New Unit Formations
Drilled Foot
Drilled Foot (DF) are soldiers that have been drilled to fire and maneuver with firearms in formation. Because of the lengthy reload time required by their weapons, Drilled Foot are trained to fire in volleys by rank, than fall back to the rear rank to reload, enabling the next rank to fire. Historical examples of Drilled Foot troops include Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish harquebusiers and musketeers.
Like Loose Foot, Drilled Foot can march or hustle through friendly units, and be marched or hustled through by friendly units. As actions in lieu of attacking, Drilled Foot may ready to attack.
When a Drilled Foot unit is hit, it may be eligible to reduce damage dealt by one or more points by withdrawing one or more hexes, up to a maximum of its marching movement. Drilled Foot may withdraw or retreat through any friendly units, and friendly units may withdraw or retreat through them. Drilled Foot may withdraw or retreat one additional hex if doing so is the only way to not end their movement in the same hex as another unit.
Shocked by Cavalry: Due to their vulnerability while reloading, Drilled Foot are terrified of cavalry, who can close with and destroy them quickly. A Drilled Foot unit which is declared the target of a charge by cavalry must make a shock roll unless it is secured by Formed Foot (see below). Fearless creatures equipped with firearms, such as constructs or zombies, are not shocked by cavalry.
The shock roll occurs before any reaction fire is resolved. If, as a result of the shock roll, the Drilled Foot retreats, it also immediately becomes disordered (losing its ready marker, if it had one). The cavalry unit which triggered the retreat may advance into the just-vacated hex. If, because of the retreat, the Drilled Foot is no longer an eligible target for the attacker, then the attacker may select a new target.
Note that it is possible for a cavalry unit to trigger multiple shock rolls from Drilled Foot in this manner! Drilled Foot without Formed Foot to protect them are easily destroyed by cavalry in the Pre-Modern era.
Secured by Formed Foot: Drilled Foot units which are adjacent to one or more units of Formed Foot gain +2 to shock and morale rolls, and are not shocked by cavalry. This represents the security provided to their flanks by the bristling rows of pikes and swords.
Skirmishing Foot
Skirmishing Foot (SF) are elite troops trained to fire and maneuver with firearms outside of a formation. Skirmishing Foot are used to harass enemy units as well as to screen friendly units from the enemy’s own Skirmishing Foot. Skirmishing Foot are identical to Loose Foot in all respects save two:
Maximum Number of Creatures: The maximum number of creatures in a Skirmishing Foot unit is ½ the normal maximum for creatures of that size; e.g., a Skirmishing Foot unit can include no more than 60 man-sized creatures.
Withdrawal: Unlike Loose Foot, Skirmishing Foot can withdraw to reduce damage dealt by firearms.
Undrilled Foot
Undrilled Foot (UF) are poorly-trained and undisciplined soldiers carrying firearms. They are incapable of any advanced tactics and are generally the worst troops on the battlefield. Like Drilled Foot, Undrilled Foot are shocked by cavalry (see above). They lack combined-arms training, however, so they are not secured by Formed Foot. This makes them extremely vulnerable to cavalry.
Like Irregular Foot, Undrilled Foot units may not disengage or ready to attack, due to lack of discipline. Undrilled Foot units must attack if able, and if the target of an Undrilled Foot unit’s attack recoils, flees, or routs, the Undrilled Foot unit must advance if possible.
Firearms
Firearms are missile weapons handled according to the rules for Attack Sequences in Chapter 1 of Domains at War: Batles. The following special rules apply.
Eligibility to Fire: To be eligible to fire, a firearm-equipped unit must not have any reload tokens. Reload tokens track the amount of time required for the unit to reload its firearms after it fires. Place the number of reloading tokens indicated for that unit when it completes its missile attack sequence. At the conclusion of each movement sequence in which the firearm-equipped unit remains stationary, remove one reload token from the unit.
Firearm Range (AP / Maximum) | ||
Firearm |
v. Foot |
v. Mounted |
Rifled Musket |
4/4 |
5/5 |
Musket |
3/3 |
4/4 |
Rifled Arquebus |
2/4 |
2/5 |
Arquebus |
2/3 |
2/4 |
Pistol |
1/2 |
1/3 |
Range and Armor Penetration: Because they have a shallow trajectory and rapid decrease in shot velocity, firearms have considerably shorter range than bows and crossbows. The trade-off, however, is that attacks made with firearms ignore up to 5 points of armor at certain ranges. The Firearm Range table shows the armor-penetrating and maximum range (in hexes) for various firearms. (Note that “armor” for this purpose includes actual physical protection, thick hide, shields, etc. but not bonuses to AC due to magic or Dexterity. The Judge should apply common sense when deciding if a monster’s Armor Class is due to its armor, the toughness of its hide, or magic and Dexterity.)
