Joules required from lead ball Wrought-iron plate 1.9mm 900J 1500J Good quality te mpered steel armo r (15 th 16 th Century) 2mm 1800J 3000J Iron Cuirasser s breastplate (17 th Century) 4mm 1200J 2000J There were also up to 6mm thick iron cuirasses in the 17th Century and special laminate cuirasses made from 2mm of steel and 3mm of iron (5mm thick overall). These were apparently very effective but I don't have any data on them yet. Plate armor in it s heyday in the 15 th -16 th Century ranged from about 1.8 to 3mm depending on where on the armor it was (breastplates and helmets were thicker than limb armor or back armor) and whether the armor was tempered or fluted or not. But most armor in the 15 th to the middle of the 16 th Century was toward the lower end of that range, around 1.6 to 2mm thick, which is pretty thin. Muzzle Energy of Historical and Modern Firearms Weapon Powder Muzzle energy Hussite 15 th Century handgonne / hand Serpentine pow der J culverin* Early 16 th Century arquebus * Serpentine pow der 1300J Early 16 th Century arquebus* Corned pow der 1750J Late 16 th Century musket* Serpentine pow der 2300J Late 16 th Century musket* Corned pow der 3000J Modern.375 Magnum re vo lver w ith 6 barrel (Modern pow der) 750 J Modern.44 Magnu m re vo lver (Modern pow der) 1400 J Ak-47 (7.62 x 39 mm) (Modern pow der) 2070 J FN-FAL (7.62 x 51 mm) (Modern pow der) 3799 J M2.50 Ca l BMG (Modern pow der) J * the power of these weapons varies considerably depending on the length and bore of the barrel and the type of ammunition used. One of the interesting things about all this to me is how p owerful 16th Century muskets got, they were comparable in muzzle energy to an Ak-47. Of course bullets from modern firearms also retain their energy much longer than Musket or Arquebus balls do, there would be a much more rapid drop in energy from the older firearms at 50, 100, 200 etc., and modern bullets also penetrate better. But the stats on the armor make it pretty clear that most decent quality armor from the Renaissance was probably adequate protection against a.357 magnum, and the stats make me wonder if a good 15th Century harness could stop an Ak-47 bullet... This seems to support the opinion of Charles Ffoulkes that plate armor was capable of resisting the firearms of the 15th and early 16th Century. It's only in the latter half of the 16th century that armor was serious ly threatened by firearms, and then only by heavy muskets using steel shot. This is why Muskets were originally considered armor-piercing weapons, used alongside smaller arquebus for a long time before the two weapons kind of merged together (the musket got smaller and gradually replaced the arquebus). 95

96 Comparison of high-energy missile weapons of the 15 th Century 96

97 Swedish General Gustavus Adolphus Skirmshes with the Tartars near Warsaw 1656 by Johann Phillip Lemke 97

98 98

99 Bibliography Academic Medieval Warfare: History of the Art of War, Volume III (His tory of the Art of War, Vol 3), Hans Delbruck, University of Nebraska Press (1990) ISBN: European W eapons and Armour: From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution Ewart Oakeshott, Boydell Press (November 16, 2000), ISBN: The Armourer and his Craft, F foulkes, Charles, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1988 (original printing 1912) Ballistic Resistance of Personal B ody Armor, National Institute of Justice, Law enforcement and Corrections Standards and Testing Program, # , June 2001 Stab Res istance of Personal B ody Armor, National Institute of Justice. Law Enforcement and C orrections Standards and Testing program, # , September 2000 The Journal of the Mail Research Society Schmid, Eric, Armour from the Battle of Wis by, Thordema n, Bengt, Almquist & Wiksells, Boktryckeri, 1939 A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All T imes, George Cameron Stone The Complete Ency clopedia of Arms & Weapons, edited by Leonid Tarassuk and Claude Blair Mary Rose, The Mary Rose Trust, Old Porstmouth 1985 Arms and Armor from Iran: T he Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Peroid Manouchehr Mos htagh K horasani Legat Verlag (November 3, 2006) ISBN: The World of the Gallowglass: K ings, Warlords and Warriors in Ireland and Scotland, Sean Duffy (Editor) Four Courts press, ( October 10, 2007) ISB N: The Knight and the Blast F urnace, Alan Williams, Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN: Primary Sources-Classical The Histories Herodotus Anabasis / The 10,000 Xenop hon Peloponnesian Wars T hucydides Gallic Wars Julius Caesar The Wars of Justinian and The Secret History Procopius The Jewish War Josephus The Germania and The Agricola Tacitus The 12 Caesars Suetonius De Re Militari Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus The Secret History, Procopius, Penguin C lassics, ISBN: Primary Sources-Classical Literary The Book of the Sword, Sir Richard B urton, Dover Publications (July 1, 1987) ISBN: The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Joseph B urkhardt Primary Sources- Medieval / Renaissance The Alexiad, Ana Comnena, Penguin C lassics, ISBN: Beowulf Seamus Heaney The Saga of Grettir the Strong, Anonymous, B ernard Scudder (Translator), Penguin Classics (November 2009) ISBN: Njals Saga, Anonymous, Penguin Classics, ISBN: Laxdala Saga, Anonymous Vols unga Saga, Anonymous Ragnars Saga, Anonymous Hrolf Krakis Saga, Anonymous Saga of Eric the Red, Anonymous Egils Saga, Anonymous An Arab-Syrian Gentlema n and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades: Memoirs of Usamah Ibn-Munqidh, Usamah Ibn-Munqidh, ISBN: Il-Princip e ( The Prince ) Niccolò Machiavelli, C reate Space (2010), ISBN: The Saga of Cormac the Skald, Forgotten Books 2008, IB SN:

