7e) Combat -- Actions

Combat Actions

A combat round in Lead and Chrome is three seconds, which isn't much time. There is a limit to what you can do.

In one three-second round, a character can perform up to two actions, as long as they can be completed in no more than 1.5 seconds each. After determining initiative, each character performs their declared first action in turn, then their second actions are performed in the same order of initiative.

A character can walk up to their Agility in m/yd during the round, and perform up to two other actions at an additional -3 penalty to the task roll, if one is required.

A character can run up to their Agility x 3 in m/yd during the round, and still perform one other action in the second phase of the round, at a -6 penalty to the task roll. This penalty does not apply if the character is charging into hand-to-hand combat with someone, but since the combat takes place in the second phase of the round the character being charged may have the chance to shoot the charger first.

If a manual task is being performed while running and no task roll is required (e.g. loading a full magazine into a weapon), the character still has to pass a Coordination check to avoid dropping something (e.g. the magazine or the weapon). Alternatively, a character can run up to half the normal distance and then jump forward or upward to their normal maximum. A character cannot shoot a bow while running.

Free actions: Some actions are free, meaning that they can be performed in addition to other actions with no additional penalty to either action. As a free action, a character can drop anything held in their hands (but not throw it), and they can speak or shout a few words. Of course they can do neither if, for some reason, they are physically unable to do so, like being tied up or gagged.

Reloading

Consider all the actions you have to take just to reload a modern firearm with a detachable magazine. First you press the magazine release catch and remove the empty clip – it won't necessarily fall out on its own, especially if it is side-, top- or rear-mounted. Then you have to put it in a pocket or pouch, or simply drop it – referees and players should keep track of how many mags get lost like this, and remember that replacements need to be bought. Then you have to get a full magazine from your pouch or pocket, insert it into the weapon and work the action to ready it for firing. All this could easily take up one three-second turn. Reloading a revolver with loose cartridges from your pocket is going to take a lot longer.

The basic rule is this: in one combat Action (half a Round or 1.5 seconds), a character can remove or load a detachable magazine or load one individual cartridge into a firearm. However, the character can still talk, walk, run or take cover while reloading – they don't have to just stand there like an idiot waiting to get shot.

If the character doesn't have the right skill to use the weapon (even if they have another in the Firearms skill group), or they are unfamiliar with its loading method (for instance a 21st-century rifleman trying to load a flintlock musket), loading takes twice as long as stated. If the character has no idea what the weapon is (a caveman with a ray-gun is an extreme example), they can only load or fire it by accident (rolling a one on an INT check for each action), and even then they are as likely to shoot themselves as anyone else (no skill bonus, -3 to hit, a roll of a one automatically results in a mishap).

Thus:

Magazine-fed weapons take two combat Actions (one Round) to reload – one to remove the empty magazine and one to insert a new one and chamber a cartridge. If the character fires the last shot on the first phase of the round, they may remove the magazine in the second phase. They can then load a fresh magazine in the first phase of the next round and fire as a second Action at the normal -3 penalty to hit. An empty magazine can be refilled at a rate of one loose cartridge per Action.

Belt-fed weapons take four combat Actions (two Rounds) to reload if served by a crew of one, or two combat Actions (one Round) if the weapon has a crew of two – gunner and loader.

Weapons loaded from a stripper clip or charger, such as many military bolt-action and early semi-automatic rifles, and pistols with fixed vertical magazines (like the 'broom-handle' Mauser C 96), take two Actions (one round) per clip to reload. The Lee-Enfield rifle has a ten-round magazine loaded from two five-round clips, so it takes two combat rounds to fully reload. The same rules apply to reloading detachable box magazines from pre-loaded stripper clips, which commonly hold 10 or 15 rounds.

Arms such as lever- and pump-action rifles and shotguns, and semi-automatic shotguns which feed from tube magazines (i.e. most of them), must be loaded with individual shells at a rate of one cartridge per Action.

Single-shot weapons, multi-barrelled shotguns, rifles and pistols (including derringers) are also reloaded at a rate of one cartridge per Action, but it takes one Action to open the breach and eject or manually extract the spent cartridges. If the gun is empty at the start of the round, you can load one cartridge as your first Action and fire it as your second same Action at the normal -3 penalty to hit. Speed-loaders holding pairs of shells are available for double-barrelled shotguns, allowing both to be loaded in one action. Some shooters are skilled at pulling two shells from their bandoleer and loading them at the same time.

Hand-ejector revolvers were first produced in 1889 (although Hugo Borchardt invented the concept in 1876 while working for Winchester), and have been the norm from about 1900 to the present. They have a cylinder which swings out on a hinge or 'crane'. Empty cartridges are ejected by a star-shaped ejector worked by a concentric rod extending from the front of the cylinder, which takes one Action. After that, reloading takes one Action per cartridge (three rounds for a six-shot revolver).

Inserting cartridges with a speed-loader (a gadget which holds rounds ready to drop into the cylinder chambers, advertised as early as 1890 in the Colt firearms company catalogue), full-moon or half-moon clips for those revolvers which use them, takes one Action per loader or clip.

Using Bianchi Speed Strips (another loading gadget, invented in the 1960s), a character can load two rounds per action into a hand-ejector or top-break revolver.

Top break revolvers have a hinged frame with a catch above and behind the cylinder allowing them to be opened for reloading. The action of 'breaking' the weapon works an automatic cartridge extractor. The most famous examples are early Smith and Wesson revolvers from about 1860 to 1890 and British Webley and Enfield revolvers from about 1870 to the mid or late 20^th century. Breaking the action and ejecting the cartridges takes one Action, after which one cartridge can be loaded per action, or several with a speed-loader, moon-clip or Speed Strip. The unusual Galand and Merwin-Hulbert revolvers also break open, by sliding the barrel and cylinder forward, but cannot use speed-loaders.

