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My original intention with this document was to illustrate one of the two ways of upgrading/customizing weaponry for army units as well as individual characters. The first, somewhat naturally, is the progression from low-grade or standard weapons to more sophisticated and effective ones. The second is the use of various types of ammunition to suit different situations.
“Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!”
On Munitions
Missile combat of this period is focused primarily on firearms, with arrows and other mechanically launched projectiles being used primarily in support or by more archaic militaries. Early firearms fired stone projectiles, but over time a wide variety of ammunition types have arisen to better deal with specialized threats or improve overall performance.
This document is intended to inform readers of the availability and functionality of various ammunition types in modern usage in both infantry small-arms and artillery. It is thus divided into three sections: Small Arms Munitions, being a gazette of ammunition for individual use in the field, Artillery Munitions, being a gazette of ammunition for use by crew-served weapons, and Special Munitions, being a gazette of the various peculiar ammunition types used in archaic weapons or other curiosities.
Small Arms Munitions
In a simpler world, standard lead shot would likely suffice for all circumstances. Being both versatile and economical, the ubiquitous lead musket ball is commonplace and consequently forms the foundation of many special ammunition types.
Yet Sejhat is a continent of peculiarities, from monsters to multi-racial rebels to elite soldiers clad in ‘bulletproof’ armor. Especially in the case of an explorer or officer, it is shrewd to invest in special ammunition when encountering different threats.
Standard Lead Shot
Though lead shot comes in many forms and diameters, the metal’s weight, ballistic properties, and mild toxicity make it suitably lethal for most situations. In its smallest form, such as buck or birdshot, it can fan out to lethally blanket an area. In the egg-shaped form of a rifle round it can carry itself accurately to targets at long range. In spherical musket balls a single successful impact generally inflicts grievous wounds.
Lead shot tends to flatten or fragment on impact, dealing additional damage. While practical and economical, however, it can be much less effective against thickly armored targets or certain creatures with regenerative properties. For such roles, more specialized types of ammunition come highly recommended.
Mangler Shot
In both large-caliber firearms and precision rifles, mangler shot is a simple alteration to lead ammunition intended to produce large wounds, causing organic targets to bleed profusely. This is accomplished by patiently scoring either a lead slug or a lead rifle round at the tip, influencing the bullets to fragment or blossom outward on impact.
Mangler shot has two drawbacks. Altering the shape of rifle rounds and slugs also alters their aerodynamic properties in unpredictable ways, resulting in reduced accuracy. The ‘weakened’ bullets, being purposely designed to damage flesh, lose energy rapidly on impact and therefore are nearly incapable of penetrating armor.
Standard round shot as fired from muskets cannot practically be crafted into Mangler Shot. This is due to the unpredictable ballistic characteristics of spherical ammunition. Slugs, however, can be suitably modified in this way.
Squash Rounds
Specifically for use in rifles, squash rounds are a unique innovation over standard lead shot. Loading a rifle traditionally involves fitting a bullet into the muzzle, then tamping or hammering it down the barrel so that it fits into the rifle grooves. The squash round, by contrast, is slightly narrower than the barrel itself, allowing it to slide down with relative ease.
The real magic of the squash round is its ability to expand and fit itself into the rifle’s grooves as the powder charge explodes. This disfigures the bullet just enough to grasp the rifle grooves, giving the bullet sufficient spin. It doesn’t improve the accuracy of the rifle overall, but ultimately accelerates the reloading process. A company of riflemen equipped with squash rounds can fire and reload at the same speed as a company of musketeers, greatly increasing their killing potential.
The primary drawback of squash rounds is that the metallic composition of the lead is of higher purity than most rounds, making them somewhat more expensive to equip than standard ammunition.
Auric Shot
Auric shot, commonly (and mistakenly) referred to as ‘golden shot’, is simply lead ammunition with a thin plating of gold. Any type of ammunition, from small caliber pistol rounds to large-caliber slugs, can be sufficiently altered with gold plating. The result is an expensive, yet powerful force multiplier against magical creatures.
It is currently unclear as to why gold has such adverse health effects against a variety of monsters. A study made during the creation of Consecrated Dead does offer some explanation, however. Beings with their essences tied to the Spiritual Plane, such as the undead, demons, and poltergeists, undergo a process of body rejection when even trace amounts of gold are injected into their systems. Gold theoretically disrupts the attunement of magical and mystical energy with the physical ‘host’. This effectively robs the being of its living body once the toxicity reaches a sufficient level.
Auric shot only inflicts additional damage against magical or mystical creatures, and if used against other targets offers no advantages over standard lead shot. Given the expensive nature of auric shot, it is best conserved until one is confronted by beasts and tricksters of the ethereal.
Steel Shot
The natural reaction to specialized armor such as Chitin or Critium, both of which are effective at completely stopping most bullets, was to devise a type of ammunition capable of piercing through such armor. Steel shot represents a moderate improvement over lead shot that is sufficiently economical to be carried by the rank and file infantry.
Exhaustive ballistics studies have determined that steel shot offers superior armor penetration at short ranges at no significant reduction in range or accuracy over lead shot. Unfortunately, steel shot cannot be manufactured in the field and must be supplied to the army from appropriate foundries. Additionally, as steel shot is designed to pierce armor, it deals somewhat less damage to flesh, often passing through victims rather than fragmenting and dealing the normal damage of lead shot. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, however—bullets are commonly known to pass through multiple targets at once, damaging many.
Critium Rounds
A further advancement in the field of armor-piercing ammunition, critium rounds are purpose-designed to be fired from rifles or rifled firearms, making them a specialized ammunition choice. No infantry or cavalry armor currently exists that can repulse such ammunition, but the bullets are prohibitively expensive to be deployed en masse.
Critium rounds are superior to steel rounds in armor penetration, yet have the same drawback. They pierce armor at a cost to raw damage, and thus should only be used against grouped or high-value individual targets clad in heavy armor.
Mercurial Rounds
Virtually all nations and a good deal of petty dictators have commissioned lord alchemists to deal with the ‘lethality problem’ incurred by advances in modern medicine. It is typical for only 1 in 5 battle casualties to die from wounds. To offset this disappointing statistic, some unscrupulous alchemists have come forward promising higher lethality through the use of toxins and poisons to augment standard ammunition.
Most of these self-styled ‘doctors of death’ end up inflicting harm on the troops they mean to protect, as toxins and volatile chemicals are just as lethal to those handling them as the enemies they strike. While most toxic ammunition has disappeared from arsenals, most militaries keep a small, carefully controlled stock of mercurial ammunition. Being comparatively safe to handle yet very toxic when introduced to the bloodstream, mercury has the additional effect of splashing against targets at high speed, causing an effect not unlike an explosion.
The combined contact lethality and the toxicity of mercurial ammunition makes it highly desirable for use by assassins and elite mercenaries. Mercurial rounds are inherently fragile, however, and can only be properly fired from self-contained cartridges. Additionally, in the event of a misfire mercurial rounds are unpopular for their tendency to burst, fouling the weapon and possibly poisoning the would-be assassin.
Despite the dangers, mercurial rounds are highly effective and lethal, inflicting significant damage both on contact and through poisoning. Any being or creature with a circulatory system, which is the vast majority, is vulnerable to this type of ammunition.
Phosphorescent Ammunition
Though expensive and dangerous to handle, phosphorescent ammunition is a particularly useful type of chemical ammunition most commonly used in artillery, but adaptable for small-arms use. Restricted to large-bore firearms such as dragon muskets and fowling pieces, phosphorescent ammunition is not extinguished, but rather fed by moisture, burning intensely on contact in most weather conditions.
This has the effect of incinerating targets at times, consuming them in an uncontrollable conflagration. Phosphorescent ammunition is intended only for short-range use, as the chemicals rapidly dissipate and fragment once they leave the muzzle. The danger of phosphorescent ammunition is that a misfire can result in the firer being set ablaze, thus being hoisted by one’s own petard.
Flechette Rounds
An improvement over standard lead buckshot, flechette (meaning ‘little arrow’) ammunition is intended to extend the range and lethality of fowling pieces and shotguns. Instead of firing unpredictable round projectiles at the enemy, each pin-shaped flechette is fitted with two tiny fins, much like a miniature dart. This has the effect of improving the accuracy and range of each projectile, allowing for tighter shot patterns at longer ranges.
Though flechettes may appear to be more lethal than standard buckshot, they are not. Due to the smaller number of projectiles in each shot the potential damage is lower, yet due to an overall improvement in accuracy each flechette is more likely to hit than a buckshot round. Thus, flechette rounds offer a solid compromise between range and raw firepower that can be fired from large-bore firearms and muskets.
Rifled Slugs
In order to maintain the superiority and legitimacy of the musket over a battlefield increasingly populated by rifles, rifled slugs are becoming increasingly popular among troops. Though a rifled slug requires two or three times the lead than a standard round shot, the grooves etched into each round result in a significant increase in accuracy. Additionally, this heavy, low-velocity shot can inflict terrible damage on whatever it hits, resulting in an immediate and profound kill.
Rifled slugs are impractical for use in small caliber weapons or precision weapons. They are, however, appropriate for use in muskets and other large-bore firearms. Offering better accuracy and killing power at the same ranges, rifled slugs are generally too expensive to be carried by the rank and file, but can be supplied to companies of musketeers by shrewd commanders. They also allow shotguns and fowling pieces to be used at longer ranges, but at a cost of short-range firepower.
