Well, I finally got my copy of Dragon Magazine #232 from Noble Knight games. Wow, what a great article! Rich Baker’s “Weapons of the Waves: Seapower of Cerilia” really answered a lot of questions for me. Not only is there a ton of technical information but the historical essay on naval power ranging from Pre-Deismaar to Post-Imperial is invaluable (I have a much greater appreciation for the Masetians now.)
I don’t have a scanner and I’m loathe to transcribe the entire article; however, in case anyone’s interested, below are a few tidbits that touch on recent forum topics.
RAMMING ATTACKS
“Since ramming attacks weren’t covered in the Birthright Naval Rules, here’s a quick way to resolve them in a Naval War Card battle. The ramming ship must move into the same space as the target, and make an attack using the resolution cards. Just like a Grappling Check, the attack value depends on the relative movement allowances of the tow ships. If the result is “F” or “-” the target evades the ramming ship. A result of “H” inflicts 1d4-1 points of hull damage to the target +/-1 point per difference in ship size (as measured by hull point total), +2 if the ramming vessel is equipped with a ram, and +1 if the ramming vessel is moving at a Speed of 3 or better when it hits. A “D” result indicates that the rammed vessel suffers a mortal blow, and sinks after 1d4 rounds.”
HELLPOWDER
Baker notes that “the most advanced regions of Cerilia are assumed to have a technology equivalent to the early 15th century. However, in the last 30 or 40 years Brecht and Khinasi alchemists have been experimenting with a substance commonly known as ‘hellpowder’ - the Cerilian equivalent for gunpowder.” I
In applying hellpowder to naval combat he suggests that, while reliable cannon have not yet been invented, “Ships can fling petards - barrels of hellpowder with burning fuses - with the effect of doubling a ship’s missle rating for War Card battles.” He also makes provisions for arming ships with bombards, dragons and petards:
Bombard
Crew: 8, THACO: 15, ROF: 1/5, Range: 5/20/40, Damage: 2d10/3d10
- primitive cannon firing 60-90 pound stone ball
- 1d4-2 hull damage regardless of ship’s defence rating
- 25% per hit that 1d6 random crew injured/killed
- 10,000gp+
- vessel can mount 1 per hull point
- ship fitted with bombards adds 2 to missle rating on War Card
Dragon
Crew: 3, THACO: 13, ROF: 1/3, Range: 8/16/24, Damage: 1d12/1d20
-small, primitive cannon mounted on ship’s rails firing 2-4 pound lead ball
- if roll over ship’s defence rating on d6, hull takes 1 point damage
- if ship mounting dragons, adds 1 to missle rating on War Card: cumulative with bombards, if mounted
Petard
Damage: 3d6/3d8, all other factors depend on launching device
- “In artillery statistics, a catapult or magonet flinging petards instead of stones doubles the dice rolled to determine damage. For example, a catapult normally rolls a d8 and compares the result to the target’s defense rating. If the catapult flings a petard, two eight-sided dice are rolled, each of which may inflict one hull point of damage if it beats the ship’s defense rating.”
- petard equipped ships add 1 to missle rating on War Card
Interesting, huh? I guess you could use petards for ammunition in regular artillery untis as well. I really recommend ordering a copy of the magazine from www.nobleknight.com so you can read the rest of the article: I truly can’t do it justice here, and if you have the magazine you get the full colour War Cards for three new vessels (drommonds, galleas, greatships!) Actually, the issue has a lot of other terrific material as well (new types of swords, firearms for fantasy campaigns, fencing schools/techniques) so its money well spent.