A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
STAR WARS - Grenade Launchers
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Made by Kevin Dole 1996


E-mail: dmerrill@plainfield.bypass.com





As the hand grenade and light artillery (such as short range, "lob"
mortars) improved, most infantry forces found a hole in their fire
support: targets beyond the range of a hand grenade, and under the
safe range for a light mortar.  Besides which, the mortar is heavy,
the ammunition bulky, and requires a crew of two to three to operate.
The obvious answer was one that low-tech guerrillas had come up with
years ago.  Fire a hand grenade at the target.  Now, these grenade
mortars were dug into the ground, and an armed grenade muzzle loaded
over a mass of propellant powder.  Needless to say, that wouldn't quite
work for line grunts.

The solution was to design a shell that had the power of a hand grenade,
and had a low enough recoil impulse that it wouldn't maim the trooper
who fired it.  They started with shoulder fired, single shot weapons,
then progressed to designs that used rotary cylinders, like a revolver,
or mounted under the barrel of an infantry rifle, so as to not take a
rifle out the platoon.  Today, a wide verity of weapons exist, ranging
from disposable one-shots designed for illiterate troops to dual-feed,
fully automatic weapons that can readily do a decent impersonation of
a turbolaser strike (that is, if you are the target).


MODERN GRENADE LAUNCHER AMMUNITION

Millennia ago, when grenade launchers became standard issue to most
forces on their relative planets, most designers realized that a
certain degree of standardization was needed. That trend still exists
today.  Most grenade launchers designed for the galactic market today
use the 35=D740mm cartridge.

What this means is that the grenade is 35mm in diameter and has a case
that is 40mm long, with the vast majority of rounds have an overall
length of no more than 102mm.  Some launchers will not work with the
overlength rounds, and will be marked so.  Some manufactures, driven
more out of profit than customer survivability, have taken to using
proprietary rounds having wildly different chamber dimensions

Typical ammunition include the wide variety of hand grenades discussed
in last weeks briefing, with the 35mm shells cost costing between 25
and 40 credits more than their hand thrown counterparts.  For safety,
most manufacturers use a cetrifically armed spring that does not arm
until the firer is outside of the blast radius of the shell.  As with
the hand-thrown verity, the three most commonly used grenades are
fragmentation, concussion and smoke, in that order.  There is also a
larger verity of shell types, taking into account the gun-like nature
of the grenade launcher.  Some of the best known of these are discussed
below.  All of these are 35=D740mm shells.  Most of them are available
for proprietary chambering, but this will be discussed with the notes
on the proper weapons.


Dragon Breath
purpose:  Incendiary (primary), signaling (secondary)

The Dragon Breath, or Fireball, round fires a cloud of material similar
to thermite, but not quite as hot.  This red-hot cloud expands over
range, producing some incredible light effects which can bee seen for
several thousand meters under the right conditions, making the Dragon
Breath suitable for some signaling and distraction.  It will also
ignite most fibrous and organic material, giving them a horrific anti-
personnel capability that is often over looked by instructors and
grunts alike.  They where originally designed to give the grenadier an
anti-material role.

        type: incideary grenade launcher shell
        skill: missile weapons: flechette rifle
        availability: 2 F,R,X
        cost: 100
        range: 3-10/20/40
        blast radius (by range): .5/1/2m
        damage (by range): 5D/4D/3D, does 3D damage for next 3 rounds.


Flares
purpose: signaling (primary), illumination (secondary, non-bursting type
only)

Flare shells what started the grenade launcher history.  Originally,
an illuminating or bursting shell would be fired into the air for
various reasons.  When the need for grenade launchers became apparent,
designers look to the older flare guns for a ground work.  Today,
things have not changed much.  There are two kind of flares: bursting
shells and parachute shells.  The bursting shells reach an altitude
set by a burning fuse, and detonate into a ball of light.  The most
common colors are white, red, blue and green.  Parachute flares, on
the other hand, do not explode.  They burn in their color (white, red,
blue or green) under a parachute for certain length of time,
illuminating the area underneath them.  Actual details vary between
manufacturer.  Most flare shells are between 105 and 125mm long.

        type: flare (illuminating or bursting) grenade launcher shells
        availability: 2 F
        cost: 75


