The Armory Volume 1
Gunpowder Era Weapons from the
14th Century to the Present

Game Review

Review by Kerry Lloyd

written by Kevin Dockery
Firebird, Ltd. P.O. Box 4180, Ann Arbor, MI 48106
Released: June, 1984
Price: $12.95
Complexity: Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: None
**** reviewed by Kerry Lloyd

Have you ever wondered what an UZI looks like? Or who developed it? How many 40mm grenades could one carry easily? Where's the best place to stand when firing a recoilless rifle? The answers to all these questions about gunpowder weapons (and many, many more) are to he found in The Armory, Volume 1, the first of a new series of reference books on weaponry, modern and historical, being published by Firebird, Ltd.

Volume 1, of The Armory covers over 400 gunpowder hand and manportable weapons and their ammunition, from the Tannenburg Hand Cannon of 1399 to the Gyrojet pistol, from the "Tommy Gun" of the '30s gangster fame to the UZI and the modern super-rapidfire versions of the Gatling gun, and from the early muskets to today's AK-47, AR-18, and SATS-G3 (if you wonder what these last two are, look 'em up in The Armory).

The author of The Armory, Kevin Dockery' is a professional gunsmith with extensive military training and has handled with facility a subject difficult to write about in an interesting fashion. Kevin is also the author of The Morrow Project, a post-holocaust era roleplaying game (RPG) with a large following, and the information in The Armory can easily be used in many of the RPGs set in modernweapons use times.

Eight major categories are used for weapons and ammunition description, each with an appropriate code number: pistols-01, submachine guns-02, rifles-03, machine guns-04, miscellaneous (including shotguns, flamethrowers, and grenade launchers) -05, heavy weapons (mortars, recoilless rifles, and 20mm cannon) 06, grenades-07, and small arms ammunition-08. Weapons are further coded by 132 different countries of origin and year of introduction. The full code number form for each weapon is type- country-year, 00-000-00ox.

Each of the numerous weapons described in the book is illustratedmost by photographs, but a few by line-drawings, generally in the case of rare or classified weapons-and statistics are listed for all weapons. The stat list varies according to category of weapon, but all pertinent information for each category is listed-, pistols, for instance, are statted with a code for, NAME, NAME(NATIVE), TYPE, DATE ADOPTED, CAL[iber], LENGTH, MUZZLE VEL[ocityl, W[eigh]T (EMPTY), \Xl[eigh]T (LOADED), EFF[ective] R[a]NG[e], MAX[imum] R[a]NG[e] TYPE OF FIRE, RATE OF FIRE, FEED DEVICE, FEED DEVICE W[eigh]T, BASIC LOAD, and LOAD W[eigh]T. A paragraph or two of prose description further defines each weapon (and the writing is even grammatically correct!).

The UZI, in various versions, is illustrated on pages 28 and 29; it was developed by Israel in 1951.

The small arms ammunition portion includes an unusual but very interesting section. The various cartridges and shells are photographically illustrated and are life-size-if you've ever wondered how big some of the more powerful rifle loads were, now's your chance to find out. A 40mm grenade is about the size of a juice glass and weighs approximately half a pound--one doesn't carry very many of these at one time.

An extensive appendix of gaming data is included, keyed to both Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes from Blade/Flying Buffalo Inc. and Espionage from Hero Games Inc. (fitting in with Champions and Danger International as well-now you can figure out what happens when Firebolt gets hit by fire from the machine gun operated by two of Gorgon's goons). In this section also are several expansion rules to cover many of the special weapons like flamethrowers and recoilless rifles.

The safest place from which to fire a recoilless rifle is its side--there's a vicious backblast. Complete gaming stats for the various guns and grenades are also provided, damage dice, size, stun, etc., making it much easier to include esoteric and unusual weapons in one's campaigns.

The Armory is not for everybody, obviously, but if you play superhero games, modern war roleplaying, crime, '30s adventure, or any game that makes heavy use of firearms, the book will be an extremely useful reference. For designers of any type of modern war games, The Armory is an invaluable reference, a working tool that is not to be missed. I'm already looking forward to Volume 2.

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© Copyright 1986 by Dana Lombardy.
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