Big Guns in China

Foreign Forces:

Machine Guns

“Whatever happens, we have got

The Maxim Gun, and they have not.”

-Hilaire Belloc

Rates of technological advancement meant that there were no machine guns in China until the very end of the Nineteenth Century. Most of these came via Russia and had seen service in the Russo-Japanese conflict. Unlike sub-machine guns, a much later invention, all of these weapons are either tripod mounted, or set upon a wheeled frame.

All prices quoted here are in Shanghai Dollars (S$)

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Gatling Gun (US 1861 to 1884)

One of the first and most successful of the early rapid-fire guns, the Gatling saw service initially in the American Civil War in the hands of Union soldiers and later in the Battle of San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War. While certainly not the first multi-barrelled weapon in service until this time, it was the most successful before its retirement in 1911.

A constant issue with rapid-fire weapons was the fact that the barrels heated up and began to warp under heavy use. Multiply-barreled configurations ameliorated the problem by sharing the load across a number of barrels. The cyclical rotation of the Gatling gun’s barrels allowed them to fire, eject the spent cartridge, re-load and cool down in one smooth action. Initially, the spaces between the barrels were packed with a coarse, fibrous material soaked with water to further reduce the temperature, but this was soon dispensed with as excess to requirements.

The main innovation of the Gatling gun was the gravity-fed loading system which allowed a smooth transition of the round from the magazine to the breech. This revolution in design allowed the Gatling to move from percussion-cap ammunition to brass cartridges with relative ease. This flexibility meant that the gun could be upgraded to accept the current standard ammunition employed by the forces using it.

The number of barrels on a Gatling gun varied between six and ten: the earliest versions were driven by a crank system, but later models had motorised systems to facilitate firing. The size and weight of the Gatling required a team of four men to emplace and operate it.

Base Chance: 15%

Damage: 2D6+1

Base Range: 200m/200 yards

Attacks/round: Burst (400 rounds/minute)

Capacity: 250 round cloth belt

HPs: 15

Era Cost: S$25,000

Malfunction: 99%

Common in Era? Uncommon

Nordenfeldt Gun (Sweden/UK 1873 to 1888)

The Nordenfeldt gun was another experiment in the multi-barrel approach to barrel cooling. It was invented by Swedish engineer Helge Palmcrantz and patented in 1873. The weapon was put into production by London-based banker Thorsten Nordenfeldt, who set up a manufacturing plant in England with its sales office in London. The gun was soon adopted by the Royal Navy and worked alongside their Gatling and Gardner guns.

The Nordenfeldt mechanism worked by moving a lever back and forth: the action fired one of up to twelve barrels, expended the cartridge, shifted the barrel sideways to be reloaded, and readied the next barrel to fire. The guns were constructed in calibres up to 25mm/1 inch and even higher, but these larger examples were, more strictly, rapid-loading rather than rapid-firing.

After the release of the Maxim gun, the Nordenfeldt was deemed to have been seriously out-classed; the Nordenfeldt company merged with the Maxim Gun Company in 1888 to become the Maxim Nordenfeldt Guns and Ammunition Company Limited.

Base Chance: 15%

Damage: 2D6+2

Base Range: 200m/200 yards

Attacks/round: Burst (450 rounds/minute)

Capacity: 250 round cloth belt

HPs: 20

Era Cost: S$25,000

Malfunction: 00%

Common in Era? 1890s onwards

Gardner Gun (UK 1880)

The Gardner gun was invented by William Gardner of Toledo, Ohio, a former captain in the Union Army serving during the American Civil War. He built a prototype and took it to the Pratt and Whitney Company for their comments. They took it onboard and spent a year refining the mechanism for military use. They came up with a unique, low-cost and dependable model which, despite rigorous examination by the US Military during the late 1870s and early 1880s, they refused to pick up.

America’s loss was Britain’s gain however, as the Royal Navy and later, the British Army, adopted the Gardner to use alongside its Gatling and Nordenfeldt guns. They also bought the rights to reproduce the gun in England, a project for which Gardner re-located across the Atlantic to oversee. The Gardner saw extensive use in the Sudan and performed with honour, although its vulnerability to sand and other types of grit was heavily underscored.

Like the Gatling gun, the Gardner is operated by means of a crank: operating either one or two barrels, turning the crank fed a round into the breech from a vertical magazine or hopper, fired the round, then extracted the spent cartridge before starting the cycle again.