Flechette Shells
purpose: anti-personnel

Flechette shells date from the days when a single-shot grenade
launcher, a knife and (maybe) a slugthrower handgun was all that a
grenadier carried for weapons.  Demand for a direct-fire, defensive
load was first met by loads composed of round pellets.  When their
range and penetration was found to be insufficient (due to the low
velocity imparted by low pressure systems), experimentation with slim,
fin stabilized darts started.  Today's typical flechette load consists
of one hundred plastic darts, about 2.5mm square. Like the Dragon Breath
load, their pattern expands in flight, increasing the hit potential of
the weapon.  In today's automatic grenade launchers, these shells can
have a devastating effect on massed infantry.

        type: flechette grenade launcher shells
        skill: missile weapons: flechette rifle
        availability: 2 R,X
        cost: 100
        range: 3-10/30/60
        blast radius (by range): .5/1/2m
        damage (by range):  5D/4D/3D


Net Shells
purpose: suspect restraint

Net shells are an outgrowth of the traditional way to life-capture a
target: throw a net at them.  These shells consist of a 2.5m synthetic
fiber net with small weights around the perimeter.  These are used by
law enforcement agencies and bounty hunters to take a subject into
custody with a minimal of damage.

        type: grenade launched-fired net
        skill: missile weapons: tangler gun
        availability: 2 F,R
        cost: 60
        range: 3-10/30/60
        damage: 2D, does an additional 3D Stun. Must make opposed STR
                roll equal to Stun damage to untangle self.


GRENADE LAUNCHERS

Now for the meat of the briefing.  We will look at the most common, or
otherwise notable, grenade launchers in service today.  Remember, making
a launcher for 35=D740mm shells is fairly easy, well within the grasp of
an industrial level culture, so many of the weapons that you run across
in your travels will differ from those we will discuss.  Hopefully, our
lessons will make you familiar enough with this class of weapons that
the workings of most other models will be easily decipherable. Remember,
they are most military weapons are designed to semi-literate conscripts
who drool when they talk.  YOU should be able to figure it out.


Zone Control Viper

The Zone Control Viper is the backbone of Zone Control's line of grenade
launchers, and one of the most popular designs ever.  It fits under the
barrel of most blaster rifles and carbines, and fired by a push button
switch.
It has served on all sides in nearly every conflict since the Clone Wars,
and was one of the first to utilize the now standard 35=D740mm shell. It
is a rugged, reliable, easy to use design that has existed long enough
to have had all the bugs worked out of it. It does, however, have what
many consider design flaws.  One, it has a two shot capacity.  In many
situations it is sufficient, but due to the trap-door design of the
magazine, it takes approximately 5 seconds for a trained operator to
load a single shell.  The other is the location of the firing button
and lack of safety, meaning that a round may be accidentally discharged
if the weapon is wacked just right. It excepts shells up to 102mm in
length.

        type: underbarrel grenade launcher
        skill: missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 2 R,X
        cost: 500
        range: 1-100/150/500
        ammo: 2
        damage: depends on ammunition
        notes: takes one round to reload one shell


Zone Control Venom

A simple design, the Venom is a single shot pistol fitted with a thumb
latch to load the barrel, and a single-action trigger.  It comes with
a shoulder holster, and is often used by squad leaders and commando
troops for specialized ammunition.  Fitted with a simple notch-and-post
sight for short range and a folding ladder sight for longer shots, the
Venom is a simple, low cost, easy to use weapon that is very popular
with light troops. There is really only one complaint about the weapon.
Due to its design, the trigger must be manually cocked before firing,
and the way it comes from the factory is kind of smooth, making it
difficult to cock when wet or when the firer is wearing gloves.  A few
minutes with a file roughens it up enough that this is no longer a
problem.  It excepts all lengths of 35=D740mm shells.

        type: grenade launcher pistol
        skill: missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 2 R,X
        cost: 250
        range: 1-100/150/300
        ammunition: 1
        damage: by grenade type


Zone Control Vampire

The Vampire is the flagship of Zone Control's line.  It is, by any
definition, a big weapon.  It fires 35=D740mm shells, and has a semi-
automatic/4 round burst/fully-automatic trigger group.  It's most
unique feature is the feed system.  The shells are feed from a pair
of detachable box magazines, and can be programmed to fire one
magazine (with or without the option of automatically switch over
when one mag is empty), or alternating between magazines on a one-one
ratio. The typical magazines hold 16 rounds, but four and eight round
magazines are also available.  In simple words, a grenadier can place
32 grenades into an area in about 5 seconds with very little difficulty.
By using a tactical mix of fragmentation, white phosphorous, smoke and
EMP shells, a single individual can easily wipe whole platoons of the
map in a matter of seconds.  But he better be rich, because feeding
these babies really pricey, real fast.  The magazines can except no
shells over 102mm, but shells up to 130mm may be manually feed into the
chamber. A few individuals are known to mount a Viper under the barrel,
for carrying special ammunition.