Basic Paper Cartridge
The bog standard method of ammunition control today is the standard paper cartridge. Though some soldiers continue to carry powder horns to battle just about every soldier, rebel, hunter, and explorer prefers to spend time before an excursion carefully wrapping both bullets and powder charges in thick cartridge paper. This simple, proven system makes the process of reloading a musket shorter. Preparation pays off with a quicker reloading time, and well-trained soldiers can fire four or more shots a minute with the aid of paper cartridges.
Paper cartridges are the standard, and for most units they are the only kinds of cartridges available. With research and an eye for improvement, however, entire units can be improved with the implementation of newer technological innovations.
Self-Contained Cartridge
Not to be confused with the basic paper cartridge, the self-contained cartridge is a complete, disposable, and easy to load powder charge that contains a powder charge, a percussion cap with fulminating compounds, a bullet, and a paper wrapper.
Though anatomically similar to a standard paper cartridge, the chief difference is that the ammunition, the charge, and the ignition device are combined into a single unit. This ammunition is necessary for breech-loading firearms and is very popular among mercenaries, explorers, riflemen, and cavalry scouts for its ability to greatly accelerate the reloading process.
Most self-contained cartridges allow the user to exchange the standard factory-made ammunition with other ammunition types.
Metallic Cartridge
The ultimate evolution of the self-contained cartridge, the metal cartridge substitutes paper jacketing with a much sturdier shell casing made of brass or similar metal alloys. Though prohibitively expensive to most users, the most cutting-edge and desirable firearms will only function properly with the use of metallic cartridges. Lever-action rifle carbines, high-end revolvers, and bolt-action rifles all require a diet of metallic cartridges that can endure the mechanical stresses of reloading.
Metallic cartridges are virtually immune to climatic conditions, can be customized to fit different ammunition types, and offer exceptional reliability. Truly the ammunition of kings and nobles, metal cartridges in and of themselves are a mark of martial prestige for an individual. A squadron of cavaliers or a company of riflemen equipped with these expensive cartridges would truly be a feared force in battle.
Artillery Munitions
Though the fundamental architecture of small arms and artillery pieces seems similar, the fact of the matter is that cannons and their ilk are generally built to the most exhausting standards of the day. This is a necessity; every cannon represents a large investment in time and money, and the failure of even one gun represents significant financial and physical danger.
Thus, for centuries cannon were restricted to use only proven and hardy ammunition types due to the fear of ruptured barrels or other disasters. In recent decades, however, improvements in metallurgy and infantry weapons have necessitated large scale innovation on the part of artillery munitions. Alchemists, mystics, and mages alike have contributed to the lethality of artillery pieces through two primary means: the inclusion of Glyph Sockets on artillery pieces and the use of magical or alchemical shot.
As this is a document about ammunition, we will not cover the nature, function, and varieties of glyphs. Instead, we will focus on modern munitions themselves. Additionally, it should be said that many light artillery pieces such as puckle guns, galloping guns, and rifles are of small enough caliber that most use small-arms munitions as opposed to larger, artillery-specific projectiles.
Round Shot
In any given artillery piece, the most ubiquitous and readily available type of ammunition is a solid metal sphere, generally of iron or other metals that do not expand dramatically when exposed to the heat of an explosion. The fundamentals of round shot haven’t changed since when they were loaded into the earliest bombards.
Round shot is simple and utilitarian, with a strong ability to punch through walls and fortifications at long range. As most cannons are not rifled, they rely primarily on round shot to pummel enemy formations and emplacements well before they are within musket range. It is not intended for accurate fire, and it’s not uncommon to spend an entire day firing at a specific target without ever hitting it. It is, however, capable of taking down several soldiers at a time, as cannon balls tend to bounce across the landscape and keep their momentum.
Some older varieties of cannon can only fire round shot and its companion, canister shot. Newer cannons, however, can fire revolutionary new ammunition types that keep round shot a relevant force in modern battle.
Chain Shot
Used primarily by the world’s navies, chain shot is a medium-range type of ammunition consisting of two iron balls chained together. Originally designed to tatter sails, slice through rigging, and tear down masts, chain shot has found a niche role in armies as a medium-range cannon projectile.
Once fired, chain shot has a tendency to spin in the air. This movement does not improve accuracy, but two chained together cannon balls moving at fantastic speed can rip through numbers of men just as it does through masts. The gruesome results of chain shot used in battle are a testament to its reasonable effectiveness.
Chain shot exerts significant stress on the cannon firing it, being more than twice as heavy as a recommended load. The occasional result of overloading a barrel is a disastrous misfire, causing the cannon to burst or the increased recoil to rip the cannon from its carriage, disabling it for the duration of the battle. Despite this, it bridges the gap between long-range solid shot and short-range canister shot, making it a useful tool.
Shrapnel Shot
A hybridization of exploding shells and standard round shot, shrapnel shot is cleverly designed to explode mid-flight while carrying much of its terrific forward velocity. Unlike a howitzer shell, which is a fairly low-velocity projectile intended to explode just above the enemy, shrapnel shot explodes directly in front of their ranks, the forward momentum of the metal fragments giving them their killing power.
Once fragmented, the shot loses velocity quickly. Despite this, it offers a safe, effective means of reducing the enemy’s numbers at long ranges without increasing the risk of misfires. The disadvantage of shrapnel shot is primarily its expense, though the exploding shot also reduces the effective range by a minor degree.
Rifled Sabot
Not to be confused with shot loaded into rifled artillery, a rifled sabot behaves much like a rifled slug in an infantryman’s musket. By adding depth and rifled grooves to the projectile, it allows smoothbore cannon to fire with increased accuracy. This by no means places cannons on the same footing as artillery rifles, but it enables them to adopt a new set of tactics.
Modern fortifications rely on masonry and a composite of earthen materials to confound and repulse cannon fire. In essence, they are designed to ablate in a certain, controlled manner, forcing artillerists to fire over the tops of the walls in an effort to demoralize defenders or to launch costly infantry assaults. Historically, inaccuracy has been the bane of the artillerist as it is very difficult to strike the same point twice.
Rifled sabots allow cannons to repeatedly and forcefully strike a single point of the wall, reducing the effectiveness of most fortifications. It also provides a great advantage against enemy artillery batteries, since cannons fitted with sabots can much more easily destroy those without them. Standard cannons can thus be used with greater effectiveness against precise targets, but at a somewhat higher cost than standard round shot. Rifled sabots are also more difficult to load, increasing reloading times, and they offer no more lethality than round shot.
Canister Shot
When soldiers wander into musket range of artillery crews, canister shot represents an extremely lethal close-range option for cannons and howitzers. Being little more than a metal canister filled with musket balls, canister shot transforms cannons into enormous shotguns, blasting hundreds of projectiles into the enemy and potentially killing scores of men.
The standard infantryman is less likely to be slain by enemy musket fire, cavalry sabers, and bayonets than they are to be slain by canister shot. Despite the terrible hazard posed to troops, canister shot suffers from the same weakness as musket fire-- as the range increases it becomes exponentially less effective. Additionally, since the range of canister shot is roughly the same as that of the musket, it means that by the time an artillery crew can employ its most lethal munitions the enemy is able to return fire.
Caltrop Shot
An innovation on canister shot, caltrop shot is the result of natty Highland Dwarves seeking a way to solve the shortcomings of canister shot. Their interesting approach was not to improve the lethality of each shot, but rather to slow the enemy’s approach to a crawl. They accomplished this by replacing musket balls with a supply of caltrops, which are less lethal than musket balls but have a tendency to blanket the ground with painful, sharp metal spikes ideal at stopping cavalry and infantry in their tracks.
Though caltrops might at first appear to be more vicious than innocuous musket balls, they are in fact less damaging. Thus, caltrop shot is slightly more expensive than canister shot, yet is actually less lethal. Used to support other artillery operations or to deny areas to the enemy, however, caltrop shot is a tempting choice that’s been especially well used by Highlanders to deny areas to their Lowland enemies and force their troops into killing zones.
Exploding Shell
The basic exploding shell is the standard ammunition used by howitzers and mortars, and arguably elven rockets. The principle is simple- a timed fuse ignited by firing causes the shell to hopefully explode as it reaches the enemy, showering the vicinity in lethal, irregularly shaped high-velocity shards of metal. This holds appeal among tacticians, as it allows the lethality of canister shot to be delivered at long ranges.
Unfortunately, the basic exploding shell suffers from weaknesses. It is inaccurate, adversely affected by damp weather, and unpredictable. As cutting the fuse requires trial and error, most shells explode harmlessly far above the enemy or bury themselves into the ground and then detonate, doing little more than blasting divots in the earth. A successful hit, however, can kill scores of men and cause ruinous destruction, spark fires, or spook horses into a chaotic stampede.
Percussion Shell
The percussion shell is a small, but significant improvement to the standard exploding shell. A small device is affixed to the shell that is sensitive to sudden changes in momentum and is activated only after the shell has left the howitzer barrel. Instead of relying on a randomly cut fuse, the shell will only detonate once it strikes a target thanks to the aid of a built in percussion cap ignition system. This results in a much more reliable explosive shell, and as a result greatly increases killing power.
The sensitive mechanisms of percussion shells are unfortunately somewhat expensive, and the actual lethality of the shell itself is not improved by the new ignition system. Despite this, the increased reliability provided by the percussion shell makes it a very popular choice among howitzer and mortar crews.
Quicklime Shell
Essentially a type of chemical weaponry, quicklime shells are a variation on exploding shells made of white phosphorous, or quicklime, packed into a ‘carcass’, or a shell with many perforations. This is encased in a canvas cover which is treated in combustible chemicals. When a quicklime shell is fired the canvas cover quickly burns away, allowing the incendiary chemicals to billow forth and create a denser than air cloud that reacts to moisture and sets living targets ablaze.
