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Ranged Weapons

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Projectile Weapons

Despite the prevalence and convenience of las-weapons, many gunfighters prefer to use less high-tech weaponry, firing bullets. The weapons themselves are often cheaper than their las-based alternative, although the ammunition is more difficult to manufacture than the mass-produced, everyday power pack, so maintaining the weapon is often prohibitively expensive.

Projectile weapons are notably noisier and have more satisfying recoils than las-weapons, and so tend to be popular with criminal gangs who have reputations to uphold.

Normally only available to specialist units of the military or the intelligence services, silenced weapons act by absorbing the shockwaves produced by the bullet leaving the gun, and therefore dampening the explosive report down to a mere phutt.

Removable silencers are screwed or otherwise fitted over the muzzle of a normal firearm, and can be removed for ease of concealment.

Compatibility: A removable silencer can be attached to any pistol or basic weapon firing Limax or Longus ammunition.

Unreliable: Although a shot from a weapon with a removable silencer is silent, and will not give away the firer’s position, the lack of a permanent seal around the silencer means that a matched failure on any roll to hit with the weapon means that the silencer fails to muffle the shot.

Encumbrance: A removable silencer unbalances the weapon it is attached to, adding +5 to its Encumbrance and imposing a

–10 to hit penalty.

Silencers that are integral to the weapon (i.e. are an extension of its barrel) work in much the same way as a removable silencer, but are far more reliable.

Compatibility: Integral silencers are generally built into models of auto-carbines, pistols and sniper rifles designed specifically for use by military special forces. A number of examples are shown on the Trading Charts, but at the GM’s discretion, other weapons may have integral silencers.

Reliable: There is no chance of an integral silencer failing to muffle the sound of a shot.

Encumbrance: The silencer adds +5 to the weapon’s Encumbrance value, but there is no to hit penalty. Usually, the Encumbrance of an integral silencer is included in the weapon’s profile.

Any projectile weapon may be fitted with a variant magazine or ammunition feed. These generally alter the weapon’s ammunition capacity and occasionally its Encumbrance value as well.

Typically a larger-than-normal circular magazine with a mechanical loading system, drum magazines are available for any projectile firing weapon that normally utilises a magazine.

Compatibility: A drum magazine can be fitted to any projectile weapon firing Limax, Longus, Caedes or Vastatio rounds.

Alternative Magazine: There is nothing to stop a character switching between a standard magazine and a drum magazine as he wishes.

Encumbrance: A drum magazine increases a weapon’s Encumbrance by +5.

Capacity and Reloading: The weapon’s ammunition capacity is trebled, but there is no increase to reload times.

Jamming: The mechanics of a drum magazine are often incapable of withstanding the stresses of automatic firing. As such, semi-automatic fire now jams the weapon on a matched failure when rolling to hit, and fully automatic fire jams on either a matched success or a matched failure. It takes an action to clear a jam.

Belt driven weapons carry a lot more ammunition than a weapon with a typical magazine, although they are generally far heavier. Most projectile weapons can be modified to replace the original magazine feed with a belt adaptor.

Compatibility: A belt feed adaptor can be fitted to any basic or heavy projectile weapon that is capable of semi-automatic or fully automatic fire.

Replacement: A belt feed adaptor is a permanent modification and, once fitted, the weapon cannot use normal magazines.

Encumbrance: A belt feed adaptor does not increase the Encumbrance value of a weapon in itself. However, ammunition belts loaded into a weapon now add to the weapon’s Encumbrance, since they are external to the weapon’s shape and will shake around distractingly with the weapon’s recoil. Note that the belt’s Encumbrance will drop as shots are fired.

Capacity and Reloading: A belt-fed weapon has a capacity equal to the number of rounds in the current belt loaded into it. The reload time of the weapon is doubled, as loading a belt is more fiddly than replacing a spent magazine.

Jamming: Belt feeds are more prone to jamming than normal magazine feeds. Therefore, a belt-fed weapon firing on semi-automatic will jam on a matched failure on a roll to hit. When firing on fully automatic, the weapon will jam on either a matched success or a matched failure. It takes an action to clear a jam.

Loader: Belt-fed weapons work far more efficiently when two characters are firing it, one as firer, one as the loader. The loader’s job is to feed the belt into the weapon, ensuring it does not get pulled in at an angle, which is the main cause of jamming. If a loader is feeding ammunition into the weapon, the weapon uses the normal rules for jamming when firing faster than single shot (i.e. only with fully automatic fire). Additionally, the loader counts as carrying the loaded ammunition belt, and if he helps in the reloading of the weapon, the reload time is not increased.

