What medieval firearms would the various fantasy races use in a medieval fantasy setting?
Pic-related seems fairly sensible for humans and orcs. Humans would have cannons and howitzers too, but orcs, being mostly raiders, probably wouldn't bother. Dwarves would have decent arquebuses and a wide range of cannon types.
Elves? Halflings? Lizard dudes?
I think Humans, dwarves, gnomes, and halfings would be the most likely to even use firearms. Orcs and Lizardmen generally aren't really capable of making a weapon with a level of skill something like a sword or halberd would require, let alone a gun. As for elves, depending on how elves are in your setting, I'd say they'd be more likely to use crossbows over a powder weapon. These are all just my personal opinions on it though, maybe the majority thinks differently.
>orcs not capable of making guns
OI WOT
>Dwarves
probably wouldn't use guns at all. Heavy gunpowder smoke would be extremely hazardous in their underground homes, and the range advantages offered by bullets would be wasted in their tight corridors.
>Elves
would adopt guns as respected martial weapons and become extremely skilled in their use (a la feudal Japan), but their low population, lack of empire-building, and traditionalist ways would limit their art of war to small-scale tribal conflicts where battles would still be decided by a traditional warrior caste.
>Orcs
would enjoy the use of firearms, but would be unable to mass-produce high quality gunpowder, making them highly sought-after status symbols. The wealth of an Orc might be measured by the number of pistols they carry and how wasteful they can afford to be with their shots.
>Birdfolk / any other flying race
would get the most use out of guns, by far - adopting strafe-and-return tactics, setting flight from fortified hill positions to swoop low and fire/drop bombs into massed men and horses before returning to reload.
Dwarves don't just fight underground.
Tolkien orcs would be the first to develop firearms if he were to add them in, they're described as crafty and extremely good with machines
They're also the only ones with a concept of industry. Dwarves are on their way, but their love of artisanry wouldn't let it slide without significant push from outside motivators (such as orcs with guns).
Didn't Saruman give them gunpowder charges? It was at least some kind of alchemical explosive preparation.
I would say Dwarves would use shotguns or blunderbusses mainly, as that would be good for protecting their underground homes, as well as being useful on the surface. They may have giant punt guns as artillery pieces in their fortresses, which makes their holds pretty immune to flying units.
Elves on the other hand, would likely have the most finely crafted rifles available. They would probably use compressed air instead of gunpowder, and they would probably be the first race to stick a scope on top of their gun.
Roving Orc tribes would more than likely use gunpowder to make grenades instead of guns as most of them don't have the tooling to make barrels and chambers of firearms. What guns they do have would be triggerless hand bombards like what is in OP's pic. Probably set off by a torch.
>Dorfs would use shotguns and plastic explosives for controlled demo.
>Orcs fire dead bodies out of cannons and throw crudely constructed grenades.
>Lizardudes fire egg sacs out of dinosaur mounted cannons. The baby lizards hide and pick off the unwary for weeks.
>Elves use bows.
>Gnomes use overly-complicated full auto guns that jam frequently.
>Halflings use expertly made sniper rifles.
>Dwarves don't just fight underground.
they should, if they know what's good for them.
Being short is an extreme disadvantage in combat. Dwarves could be expected to lose just about every field battle they fought.
>short reach
>short weapons
>short bows
>short guns
>short legs (therefore slow marches)
>smaller mounts (therefore slower, less powerful horses)
realistically, Dwarves would completely refuse to fight in most settings except for their cramped and poorly-lit tunnels and halls, where they would be able to massacre any larger humanoids.
>Orcs
Given the nature of an orc refuse pit, they'd probably be the first to discover black powder by chance when some clumsy orc drops a torch in and sets off an explosion. However their usage will be relegated to primitive bombs and what can only described as a shot-cannon: a giant metal cookpot stuffed with powder and useless metal scrap, invited and fired at a charging cavalry line. While primitive and a pain to reload, a volley line of thse would be enough to convince their enemies to hold their cavalry in reserve until they know the guns are out of commission, because that scrap will become lethal shrapnel that can stop any cavalry charge. Even of the rider isn't harmed, the mount will be shredded and that momentum will turn the rider into a living catapult.