Base Chance: 15%

Damage: 2D6+2

Base Range: 200m/200 yards

Attacks/round: Burst (450 rounds/minute)

Capacity: 40 round vertical magazine / 200 round hopper

HPs: 20

Era Cost: S$15,000

Malfunction: 98%

Common in Era? 1890s onwards

Maxim Gun (UK 1884 to 1912)

American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim developed the Maxim gun in 1884. It was the first self-powered machine gun, utilising the recoil to eject the spent casings of the rounds and reload the next bullet. This made for a far more efficient, less labour-intensive system that made the Maxim gun “the weapon most associated with imperial conquest”.

Drawbacks to the weapon were that it was bulky and heavy, requiring a team of men to move and operate it. Additionally, it was a water-cooled weapon, needing a watchful eye to keep the weapon topped-up, or else it would jam.

Inevitably, the sheer weight of the Maxim gun saw it superseded by other weapons that were far less heavy.

Base Chance: 20%

Damage: 2D6+4

Base Range: 200m/200 yards

Attacks/round: Burst (600 rounds/minute)

Capacity: 250 round cloth belt

HPs: 18

Era Cost: S$25,000

Malfunction: 98%

Common in Era? Uncommon

Bira Gun (Nepal 1896 to 1897)

An oddity. In a time when machine-guns were being developed and used by many of the world’s military forces, this gun appeared in Nepal, the brainchild of Nepalese General Gahendra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana (1871-1905). Based upon the Gardner model, they were double-barrelled and fed from a drum magazine mounted atop the weapon, much like the Lewis gun of later years and used Martini-Henry calibre ammunition. Interestingly, they were crank-operated like the Gatling gun but the handle turned anti-clockwise which is actually more reliable that in other models.

The major drawback with these weapons is that they are literally hand-made, and therefore parts from one gun are generally not able to be moved to another. They were therefore, never used to outfit a standing force and, as far as can be ascertained, were never used in battle.

Base Chance: 15%

Damage: 2D6

Base Range: 200m/200 yards

Attacks/round: Burst (450 rounds/minute)

Capacity: 100 round drum magazine

HPs: 15

Era Cost:???

Malfunction: 96%

Common in Era? Uncommon

Madsen (Denmark 1897 to 1955)

The Madsen was light machine-gun developed by Julius A. Rasmussen and Theodore Schoubue. It was put forward for adoption as the main weapon of the Danish Army by Captain Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen, the Danish Minister of War, and accepted in 1902. Over the next 100 years it was sold to over 34 different countries and reconfigured to 12 different calibres.

The gun had an incredibly complex recoil operated system of reload and firing that depended upon the two phases of the recoil action to expel spent cartridges and reload the next round. The initial “short recoil” opens the breech; the second “long recoil” phase turns a cam wheel which ejects the case downwards from the bottom of the breech and then reloads the breech at the end of its rotation. This recoil action shunts the entire barrel back and forth and is responsible for the low firing rate of the weapon.

Nonetheless, this was the first truly ‘light’ machine-gun, able to be carried and set up by one or two men. This alone made it a great advantage on the battlefield.

Base Chance: 15%

Damage: 2D6+4

Base Range: 200m/200 yards

Attacks/round: Burst (400 rounds/minute)

Capacity: 25, 30, or 40 round box magazine

HPs: 15

Era Cost: S$45,000

Malfunction: 99%

Common in Era? 1890s onwards

Maxim MG ’08 (Germany 1908 to 1918)

The “Maschinengewehr 08”, or MG08, was the German Army’s standard machine gun in World War One and saw continued use right up until the end of World War Two although, by that time, it had been relegated to the status of a lesser weapon. Before the Great War, the weapon was usually manufactured at the government arsenal in Spandau and for this reason, it is sometimes called the Spandau MG08.

The MG08 was adopted by the Germans in 1908 (hence the name) and was a refinement of the original Maxim gun. It was relatively slow, but very reliable overall, although it still required a four-man team to operate. One of the drawbacks was the cooling system for the barrel which involved a reservoir of about a gallon of water surrounding the barrel which had to be constantly monitored: depletion or freezing could lead to disastrous results.

Each gun usually came with a sled-like mount, or “schlitten”, which enabled it to be carried around by the four-man team on their shoulders, or dragged in snowy conditions. Other features which arose during the War were telescopic sights which became standard features afterwards.

Due to treaty negotiations between the two countries, Germany supplied China with many MG08s during the Chinese Revolution and through the Warlord Era. In 1935, China demanded the right to manufacture their own version of the gun and came up with the Type 24 Heavy machine gun.