Simply a longer version of a typical magazine, extended magazines are capable of holding far more shots, but significantly disrupt the weapon’s balance.

Compatibility: Any projectile weapon that would normally use a magazine can be fitted with a shot selector.

Alternative Magazine: There is nothing to stop a character removing an extended magazine and replacing it with a standard magazine as he wishes.

Encumbrance: Due to severe unbalancing, rather than actual increased weight, an extended magazine adds +10 to the weapon’s Encumbrance value.

Capacity and Reloading: The weapon’s ammunition capacity is doubled, but there is no increase to reload times.

Normally, a character firing a weapon containing a mixture of ammunition types (e.g. a stubber with both dumdum and hollow point Limax rounds) must fire them in the order that they are stored in the magazine. Alternatively, the weapon can be fitted with a shot selector attached to multiple demi-magazines, allowing the firer to switch between ammunition types at will.

Compatibility: Any projectile weapon that would normally use a magazine can be fitted with a shot selector.

Alternative Magazine: There is nothing to stop a character removing a shot selector and replacing it with a standard magazine as he wishes.

Encumbrance: A shot selector adds +5 to the weapon’s Encumbrance value. Each additional magazine also adds +5 Encumbrance.

For example, a Mk IV boltgun with a four-magazine capability has an Encumbrance value of 60 (40 for the weapon, +5 for the shot selector, and +15 for three additional magazines).

Capacity and Reloading: Each demi-magazine on a shot selector has a capacity equal to half the weapon’s normal capacity. The reload time of each demi-magazine is equal to the normal Reload characteristic of the weapon. Note that the same type of ammunition can be loaded into more than one demi-magazine.

Size of Shot Selector: Most shot selectors only hold two types of ammunition, but some with three, four, and sometimes even more demi-magazines are available.

Switching Between Demi-Magazines: It takes one action to change from one demi-magazine to another.

The smaller cousin of the autogun and auto-carbine, the autopistol is a prized weapon amongst paramilitary and criminal groups for its high rate of fire. Its small size makes it easily concealable, but this reduces its accuracy, range and hitting power somewhat, meaning that many gunfighters prefer the more reliable stubber.

Blackpowder Pistol

Available in matchlock or flintlock versions, the blackpowder pistol is extremely rare within the Imperium, normally only found on low-technology worlds or homemade in illegal backstreet workshops. Its incredibly slow rate of fire and embarrassing lack of accuracy makes it an unpopular weapon where any kind of alternative is available.

Specialist Weapon: Blackpowder pistols require the Specialist Weapon – Blackpowder ability.

Misfire: A matched failure in a roll to hit will result in the weapon misfiring. The GM should roll a D100 if this occurs. Characters should not be informed of the result of any results that aren’t immediately obvious (i.e. 01-85), unless they have the Specialist Weapon – Blackpowder ability, in which case they can take a Sagacity test to recognise the symptoms of the misfire.

A powerful and fearsome weapon, if a bit bulky, the bolt pistol is a superb prestige weapon for both military and civilians alike. With a good range and decent rate of fire, and of course the devastating hitting power of a bolt weapon, a trained fighter with a bolt pistol can take down many times his number of enemies.

Specialist Weapon: Bolt pistols require the Specialist Weapon – Bolt ability.

The gentleman’s firearm, this long-barrelled pistol is designed for accuracy and aesthetic beauty over lethality and rate of fire. As its name suggests, the duelling pistol is used primarily in the settling of matters of honour between gentlemen. Not every potential opponent may be carrying his own pistol, but rather than halt the duel and leave a dispute unresolved, many career duellists own a matching pair of firearms and issue a weapon to the unarmed recipient of a challenge.

Manufactured and used solely by the Vindicare Temple of the Officio Assassinorum, the Exitus handgun is designed to aid an Assassin in his or her exfiltration from a firing position. A single Exitus bullet is normally enough to take down any target.

Not all weapons have to be mass-produced or put together by artisans. Anyone with a basic knowledge of firearms can attempt to put together their own simple guns. Usually, they are no more than a length of tubing with a pistol grip and an improvised trigger, firing switch or spring mechanism.

Unreliable: On a matched success when firing, the weapon has come to the end of its life and cannot be used again. On a matched failure, not only is the weapon unusable, but it explodes as well, inflicting a hit causing D3 damage on the firing arm.