>Dwarf
They would likely learn it afterwards shortly either by observong the orcs or piecing together their existing alchemical knowledge, and from that they'd develop more sophisticated, if not stubby, cannons and rifles(which at this point will be little more than a miniature cannon welded to a pole). At the same time they'd develop mines and charges both for clearing out tunnels in a hurry and to booby trap old tunnels to the nasty stuff living underneath won't come up without alerting the entire hold and losing a few limbs.
>Elf
They would sneer at the concept lf powder. It makes a smell and noise that their heightened senses would find unbearable ensuring only the most eccentric outliers would even bother working with it. They'd make exquisitie mastercraft muskets with a trigger based on the curious human crossbow. Because of the elven craftsmanship, it would have almost no recoil, the barrel's inlaid patterns and runes distributing then kickback force across the weapon to stabilize it and keep the holder from being pushed back and enchant the ball so that it kills regardless if it hits the heart or the foot of the target. Expect them to make one musket per century.
>Halflings
It is doubtful such a race would make many weapons. More likely they'd use them to produce the best fireworks anyone has ever seen. In times of war when their homes are threatened however they may use those fireworks against the enemy, aiming the rockets closer to the ground instead of up, and the end result seeing any smelly unfortunate attacking them fried to a crisp.
>Lizards
If they are the usual tribal sort they might use rifles made by humans traded to them as they would lack the means of making their own. More advanced lizarda would very likely make their own rifles, of a larger caliber than a human rifle and slightly more primitive but the penetrating power would be that much greater simply for the size of the shot.
>Beast races
The probably wouldn't use the guns as the smoke and fire would blind their senses. Instead they would more likely use it as a sort of siege bomb, a brittle shell of metal.and clay holding a payloaed of powder, coated in resin to catch fire and slowly burn towards the powder once the shot is loaded onto a catapult or teacher then thrown at the enemy. The shell will be dangerous enough but the sheer volume of exploding powder will turn whatever it hits into dangerous shrapnel...provided the force doesn't just tear the enemy apart by itself
Weapon choices would depend on mundane things like resources, tech base, and tactical doctrine. They wouldn't be something like the "fashion styles" you suggest.
Race with fire-based abilities uses guns that are just tubes. The simple design means that they're reliable and easy to mass-produce, hard for enemies to use against them, and can be easily fitted with bayonets.
Oh
>>Halflings
>It is doubtful such a race would make many weapons. More likely they'd use them to produce the best fireworks anyone has ever seen. In times of war when their homes are threatened however they may use those fireworks against the enemy, aiming the rockets closer to the ground instead of up, and the end result seeing any smelly unfortunate attacking them fried to a crisp.
How do they kill wild boar for granny's famous stew?
A smaller firework. Right up the bunghole for instant roast pork.
It would mostly depend on the level of sophistication of each racial culture. Adoption of firearms would likely be slowest among those who can't work the metal to manufacture them. What would definitely happen is eventual universal adoption especially by tribal groups. This could lead to a lot of much more violent tribal conflicts fueled by the need for more firearms to win more conflicts.
Humans favor pistols combined with horsemanship, and dragoon quickly becomes a much sought after position of prestige
Elves reject them at first, but then thr younger generation come around and begin producing gorgeous, labor intensive decorated rifles with which to continue the ancient elvish tradition of marksmanship. They dint really see much military use
Dwarves and other hill folk (halflings, gnomes, etc) use shotguns when they must, but the smoke and misfire chances make them unpopular to use in the mountainhome and the warrens. All of that changes when they discover the secret of smokeless powder and cartridge weapons, at which point their scatterguns make invading them suicide
Orcs adore bombs and especially cannons. Every warchief has one of his own( often given a name of great respect and awarded 'titles' as if it was a chief itself) , often more, and they tend to practice a special form of exercise and shootist training that allows them to carry their small personal canons into battle and shoot without breaking all of their bones. Few actually master this, but the ones that do become absolute terrors
All those disadvantages are compensated for by... guns.