This particularly vicious chemical weapon is mainly effective under certain wind conditions and, due to the nature of its dispersal, is best used against stationary men or emplacements. A volley of quicklime shells can force a defending enemy into a rash attack, as staying still is simply not an option when everything around you is being set ablaze. The wicked application of chemical fire as a weapon, however, is less of a discouragement than the dangers of using quicklime shells.
If the wind is incorrect, weather conditions are wet, or the shells are accidentally mishandled, quicklime shells can be just as devastating to one’s own forces as the enemy’s.
Flying Torpedo
The flying torpedo is a marvelous combination of clockwork engineering and magical infusion. With the use of a clockwork powered gyroscope, each shell lands in a precise standing position. Combined with a magical tracking spell and detonator, it waits for precisely the right moment to detonate. As such it is very expensive, but the flying torpedo performs a unique function that no other shell can boast.
Flying torpedoes gain their name from their utility as both an exploding shell and a land mine. Fired from a standard howitzer or mortar, flying torpedoes have a slightly oblong, egg-like shape, allowing them to vertically orient upon landing. The upper two-thirds of the shell are designed to send triangular pieces of shrapnel outward. The shell has enough stored energy to maintain its position and readiness for several minutes before expiring and becoming inert. If the enemy wanders nearby, its magical triggering system will set it off.
Flying torpedoes are an excellent means of denying an area to the enemy and have unmatched lethality, but the ‘designer’ nature of this expensive ammunition restricts it to wealthy, well-equipped forces with plenty of financial security.
Ball Lightning Shot
Ball lightning shot is an incredibly rare type of ammunition viable for use in howitzers, mortars, and rockets. Though some argue that this weapon does not exist, others emphatically state the contrary because they survived the experience. Believed to be the work of a secretive order of magi, ball lightning shot is a physical embodiment of pure electricity. Strangely, in its inert form it appears white hot yet is cold as iron to the touch. It must be handled with special care, yet within the confines of metal cannons it is surprisingly stable and can be fired just as any solid ball.
Once unleashed, however, it seeks to ‘ground’ itself, and as it nears its destination the ball of once inert lightning explodes into a web of lightning bolts, electrocuting, frying, and causing terrible disarray in those unfortunate enough to be hit. The science behind such ammunition ranges on the metaphysical and is poorly understood, yet this ammunition somehow presents enormous danger to the enemy while simultaneously being safe to handle by its users. The main drawback is the sheer rarity of such ammunition—if it even exists.
Paper Rocket
Though rockets are used only peripherally by Dwarven and Human militaries, they form an essential part of the elves’ artillery strategy and are the only gunpowder weapons they use on a large scale in land combat. Smaller and lighter than exploding howitzer shells, rockets are capable of impressive range, yet suffer from inaccuracy and unreliability.
Paper rockets represent the most commonly used form of military rocket on the field, though they are not truly made of paper alone. Most rockets are filled and propelled with black powder, and the elves can argue with some veracity that they were the first to devise gunpowder for use in this most ancient form of gunpowder artillery. Each carries a warhead, the most typical being a small cylinder of stone or lead balls packed around a powder charge. Paper forms the body of the rocket, storing both propellant and explosive warhead in a single unit. A successful detonation sends shot flying in all directions.
Each rocket individually packs little firepower, which is why they are fired in large clusters from prepared emplacements called lattices. In most paper rockets the powder charge itself acts as the fuse, meaning that a rocket artillerist has to devote themselves fully to devising the best trajectory with which to kill the enemy. Even then, rockets are highly inaccurate, often fire prematurely, and generally succeed at generating more noise and confusion than actual casualties.
Impact Rocket
An improvement over a standard paper rocket, the impact rocket is a natural evolution brought about by the proliferation of percussion caps among the world’s militaries. Though the Maenid Circle of Ordnance would never admit it, the detonator device in each impact rocket is curiously similar to that of a percussion artillery shell and has much the same effect.
Impact rockets, as one might suspect, detonate only upon impact with the ground or any targets they are fortunate enough to hit. This greatly improves lethality and effectiveness over the standard rocket by eliminating troublesome misfires and premature detonations in the air, but does not solve the inherent accuracy problems of rocketry, serving mainly to increase the lethality of existing hits rather than place more rockets on target.
Bladed Rocket
As standard rockets are quite unreliable, strange efforts have been made over time to increase their effectiveness and overcome their inherent problems. One peculiar, yet popular innovation is the bladed rocket. The bladed rocket has no exploding payload. It is, in fact, a flying sword. The sword’s blade acts as a pair of guiding fins while the paper rocket propels it upwards and toward the enemy, where it must then plummet downward onto terrified heads.
Bladed rockets are inherently inert, behaving more like an ultra-long range type of archery than conventional artillery. Each rocket only truly has the potential to kill one man, so they are fired in large clusters. The result, however, is both more terrifying to the enemy and more effective than standard paper rockets. Many men do not fear bullets or shrapnel because they cannot imagine a small piece of metal being fatal, but they can clearly understand that a twirling, glistening wave of swords flying towards their heads is a serious threat. Many rockets are fitted with small whistles to announce their presence and further rattle the enemy’s psyche.
Bladed rockets are most effective when used to saturate an area with fire, making them useful against formations of either stationary infantry or those on the march. Since they are best suited to area bombardment, bladed rockets are not very effective against enemy artillery emplacements or cavalry. Despite drawbacks, bladed rockets remain popular for the psychological damage they inflict and their relatively low cost.
Poison Rocket
As the name may suggest, poison rockets are unconventional artillery munitions that deliver a toxic payload into a target area. Primarily used as area denial, poison rockets use basic and inexpensive toxins, such as cyanide, maranathine, or croiside. These toxins are generally only lethal when ingested or inhaled, but because they are delivered in powder form and carried aloft on the wind they can wreak havoc on enemy formations, breaking channels in enemy lines. Unfortunately, the toxicity of these rockets also applies to the army that uses them, making their usefulness more difficult to exploit.
Even so, they are periodically used to drive away stationary enemy targets such as artillery crews. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of the weapon is dependent upon the fickle wind and the even more fickle accuracy of rockets in general. Despite using fairly common and easy to manufacture toxins, they are also prohibitively expensive, as very few organizations are willing to risk actually packaging, transporting, and handling the necessary poisons.
Magic Missile
Not to be confused with a popular spell spoken of in folklore, the magic missile is a costly, yet devastating improvement to traditional rockets. Originally devised for colorful, playful aerial displays of elemental magic to go along with fireworks, magic missiles are capable of intelligent targeting and detonation. In entertainment they were used to paint the sky with smoke or inspire awe through aerial acrobatics. In war, they were quickly set towards a specific task: Precision munitions.
Magic missiles on the battlefield lack the polish and panache of their harlequin counterparts, but what they lack in entertainment value they gain in lethality and accuracy. As the enemy expects rockets to be inaccurate, magic missiles are often used to surprise the enemy by being launched amongst a volley of lesser rockets and set to target an enemy’s commanders, artillery train, or crack troops. Unlike seeker arrows they can guide themselves the moment they are launched, allowing for uncanny accuracy in almost any situation.
Understandably, such missiles are very expensive for military use. Even in their humble civilian role they are mainly restricted for lavish displays of entertainment or major celebrations. As such, magic missiles can only be deployed once or twice in a battle, directly depending on how much a commander is willing to invest in the technology. That said, however, it is arguable that magic missiles are the most terrifying of all since they never miss and have a habit of killing colonels and generals.
Special Munitions
Though most of the continent’s armies rely on gunpowder weaponry as a matter of course, it can also be said that most of the continent’s armies also rely upon a patchwork of multicultural irregular troops that either cannot afford or don’t wish to rely upon gunpowder. Some beastfolk, for example, see gunpowder as dangerous, distracting, and unhealthy. Most elves see no appeal in the short-range lethality of firearms, instead relying upon the long range and accuracy of bows.
Yet it would be unhealthy for commanders and travelers to dismiss the dangers posed by more archaic or provincial methods of military thinking. Just as firearms have evolved, so too have more traditional weapons and their ammunition types.
Standard Arrows
The longbow, with its nearly meter-long arrows, its impressive range, and its surprising effectiveness against armor has not diminished over the centuries. In fact, it has improved with the evolution of the compound bow, extending the range of the venerated weapon and improving its overall accuracy. Its relative, the recurve bow, is still in regular use by cavalrymen and skirmishers in the west, particularly the Sabalazmon and Rosomai.
A well-trained archer can fire 33 rounds a minute, compared to a crossbowman’s 6 or a musketeer’s 4. While this sounds like an impressive case against muskets, the predominant drawback (no pun intended) of the bow is its ammunition. Standard arrows inflict limited damage, even against unarmored targets. A strike to the center of one’s mass, despite being quite painful, is unlikely to be fatal whereas a musket ball to the torso is quite the opposite. Additionally, a trained bowman would be loathe to hit a small target at long range, whereas a trained rifleman would be able to hit such a target with precision and regularity.
Despite this, the versatility of the bow allows standard arrows to be effective in a fight. To a cavalry skirmisher it is an excellent means of softening up the enemy before going in for the kill. For a group of foot archers standard arrows are inexpensive enough to be used to saturate entire areas with withering fire.
Fire Arrows
With the use of a small, magically infused arrowhead a force of archers can multiply its lethality, its psychological damage, and its effectiveness against buildings with the aid of a single weapon. A fire arrow can set fields ablaze, blanketing an area in brush fires and chaos. It can force defenders to flee palisades and houses that it would otherwise defend.