Used almost exclusively by the Imperial Navy, this heavy revolver is the only mass-produced handgun to use the longus rifle bullet. In the dense melees of a boarding action, the almost unrivalled killing power (amongst standard projectile weapons, at least) of the naval pistol often tilts the balance in favour of Imperial assault teams.

Weighted Grip: The naval pistol is very solid and causes D3+1 damage in close combat.

Shot Selector: It is possible for a firer to spend an action rotating the loader to choose which of the six bullets is chambered – in other words, the naval pistol counts as having an integral six-type shot selector.

Revolver

One of the most primitive multiple shot firearms, the revolver has hung from the hips of gunfighters, lawmen and civilians for thousands of years. It is primarily valued for its low manufacturing cost, and is often the first gun that many gang fighters own.

Shot Selector: It is possible for a firer to spend an action rotating the loader to choose which of the six bullets is chambered – in other words, the revolver counts as having an integral six-type shot selector.

An automatic pistol, also known as a stub gun or slugthrower, the stubber is one of the most reliable (if expensive) handguns generally available within the Imperium. It has a range and rate of fire that would put most other pistols to shame, and is greatly sought after.

Somewhere between autopistols and autoguns in size, the auto-carbine is capable of a far higher rate of fire than the former, but with accuracy comparable with the latter. The more controlled semi-automatic capability also provides excellent stopping power, even if the sensitive trigger makes single shots nigh on impossible.

Rifle-sized, and with a far greater range than the average lasgun, the autogun is easy to manufacture, hence many lower technology cultures issue it as standard to their military. It is reasonably common across the rest of the Imperium, thanks to its lower cost and ease of maintenance to the more expensive lasgun. Its accuracy and range are unrivalled by its las equivalents, and the only real disadvantage it has is that, like all projectile weapons, its ammunition can be fairly pricey.

An incredibly simple weapon, many blunderbusses are little more than metal tubes sealed at one end and filled with debris. Others are more complicated, with butts of polished wood or plastic, but all work on the same principle – to pepper the target with as many fragments of shrapnel as is possible. The blunderbuss’s pathetic range and rate of fire make it immensely unpopular amongst most fighters, although there are some who are quite fond of the weapons devastating recoil and loud bang.

Specialist Weapon: Blunderbusses require the Specialist Weapon – Blackpowder ability.

Inaccurate: The weapon is so strongly optimised for point blank firing that it uses the to hit penalties of a pistol, i.e. short range = +10, medium range = -20, long range = -40.

Scatter: If by some miracle the weapon does hit a target, D6 locations are hit, each for 2D3 damage. Locations hit more than once total up damage before determining the number of levels of location injury caused. The GM may rule that two or more characters very close together, e.g. in close combat, the hits may be divided amongst multiple targets.

Ammunition: A blunderbuss requires 6 balls and 6 charges of powder in order to fire at full effect. If less ammunition than this is dedicated to the shot, then the maximum number of hits that can be caused is reduced to the lower number (e.g. if only 4 balls and 5 powder charges were loaded, a maximum of 4 hits can be caused, treating results of 5 or 6 on the D6 roll as being 4).

It is not strictly necessary for ball ammunition to be used in a blunderbuss, and any pieces of appropriately sized scrap metal, rusty nails or small rocks may be rammed down the barrel. However, a blunderbuss loaded with scrap will misfire not only on a matched failure, but also on a matched success.

Misfire: A matched failure in a roll to hit will result in the weapon misfiring. The GM should roll a D100 if this occurs, referring to the table under the blackpowder pistol entry (above).

Ammunition: A blunderbuss requires 6 balls and 6 charges of powder in order to fire at full effect. If less ammunition than this is dedicated to the shot, then the maximum number of hits that can be caused is reduced to the lower number (e.g. if only 4 balls and 5 powder charges were loaded, a maximum of 4 hits can be caused, treating results of 5 or 6 on the D6 roll as being 4).

It is not strictly necessary for ball ammunition to be used in a blunderbuss, and any pieces of appropriately sized scrap metal, rusty nails or small rocks may be rammed down the barrel. However, a blunderbuss loaded with scrap will misfire not only on a matched failure, but also on a matched success.

An ancient design of weapon, standard issue at the time of the Horus Heresy, the Mk II boltgun has remained in production for so long because it has a longer effective range than any other basic bolt weapon. Its age, however, does mean it is incompatible with many of the more recent technological innovations, such as they are.