Type 24 Heavy machine-gun

The first change that the Chinese made was to re-chamber the weapon for the 7.92x57mm Mauser round, the standard ammunition for the Nationalist Army. They also dispensed with the sled configuration, due to the fact that the environments of China were more diverse than those the Germans were used to. Additionally, it comes with a metal pole that attaches to the tripod, making it taller for use as an anti-aircraft gun.

Over time, this weapon was phased out by more versatile and more easily moved weapons such as the M1917 Browning and the SG-43 Goryunov, but it was still in use during the Viet Nam War. After the Chinese Civil War, the People’s Republic of China had the existing caches of the Type 24 HMG re-chambered to accommodate Russian 7.62x54mmR cartridges.

Base Chance: 15%

Damage: 2D6+4

Base Range: 2000m/2,187 yards

Attacks/round: Burst (400 rounds/minute)

Capacity: 250 round cloth belt

HPs: 18

Era Cost: S$15,000

Malfunction: 00%

Common in Era? 1910s onwards

Maxim 1910 (Russia 1910 to 1950)

This re-imagining of Maxim’s gun by the Russians was a wheeled and shielded version known as “Pulemyot Maxima na stanke Sokolova” or “Maxim’s gun on Sokolov’s mount”; more officially it was called the PM M1910. The mount referred to is a wheeled tripod arrangement with a broad shield, behind which the gunner could hide whilst firing.

The chambering for this iteration was for the standard Russian ammunition – 7.62x54mmR; further tinkering upped the rate of fire to truly menacing levels. The weapon was first used by Russian Imperialist forces from 1910; it was later the machine-gun of choice for Red Army troops during World War Two. Aircraft and naval variants were also made.

Base Chance: 15%

Damage: 2D8

Base Range: 200m/200 yards

Attacks/round: Burst (550 rounds/minute)

Capacity: 250 round cloth belt

HPs: 20

Era Cost: S$60,000

Malfunction: 00%

Common in Era? Uncommon

Artillery

Artillery, or field weapons, can be broken up into three main groups: guns – high powered weapons with long range and low trajectory; howitzers – low powered weapons with short range and medium trajectory; and mortars – medium powered weapons with long range and a high trajectory. Guns were made of bronze, iron, copper and even wood and were wheeled about on wooden, wheeled frames. Variations were made to be fixed on gunships giving these craft their legendary power. In all conflicts, these guns were seen as one of the main prizes of the battle.

Obviously, these weapons come in a variety of calibres and sizes; these statistics are a good all-around average for use in gaming, for those who aren’t too persnicketty.

Field Gun

Base Chance: 1%

Damage: 10D6 in a 2m/yd radius

Base Range: 500m/500 yards

Attacks/round: 1/4

Capacity: Separate Shells

HPs: 40

Era Cost: S$45,000

Malfunction: 99%

Common in Era? Throughout the 1800s

Howitzer

Base Chance: 1%

Damage: 2D6 in a 4m/yd radius

Base Range: 150m/150 yards

Attacks/round: 1

Capacity: Separate Shells

HPs: 20

Era Cost: S$45,000

Malfunction: 96%

Common in Era? Uncommon

Mortar

Base Chance: 1%

Damage: 6D6 in a 6m/yd radius

Base Range: 500m/500 yards

Attacks/round: 2

Capacity: Separate Shells

HPs: 10

Era Cost: S$15,000

Malfunction: 00%

Common in Era? Uncommon

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Chinese Troops:

Machine Guns

Machine guns were never very commonly encountered in the hands of the Chinese. When they were, they were usually spoils of war and were insufficiently supplied with ammunition, meaning that their effectiveness was severely limited.

Artillery

After seeing the efficiency of the Westerner’s guns, the Chinese were quick to replicate them. The Chinese guns were often designed to look like dragons and the Taipings even called them ‘long dragons’. The main issue with these cannon were the inconsistent engineering behind their manufacture which led to an uneven performance in battle. The Chinese tried regularly to copy the Western exploding shells but these were also largely unsuccessful: according to ‘Chinese’ Gordon, “not one in twenty bursts”.

The other item in the Chinese repertoire was the jingall (or gingall) a shoulder-mounted cannon that operated much like a mortar. These required a team of three men: two to carry and support the device and one to operate the match and perform loading duties. In essence, the jingall was simply an over-sized matchlock gun.