In earlier drafts of the Fall of Gondolin they had mechanical siege engines and basically mechs for transporting them
fuck off 40kid. stop trying to get your shitty setting in good threads. fuck off
>In earlier drafts of the Fall of Gondolin they had mechanical siege engines and basically mechs for transporting them
Also known as tanks.
If they can't make guns then they can't make plate, guns are not exceptionally difficult to make when someone's already done it once.
Except Dwarves have more stamina in all of their incarnations across settings.
Small stature means smaller target. Large foes have less options to go for and dwarves have the initiative to cripple their target's mobility
Dwarves can use pneumatic or spring guns with their higher tech and craftsmanship; like historical air rifles once were the objectively better choice for skirmishes (but leaky welds or whatever makes them shit for warfare).
But cannons might have their use in a cave, or a springloaded flamethrower trap or something.
It's often thought that dwarves, besides being extremely stable and long armed, have extremely thicker muscles than humans.
Kinda like chimps and such.
So a smaller dwarf has basically the same or even more strength than an average human; and with higher strength, and probably, higher bone mass or different bone structure, will give them unparalleled toughness.
Would never want to arm wrestle one.
You're right that guns are easy to make, no harder to make than crossbows. You do need gunpowder as well as the guns. Getting the ingredients for that, especially the saltpeter, takes a level of organization that not all races would manage. Some European countries in the early 1500s, including England, hadn't managed to get their act together properly for that.
Black powder would be awful in dwarven homes, but realistically so would the fumes from blacksmithing and metalworking and the dwarves do that all the time in their mountains. They could also refine the formula for gunpowder to make a more "smokeless" powder like we have IRL. As for the advantage of range, while a rifle wouldn't be amazing in a dwarven tunnel, shotguns would incredibly effective.
Blunderbuss ftw. You'd have to be careful about which tunnels you used it in. In dwarven halls and mines that had good, solid structure they'd probaby be okay. Other places might risk a minor cave-in.
>realistically so would the fumes from blacksmithing and metalworking and the dwarves do that all the time in their mountains
You can build chimneys for your smithies, doing so with guns is a little more difficult.
>portable chimney borer or smoke extraction hose that the dwarves carry with them
>not utterly Dwarfy in every way
Any tunnel dug by a dwarf would be safe to use them in for sure. It's the subterranean caverns they accidentally dig into that'd be the issue.
They could make a smaller ventilation network through their own tunnels, and probably would already to keep their air fresh, or make emergency ventilation ducts attached to large bellows in case of a fire or gas leak that could rapidly suck air out of the affected tunnel. After a pitched battle, they would just need to open the intake vents to the outside and work the bellows to flush the gunsmoke.
>Orcs
they aren't making guns, but they sure as shit are using them to revolutionize clan warfare and fight with humans. I almost get shivers imagining the carnage of an Orcish version of the Maori Musket Wars.
>Elves
They have rockets, but mostly firearms are almost exclusively used by Elvish cavalry units, at least until civil war breaks out between the Elvish clans and a young and enterprising asshole asks the question, "What if instead of only relying on a very expensive warrior caste, I just trained all the peasants to use guns?" The then goes on to nearly end the Elvish Civil War before being killed by a traditionalist who wins the war and takes all the guns away from the peasants and the warriors because they are to destabilizing to his regime.
>Dwarves
scatter guns for funnel warefare and fucking huge cannons like the Dardanelles Gun made for breaching other Dwarven fortresses.
>Humans
pretty much just like how they were used in Europe.
>Tokugawa Greenleaf
>Halflings
>Expertly made rifles
Fuck off, Sniper. Nobody likes you.
How do dwarves and halflings reload their muskets? Musket are not particularly short.
I don't know why, but combining Elves and the feudal Japan just seems right to me.