Specialist Weapon: Mk II boltguns require the Specialist Weapon – Bolt ability.

Limitations: The Mk II boltgun can only use its standard magazine and is only capable of firing standard bolt ammunition.

Originally designed as a squad support weapon, the Mk III boltgun utilises a belt feed as standard. It is one of the few types of bolter used by Imperial Guard and Planetary Defence Force troopers, although this is in extremely limited numbers.

Specialist Weapon: Mk III boltguns require the Specialist Weapon – Bolt ability.

Belt Feed: The Mk III boltgun can only use its integral belt feed.

The current incarnation of the boltgun may not have the long range or the rate of fire of its predecessors, but it has a good capacity within its curved ‘sickle’ magazine, and many experts believe that a high rate of fire in a weapon as powerful as a boltgun is somewhat redundant anyway. It is also versatile in the ammunition feeds it can accept, allowing both drum and belt feed attachments.

Specialist Weapon: Mk IV boltguns require the Specialist Weapon – Bolt ability.

The only bolt weapon designed for civilian use, the bolt carbine usually finds itself in the hands of the better equipped security services, or occasionally organised crime cartels. Not as heavy as a full-sized boltgun, and only capable of single shots, it is still nevertheless a powerful and frightening weapon to confront.

Specialist Weapon: Bolt carbines require the Specialist Weapon – Bolt ability.

The Exitus rifle is used by the Vindicare Temple of Assassins to take out dangerous heretics and alien leaders over a colossal distance. It is, without a doubt, the best sniper rifle in the Imperial armoury.

Silenced: Exitus rifles have an integral silencer.

Self-Destruct: It can be difficult to make a speedy getaway while carrying a cumbersome sniper rifle, so most Vindicare adepts abandon theirs within a few minutes of taking the shot. Exitus weapons are incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands, and are particularly prized by those members of Imperial sub-culture who know of their existence (usually those few to have survived a Vindicare sanction). For this reason, all Exitus rifles are fitted with a shaped explosive charge, attached to the barrel where the magazine would normally go (the Exitus is a breech-loading weapon). D6 minutes after the charge is set, the rifle will explode with the effect of a krak grenade. There is no indication of the presence of an explosive device, but characters recovering a discarded Exitus rifle will notice the quiet buzz of the timer on a successful auditory Awareness test.

A firearm so primitive as to be obsolete amongst all but the most barbaric cultures, muskets and arquebuses are simple, if unreliable blackpowder weapons. The slow reload time, poor armour penetration and short range mean that a force armed with muskets will always be defeated by an opponent with more modern weaponry.

Misfire: A matched failure in a roll to hit will result in a musket misfiring, with the same effects as a blunderbuss (above).

A step up the evolution of the firearm from the musket, the basic rifle includes a breakable (or otherwise accessible) chamber, into which each shot is loaded by hand, after which it must be removed by the same method. Although primitive in design, it is reliable, and so has remained in limited use among civilian populations with limited access to more high-powered weaponry. Many snipers prefer to use breech-loading rifles, since they are able to tailor the bullet type used for each shot.

Projectile weapons are favoured among many hunters, not least because a las-weapon of similar power occasionally sets the fur of a target animal alight, ruining it. Many feel that the kick of a projectile weapon also adds to the sport of the hunt. Due to the extra barrel length used to provide additional accuracy, hunting rifles are often very long and unwieldy, and it requires a strong firer to use them proficiently.

Another primitive weapon still in wide usage, repeating rifles use lever, bolt or automatic actions to chamber rounds stored in a magazine, allowing multiple shots. So reliable is the weapon, and so cheap to produce, that some Planetary Defence Forces on poorer worlds issue repeating rifles as standard armament, although elite units usually have autoguns.

Designed for use by the Imperial Guard’s Ogryn Auxilia companies, the ripper gun is a massive automatic combat shotgun. Rather than tax the ogryns’ already limited intelligence, only one fire mode is provided – a full auto spray. Pirated or black market versions of the ripper gun often find their way into the hands of those ogryns working for criminal or merchant cartels.

Specialist Weapon: Ripper guns require the Specialist Weapon – Ogryn ability.

Ammunition: The only ammunition type compatible with the ripper gun is Caedes scatter shells.