Chinese “Long Dragon”

Base Chance: 1%

Damage: 4D6 in a 2m/yd radius; or (05%) 7D6 in a 2m/yd radius

Base Range: 1,500m/1,640 yards

Attacks/round: 1/4

Capacity: Separate Shells

HPs: 30

Era Cost: S$30,000

Malfunction: 99%

Common in Era? Throughout the 1800s

Jingalls

Base Chance: 1%

Damage: 4D6 in a 2m/yd radius

Base Range: 1,000m/1,094 yards

Attacks/round: 1/3

Capacity: Separate Shells

HPs: 20

Era Cost: S$7,500

Malfunction: 96%

Common in Era? Throughout the 1800s

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Dirty Tricks; or, ‘we may not have the Maxim Gun but we have 3,000 years of Chinese Alchemy behind us...’

“Three men can make a tiger...”

-Ancient Chinese proverb

This quote refers to a Chinese fable which says that even the most outrageous rumour – such as a tiger stalking the streets of the capital city for prey – may be believed without question if reported by three different people; that something can be made of nothing. This technique was often used in the Chinese courts in attempts to defame absent ministers and the story served as a warning to government officials. Similarly, when faced with the technology of the Foreign Forces, the Chinese fell back on what they knew best and often excelled at ‘making something from nothing’ on the battlefield.

Chinese innovation led to some truly horrifying - albeit effective – weaponry and these were detailed in many ancient texts to do with the conduct of warfare. In the time of the Western invasion of China, many poorly-equipped factions resorted to these methods to gain the upper hand in otherwise one-sided confrontations. It must be said that many of these innovations were easily countered or avoided but often they were the element of surprise which brought about surprising victories.

Flaming Arrows:

There are a number of varieties of these devices. Some are made to carry a small bundle of lit flammable material tied around the shaft: when fired upon wooden or straw-roofed structures they effectively cause the defenders to look to fire-fighting measures rather than responding in kind. Some arrows carried a slow-burning fuse - which would better resist being blown out in transit - attached to a small bag of gunpowder. Most insidious were arrows whose tips were coated in phosphorous or sodium, which would react violently to the liquid in the bodies of those they were propelled into.

Arrow Batteries:

These devices range across a number of iterations: the most simple was a large wooden tube, able to be held or propped on the ground, loaded with a gunpowder charge and stuffed full of arrows. At the touch of the fuse, these arrows would fly forth in fearful quantities, causing the enemy to scatter (and perhaps be fooled into thinking that they faced greater numbers than they had at first thought). Larger versions of this weapon fired spears instead. Another version consisted of a large frame with several ranks of bamboo tubes each carrying one or more arrows: when manned by an operating crew, this device could fire successive ranks of arrows at the enemies, the crew re-loading each rank after its discharge. A very effective example of this can be seen in the movie, "55 Days At Peking".

Rockets:

By the early 1700s, the Chinese had refined the manufacture and use of rockets to a high art; rocket warfare was still a negligible influence in battle for the West during the Peninsular Wars in the early 1800s. Chinese texts talk about rockets of massive size, able to travel 1,500 yards and explode with devastating effect. Such rockets were wrapped with copper wire (which, being brittle, ruptured into myriad shrapnel fragments) or incendiary chemicals meant to set fire to flammable structures or people. Occasionally these missiles were used instead of arrows in the Batteries mentioned above. Finally, some rockets held magnesium cores which would light up the battlefields at night.

Grenades:

Most Chinese grenades were simple affairs: a ceramic or clay pot, loaded with a gunpowder charge and fistfuls of cash, pebbles or junk metal. When the fuse was lit the device could be thrown at the attackers or dropped behind a retreating force to delay pursuit. A smaller form took the shape of a short length of bamboo, plugged at both ends and hurled into the fray after being lit. Scarily, the ‘tiger men’ in some Imperial and other forces would tie a group of these explosives to their grappling hooks and run into massed enemy troops swinging them around their heads to drive the formation into a rout.

‘Stink Pots’

Like the grenades, these consist in the main of a ceramic or clay pot filled with noxious substances and designed to be dropped into the enemy’s position, thus causing discomfort and distress. A particular favourite of pirates was a jar filled with the whites of duck or goose eggs and the flammable oil derived from local tree species (such as pine). When thrown onto the deck of an enemy ship, it makes the surface treacherous to walk upon and, if all goes awry, may be set on fire whilst the attackers make good their escape. Such devices were used against the English in the First Opium War. Other such devices contained quicklime, gained from burning oyster shells, which would blow up into the eyes of the opposition and blind them. Still others contained chemicals – such as heated sal ammoniac - which would cause clouds of noxious smoke to billow forth, reducing visibility and choking the enemy.

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