EXAMPLE: A Drilled Foot unit is equipped with rifled arquebuses. It can fire at an enemy Foot unit up to 4 hexes away. If the enemy Foot unit were only 2 hexes away, the Drilled Foot unit could ignore up to 5 points of armor when making its attack throw against it.
EXAMPLE: A Drilled Foot unit is equipped with muskets. It can fire at an enemy Foot unit up to 3 hexes away. The Drilled Foot unit can ignore up to 5 points of the target’s armor when making its attack throw against it.
Invisible Killers: Pre-modern projectiles such as arrows and slings can be tracked flying through the sky. Not so for musket-balls and other gunpowder projectiles, which move too quickly for the eye. As a result, Loose and Flyer units may not withdraw to reduce damage dealt by firearms. Skirmishing Foot units may withdraw to reduce damage dealt by firearms, however.
Line of Sight: Missile attacks with firearms must have LOS. Firearms may never volley overhead.
Musket Forks: Muskets are large, long guns which should be supported by a fork rest when firing. Therefore, in order to fire without penalty, a musket-equipped unit must have stood fast during its movement sequence. Otherwise the unit suffers a -2 penalty to attack throws because it is firing without the benefit of its fork rests. (This penalty never applies when a musket-equipped unit conducts reaction fire – the act of readying in lieu of attacking includes setting up the fork rests!)
Smoke and Thunder: The noise, smoke, and flash of firearms can quickly break the morale of unseasoned troops. As with magic, anytime a unit is damaged by firearms, a shock roll is required to see if the unit retreats or routs.
Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rule: Anytime a unit with morale of 0 or less is the target of an attack sequence from firearms (or magic), the unit must make a shock roll at the end of the sequence to see if it retreats or routs. The shock roll is required regardless of whether the unit is damaged by the attack. A unit normally makes a shock roll when an attack reduces it to ½ or less of its maximum uhp. When low morale units become heavily damaged, this may result in two shock rolls being triggered – one for the smoke and thunder of the firearms (or magic) and another from the damage. When this occurs, make just one shock roll, but apply an additional -2 penalty to the roll from smoke and thunder of the guns.
This optional rule makes D@W compatible with how firearms impact morale in LOTFP. It replaces the Smoke and Thunder role above as well as the standard morale rules for magic.
Building Firearms-Equipped Units
The rules below supplement the rules for building units in Chapter 8 of Domains at War: Battles.
Maximum Unit Size
A Drilled Foot unit must have a minimum of 20 men (or other man-sized creatures) and may not have more than 120 men. A Skirmishing Foot unit must have a minimum of 10 men and may not have more than 60 men. As always, large creatures (such as ogres, centaurs, or human cavalry) count as 2 men. Huge creatures (such as giants or wyverns) count as 6 men. Gigantic creatures (such as elephants or old dragons) count as 24 men. Colossal creatures (such as ancient dragons) count as 120 men (e.g. the full unit). However, a Skirmishing Foot unit may consist of just one colossal creature if desired.
Unit Movement Rate and Formation
The addition of firearms adds three new formation types: Drilled Foot, Skirmishing Foot, and Undrilled Foot. The Standard Unit Movement Rate and Formation table, below, has been updated to add these new formation types.
Standard Unit Movement Rate and Formation | |||
|
Encounter Movement Rate |
||
Weapons Carried |
60’ |
90’ |
120’ |
Firearm |
1/2/3 (DF) |
1/2/3 (DF) or 2/3/4 (SF)# |
2/3/4 (DF) or 2/4/6 (SF)# |
Spear and shield; or pole arm |
1/2/3 (FF) |
2/3/4 (FF) |
2/4/6 (FF) |
Weapon and shield; spear without shield; or two-handed weapon |
1/2/3 (FF) |
2/3/4 (FF or LF)* |
2/4/6 (FF or LF)* |
Dual wielding one-handed weapons |
1/2/3 (FF) |
2/3/4 (FF or LF)* |
2/4/6 (LF) |
Bow, crossbow, darts, javelins, or sling; or one-handed weapon without shield |
1/2/3 (LF) |
2/3/4 (LF) |
2/4/6 (LF) |
Natural weapons |
1/2/3 (IF) |
2/3/4 (IF) |
2/4/6 (IF) |
|
#Choose when the unit is created. To qualify as SF, the unit must have a minimum of 10 men and maximum of 60 men. *Choose when the unit is created. |
Irregular Foot: Unless equipped with firearms, the following troops are always Irregular Foot (IF): untrained conscripts, untrained militia, undead, and beastmen other than hobgoblins.