100 The Anglo Saxon C hronicle, Various authors, Red and Black Publis hers, ISBN: The Story of the Mongols Whom We Call the Tartars, Friar Giovanni DiP lano Carpini, Brandon Publishing Company (1996), ISBN: Chronicles of the C rusades, Jean de Joinville, Digireads.com publis hing (2010), ISBN: Medieval Russias Epics, Chronicles, and Tales (includes numerous excerpts from the Russian Primary C hronicle), Meridian Books, (1974) ISBN: Chinese Military Texts: The Art of War, Thirty-Six Stratagems, Huolongjing, Wujing Zongyao, Seven Military Classics, Ji Xiao Xin Shu (Paperback), Books LLC ( 2010), ISBN: The Conquest of New Spain B ernal Diaz The 1001 Nights, aka The Book of A Thousand Nights and a Night aka The Arabian Nights Sir Richard B urton (translator / compiler) Primary Sources, HEMA and Martial Arts: The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe, Sydney Anglo, Yale University Press ( 2000) ISBN The Art of C ombat: A German Martial Arts Treatise of 1570, Joachim Meyer (Jeffery Forgeng, Trans lator), Palgrave Macmillan (2006), ISBN: The Medieval Art of Swordsmans hip: A Facsimile & Translation of Europe s Oldest Personal Combat Treatise, Royal Armouries MS I.33 (Royal Armouries Monograph), Jeffery F orgeng, Translator, C hivalry bookshelf 2002, ISBN: Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi, Shambhala (1994) ISBN: The Book of the Sword, Sir Richard B urton, Dover Publications (July 1, 1987) ISBN: Popular Military History Arms and Armour of the Medieval Knight by David Edge and John Miles Paddock, ISBN: Medieval Warfare Source Book: Warfare in Western Christendom David Nicolle Warfare in the Classical W orld, John Gibson Wary, University of Oklahoma Press, ( October 1995) ISBN: Longbow- A Social and Military History Hardy, Robert, Patrick Stephens Limited, Great Britain, originally printed 1976 The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow* Hugh D. H. Soar, Westholme P ublshing LLC, (2004) ISBN: The Great Warbow Matthew Strickland, T he History Press ( 2005), ISBN: Osprey Military Books The Swiss at War (Men-At-Arms Series, 94) Douglas Miller, Ospery Press, (November 1979) ISBN: Landsknechts (Men-At-Arms Series, 58), Douglas Miller, Osprey Press, (March 31, 1994) ISBN: Viking Hersir AD, Mike Harrison, Osprey Press, ( July 29, 1993), ISBN: The Hussite Wars , Stephen Turnbull, Osprey Press, 2004, ISBN: Samurai *, Anthony J Byrant, Osprey Press 1994, ISBN: English Longbowman , C live Bartlett, Osprey Press 1995, ISBN: * books with an asterix next to them were used for research for this document but found somewhat lacking by the author and are not highly recommended as a resource. Web resources : Overview of Japanese Armor: World Atlatl organization: http :// The English Warbow society: http :// The Knight and the Blast F urnace on google books: qazxic&dq=the+knight+and+the+blast+furnace&printsec=frontcover&s ource=bn &hl=en&ei=kbcms8nub 42VtgexmZDDDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q =&f=false Charles Ffoulkes The Armorer and His C raft in online scan: Recommended F ilms The Deluge (Potop), (2004) based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz With Fire and Sword, (1999) Jerzy Hoffman, based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz Colonel Wolody jowski, (1969) Jerzy Hoffman, based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz 100