On their homeworlds, some ogryns make use of massive blunderbusses as a ranged weapon. Despite the devastating effects of the weapon on lightly armoured targets, the scatter cannon’s effectiveness is reduced by its inaccuracy and lengthy reload time.

Specialist Weapon: Scatter cannons require the Specialist Weapon – Ogryn and the Specialist Weapon – Blackpowder abilities.

Inaccurate: The weapon is so strongly optimised for point blank firing that it uses the to hit penalties of a pistol, i.e. short range = +10, medium range = -20, long range = -40.

Scatter: If by some miracle the weapon does hit a target, 2D6 locations are hit, each for 2D3 damage. Locations hit more than once total up damage before determining the number of levels of location injury caused. The GM may rule that two or more characters very close together, e.g. in close combat, the hits may be divided amongst multiple targets.

Misfire: A matched failure in a roll to hit will result in a scatter cannon misfiring, with the same effects as a blunderbuss (above).

Ammunition: A scatter cannon requires 12 balls and 12 charges of powder in order to fire at full effect. If less ammunition than this is dedicated to the shot, then the maximum number of hits that can be caused is reduced to the lower number (e.g. if only 9 balls and 10 powder charges were loaded, a maximum of 4 hits can be caused, treating results of 9 or 10 on the D6 roll as being 4).

It is not strictly necessary for ball ammunition to be used in a scatter cannon, and any pieces of appropriately sized scrap metal, rusty nails or small rocks may be rammed down the barrel. However, a scatter cannon loaded with scrap will misfire not only on a matching failure, but also on a matching success.

The shotgun is a low-velocity weapon designed for civilian use. Most are either breech- or muzzle- loading, but the shotgun’s most notable capability is its versatility, aided by the sheer range of Caedes shell variants available.

Double-Barrelled: Some models of shotgun have two barrels, which increases Capacity to 2 and Reload to (2), and allows for the option of a Semi (2) Firing Mode.

Many less reputable shotgun users cut the barrel of their weapon down as short as it will go. This may cripple the weapon’s already less-than-long range, but increase the weapon’s manoeuvrability (and therefore accuracy) at short range, and allows for easier concealment. As such, many walk-by assassinations are performed using this weapon, particularly in double-barrelled variants, where the second shot makes sure the target doesn’t get back up.

Inaccurate: The weapon is so strongly optimised for point blank firing that it uses the to hit penalties of a pistol, i.e. short range = +10, medium range = -20, long range = -40. Note that there are no further penalties when using Caedes scatter shells, which already adjust accuracy to that of a pistol.

Double-Barrelled: Some models of shotgun have two barrels, which increases Capacity to 2 and Reload to (2), and allows for the option of a Semi (2) Firing Mode.

A military version of the standard shotgun is optimised for close-quarter action and use in civilian areas (where high-velocity bullets can punch indiscriminately through house walls), and is capable of reaching a reasonable rate of fire, even if its magazine capacity does leave a lot to be desired. The military usually issues combat shotguns for the purpose of breaching locked doors, although it is just as effective against more organic targets.

Muzzle-loader: It is possible to load a single shell directly into the barrel of some models of combat shotgun, rather than pump a round in from the magazine. This takes one action, and technically adds one to the weapon’s capacity. This technique is normally only used with variant shell types, such as executioner or hellfire.

Automatic combat shotguns are colloquially known as ‘street sweepers’ for the devastating hail of fire they are capable of laying down. More of a military squad support weapon than a civilian shotgun, most legal systems ban, or at least frown on, the ownership and use of automatic combat shotguns.

Drum Magazine: Automatic combat shotguns use an integral drum magazine, and will jam if a matched failure is rolled to hit when firing on semi-automatic.

An insanely lethal weapon, the storm bolter is virtually unheard of amongst even the military. Only the Terminator Marines of the Legiones Astartes use it on a regular basis. It consists of two boltguns welded together, fired from a single trigger. The storm bolter’s incredible weight prevents most non-enhanced humans from using it effectively, so few even try to obtain one.

Specialist Weapon: Storm bolters require the Specialist Weapon – Bolt ability.

The most deadly machine gun ever produced by human technology, the assault cannon is a six-barrelled monstrosity, usually mounted on tripods or vehicles. It is capable of spewing out thousands of rounds a minute, but unless huge amounts of coolant are used to prevent the spinning barrels from melting, the weapon is unsafe to fire for some time afterwards. Some models of assault cannon are sufficiently cooled to be able to operate at maximum rotation speed without having to cease fire to cool, although these models are generally only found on the vehicles and dreadnoughts of the Adeptus Astartes.