        type: selective-fire grenade launcher
        skill: missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 3 X
        cost: 2000 (16rnd mags 20cr, 8rnd 15cr, 4rnd 10cr)
        range: 5-100/200/400
        ammunition: 2 x magazines, 16, 8 and 4 shot magazines available.
        damage: varies by grenade type
        notes:  hitting: when firing burst and full-auto, add +1 to the
                difficulty to hit with each successive shot, and roll
                to hit and roll scatter individually
        firing modes:  4-shot burst fire 4 rounds per trigger pull, and
                       full auto empties the magazines
        feed mechanism:  The feed mechanism may fire from a magazine
                         "a" until empty, fire mag "a" until empty then
                         mag "b", or alternate 1:1 between each magazine.


Th'ta Manufacturing SA-26 Rotary Grenade Launcher

The Th'ta SA-26 is an excellent example of the wide diversity of
designs available from smaller weapons houses.  It has a six-shot,
swing-out cylinder, which is advanced and fired from the double-action
trigger, much like slug-thrower revolvers.  It is fitted with a vertical
foregrip and a top folding stock.  The sight are of the holographic,
heads-up type, mounted on a swivel over a diagram designating the proper
angles for the proper range on the left side.  This is of little concern,
as the "floating dot" sight picture actually needs both eyes to work.
The cylinder design has an added bonus of allowing misfires to be
cleared with a simple trigger pull, then dumped out with the empty
cases.  In addition, the cylinder can be removed from it's axle, and
replace with a proloaded one, facilitating extraordinarily fast load
changes.  It can fire shells up to 125mm overall.

        type: rotary grenade launcher
        skill: missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 2 F,R,X=20
        cost: 1000 (spare cylinders 400cr)
        ammunition: 6
        fire rate: 3
        range: 5-100/200/400 (+1D difficulty to hit at long range if
               fired with stock folded)
        damage:  varies by shell type
        notes: reloading each cylinder counts as an action, as does
               opening or closing the cylinder.  Replacing a cylinder
               takes one action.


SoroSuub Disposable Grenade Launcher

The SoroSuub Disposable is Gamorean simple.  It is a single-shot, non-
reloadable weapon.  It is cocked by unfolding the grip from the body
of the tube, and fired by pulling the trigger.  It is available in
smoke, WP, fragmentation and stun loads.  The sight is a simple, flimsy
ladder, that is cammed into position by extending the grip, and a self-
luminescent front blade.  The instructions are printed in Basic,
Sullustian and the 3 most common synthetic trade languages, and in
cartoon form for illiterates, on the body of the launcher.  It doesn't
get much more basic than this.

        type: disposable grenade launcher
        skill: missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 2 R,X
        cost: Hand Grenade version +70cr
        range: 5-50/100/200
        damage: depends on grenade type


MilTech Rifle Grenade Adapters

An older concept dating back to the first evolutionary step, the Mil-
Tech adapters convert a basic hand grenade into a rifle grenade.  To
use, unscrew the fuse assembly on your hand grenade, and mount this in
its place.  When this is placed on a blaster rifle or carbine set to
stun, the electrical discharge ignites the rocket motor, sending the
bomb on it's way (while it possible to fire these from a pistol or
heavy pistol, the recoil makes a situation of last resort).  The rocket
fires the grenade out to about three times it's normal, thrown range.
These are useful in that it means that you only have to stock one model
of each grenade class instead of two.

        type: rifle grenade adapter
        skill: missile weapons: rifle grenade
        availability: 2 R,X
        cost: 100
        range:  triple the individual range entries for the appropriate
                type of hand grenade.
        damage: as per the grenade type
        notes:  If fired from a pistol, the recoil does 3D damage to
                the firer. If the weapon is set for lethal force during
                firing, the rocket explodes, doing 5D damage in a 1m
                area, plus the grenade detonates as normal.