101 The Old Fairy Tale: When the Sun Was a god (aka Stara Basn) (2003) Pathfinder ( Ofelas) ( 1987) (the original F innish version, not the Hollywood remake) Krzyzacy NTSC "Knights of the Teutonic Order" ( 1960) Alexander Ford Yojimbo, ( 1961) Akira Kirosawa The Seven Samurai, (1954) Akira K irosawa The Name of the Rose ( 1986) The Duelists (1977) Rob Roy, (1995) The Vikings, (1958) Flesh and Blood (1985) The Last Valley ( 1970) Beowulf and Grendel ( 2005) Recommended F iction Fantasy Novels The Dying Earth, Jack Vance Lyonesse, Jack Vance The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: T he Original Adventures of the Greatest Sword and Sorcery Hero of All T ime! Robert E Howard Bard Keith Taylor The Swords of Lankhmar, 1968 Fritz Leiber Hammer and Cross, Harry Harrison The Black Diamonds Clark Ashton Smith Historical Novels The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco The Walking Drum Louis L Amour The Deluge, Henryk Sienkiewicz With Fire and Sword, Henryk Sienkiewicz Colonel Wolody jowski, Henryk Sienkiewicz The Adventurer 1950 Mika Waltari The Wanderer Mika Waltari The Long Ships 1969 Frans G. Bengtsson The Mas que of the Red Death Edgar Allen Poe The House of Nicolo Dorothy Dunnett 101

102 Bandits waylay travelers in a medieval illustration A villager dressed as a Krampus, during Winter Solstace celebrations in Switzerland 102

103 Codex Cheat sheet, Page 1 Initiative Free Dice If you had time to prepare in advance, you gain your Reach or Ready bonus to Initiative. If you have a longer weapon than your opponent (or a prepared missile weap on with a longer range increment) you get a Free Dice f or your initiative die-roll. You may roll an extra dice which does not come from your Martial Pool (MP) and keep the highest value. Basic Combat Attacks Roll up to as many dice as you have in your MP and keep the highest number, discarding the rest. Bypass Armor You may Bypass A rmor by announcing in advance and taking a Bypass Penalty depending on the A rmor Coverage. Active Defense Defend with die roll from MP your Weap on Defense bonus, you may use as many dice as you have in your MP Passive Defense No d ie roll, your opponent must roll higher than your Passive Defense value. Shields Always get a Free Dice with every A ctive Defense. Bind Any time you get a tie d ie roll (on a dice that counts) you get a Bind. A bind lets you attack the opponents weap on or shield if it was used in attack or active defense, or seize your opponents weapon, and it triggers many different Martial Feats (see below) Counterattack Any time you roll a natural 20 on active defense or your opponent rolls a natural 1, (on a die that counts), you may immediately counterattack. This can also trigger certain Martial Feats. Also known as a natural counterattack. Critical Hit Caused by a natural 20 on a die that counts. If you are using your Primary A ttack type for that weapon, damage is one die per MP spent on the attack. If you are not using your Primary Attack type, damage is one extra d ie. If you get a Critical hit with a Piercing weap on, you may Twist the Blad e and throw in up to your remaining MP f or extra damage. Crit Damage is D6 for pierce / bludgeon, D8 f or Chop, D10 for slash. Grapple from a Distance If your weapon has a Grapple Bonus you may attempt to trip or disarm your opponent with your weapon after any hit without being at grapple range. Ranges and Movement Onset Range Use Reach T o H it Bonus. Subsequent attacks take you automatically to Melee Range unless you Maintain Range. Melee Range Use Speed To Hit Bonus. Grapple Range Moving to Grapple triggers an Attack of Opportunity (A oo). At Grapple Range you get no T o H it bonus for weap ons size M or larger, and no Weapon Def ense bonus. Y ou may execute Grapple Attacks, Trips and Disarms f rom this range. Attack of Opportunity ( AoO) If you have MP remaining, you may attack d uring your opponents initiative if they enter grapple, or spend more than 2 MP moving while in combat range (including changing ranges, per below). If you have no MP you can t d o any A oo. Movement Costs 1 MP to change range (Onset to Melee or back etc.). Moving costs 1 MP per base movement value (30, 20 etc.) Missile Weapons Aiming If you have time to aim you get the Ready Bonus for the weap on. First value is for a nocked arrow, second aimed. Cover Each 25% of cover provides one Free Dice f or Active Def ense or +2 for Passive Def ense. Fumble A natural 1 means a broken bowstring or a misf ire (and a roll on the misfire tab le for gunpowder weap ons) Crits A critical hit means the missile is impaled and must b e removed. Table II.4 Missile To Hit and Armor Bypass Modifications by Range Increment: Ranges Melee (0) Close (1) Short (2) Med (3) Long (4) Very Long (5) Ex treme (6) Damage To Hit -2* AP No AP Bonus No AP Bonus *Does not apply to pistols or thrown weapons such as axes, daggers, hammers, hurlbat etc., they receive +2 TH instead. Feats Dod ge Designate an opponent on your initiative. +1 Active and Passive Defense vs. that opponent f or the round. Dodge is a prereq uisite for numerous other Feats and Martial Feats. Combat Expertise Gain a Free Dice f or Active Defense, Counterattack, or Attack of Opportunity if you d on t attack on your own init this round. Combat Reflexes Gain a Free Dice f or Attacks of Opportunity only. Stacks with Combat Exp ertise and other Feats and MF. Mobility Gain a Free Dice f or movement and changing range (only) f or each round. Martial Feats (MF) Contra T empo Make a single-die spoiling attack before your opponent attacks you, damage stepped d own one die. Counterstroke Special A oo immed iately af ter b eing attacked by your designated Dodge target. Gain a Free Dice if natural counterattack. Distance Fighting Free Dice for Active Def ense if you are at onset range and can move away 5 (costs no extra MP) Feint Use bluff check to draw off one or more MP from opponents pool. Miesterhau Make an attack with at least two d ice. T his die roll counts as your defense against this same target f or their next attack. Mutierin Make a followup attack against your opponents last Active Defense die-roll. New attack must be a different type (P to C etc.) Ringen Gain Free Dice for all Grapple checks, ability to make trip attack without triggering A oo Sidestep Make a step away from your opponent instead of an A oo. This can mean changing range or staying out of range. Slip-T hrust Gain a Free Dice with a spear, polearm or similar weap on for onset attacks only. 103