Yet, in spite of all of this fire arrows are not always reliable in spite of their magical imbuement. Against living flesh, many arrows simply burrow themselves in and are quickly extinguished, the heat effectively cauterizing the wound and inflicting little lasting damage on an enemy soldier. The unpredictable nature of fire can also work against the attacker, as fire works for no one in particular and can be carried by the wind into allied positions.
Despite this, fire arrows are a popular option for most foot archers and are mainly limited by their prohibitive cost. Thus, groups of archers often initiate battles by setting the enemy’s positions ablaze, forcing them to act. They will then conserve fire arrows until opportunities to use them again arise, such as cavalry that are spooked by fire or artillery crews whose ordnance will explode when hit by open flame.
Venomous Arrows
Unlike chemical munitions, which are dangerous to handle and use in gunpowder weapons, the use of toxins on arrows is commonplace and reasonably safe. A standard arrowhead dipped in a venomous tincture is immediately ready to be used against the enemy, and can have a variety of effects. The cheapest and most available toxin available to most archers is Torporium, which is employed by archers in most traditional societies.
Torporium, interestingly, is not a lethal substance. It is a fast-acting neurotoxin that makes one’s limbs and arms numb within moments, then strikes the victim with an overwhelming sense of fatigue. The venom comes from the ubiquitous Torpor Beetle, which can be found just about anywhere on the continent, and offers no long-term health hazards for any archer who accidentally ingests or injects it.
Fatigue and sluggishness, combined with numbness, can have devastating effects on the enemy in the short term, however. Cavalry archers especially enjoy the use of toxic arrows as a means of slowing down or stopping enemy soldiers in their tracks, allowing them to swoop in and butcher enemies without much in the way of reprisal.
Toxic arrows, though inexpensive, are sometimes unreliable. In very hot or very cold temperatures they often have no effect, and if an enemy commander has the shrewdness and foresight to issue his troops with antitoxins the arrows quickly lose their advantages. Additionally, Orcs and Circassids have a natural resistance to many toxins and ailments.
Seeker Arrows
A rare and expensive type of arrow that is the favorite of noblemen, assassins, and hunters of renown, a seeker arrow is literally an exquisite arrow imbued with a modicum of intelligence. Combining mystical enchantment with magical energy, an arrow’s entire structure from its head, shaft, and fletching become akin to a living being. Before being used, a seeker arrow can be given telepathic instructions on the location of an enemy’s vital organs or weak points by touching the fletching to the archer’s temples. Once instructed and launched, it will guide itself to either a specific target or, if no specific instructions are given, will try to seek out a target of value on its own.
Seeker arrows are not a sort of ‘magic bullet’ in the sense that they have flaws. While an arrow may guide itself, it cannot propel itself and is therefore at the mercy of wind and the starting trajectory. Too much wind or a poorly aimed shot will prove beyond the arrow’s ability to correct itself. As such, it is an arrow strictly for trained archers with the financial means of obtaining such exquisite ammunition.
Pinning Arrows
Most conventional arrowheads are designed to lodge themselves into the target’s flesh, their bodkins and barbs inflicting more damage on removal from the flesh than entry. However, the cost of a broader arrowhead is the rapid loss of energy as the arrow strikes its target, resulting in reduced penetration. Pinning arrows represent an effort to keep more heavily armored targets at bay by focusing the entirety of the arrow’s weight, energy, and velocity into a fine narrow point that broadens no wider than the arrow shaft itself.
This improves the performance of arrowheads against armored targets, but is no substitute for gunpowder weaponry, serving instead to boost the effectiveness of archers. Since the ability of any arrow to puncture armor is limited, pinning arrows instead focus on inflicting mobility penalties to whomever they hit. A strike to a thick breastplate is likely to glance off, but a hit to the knee or foot can give an enemy warrior pause, or possibly pin them to the ground until they work the arrow out or break it, making them vulnerable to sustained attacks.
Squash Head Arrows
An improvement over pinning arrows, the squash head arrow represents an uncommon and welcome fusion of modern science and archery. The arrowhead is a most peculiar thing. Instead of ending in a sharp point, the arrowhead is in fact a small concave disc coated in fulminating compounds that detonate on impact. When an arrow strikes any target the chemicals create a small, yet focused explosion that can maim flesh. The true strength of squash heads, however, comes to light when they are used against armored targets.
When the concentrated explosion strikes a hard substance like white steel, critium, or chitin, it tears a chunk of the armor off and blasts it into the wearer’s flesh, inflicting considerable damage. The chance of successful penetration is lower than that of critium rifle rounds, but the maiming ability of squash head arrows offsets their inferior reliability, inflicting grievous wounds.
Golden Bolts & Golden Arrows
Like auric bullets, golden bolts and arrows are at least partially made of gold and have a specialized purpose: returning demons and spiritual entities to the mystical plane in a rather violent manner. Architecturally, arrows and bolts are similar, yet in combat they function differently. Golden arrows are used judiciously to quickly strike and immobilize a monster’s weak points while golden bolts are best used to punch through armor and hit the creature’s center of mass. In both cases, the objective and ultimate result are the same: creatures of the mystical plane become ‘poisoned’ by the gold and shed their mortal coil.
Golden bolts and arrows are almost never found in the hands of an average soldier, as they are too expensive to be used by anyone but a professional. As such, they are restricted to specialists, assassins, nobles, officers, and some adventurers or professional monster hunters.
Standard Bolts
Crossbows are superior to bows in terms of weight and lethality, but due to their slow, albeit variable reloading speed, they are often eclipsed by their rivals’ performance. Bows are faster firing, more maneuverable, and more fabled than crossbows, yet crossbows retain a distinct advantage: ease of use.
Professional elven soldiers employ longbows and compound bows. Common militiamen or peasants employ crossbows. Where it takes years to become a skilled archer, an individual can become a talented crossbowman in the course of several hours of training. Like the musket, it is a weapon suited to irregular troops that is especially effective in defense.
Unfortunately, the standard crossbow bolt is not significantly more lethal than the standard arrow. It is, however, more effective at piercing armor than even some firearms. The kinetic energy stored in a modern crossbow is impressive, and the architecture of a crossbow bolt means that this energy is largely devoted to piercing wounds as opposed to the gaping, bloody wounds inflicted by lead shot.
Large versions of all bolts can be loaded into mechanical artillery, such as Ballistae and Eagle Guns.
Soft Bolts
As a result of the high mechanical stresses placed on crossbow bolts, the tendency over the past few centuries has been to try and strengthen the construction of the bolt. This has made the bolt naturally more effective against armored opponents, but has left it disappointingly underpowered when inflicting actual damage. The soft bolt is a relatively recent attempt to remedy that problem. It sacrifices armor piercing ability for damage while minimizing misfires.
Soft bolts accomplish this by fixing soft, pliable metal around a solid iron core. The soft metal mushrooms outward on contact, much like a bullet, inflicting significant injury. Soft bolts are relatively inexpensive and can be deployed en masse, but significantly reduce armor piercing abilities. Since so many Maenid legionnaires wear armor, the soft bolt has been most popular against the forces of the Republic, whose soldiers are more poorly equipped where armor is concerned. Legion auxiliaries, raw irregular troops not well trained in traditional archery, are especially fond of using this ammunition.
White Steel Bolts
Standard bolts are made from iron or steel made in any number of local smiths, workshops, and forges. As such, their quality can be unreliable, the metal brittle or even porous. The high quality steel produced by the Maenid city of Bitola, however, is amongst the finest and hardest in the world. The introduction of innovative (some say stolen) manufacturing techniques has allowed them to mass-produce small pieces, among them crossbow bolts. The hardened bolts that come from Bitola offer superior durability, and therefore superior armor piercing than normal bolts.
The cost of equipping soldiers with white steel bolts is considerable, however, and the hardened tips do not offer any additional killing power- just penetration. Despite this, white steel bolts are highly popular among ambitious young commanders who want to multiply the effectiveness of crossbow militia units against armored monsters or opponents.
Fire Bolts
With the aid of magic, a standard iron bolt can be heated mid-flight to a molten state. At the speed of a crossbow bolt, a globule of molten metal not only offers excellent armor penetration, but also a high chance of setting the target ablaze. Very different from fire arrows, fire bolts are more widely feared than any other ammunition widely in use by the elves. They are typically only found in the Maenid Empire, as the massive continental monopoly on mana allows the bolts to be produced at a low enough cost to be deployed by special units.
Fire bolts remain prohibitively expensive for many units, but they are also dangerous for other reasons. They have a somewhat high failure rate, represented by an alarming tendency to fire prematurely and incinerate the crossbowman wielding them. Due to their cost and dangerous unreliability, fire bolts cannot be equipped as standard ammunition by any unit and can only be kept in reserve until the order to fire them has been given. With such limitations, a commander must choose the right time and opponent to use them against.
Exploding Bolts
A very clever and fairly recent innovation in crossbow technology is that of the exploding bolt, a single-use inert projectile with carefully designed weak points. Exploding bolts do not make use of chemical explosives or magic of any kind, and are fabricated from specially formed and treated, but otherwise mundane steel. Against soft targets without armor, exploding bolts have a tendency to snap or fragment in the flesh, creating agonizing and morale-draining wounds, but their true utility is against armored targets.
Unlike white steel bolts, which are purpose-designed for armor penetration and leave little attention for inflicting damage, exploding bolts have a sufficiently hard tip to pierce armor, yet collapse and fragment just after impact, sending shards of sharp metal through the puncture in the armor and inflicting terrible injury. Exploding bolts are less reliable at armor penetration than white steel bolts, but they offer an excellent compromise between killing power and armor penetration at a reasonable price.
“Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!”
On Munitions
Missile combat of this period is focused primarily on firearms, with arrows and other mechanically launched projectiles being used primarily in support or by more archaic militaries. Early firearms fired stone projectiles, but over time a wide variety of ammunition types have arisen to better deal with specialized threats or improve overall performance.
This document is intended to inform readers of the availability and functionality of various ammunition types in modern usage in both infantry small-arms and artillery. It is thus divided into three sections: Small Arms Munitions, being a gazette of ammunition for individual use in the field, Artillery Munitions, being a gazette of ammunition for use by crew-served weapons, and Special Munitions, being a gazette of the various peculiar ammunition types used in archaic weapons or other curiosities.
Small Arms Munitions
In a simpler world, standard lead shot would likely suffice for all circumstances. Being both versatile and economical, the ubiquitous lead musket ball is commonplace and consequently forms the foundation of many special ammunition types.
Yet Sejhat is a continent of peculiarities, from monsters to multi-racial rebels to elite soldiers clad in ‘bulletproof’ armor. Especially in the case of an explorer or officer, it is shrewd to invest in special ammunition when encountering different threats.
Standard Lead Shot
Though lead shot comes in many forms and diameters, the metal’s weight, ballistic properties, and mild toxicity make it suitably lethal for most situations. In its smallest form, such as buck or birdshot, it can fan out to lethally blanket an area. In the egg-shaped form of a rifle round it can carry itself accurately to targets at long range. In spherical musket balls a single successful impact generally inflicts grievous wounds.
Lead shot tends to flatten or fragment on impact, dealing additional damage. While practical and economical, however, it can be much less effective against thickly armored targets or certain creatures with regenerative properties. For such roles, more specialized types of ammunition come highly recommended.
Mangler Shot
In both large-caliber firearms and precision rifles, mangler shot is a simple alteration to lead ammunition intended to produce large wounds, causing organic targets to bleed profusely. This is accomplished by patiently scoring either a lead slug or a lead rifle round at the tip, influencing the bullets to fragment or blossom outward on impact.
Mangler shot has two drawbacks. Altering the shape of rifle rounds and slugs also alters their aerodynamic properties in unpredictable ways, resulting in reduced accuracy. The ‘weakened’ bullets, being purposely designed to damage flesh, lose energy rapidly on impact and therefore are nearly incapable of penetrating armor.
Standard round shot as fired from muskets cannot practically be crafted into Mangler Shot. This is due to the unpredictable ballistic characteristics of spherical ammunition. Slugs, however, can be suitably modified in this way.
Squash Rounds
Specifically for use in rifles, squash rounds are a unique innovation over standard lead shot. Loading a rifle traditionally involves fitting a bullet into the muzzle, then tamping or hammering it down the barrel so that it fits into the rifle grooves. The squash round, by contrast, is slightly narrower than the barrel itself, allowing it to slide down with relative ease.
The real magic of the squash round is its ability to expand and fit itself into the rifle’s grooves as the powder charge explodes. This disfigures the bullet just enough to grasp the rifle grooves, giving the bullet sufficient spin. It doesn’t improve the accuracy of the rifle overall, but ultimately accelerates the reloading process. A company of riflemen equipped with squash rounds can fire and reload at the same speed as a company of musketeers, greatly increasing their killing potential.
The primary drawback of squash rounds is that the metallic composition of the lead is of higher purity than most rounds, making them somewhat more expensive to equip than standard ammunition.
Auric Shot
Auric shot, commonly (and mistakenly) referred to as ‘golden shot’, is simply lead ammunition with a thin plating of gold. Any type of ammunition, from small caliber pistol rounds to large-caliber slugs, can be sufficiently altered with gold plating. The result is an expensive, yet powerful force multiplier against magical creatures.
It is currently unclear as to why gold has such adverse health effects against a variety of monsters. A study made during the creation of Consecrated Dead does offer some explanation, however. Beings with their essences tied to the Spiritual Plane, such as the undead, demons, and poltergeists, undergo a process of body rejection when even trace amounts of gold are injected into their systems. Gold theoretically disrupts the attunement of magical and mystical energy with the physical ‘host’. This effectively robs the being of its living body once the toxicity reaches a sufficient level.
Auric shot only inflicts additional damage against magical or mystical creatures, and if used against other targets offers no advantages over standard lead shot. Given the expensive nature of auric shot, it is best conserved until one is confronted by beasts and tricksters of the ethereal.
Steel Shot
The natural reaction to specialized armor such as Chitin or Critium, both of which are effective at completely stopping most bullets, was to devise a type of ammunition capable of piercing through such armor. Steel shot represents a moderate improvement over lead shot that is sufficiently economical to be carried by the rank and file infantry.
Exhaustive ballistics studies have determined that steel shot offers superior armor penetration at short ranges at no significant reduction in range or accuracy over lead shot. Unfortunately, steel shot cannot be manufactured in the field and must be supplied to the army from appropriate foundries. Additionally, as steel shot is designed to pierce armor, it deals somewhat less damage to flesh, often passing through victims rather than fragmenting and dealing the normal damage of lead shot. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, however—bullets are commonly known to pass through multiple targets at once, damaging many.
Critium Rounds
A further advancement in the field of armor-piercing ammunition, critium rounds are purpose-designed to be fired from rifles or rifled firearms, making them a specialized ammunition choice. No infantry or cavalry armor currently exists that can repulse such ammunition, but the bullets are prohibitively expensive to be deployed en masse.
Critium rounds are superior to steel rounds in armor penetration, yet have the same drawback. They pierce armor at a cost to raw damage, and thus should only be used against grouped or high-value individual targets clad in heavy armor.
Mercurial Rounds
Virtually all nations and a good deal of petty dictators have commissioned lord alchemists to deal with the ‘lethality problem’ incurred by advances in modern medicine. It is typical for only 1 in 5 battle casualties to die from wounds. To offset this disappointing statistic, some unscrupulous alchemists have come forward promising higher lethality through the use of toxins and poisons to augment standard ammunition.
Most of these self-styled ‘doctors of death’ end up inflicting harm on the troops they mean to protect, as toxins and volatile chemicals are just as lethal to those handling them as the enemies they strike. While most toxic ammunition has disappeared from arsenals, most militaries keep a small, carefully controlled stock of mercurial ammunition. Being comparatively safe to handle yet very toxic when introduced to the bloodstream, mercury has the additional effect of splashing against targets at high speed, causing an effect not unlike an explosion.
The combined contact lethality and the toxicity of mercurial ammunition makes it highly desirable for use by assassins and elite mercenaries. Mercurial rounds are inherently fragile, however, and can only be properly fired from self-contained cartridges. Additionally, in the event of a misfire mercurial rounds are unpopular for their tendency to burst, fouling the weapon and possibly poisoning the would-be assassin.
Despite the dangers, mercurial rounds are highly effective and lethal, inflicting significant damage both on contact and through poisoning. Any being or creature with a circulatory system, which is the vast majority, is vulnerable to this type of ammunition.
Phosphorescent Ammunition
Though expensive and dangerous to handle, phosphorescent ammunition is a particularly useful type of chemical ammunition most commonly used in artillery, but adaptable for small-arms use. Restricted to large-bore firearms such as dragon muskets and fowling pieces, phosphorescent ammunition is not extinguished, but rather fed by moisture, burning intensely on contact in most weather conditions.
This has the effect of incinerating targets at times, consuming them in an uncontrollable conflagration. Phosphorescent ammunition is intended only for short-range use, as the chemicals rapidly dissipate and fragment once they leave the muzzle. The danger of phosphorescent ammunition is that a misfire can result in the firer being set ablaze, thus being hoisted by one’s own petard.
Flechette Rounds
An improvement over standard lead buckshot, flechette (meaning ‘little arrow’) ammunition is intended to extend the range and lethality of fowling pieces and shotguns. Instead of firing unpredictable round projectiles at the enemy, each pin-shaped flechette is fitted with two tiny fins, much like a miniature dart. This has the effect of improving the accuracy and range of each projectile, allowing for tighter shot patterns at longer ranges.
Though flechettes may appear to be more lethal than standard buckshot, they are not. Due to the smaller number of projectiles in each shot the potential damage is lower, yet due to an overall improvement in accuracy each flechette is more likely to hit than a buckshot round. Thus, flechette rounds offer a solid compromise between range and raw firepower that can be fired from large-bore firearms and muskets.
Rifled Slugs
In order to maintain the superiority and legitimacy of the musket over a battlefield increasingly populated by rifles, rifled slugs are becoming increasingly popular among troops. Though a rifled slug requires two or three times the lead than a standard round shot, the grooves etched into each round result in a significant increase in accuracy. Additionally, this heavy, low-velocity shot can inflict terrible damage on whatever it hits, resulting in an immediate and profound kill.
Rifled slugs are impractical for use in small caliber weapons or precision weapons. They are, however, appropriate for use in muskets and other large-bore firearms. Offering better accuracy and killing power at the same ranges, rifled slugs are generally too expensive to be carried by the rank and file, but can be supplied to companies of musketeers by shrewd commanders. They also allow shotguns and fowling pieces to be used at longer ranges, but at a cost of short-range firepower.
Basic Paper Cartridge
The bog standard method of ammunition control today is the standard paper cartridge. Though some soldiers continue to carry powder horns to battle just about every soldier, rebel, hunter, and explorer prefers to spend time before an excursion carefully wrapping both bullets and powder charges in thick cartridge paper. This simple, proven system makes the process of reloading a musket shorter. Preparation pays off with a quicker reloading time, and well-trained soldiers can fire four or more shots a minute with the aid of paper cartridges.