Fixed-cylinder revolvers, such as the Colt Single-Action Army or 'Peacemaker' and the seven-shot Nagant M1895 revolver, are usually emptied and reloaded via a hinged loading gate in the standing breach (the block or plate behind the cylinder) with a spring-loaded ejector rod. Unloading and reloading takes one Action per cartridge. Thus, a Peacemaker full of spent shells would take six Rounds (18 seconds) to reload, and a Nagant seven Rounds.

Percussion revolvers (including pepper-box pistols) were produced from about 1830 to 1870. They are loaded from the muzzle end of the cylinder or barrel with separate charges of powder and ball, after which a brass or copper percussion cap is placed on the nipple behind each chamber. This takes at least six combat Rounds per shot. Thus a six-shot percussion revolver would take 36 rounds (almost two minutes) to reload. The same applies to single- and multi-barrelled percussion and flintlock arms – six turns per barrel. In combat,the best reload was often another loaded gun.

Rushing the process is hazardous – the young Jesse James blew the end off one finger whilst reloading a revolver in the midst of a battle during the American Civil War. It also has negative effects on accuracy, power and reliability. The profiles for percussion arms assume that the weapon has been loaded carefully (taking twice as long as the time stated above). Loading quickly under pressure, or in other difficult circumstances (for instance in combat or on horseback) takes the stated time, but the weapon suffers a -1 modifier to ACC and PEN, and REL drops by one level.

Bows can be shot once every other round. They shoot in the first phase for normal shots and the second phase for aimed shots. They cannot be shot while lying prone.

Crossbows shoot once every four rounds.

The 'Mad Minute'

The Mad Minute was a term coined in the British army after the adoption of the Lee-Metford bolt-action rifle in 1888, followed by the Lee-Enfield in 1895. It described a test of marksmanship in which the shooter had to hit a 12” (30cm) target at 300 yards (275m) fifteen times in one minute. Many riflemen could manage thirty shots on target in a minute, the record being held at 38 by Sergeant Instructor Alfred Snoxall. The term survives in modern times, denoting a short period of intense fire.

Using the rules given, we can calculate how many shots different classes of weapon can fire in one 'Mad Minute', assuming they are fully loaded to begin with. There are 20 combat Rounds in a minute, and each character can take up to two Actions in each round.

Firstly, the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) bolt-action rifle. This has a ten-shot magazine, reloaded from two five-round stripper clips, taking two combat rounds. Like other bolt-action rifles, the SMLE can fire one shot per action. Thus it takes seven rounds to empty the magazine and reload again, and so the rifle can fire 30 shots in one minute. The problem is getting all of them into that 12” target at 300 yards.

Single-action, gate-loaded revolvers: These can only fire one shot per action. Taking a six-shot Colt Peacemaker as the example, the shooter fires six shots in three rounds, then spends three rounds ejecting the spent cartridges, then three more loading fresh ammunition. The shooter can repeat this process twice in 18 rounds, then shoot four more shots in the last two rounds for a total of 16 shots.

Double action, hand-ejector revolvers: Assuming a six-shot .38 Special with speed-loaders, the shooter empties the gun in three actions, then takes one action to ejector the cases, then one more round to reload, for a total of three rounds. They can do this six times in 18 rounds and then empty the gun again in the last two rounds, for a total of 42 shots. Without speed-loaders the rate of fire drops to 24 rounds per minute.

Semi-automatic pistols: A pistol with a 12-shot magazine can be emptied in three rounds and reloaded in one, five times in a minute for a total of 60 shots. With a 20-shot magazine this rises to 68 shots per minute.

Double-barrelled shotgun: This kind of weapon can fire twice in one Action and then reload in three more, for two shots every two rounds or 20 shots per minute.

Pump-action shotgun: With a five-shot tube magazine, the gun takes two and a half Rounds to empty and two and a half Rounds to load again, managing 20 shots in one minute. This is no faster than a double-barrelled shotgun (which is apparently true in reality), but the initial rate of fire, in the first three Rounds, is slightly higher.

Self-loading (semi-automatic) shotgun: Using a Franchi SPAS-12 or a Remington 1100 with an eight-shot tube magazine, the gun can be emptied in two rounds (two shots per action) and reloaded in four. This cycle can be repeated three times in 18 rounds, and then the gun can be emptied again in the last two rounds, for a total of 32 shots. The Saiga shotgun with its 8-round box magazine can manage 56 shots in a minute.

Submachine Gun: The Ingram MAC 10 can empty its 30-round magazine in one round, and it takes one round to reload with a full mag. Theoretically then it could fire 300 rounds per minute (compared to its cyclical ROF of 1,200 RPM), but the gun would probably jam or get too hot to hold before then.

Assault Rifle: The trusty AK-47 can shoot off the 30 shots in its magazine in two rounds, and reload in one. Thus 210 rounds per minute is possible, although 100 is given as the practical rate of burst fire without overheating the barrel (for instance, a six-shot burst every round and reloading on every sixth round).

From this we can see that the rules reflect the fire-power advantage of semi-automatic handguns and assault rifles over revolvers and bolt-action rifles, if not accurately then at least approximately. We can also see that a weapon with a larger magazine or cylinder will manage a higher rate of fire, at least if it is fully loaded at the start of combat.