Merr-Sonn GL-4 Grenade Sling

The MS GL-4 is a popular weapon in Imperial service.  It adapts the
electro-magnetic railgun technology of old to fire a hand grenade.
It is a large, single shot, shoulder weapon.  To load it, one first
trips the barrel release, and inserts an ARMED impact fused hand
grenade.  Obviously, loading the grenade backwards or dropping it are
really bad ideas.  This is the origin of the camp that considers the
GL-series to be death traps.  Still, it does provide more versatility
with stock hand grenades, without having to modify them, such as with
the MilTech Adapters.  It has been seen in service with Stormtrooper
and Assault units, with the regular Army and the Navy gradually
receiving them.

        type: grenade sling
        skill: missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 2 R,X
        cost: 500
        ammo: 1
        fire rate: 1/2
        range: 1-200/300/400
        damage: varies per grenade type
        notes: takes one round to reload, two rounds to recharge.


Merr-Sonn GL-5 Grenade Sling

The MS GL-5 is a new weapon entering Imperial service.  It has modified
the design of the GL-4 into a design that can be fitted under a blaster
rifle or carbine barrel.  It is gradually being moved into the Storm-
trooper legions, especially the specialized ones.  The drawback to it
is the slower capacitor recharge time, which is about 50% greater than
on the GL-4

        type: grenade sling
        skill: missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 3 R,X
        cost: 900
        ammo: 1
        fire rate: 1/3
        range: 1-200/300/400
        damage: varies per grenade type
        notes: takes one round to reload, three rounds to recharge.


BlasTech Starcat

This is one of BlasTech's first experiments in the grenade launcher
market. It has not been as successful as they might have hoped. The
design itself is an excellent one, but it uses a non-reloadable, pre-
packed magazine containing proprietary, caseless rounds that can not
be reloaded or fired from anything else.  In anticipation of this,
BlasTech spent a large fortune on redesigning all of the popular
specialty rounds, so that all common forms of 35=D740mm ammo was
copied  in their 30=D745mm design.  Why they did this was a mystery,
but it has been done.  The Starcat is meant to be fitted under their
rifles and carbines, with adapters to other major designs available.
In general it is wonderful design, but BlasTech dropped the ball when
they went to the special ammo.

        type: underbarrel grenade launcher
        skill:  missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 3 R,X
        cost: 800 (often lower, due to liquidation) (ammo: hand grenade
              cost x 5 x 1.8)
        ammo: 5
        range: 5-100/300/650 (due to grenade design) (flechette/dragon
               breath/net: 10-60/120)
        damage: varies as per grenade type


Golan Arms RGL-70 Grenade Launcher

The RGL-70 is what the BT Starcat could have been.  Another semi-auto
design, it uses a 5 shot box magazine, it has been to give the ZC Viper
some heavy compition for the underbarrel market due to the capacity.
Essentially a modified Viper, the RGL-70 is fitted with a positive
safety and better sights.  ZC is rather annoyed with this development,
as they gave GA a contractor's license for the Viper during the Clone
 Wars.  When the contract ran out, the machinery was returned to ZC.
About month later, the RGL-70 hit the market, using much of the same
internal parts and mounts as the Viper, but with enough differences to
make it stand out.  The box will accept round up to 102mm in length.

        type: underbarrel grenade launcher
        skill: missile weapons: grenade launcher
        availability: 2 R,X
        cost: 600 (magazines: 12cr)
        range: 10-150/350/400
        ammunition: 5
        damage: as per grenade type



APPLICATION NOTES

Traditionally, grenade launchers are allocated one per squad.  With
the invention of the under barrel mount, many of the best militaries
went to 2 per squad, and many special operations units went as far as
one for every trooper who could mount one his weapon.  Today, some of
forces issue only grenade launchers, but no hand grenades.
This current trend is not a good one.  Most knowledgeable people
recommend that each grunt should carry four to six hand grenades
(2-3 concussion or fragmentation, 2-4 smokes, and 0-2 white phosphorous,
depending on the job and availability), and at least two grenadiers
per squad, each with eight or more shells of anti-personnel and 4 or
more smoke shells.  This is because hand thrown grenades can be dropped
down holes, converted into booby traps, and generally cause mayhem,
while the grenade launcher can only toss a grenade further than a man.
This is why a mix of devices must be maintained.

As a general rule, the grenadier should not be allowed to pick his own
targets, but have targets picked out by his squad or platoon leader.
If left to his own devices, he should go after vehicles, crew served
weapons, sharpshooters, radio operators and sqad- or fire team-sized
pockets of enemy troops.  The other target he should concern himself
with is his counterpart. Grenadier duels are as frantic as an armour
duel.


A GM's note:  A grenade launcher is both a direct and indirect fire
weapon. Targets at Short range are fired at directly, as are all
specialty rounds. Targets at medium and long ranges are fired on
indirectly.  Keep this in mind, along with height of the ceiling when
they are inside or under cover.


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