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105 12. Inability to Co mp ly: If it is impossible for You to co mp ly w ith any o f the terms o f th is License w ith respect to some or all o f the Open Ga me Content due to statute, judicial order, or go vern menta l regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Materia l so a ffected. 13. Termination : Th is License w ill terminate auto matically if You fa il to co mply w ith all terms herein and fail to cure such breach w ithin 30 days o f beco ming aw are of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination o f this L icense. 14. Reforma tion: If any pro vis ion o f th is License is held to be unenforceable, such pro vision shall be re formed only to the exten t necessary to make it en forceable. 15. COPYR IGH T N OTICE Open Ga me L icense v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards o f the Coast, Inc. System Re ference Docu ment. Copyrigh t Wiza rds of the Coast, Inc; Authors Jonathan Tw eet, Monte Cook, Skip Willia ms, based on materia l by E. Gary Gyga x and Da ve Arneson. Codex Martia lis. Copyright 2008, 2009 Jean Chandler; Author: Jean Chandler. NOTIC E OF OGC and PR ODUCT IDEN TITY This entire docu ment is considered OGC Viking Age ring-fortress or trelleborg, Frykat, Denmark 105

106 From the English Coroners Rolls: Used with permission, excerpted by Matt Easton Schola Gladiatoria, UK Be it remembered, that about the month of May previous, it befell at Acon, in the Holy Land, that a certain Saracen, a malicious traitor, who knew the French language, came to the Court of Sir Edward, and assumed the character of one of the domestics there, as though he had been one of his household; and accordingly, one day approached him, saying that he wished to sp eak with him in private on a matter for his own benefit and welfare. W hereupon, Sir Edward, who was too trusting and gave an unreasonable degree of credit to this traitor, received him in his chamber, no other person remaining there. Accordingly, this wretch, having shut the door of the chamber, approached Sir Edward, as though about to speak to him, and instantly, drawing a poisoned dagger, attempted to slay him, giving him four most dangerous, and almost deadly, wounds. Edward however, manfully exerting himself, with a strong hand threw the malefactor to the ground, and with the traitor's own dagger cut him to pieces, blessed be God! and so slew him. Afterwards, it became k nown that the Soldan had sent him to slay Sir Edward; just as the Old Man of the Mountains had been wont to do, who, in the time of Richard, King of England, caused t he Marquis de Munferat to be assassinated, at Tyre in the Holy Land, by two of his retainers, as related in the history of King Richard before-mentioned. From: 'C hronicles of the Mayors and Sheriffs: ', Chronicles of the Mayors and Sheriffs of London: (1863), pp William Hughlot was attached to make answer, as well to the C ommonalty of the C ity of London, as to John Rote, Alderman of the same city, in a plea of trespass and contempt: who made plaint by John Reche, C ommon Countor of the said city, that the said William, on the Saturday last past, went to the house of John Elyngham, barber, in the Parish of St. Dunstan West, in Fletestrete, in the suburb of London, and, against the will of the same John Elyngham, by force of arms entered the same; and there upon the same John made assault, and with his knife, called a "dagger," struck him, and wounded, beat, and maltreated him. Whereupon, the wife of the said John Ely ngham, seeing her husband so maltreated and beaten, and perceiving the aforesaid John Rote passing along the King's highway towards the Church of St. Dunstan aforesaid, with great outcry called aloud for him to come and help her husband, whom the same William was trying to slay. W herefore, the said Alderman, by reason of the office which he held, whereby he was bound to the utmost of his p ower to keep and maintain the peace, as being an officer of the K ing, went there; and upon seeing the said William so assaulting John Elyngham aforesaid, he notified him that he was an Alderman of the City, and an officer of our Lord t he King, and commanded him to desist from his violent and evil conduct, and surrender himself to the peace of our Lord the King. Upon which, the same William, though well knowing that he was an Alderman and an officer in the City of our Lord the King, refused to yield himself up, but with the same knife made assault upon t he Alderman himself, and would have struck hi m therewith; whereupon, the Alderman seized his hand in which he held the knife, and forced him to put it back into the sheath; and then further, the said William, persisting in his malice, drew his sword upon the Alderman, and would have slain him with it, had not the Alderman manfully defended himself. 106