Paper cartridges are the standard, and for most units they are the only kinds of cartridges available. With research and an eye for improvement, however, entire units can be improved with the implementation of newer technological innovations.
Self-Contained Cartridge
Not to be confused with the basic paper cartridge, the self-contained cartridge is a complete, disposable, and easy to load powder charge that contains a powder charge, a percussion cap with fulminating compounds, a bullet, and a paper wrapper.
Though anatomically similar to a standard paper cartridge, the chief difference is that the ammunition, the charge, and the ignition device are combined into a single unit. This ammunition is necessary for breech-loading firearms and is very popular among mercenaries, explorers, riflemen, and cavalry scouts for its ability to greatly accelerate the reloading process.
Most self-contained cartridges allow the user to exchange the standard factory-made ammunition with other ammunition types.
Metallic Cartridge
The ultimate evolution of the self-contained cartridge, the metal cartridge substitutes paper jacketing with a much sturdier shell casing made of brass or similar metal alloys. Though prohibitively expensive to most users, the most cutting-edge and desirable firearms will only function properly with the use of metallic cartridges. Lever-action rifle carbines, high-end revolvers, and bolt-action rifles all require a diet of metallic cartridges that can endure the mechanical stresses of reloading.
Metallic cartridges are virtually immune to climatic conditions, can be customized to fit different ammunition types, and offer exceptional reliability. Truly the ammunition of kings and nobles, metal cartridges in and of themselves are a mark of martial prestige for an individual. A squadron of cavaliers or a company of riflemen equipped with these expensive cartridges would truly be a feared force in battle.
Artillery Munitions
Though the fundamental architecture of small arms and artillery pieces seems similar, the fact of the matter is that cannons and their ilk are generally built to the most exhausting standards of the day. This is a necessity; every cannon represents a large investment in time and money, and the failure of even one gun represents significant financial and physical danger.
Thus, for centuries cannon were restricted to use only proven and hardy ammunition types due to the fear of ruptured barrels or other disasters. In recent decades, however, improvements in metallurgy and infantry weapons have necessitated large scale innovation on the part of artillery munitions. Alchemists, mystics, and mages alike have contributed to the lethality of artillery pieces through two primary means: the inclusion of Glyph Sockets on artillery pieces and the use of magical or alchemical shot.
As this is a document about ammunition, we will not cover the nature, function, and varieties of glyphs. Instead, we will focus on modern munitions themselves. Additionally, it should be said that many light artillery pieces such as puckle guns, galloping guns, and rifles are of small enough caliber that most use small-arms munitions as opposed to larger, artillery-specific projectiles.
Round Shot
In any given artillery piece, the most ubiquitous and readily available type of ammunition is a solid metal sphere, generally of iron or other metals that do not expand dramatically when exposed to the heat of an explosion. The fundamentals of round shot haven’t changed since when they were loaded into the earliest bombards.
Round shot is simple and utilitarian, with a strong ability to punch through walls and fortifications at long range. As most cannons are not rifled, they rely primarily on round shot to pummel enemy formations and emplacements well before they are within musket range. It is not intended for accurate fire, and it’s not uncommon to spend an entire day firing at a specific target without ever hitting it. It is, however, capable of taking down several soldiers at a time, as cannon balls tend to bounce across the landscape and keep their momentum.
Some older varieties of cannon can only fire round shot and its companion, canister shot. Newer cannons, however, can fire revolutionary new ammunition types that keep round shot a relevant force in modern battle.
Chain Shot
Used primarily by the world’s navies, chain shot is a medium-range type of ammunition consisting of two iron balls chained together. Originally designed to tatter sails, slice through rigging, and tear down masts, chain shot has found a niche role in armies as a medium-range cannon projectile.
Once fired, chain shot has a tendency to spin in the air. This movement does not improve accuracy, but two chained together cannon balls moving at fantastic speed can rip through numbers of men just as it does through masts. The gruesome results of chain shot used in battle are a testament to its reasonable effectiveness.
Chain shot exerts significant stress on the cannon firing it, being more than twice as heavy as a recommended load. The occasional result of overloading a barrel is a disastrous misfire, causing the cannon to burst or the increased recoil to rip the cannon from its carriage, disabling it for the duration of the battle. Despite this, it bridges the gap between long-range solid shot and short-range canister shot, making it a useful tool.
Shrapnel Shot
A hybridization of exploding shells and standard round shot, shrapnel shot is cleverly designed to explode mid-flight while carrying much of its terrific forward velocity. Unlike a howitzer shell, which is a fairly low-velocity projectile intended to explode just above the enemy, shrapnel shot explodes directly in front of their ranks, the forward momentum of the metal fragments giving them their killing power.
Once fragmented, the shot loses velocity quickly. Despite this, it offers a safe, effective means of reducing the enemy’s numbers at long ranges without increasing the risk of misfires. The disadvantage of shrapnel shot is primarily its expense, though the exploding shot also reduces the effective range by a minor degree.
Rifled Sabot
Not to be confused with shot loaded into rifled artillery, a rifled sabot behaves much like a rifled slug in an infantryman’s musket. By adding depth and rifled grooves to the projectile, it allows smoothbore cannon to fire with increased accuracy. This by no means places cannons on the same footing as artillery rifles, but it enables them to adopt a new set of tactics.
Modern fortifications rely on masonry and a composite of earthen materials to confound and repulse cannon fire. In essence, they are designed to ablate in a certain, controlled manner, forcing artillerists to fire over the tops of the walls in an effort to demoralize defenders or to launch costly infantry assaults. Historically, inaccuracy has been the bane of the artillerist as it is very difficult to strike the same point twice.
Rifled sabots allow cannons to repeatedly and forcefully strike a single point of the wall, reducing the effectiveness of most fortifications. It also provides a great advantage against enemy artillery batteries, since cannons fitted with sabots can much more easily destroy those without them. Standard cannons can thus be used with greater effectiveness against precise targets, but at a somewhat higher cost than standard round shot. Rifled sabots are also more difficult to load, increasing reloading times, and they offer no more lethality than round shot.
Canister Shot
When soldiers wander into musket range of artillery crews, canister shot represents an extremely lethal close-range option for cannons and howitzers. Being little more than a metal canister filled with musket balls, canister shot transforms cannons into enormous shotguns, blasting hundreds of projectiles into the enemy and potentially killing scores of men.
The standard infantryman is less likely to be slain by enemy musket fire, cavalry sabers, and bayonets than they are to be slain by canister shot. Despite the terrible hazard posed to troops, canister shot suffers from the same weakness as musket fire-- as the range increases it becomes exponentially less effective. Additionally, since the range of canister shot is roughly the same as that of the musket, it means that by the time an artillery crew can employ its most lethal munitions the enemy is able to return fire.
Caltrop Shot
An innovation on canister shot, caltrop shot is the result of natty Highland Dwarves seeking a way to solve the shortcomings of canister shot. Their interesting approach was not to improve the lethality of each shot, but rather to slow the enemy’s approach to a crawl. They accomplished this by replacing musket balls with a supply of caltrops, which are less lethal than musket balls but have a tendency to blanket the ground with painful, sharp metal spikes ideal at stopping cavalry and infantry in their tracks.
Though caltrops might at first appear to be more vicious than innocuous musket balls, they are in fact less damaging. Thus, caltrop shot is slightly more expensive than canister shot, yet is actually less lethal. Used to support other artillery operations or to deny areas to the enemy, however, caltrop shot is a tempting choice that’s been especially well used by Highlanders to deny areas to their Lowland enemies and force their troops into killing zones.
Exploding Shell
The basic exploding shell is the standard ammunition used by howitzers and mortars, and arguably elven rockets. The principle is simple- a timed fuse ignited by firing causes the shell to hopefully explode as it reaches the enemy, showering the vicinity in lethal, irregularly shaped high-velocity shards of metal. This holds appeal among tacticians, as it allows the lethality of canister shot to be delivered at long ranges.
Unfortunately, the basic exploding shell suffers from weaknesses. It is inaccurate, adversely affected by damp weather, and unpredictable. As cutting the fuse requires trial and error, most shells explode harmlessly far above the enemy or bury themselves into the ground and then detonate, doing little more than blasting divots in the earth. A successful hit, however, can kill scores of men and cause ruinous destruction, spark fires, or spook horses into a chaotic stampede.
Percussion Shell
The percussion shell is a small, but significant improvement to the standard exploding shell. A small device is affixed to the shell that is sensitive to sudden changes in momentum and is activated only after the shell has left the howitzer barrel. Instead of relying on a randomly cut fuse, the shell will only detonate once it strikes a target thanks to the aid of a built in percussion cap ignition system. This results in a much more reliable explosive shell, and as a result greatly increases killing power.
The sensitive mechanisms of percussion shells are unfortunately somewhat expensive, and the actual lethality of the shell itself is not improved by the new ignition system. Despite this, the increased reliability provided by the percussion shell makes it a very popular choice among howitzer and mortar crews.
Quicklime Shell
Essentially a type of chemical weaponry, quicklime shells are a variation on exploding shells made of white phosphorous, or quicklime, packed into a ‘carcass’, or a shell with many perforations. This is encased in a canvas cover which is treated in combustible chemicals. When a quicklime shell is fired the canvas cover quickly burns away, allowing the incendiary chemicals to billow forth and create a denser than air cloud that reacts to moisture and sets living targets ablaze.
This particularly vicious chemical weapon is mainly effective under certain wind conditions and, due to the nature of its dispersal, is best used against stationary men or emplacements. A volley of quicklime shells can force a defending enemy into a rash attack, as staying still is simply not an option when everything around you is being set ablaze. The wicked application of chemical fire as a weapon, however, is less of a discouragement than the dangers of using quicklime shells.