Slinging a rock at it
Orcs could also carry heavier and safer hand cannons because their strength allows bigger frames to absorb shock and reinforced barrels that allow bigger charge.
The weapons could also be mountable for precision shots.
Orc would still be using hand cannons
Humans would have Arquebuse
Elves would have arquebus but they would be longer and held like a japanese version
Halflings would primarily use matchlock blunderbuss as they would mostly hunt with them
Gnomes would have flintlocks but they would be a tightly held secret only really seen in gnome enclaves
Dwarves would have caplocks and are trying to develop a multi shot weapons that uses a kind of tube with holes in it that turns lined up with a barrel.
That's an ork, not a orc
If you pick something like Warhammer where elves are pretty much inspired on Tolkien instead of the D&D manlets. The super human strength makes them favor bows that humans would find impossible to use instead of picking up guns or crossbows.
Pictured: Elven musket.
My bad, wrong one. This is a decidedly more elfy gun.
If Brazilians and Chechens can make their own submachineguns, I'm sure Orcs can put together a handgonne or simple arquebus.
Also there's absolutely zero reason to choose crossbows over even an arquebus, since they both give you the same advantage, the gun just gives you more of it. I can maybe see the argument for a traditional bow during the early days of firearms development since you can fire faster and more accurately if you're well trained, but not crossbows. The advantage of a crossbow is that it can be effectively operated with minimal training compared to a longbow, or in the case of the really big windlass-spanned ones, that they are significantly more powerful. A gun accomplishes both those things in the same weapon, on top of being a fantastic shock and awe weapon for the period which is useful for frightening enemy horses and peasant infantry.
The advantages of a gun aren't just range. For one thing, being short stops being a disadvantage once you have guns. In fact it might be an advantage since they're smaller and harder to hit. And dwarves don't only fight underground. Black powder smoke would be a problem in those conditions, but if dwarves can deal with all the noxious chemicals you find in mines, they should be able to find a way. Or they'd invent smokeless powder earlier, since presumably they have decent alchemists and their metallurgy is advanced enough to make a muzzleloading weapon strong enough to handle smokeless powder. But of course once you do that then before you know it you'll have repeating rifles and machineguns, since smokeless powder was what made those possible (along with the metallic cartridge).
This.
But that doesn't mean a little style won't happen along with it, even though the main drive of the technology is strategic and industrial. For example, though the 1903 Springfield was developed based on those needs, it has stylistic elements that are very American when compared to yuro rifles.
I see I'm not the only one to associate Jezails with knifears. Although I guess it just makes sense, semi-custom and highly personalized long-range rifles designed for accuracy and highly mobile warfare by small tribal groups.
Revolvers predate the caplock.
The problem is that the difference between types of medieval firearms is a steady progression with each new type being superior in almost every way, rather than an array of specialized weapons designed fro different tactics or strategies or battlefield roles. Since at the time there was really only one battlefield role for guns (unless you count knights with wheelock pistols); line infantry.
A far more interesting question is what late 19th/early 20th century firearms would be used by the various races, and what characteristics they'd focus on in their development of these weapons. Since by this point there was actually variety in firearms and you could go a hellofa lot more with the technology. It makes it more interesting with fantasy races as well, since the main limitation on guns once we figured out all the decent mechanisms for them (i.e. the late 1950s) is the human doing the shooting. For example, elves might still prefer battle rifles even after the development of intermediate cartridges, since unlike humans they can actually use the extra range of a big dumb cartridge effectively in a shoulder rifle. Whereas dwarves would probably use bullpup rifles designed for high-volume of fire at close range and easy exit of an armored vehicle, since they'd almost definitely be using mechanized infantry.
By quite a lot.
Indeed. They just didn't become popular until the mid-19th Century because manufacturing technology finally existed to produce them cheaply enough to be a viable consumer good instead of basically a toy for the aristocracy.
Can elves even grow facial hair?
About as well as the Japanese, so it just makes even more sense