Specialist Weapon: Assault cannons require the Specialist Weapon – Heavy ability.

Overheats: An assault cannon fired on full auto must spend a round cooling down before it can be fired again safely. Attempting to fire an overheated assault cannon will result in an immediate jam. Firing on semi auto does not heat the barrels up so much that cooling time is required.

Increased Rotation Speeds: A character firing an assault cannon has the option of increasing its full auto rate of fire in blocks of 15 shots per action, up to a maximum of full (90). Note that larger capacity magazines will be required for higher speeds to be worthwhile. However, not only do the barrels require an additional round of cooling for each step the rotation has been ratcheted up, but there is also a cumulative 10% chance for every fifteen shots fired in the action that the red hot barrels and firing mechanism will fuse together. For example, an assault cannon firing at full (75) must spend five rounds cooling, and has a 50% chance of the barrels fusing. Fused barrels render the assault cannon useless until it is repaired.

Unusually for heavy projectile weapons, the autocannon is designed more for chewing up light vehicles than for mowing down hordes of infantry. Its high velocity maximises the killing power and range of its heavy Vastatio shells, making the autocannon one of the most feared weapons in the arsenal of the Imperial Guard. In the hands of criminals or heretics, it becomes all the more terrifying.

Specialist Weapon: Autocannons require the Specialist Weapon – Heavy ability.

Also known as the ‘back breaker’ for its immense size and crippling recoil, the heavy bolter is arguably one of the most deadly infantry-portable machine guns in existence. Despite being incapable of fully automatic fire, the heavy bolter is capable of laying waste to entire squads in seconds.

Specialist Weapon: Heavy bolters require both the Specialist Weapon – Bolt and the Specialist Weapon – Heavy abilities.

The lightest squad support machine gun in common usage within the Imperium, the heavy stubber uses the Longus rifle round. Cheap and easy to maintain, and with relatively common ammunition, many military and paramilitary units prefer the heavy stubber to autocannons and heavy bolters.

Specialist Weapon: Heavy stubbers require the Specialist Weapon – Heavy ability.

A bulky weapon normally issued only to the Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus or their warriors, the Grey Knights Space Marines, the psycannon is based on bolt technology. It is designed to fire a special kind of psychically impregnated bolt shell, but can also fire standard shells.

Specialist Weapon: Psycannons require both the Specialist Weapon – Bolt and the Specialist Weapon – Heavy abilities.

Ammunition: The psycannon can only fire either standard or Anti-Psychic bolts.

A charge of explosive powder is placed in the pan of a blackpowder firearm, where it is ignited to send a simple lead projectile (the ball) out of the muzzle. The two parts of the ammunition must be loaded separately, as part of a time-consuming and complicated procedure.

An additional drawback of using blackpowder in weapons is that most types of blackpowder only ignite when dry, meaning that even humid air makes weapons utilising it less effective.

Bolt weapons fire a rocket-propelled projectile tipped with a small, mass-reactive warhead. Bolt ammunition is rare, and only the most well connected crime lord or mercenary will be able to afford the status symbol that is a bolt weapon.

Projectile Lodging: Because of the nature of bolt ammunition, it rarely leaves exit wounds, and so the projectile (or rather, its shrapnel) remains within the body. All bolt shells, except for Stalker and Inferno shells, automatically require minor surgery to remove fragments from the wound.

A standard slug, the Limax is reasonably reliable, although in lower velocity weapons its accuracy and hitting power leave a little to be desired.

Significantly larger than the Limax, the Longus bullet is designed primarily for rifles and squad support weapons.

Used solely by heavy weapons, the Vastatio shell is the heaviest and most powerful solid bullet on the market.

Caedes Shells

A standard shotgun shell firing a large bullet or ball bearing.

A high calibre round designed for precision one-shot kills, the Exitus was designed by the Adeptus Mechanicus for use with the Vindicare Temple’s unique sniper weapons. No other Imperial, civilian or illegal organisation uses Exitus ammunition, and most experts will not recognise an Exitus cartridge.

All these ammunition types are compatible with any weapon capable of firing standard versions of the ammunition.

Flechette rounds fragment during flight, spraying targets with shrapnel. They are of little use in military combat against armoured targets, but are expecially popular amongst security forces dealing with rioting citizens.

Shrapnel: Flechette rounds hit D3 locations and do D6 damage per hit.