If the wind is incorrect, weather conditions are wet, or the shells are accidentally mishandled, quicklime shells can be just as devastating to one’s own forces as the enemy’s.
Flying Torpedo
The flying torpedo is a marvelous combination of clockwork engineering and magical infusion. With the use of a clockwork powered gyroscope, each shell lands in a precise standing position. Combined with a magical tracking spell and detonator, it waits for precisely the right moment to detonate. As such it is very expensive, but the flying torpedo performs a unique function that no other shell can boast.
Flying torpedoes gain their name from their utility as both an exploding shell and a land mine. Fired from a standard howitzer or mortar, flying torpedoes have a slightly oblong, egg-like shape, allowing them to vertically orient upon landing. The upper two-thirds of the shell are designed to send triangular pieces of shrapnel outward. The shell has enough stored energy to maintain its position and readiness for several minutes before expiring and becoming inert. If the enemy wanders nearby, its magical triggering system will set it off.
Flying torpedoes are an excellent means of denying an area to the enemy and have unmatched lethality, but the ‘designer’ nature of this expensive ammunition restricts it to wealthy, well-equipped forces with plenty of financial security.
Ball Lightning Shot
Ball lightning shot is an incredibly rare type of ammunition viable for use in howitzers, mortars, and rockets. Though some argue that this weapon does not exist, others emphatically state the contrary because they survived the experience. Believed to be the work of a secretive order of magi, ball lightning shot is a physical embodiment of pure electricity. Strangely, in its inert form it appears white hot yet is cold as iron to the touch. It must be handled with special care, yet within the confines of metal cannons it is surprisingly stable and can be fired just as any solid ball.
Once unleashed, however, it seeks to ‘ground’ itself, and as it nears its destination the ball of once inert lightning explodes into a web of lightning bolts, electrocuting, frying, and causing terrible disarray in those unfortunate enough to be hit. The science behind such ammunition ranges on the metaphysical and is poorly understood, yet this ammunition somehow presents enormous danger to the enemy while simultaneously being safe to handle by its users. The main drawback is the sheer rarity of such ammunition—if it even exists.
Paper Rocket
Though rockets are used only peripherally by Dwarven and Human militaries, they form an essential part of the elves’ artillery strategy and are the only gunpowder weapons they use on a large scale in land combat. Smaller and lighter than exploding howitzer shells, rockets are capable of impressive range, yet suffer from inaccuracy and unreliability.
Paper rockets represent the most commonly used form of military rocket on the field, though they are not truly made of paper alone. Most rockets are filled and propelled with black powder, and the elves can argue with some veracity that they were the first to devise gunpowder for use in this most ancient form of gunpowder artillery. Each carries a warhead, the most typical being a small cylinder of stone or lead balls packed around a powder charge. Paper forms the body of the rocket, storing both propellant and explosive warhead in a single unit. A successful detonation sends shot flying in all directions.
Each rocket individually packs little firepower, which is why they are fired in large clusters from prepared emplacements called lattices. In most paper rockets the powder charge itself acts as the fuse, meaning that a rocket artillerist has to devote themselves fully to devising the best trajectory with which to kill the enemy. Even then, rockets are highly inaccurate, often fire prematurely, and generally succeed at generating more noise and confusion than actual casualties.
Impact Rocket
An improvement over a standard paper rocket, the impact rocket is a natural evolution brought about by the proliferation of percussion caps among the world’s militaries. Though the Maenid Circle of Ordnance would never admit it, the detonator device in each impact rocket is curiously similar to that of a percussion artillery shell and has much the same effect.
Impact rockets, as one might suspect, detonate only upon impact with the ground or any targets they are fortunate enough to hit. This greatly improves lethality and effectiveness over the standard rocket by eliminating troublesome misfires and premature detonations in the air, but does not solve the inherent accuracy problems of rocketry, serving mainly to increase the lethality of existing hits rather than place more rockets on target.
Bladed Rocket
As standard rockets are quite unreliable, strange efforts have been made over time to increase their effectiveness and overcome their inherent problems. One peculiar, yet popular innovation is the bladed rocket. The bladed rocket has no exploding payload. It is, in fact, a flying sword. The sword’s blade acts as a pair of guiding fins while the paper rocket propels it upwards and toward the enemy, where it must then plummet downward onto terrified heads.
Bladed rockets are inherently inert, behaving more like an ultra-long range type of archery than conventional artillery. Each rocket only truly has the potential to kill one man, so they are fired in large clusters. The result, however, is both more terrifying to the enemy and more effective than standard paper rockets. Many men do not fear bullets or shrapnel because they cannot imagine a small piece of metal being fatal, but they can clearly understand that a twirling, glistening wave of swords flying towards their heads is a serious threat. Many rockets are fitted with small whistles to announce their presence and further rattle the enemy’s psyche.
Bladed rockets are most effective when used to saturate an area with fire, making them useful against formations of either stationary infantry or those on the march. Since they are best suited to area bombardment, bladed rockets are not very effective against enemy artillery emplacements or cavalry. Despite drawbacks, bladed rockets remain popular for the psychological damage they inflict and their relatively low cost.
Poison Rocket
As the name may suggest, poison rockets are unconventional artillery munitions that deliver a toxic payload into a target area. Primarily used as area denial, poison rockets use basic and inexpensive toxins, such as cyanide, maranathine, or croiside. These toxins are generally only lethal when ingested or inhaled, but because they are delivered in powder form and carried aloft on the wind they can wreak havoc on enemy formations, breaking channels in enemy lines. Unfortunately, the toxicity of these rockets also applies to the army that uses them, making their usefulness more difficult to exploit.
Even so, they are periodically used to drive away stationary enemy targets such as artillery crews. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of the weapon is dependent upon the fickle wind and the even more fickle accuracy of rockets in general. Despite using fairly common and easy to manufacture toxins, they are also prohibitively expensive, as very few organizations are willing to risk actually packaging, transporting, and handling the necessary poisons.
Magic Missile
Not to be confused with a popular spell spoken of in folklore, the magic missile is a costly, yet devastating improvement to traditional rockets. Originally devised for colorful, playful aerial displays of elemental magic to go along with fireworks, magic missiles are capable of intelligent targeting and detonation. In entertainment they were used to paint the sky with smoke or inspire awe through aerial acrobatics. In war, they were quickly set towards a specific task: Precision munitions.
Magic missiles on the battlefield lack the polish and panache of their harlequin counterparts, but what they lack in entertainment value they gain in lethality and accuracy. As the enemy expects rockets to be inaccurate, magic missiles are often used to surprise the enemy by being launched amongst a volley of lesser rockets and set to target an enemy’s commanders, artillery train, or crack troops. Unlike seeker arrows they can guide themselves the moment they are launched, allowing for uncanny accuracy in almost any situation.
Understandably, such missiles are very expensive for military use. Even in their humble civilian role they are mainly restricted for lavish displays of entertainment or major celebrations. As such, magic missiles can only be deployed once or twice in a battle, directly depending on how much a commander is willing to invest in the technology. That said, however, it is arguable that magic missiles are the most terrifying of all since they never miss and have a habit of killing colonels and generals.
Special Munitions
Though most of the continent’s armies rely on gunpowder weaponry as a matter of course, it can also be said that most of the continent’s armies also rely upon a patchwork of multicultural irregular troops that either cannot afford or don’t wish to rely upon gunpowder. Some beastfolk, for example, see gunpowder as dangerous, distracting, and unhealthy. Most elves see no appeal in the short-range lethality of firearms, instead relying upon the long range and accuracy of bows.
Yet it would be unhealthy for commanders and travelers to dismiss the dangers posed by more archaic or provincial methods of military thinking. Just as firearms have evolved, so too have more traditional weapons and their ammunition types.
Standard Arrows
The longbow, with its nearly meter-long arrows, its impressive range, and its surprising effectiveness against armor has not diminished over the centuries. In fact, it has improved with the evolution of the compound bow, extending the range of the venerated weapon and improving its overall accuracy. Its relative, the recurve bow, is still in regular use by cavalrymen and skirmishers in the west, particularly the Sabalazmon and Rosomai.
A well-trained archer can fire 33 rounds a minute, compared to a crossbowman’s 6 or a musketeer’s 4. While this sounds like an impressive case against muskets, the predominant drawback (no pun intended) of the bow is its ammunition. Standard arrows inflict limited damage, even against unarmored targets. A strike to the center of one’s mass, despite being quite painful, is unlikely to be fatal whereas a musket ball to the torso is quite the opposite. Additionally, a trained bowman would be loathe to hit a small target at long range, whereas a trained rifleman would be able to hit such a target with precision and regularity.
Despite this, the versatility of the bow allows standard arrows to be effective in a fight. To a cavalry skirmisher it is an excellent means of softening up the enemy before going in for the kill. For a group of foot archers standard arrows are inexpensive enough to be used to saturate entire areas with withering fire.
Fire Arrows
With the use of a small, magically infused arrowhead a force of archers can multiply its lethality, its psychological damage, and its effectiveness against buildings with the aid of a single weapon. A fire arrow can set fields ablaze, blanketing an area in brush fires and chaos. It can force defenders to flee palisades and houses that it would otherwise defend.
Yet, in spite of all of this fire arrows are not always reliable in spite of their magical imbuement. Against living flesh, many arrows simply burrow themselves in and are quickly extinguished, the heat effectively cauterizing the wound and inflicting little lasting damage on an enemy soldier. The unpredictable nature of fire can also work against the attacker, as fire works for no one in particular and can be carried by the wind into allied positions.