107 And upon this, John Wilman, who was one of the constables of Fletestrete, hearing the affray aforesaid, went there, and seeing that this W illiam was trying to slay the said Alderman with his s word, so drawn, went up to him, and attempted to arrest him; but he refused to submit to such arrest, and again drawing his dagger, wounded the constable with it; as well in contempt of our Lord the King, as to the dis honour of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs etc. From: 'Memorials : 1387', Memorials of London and London Life: In the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries (1868), pp February, 42 Elizabeth. True Bill that, at the Strond in the parish of St. Clement Danes without the Bars of the New Temple and in the highway there, on the said day, James Bell late of London yoman assaulted William Richards, then being in God's and the Queen's peace, and drawing his dagger threw it at him, so that the weapon gave the said William Richards on the right knee a mortal wound, of which he died on the 16th of March then next following. Putting himself 'Guilty,' he asked for the book, could not read and was remanded by the Court before judgment. G. D. R.,...., 42 Eliz. From: 'Middlesex Sessions Rolls: 1600', Middlesex county records : Volume 1: (1886), pp July, 2 James I. True Bill that, at Fynnesburye co. Midd. on the said day, John Gibbrishe and William Humfrey, both late of London yomen, assaulted Henry Rumbyloe a headburrowe, when he was in the execution of his office, and with a dagger struck him and drew blood from him. The said John and William were fined a hundred shillings by the court. Also, a True Bill against the same John and William, for assaulting Thomas Erretage at Fynnesburye on the said day, and with a dagger striking and drawing blood from him. Confessing the indictment, John and W illiam were each fined a hundred shillings G. D. R.,...., 2 James I. From: 'Middlesex Sessions Rolls: 1604', Middlesex county records : Volume 2: ( 1887), pp November, 33 Elizabeth. Coroner's Inquisition-post-mortem, taken at St. Clement's Danes without the bar of the New Temple co. Midd., on view of the body of Thomas Coxon, then and there lying dead: With Verdict that, on the 2nd inst. between the hours nine and ten a.m. the aforesaid Thomas Coxon and a certain Daniell Carter late of Westminster yeoman were about to go together between "the twoe gates" near Whitehall, when Thomas C oxon assaulted Daniell Carter violently, giving him on the face several wounds with a dagger, whereupon Daniel Carter said "What meanest thou to strike me? I have nothinge to doe with thee," and did his utmost to withdraw from the same Thomas, and whilst followed by his assailant with a drawn sword did retreat before him to the angle of a wall beyond which he could not go; and that after receiving divers wounds from his enemy, Daniel Carter in self-defence drew his sword, when Thomas Coxon ran in upon the point of Daniel's sword and so, against the same Daniel's wish, received in the left part of his body a mortal blow, of which he died on the 3rd inst. Thomas's surname is spelt Croxon as often as Coxon in this prolix writing. G. D. R., 3 Dec., 34 Eliz. From: 'Middlesex Sessions Rolls: 1591', Middlesex county records : Volume 1: (1886), pp

108 Codex Marti alis Weapons of the A ncient World Part 2, Armor and Missle Weapons 108