Standard bullets can be filed down so that they shatter on impact, causing terrible damage to targets.

Dumdum: Any location wounded by a dumdum round automatically starts bleeding (D3).

Shaped to provide maximum penetration, these rounds are often made from denser materials than normal bullets.

Hard-hitting: A man-stopper round does an additional D6 damage but has an extra –5 to hit due to the projectile’s additional mass.

Hollow point rounds have a cavity within the nose, which causes the bullet to collapse when it strikes a target. This means that its penetrating power is reduced, preventing rounds from passing through a hostile target and striking innocents or hazardous materials beyond.

Hollow Point: A hollow point round has the same damage as a standard shell, but only the highest individual D6 is used to determine penetration of any cover or armour. This D6 result is also used to determine whether the bullet passes through the target or lodges.

Tracer rounds are bullets that burn or otherwise glow as they fly towards the target. They are used in night time or tunnel combat, where the streams of light allow for corrective aiming. They are generally included in magazines as every third bullet. Overall firepower is reduced, but accuracy is increased.

Compatibility: Tracer rounds may be used in any weapon capable of firing Limax, Longus or Vastatio ammunition in semi or fully automatic fire modes.

Tracer: If, while firing semi-automatic or full automatic bursts in low-light conditions, a tracer round hits a target, the next two bullets in the burst gain a bonus of +5 to the firer’s BS. However, the tracer bullet only inflicts half damage.

Incorporating both the ball and a charge of blackpowder into a small paper package, these can be dropped down the muzzle of a blackpowder weapon and fired immediately, without the need for ramming or any of the other procedures required when using separate ball and powder.

Compatibility: Only blackpowder pistols or muskets can use sachet charges, although sachets can be torn open and the contents separated to provide ammunition for blunderbusses and scatter cannons.

Rapid Reload: A blackpowder pistol or musket using sachet charges reduces its Reload characteristic to 1.

Unless otherwise specified, all these ammunition types are compatible with any weapon capable of firing solid Caedes shells.

The Jury TAG (Targeting And Guidance) system is standard to Adeptus Arbites models of combat shotgun, although many other organisations and individuals use it as well. The Jury system is fitted beneath the barrel of a shotgun. Its internal cogitation engine is capable of identifying and locking onto the shape, density and body temperature patterns of a single target selected (via a low-powered laser projector). This information is then used to guide special Executioner rounds towards the tagged target.

Compatibility: Only pump action combat shotguns or automatic combat shotguns can be fitted with a Jury TAG system. Other shotgun types can utilise Executioner rounds, but without any targeting bonuses.

Locking On: It takes a single action to lock onto a target with a Jury system. If the target is moving at running speed or faster, this requires the user to pass an Initiative test to successfully lock on. The system can isolate and lock onto any object up to and including the size of a small car. Once it successfully locks onto a target, the Jury system keeps the target in memory until a new target is selected.

Centre Of Mass: Because the Jury system centres on the easiest part of a target to hit, a successful hit from a locked on Executioner round will always hit a humanoid target’s body.

Accuracy: It takes a few milli-seconds for the Executioner round to locate the target after it leaves the barrel of a weapon, but once locked on, a hit is almost certain. A shot with a locked on Executioner round uses the following to hit penalties: short range = -10, medium range has +20, long range = +10.

Firing ‘Dumb’ Executioner Rounds: Sometimes there is not the time to lock onto a target, or the weapon is incapable of using a Jury system. In this case, the Executioner round behaves exactly like a normal solid Caedes shell.

These shells contain a small phial of acidic toxins that burn the flesh and affect the victim’s nervous system. Hellfire shells are horrifying weapons illegal on most civilised worlds (although Imperial agents, of course, are still able to use them with impunity).

Hellfire: If the shell injures a target (i.e. gets through armour and force fields, and causes at least one point of damage) the toxins increase the damage caused by the shot by D6.

Another controversial ammunition type, and similarly illegal on most worlds, Inferno shells are hollow and filled with a phosphorus gel. Upon impact, they tend to rupture, spraying the gel over (and into) the target, setting him alight.

Inferno: Inferno shells do normal damage, but have a 50% chance of setting the location hit alight, using the rules for small fires (i.e. D3 damage per round).