Undrilled Foot: If equipped with firearms, the following troops are always Undrilled Foot (UF) with movement rate of 1/2/3: untrained conscripts, untrained militia, undead, and beastmen other than hobgoblins.
Size Factor by Equipped Weapon and Unit Formation | ||
Unit Equipped With |
DF / SF |
UF |
Flintlock Pistol |
120 |
140 |
Flintlock Arquebus |
120 |
140 |
Flintlock Musket |
140 |
160 |
Flintlock Rifled Arquebus |
160 |
200 |
Flintlock Rifled Musket |
180 |
220 |
Wheellock Pistol |
200 |
240 |
Matchlock Pistol |
200 |
240 |
Matchlock Arquebus |
200 |
240 |
Matchlock Musket |
220 |
260 |
Matchlock Rifled Arquebus |
280 |
340 |
Matchlock Rifled Musket |
300 |
360 |
Unit Number of Attacks
The cleave factor and size factor of firearm-equipped units may vary from those presented in D@W: Battles.
Cleave Factor: Cleave factor is 0 with any firearm.
Size Factor: It takes a long time to reload firearms. In order to maintain a steady volume of fire, units equipped with firearms must form up many ranks deep. This is true whether the unit consists of men, ogres, or giants. Therefore the size factor is based on the type of weapon and formation of the unit, rather than the size of the constituent creature. Cross-reference the weapon equipped and formation type to find the appropriate size factor.
Reload Tokens: Because of the high size factors of firearm-equipped units, their calculated number of attacks per attack sequence may be quite low. A firearm-equipped unit will always get least one attack during its firearm attack sequence. However, if the calculated number of attacks for a firearm-equipped unit is less than 0.75, the unit will gain reload tokens when it fires. The number of reload tokens gained is equal to [(1 / calculated number of attacks) -1], rounded to the nearest whole number. Round 0.5 up if odd, and down if even.
EXAMPLE #1: A unit of 120 Drilled Foot is equipped with flintlock arquebus (1d8 damage). Its size factor is therefore 120. The unit’s number of attacks is (120 x 1 x 4.5) / (120 x 4.5) = 1. Its attack sequence is “1 flintlock arquebus”
EXAMPLE #2: A unit of 120 Drilled Foot is equipped with matchlock arquebus (1d8 damage). ). Its size factor is therefore 200. The unit’s number of attacks is (120 x 1 x 4.5) / (200 x 4.5) = 0.6. Because its calculated number of attacks is less than 0.75, it will gain reload tokens when it fires. The number of reload tokens gained from its attack sequence is [(1/0.6)-1], or 0.67, which rounds to 1. Its attack sequence is “1 matchlock musket, 1 reload token.”
EXAMPLE #3: A unit of 120 Undrilled Foot is equipped with matchlock rifled muskets (1d8 damage). Its size factor is therefore 360. The unit’s number of attacks is (120 x 1 x 4.5) / (360 x 4.5) = 0.33.Because its calculated number of attacks is less than 0.75, it will gain reload tokens when it fires. The number of reload tokens gained from its attack sequence is [(1/0.33)-1], or 2. Its attack sequence is “1 matchlock rifled musket, 2 reload tokens”.
EXAMPLE #4: A unit of 60 Skirmishing Foot is equipped with flintlock muskets (1d8 damage). Its size factor is therefore 140. The unit’s number of attacks is (60 x 1 x 4.5) / (140 x 4.5) = 0.42. Because its calculated number of attacks is less than 0.75, it will gain reload tokens when it fires. The number of reload tokens gained from its attack sequence is [(1/0.33)-1], or 1.38, rounded to 1. Its attack sequence is “1 flintlock musket, 1 reload token”.