Despite this, fire arrows are a popular option for most foot archers and are mainly limited by their prohibitive cost. Thus, groups of archers often initiate battles by setting the enemy’s positions ablaze, forcing them to act. They will then conserve fire arrows until opportunities to use them again arise, such as cavalry that are spooked by fire or artillery crews whose ordnance will explode when hit by open flame.
Venomous Arrows
Unlike chemical munitions, which are dangerous to handle and use in gunpowder weapons, the use of toxins on arrows is commonplace and reasonably safe. A standard arrowhead dipped in a venomous tincture is immediately ready to be used against the enemy, and can have a variety of effects. The cheapest and most available toxin available to most archers is Torporium, which is employed by archers in most traditional societies.
Torporium, interestingly, is not a lethal substance. It is a fast-acting neurotoxin that makes one’s limbs and arms numb within moments, then strikes the victim with an overwhelming sense of fatigue. The venom comes from the ubiquitous Torpor Beetle, which can be found just about anywhere on the continent, and offers no long-term health hazards for any archer who accidentally ingests or injects it.
Fatigue and sluggishness, combined with numbness, can have devastating effects on the enemy in the short term, however. Cavalry archers especially enjoy the use of toxic arrows as a means of slowing down or stopping enemy soldiers in their tracks, allowing them to swoop in and butcher enemies without much in the way of reprisal.
Toxic arrows, though inexpensive, are sometimes unreliable. In very hot or very cold temperatures they often have no effect, and if an enemy commander has the shrewdness and foresight to issue his troops with antitoxins the arrows quickly lose their advantages. Additionally, Orcs and Circassids have a natural resistance to many toxins and ailments.
Seeker Arrows
A rare and expensive type of arrow that is the favorite of noblemen, assassins, and hunters of renown, a seeker arrow is literally an exquisite arrow imbued with a modicum of intelligence. Combining mystical enchantment with magical energy, an arrow’s entire structure from its head, shaft, and fletching become akin to a living being. Before being used, a seeker arrow can be given telepathic instructions on the location of an enemy’s vital organs or weak points by touching the fletching to the archer’s temples. Once instructed and launched, it will guide itself to either a specific target or, if no specific instructions are given, will try to seek out a target of value on its own.
Seeker arrows are not a sort of ‘magic bullet’ in the sense that they have flaws. While an arrow may guide itself, it cannot propel itself and is therefore at the mercy of wind and the starting trajectory. Too much wind or a poorly aimed shot will prove beyond the arrow’s ability to correct itself. As such, it is an arrow strictly for trained archers with the financial means of obtaining such exquisite ammunition.
Pinning Arrows
Most conventional arrowheads are designed to lodge themselves into the target’s flesh, their bodkins and barbs inflicting more damage on removal from the flesh than entry. However, the cost of a broader arrowhead is the rapid loss of energy as the arrow strikes its target, resulting in reduced penetration. Pinning arrows represent an effort to keep more heavily armored targets at bay by focusing the entirety of the arrow’s weight, energy, and velocity into a fine narrow point that broadens no wider than the arrow shaft itself.
This improves the performance of arrowheads against armored targets, but is no substitute for gunpowder weaponry, serving instead to boost the effectiveness of archers. Since the ability of any arrow to puncture armor is limited, pinning arrows instead focus on inflicting mobility penalties to whomever they hit. A strike to a thick breastplate is likely to glance off, but a hit to the knee or foot can give an enemy warrior pause, or possibly pin them to the ground until they work the arrow out or break it, making them vulnerable to sustained attacks.
Squash Head Arrows
An improvement over pinning arrows, the squash head arrow represents an uncommon and welcome fusion of modern science and archery. The arrowhead is a most peculiar thing. Instead of ending in a sharp point, the arrowhead is in fact a small concave disc coated in fulminating compounds that detonate on impact. When an arrow strikes any target the chemicals create a small, yet focused explosion that can maim flesh. The true strength of squash heads, however, comes to light when they are used against armored targets.
When the concentrated explosion strikes a hard substance like white steel, critium, or chitin, it tears a chunk of the armor off and blasts it into the wearer’s flesh, inflicting considerable damage. The chance of successful penetration is lower than that of critium rifle rounds, but the maiming ability of squash head arrows offsets their inferior reliability, inflicting grievous wounds.
Golden Bolts & Golden Arrows
Like auric bullets, golden bolts and arrows are at least partially made of gold and have a specialized purpose: returning demons and spiritual entities to the mystical plane in a rather violent manner. Architecturally, arrows and bolts are similar, yet in combat they function differently. Golden arrows are used judiciously to quickly strike and immobilize a monster’s weak points while golden bolts are best used to punch through armor and hit the creature’s center of mass. In both cases, the objective and ultimate result are the same: creatures of the mystical plane become ‘poisoned’ by the gold and shed their mortal coil.
Golden bolts and arrows are almost never found in the hands of an average soldier, as they are too expensive to be used by anyone but a professional. As such, they are restricted to specialists, assassins, nobles, officers, and some adventurers or professional monster hunters.
Standard Bolts
Crossbows are superior to bows in terms of weight and lethality, but due to their slow, albeit variable reloading speed, they are often eclipsed by their rivals’ performance. Bows are faster firing, more maneuverable, and more fabled than crossbows, yet crossbows retain a distinct advantage: ease of use.
Professional elven soldiers employ longbows and compound bows. Common militiamen or peasants employ crossbows. Where it takes years to become a skilled archer, an individual can become a talented crossbowman in the course of several hours of training. Like the musket, it is a weapon suited to irregular troops that is especially effective in defense.
Unfortunately, the standard crossbow bolt is not significantly more lethal than the standard arrow. It is, however, more effective at piercing armor than even some firearms. The kinetic energy stored in a modern crossbow is impressive, and the architecture of a crossbow bolt means that this energy is largely devoted to piercing wounds as opposed to the gaping, bloody wounds inflicted by lead shot.
Large versions of all bolts can be loaded into mechanical artillery, such as Ballistae and Eagle Guns.
Soft Bolts
As a result of the high mechanical stresses placed on crossbow bolts, the tendency over the past few centuries has been to try and strengthen the construction of the bolt. This has made the bolt naturally more effective against armored opponents, but has left it disappointingly underpowered when inflicting actual damage. The soft bolt is a relatively recent attempt to remedy that problem. It sacrifices armor piercing ability for damage while minimizing misfires.
Soft bolts accomplish this by fixing soft, pliable metal around a solid iron core. The soft metal mushrooms outward on contact, much like a bullet, inflicting significant injury. Soft bolts are relatively inexpensive and can be deployed en masse, but significantly reduce armor piercing abilities. Since so many Maenid legionnaires wear armor, the soft bolt has been most popular against the forces of the Republic, whose soldiers are more poorly equipped where armor is concerned. Legion auxiliaries, raw irregular troops not well trained in traditional archery, are especially fond of using this ammunition.
White Steel Bolts
Standard bolts are made from iron or steel made in any number of local smiths, workshops, and forges. As such, their quality can be unreliable, the metal brittle or even porous. The high quality steel produced by the Maenid city of Bitola, however, is amongst the finest and hardest in the world. The introduction of innovative (some say stolen) manufacturing techniques has allowed them to mass-produce small pieces, among them crossbow bolts. The hardened bolts that come from Bitola offer superior durability, and therefore superior armor piercing than normal bolts.
The cost of equipping soldiers with white steel bolts is considerable, however, and the hardened tips do not offer any additional killing power- just penetration. Despite this, white steel bolts are highly popular among ambitious young commanders who want to multiply the effectiveness of crossbow militia units against armored monsters or opponents.
Fire Bolts
With the aid of magic, a standard iron bolt can be heated mid-flight to a molten state. At the speed of a crossbow bolt, a globule of molten metal not only offers excellent armor penetration, but also a high chance of setting the target ablaze. Very different from fire arrows, fire bolts are more widely feared than any other ammunition widely in use by the elves. They are typically only found in the Maenid Empire, as the massive continental monopoly on mana allows the bolts to be produced at a low enough cost to be deployed by special units.
Fire bolts remain prohibitively expensive for many units, but they are also dangerous for other reasons. They have a somewhat high failure rate, represented by an alarming tendency to fire prematurely and incinerate the crossbowman wielding them. Due to their cost and dangerous unreliability, fire bolts cannot be equipped as standard ammunition by any unit and can only be kept in reserve until the order to fire them has been given. With such limitations, a commander must choose the right time and opponent to use them against.
Exploding Bolts
A very clever and fairly recent innovation in crossbow technology is that of the exploding bolt, a single-use inert projectile with carefully designed weak points. Exploding bolts do not make use of chemical explosives or magic of any kind, and are fabricated from specially formed and treated, but otherwise mundane steel. Against soft targets without armor, exploding bolts have a tendency to snap or fragment in the flesh, creating agonizing and morale-draining wounds, but their true utility is against armored targets.
Unlike white steel bolts, which are purpose-designed for armor penetration and leave little attention for inflicting damage, exploding bolts have a sufficiently hard tip to pierce armor, yet collapse and fragment just after impact, sending shards of sharp metal through the puncture in the armor and inflicting terrible injury. Exploding bolts are less reliable at armor penetration than white steel bolts, but they offer an excellent compromise between killing power and armor penetration at a reasonable price.
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It's been used in a number of contexts, but I think the original phrase was coined by a World War II song of the same name. It's about a (fictional) priest who, when asked to say a prayer for the fighting men at Pearl Harbor, mans one of the A-A guns and says "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!"
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