When firepower is needed to disperse crowds, it is common for planetary law enforcement agencies (although not necessarily the Adeptus Arbites, who tend not to worry about the backlash or body counts) to deploy riot shells. These are Caedes shells with the solid slug replaced with a ball bearing wrapped in a thick layer of rubber. Although capable of causing great pain and injury, they cause far fewer fatalities than conventional firing.

Limited Lethality: Despite causing normal damage for a Caedes solid shell, a hit from a riot shell can only ever cause one level of location injury. Note that the shell rarely penetrates the target’s skin, and so will only lodge if bleeding is caused by the location injury.

A common shotgun ammunition variant, scatter shells spray a wide area with small pieces of shot.

Inaccurate: Scatter shells are so strongly optimised for point blank firing that they use the to hit penalties of a pistol, i.e. short range = +10, medium range = -20, long range = -40.

Scatter: If by some miracle the weapon does hit a target, D3 locations are hit, each for D6+3 damage. Locations hit more than once total up damage before determining the number of levels of location injury caused. The GM may rule that two or more characters very close together, e.g. in close combat, the hits may be divided amongst multiple targets.

All of these ammunition types work with both the Exitus rifle and Exitus handgun.

Although illegal on most worlds, the Officio Assassinorum ignores all planetary laws in its execution of Imperial duties. Hellfire Exitus rounds contain a small phial of acidic toxins that burn the flesh and damage the nervous system.

Hellfire: If the bullet injures a target (i.e. gets through armour and force fields, and causes at least one point of damage) the toxins increase the damage caused by the shot by D10.

Containing a short-burst, high-intensity haywire generator (as used in the grenade), the shield breaker knocks out force fields that it impacts against.

Shield Breaker: Force fields protecting a target drop for the rest of the round, and there is a 25% chance that the damage to the field is permanent.

Propelled by a silent gas-powered cap, and tipped with adamantium, not even bunker walls are secure against a shot from a Vindicare Assassin.

Penetrator: Halve the Armour Value of any location hit by a kraken shell, before making deductions from the damage inflicted.

Unless otherwise specified, all these ammunition types are compatible with any weapon capable of firing standard bolt shells.

Limited exclusively to the armouries of the Ordo Malleus branch of the Inquisition, the anti-psychic bolts of the psycannon are (allegedly) manufactured from a by-product of the Emperor’s Golden Throne. Additionally, they are tipped with ritually inscribed silver and soaked for 666 days in holy water before being ready for use. As such, they are capable of causing severe damage to targets of a psychic disposition.

Compatibility: Anti-psychic bolt shells can only be used in psycannons, bolt pistols or bolt carbines.

Anti-Psyker: An anti-psychic bolt shell causes triple damage against Daemons, or double damage against non-Daemonic psykers, after deductions for armour and force fields. The shell completely ignores Daemonic auras.

Despite the similarity with the Hellfire Caedes shell, the Hellfire bolt shell is far less controversial. This is largely because they are limited to military use, and then in miniscule numbers only given out for special operations.

Hellfire: If the shell injures a target (i.e. gets through armour and force fields, and causes at least one point of damage) the toxins increase the damage caused by the shot by D10.

The Inferno bolt shell is similar to the Caedes version in some ways, but still uses the rocket propellant of standard bolt shells. The explosive warhead of the standard bolt is replaced by a reservoir of phosphorus gel.

Inferno: Inferno shells have a 50% chance of setting the location hit alight, using the rules for small fires (i.e. D3 damage per round).

Projectile Lodging: Because they do not explode in the same manner as normal bolt shells, Inferno shells only cause 2D10 damage and use the normal rules when determining if the shot lodges within the target’s body.

Containing a solid adamantium tip in addition to an explosive charge, penetrator rounds are designed to punch through even the toughest armour with ease.

Penetrator: Halve the Armour Value of any location hit by a kraken shell, before making deductions from the damage inflicted.

Rather than exploding inside its target, the frag shell detonates a few yards from impact, showering the target with shrapnel.

Scatter: A Metal Storm round hits D3 locations on the target, and does D10 damage per hit. Locations hit more than once total up damage before determining the number of levels of location injury caused. The GM may rule that two or more characters very close together, e.g. in close combat, the hits may be divided amongst multiple targets.

Stalker shells replace their explosive charge with a gas-powered ignition, making them silent and removing any muzzle flare.

Silenced: Stalker shells are virtually silent and have no visible muzzle flash or gun smoke.

Projectile Lodging: Because they do not explode, Stalker shells only cause 2D10 damage and use the normal rules when determining if the shot lodges within the target’s body.

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