{WotB} Field Piece - Barqan Fire Wagon

[Gideon]

Field Piece - Barqan Fire Wagon

While the black oil of Kaliphlin are widely used for such peaceful tasks as lighting and heating, a more fearsome use is what is widely known as Barqan Fire (similar to historical Greek Fire). This is a kind of refined naphtha which has excellent properties for being pumped out of a nozzle, yet tends to stick to where it is poured. Barqan Fire is often used by Kaliphlin naval vessels to ignite enemy vessels. Not as common but sometimes seen are field artillery pieces (essentially shipboard weapons put on wagons) capable of spewing the Barqan Fire on the enemy. Not very easy to maneuver on the battlefield, but when positioned correctly these weapons can wreak havoc on tightly packed ranks of enemies. Operating these weapons is highly dangerous, so these wagons are always only manned by volunteers. Always.

This weapon may be fielded by either side.

Suggestion for game rules applying to the fire wagon (the numbers can of course be changed at will for balance purposes):

1. Range somewhere between (30-50 studs) depending on how many soldiers are pumping (2 soldiers = 30 studs, 4 soldiers = 40 studs, 6 soldiers = 50 studs)
   
2. Fire in the area hit by the stream will burn for a while and has a high probability of igniting other combustible materials.
   
3. A soldier hit by the stream will burst into flames (I leave it to the game masters to decide damage effects and mechanics)
   
4. Enough fuel for 10 long bursts (can be divided into more short bursts).
   
5. Needs a soldier with a pilot torch lighting the stream of oil (no built-in pilot light).
   
6. Needs a soldier directing the fire stream (can be the same as for rule 5)
   
7. Minimum crew 3 soldiers: Two pumping, one directing the fire/lighting the fire stream (see rules 1, 5 and 6).
   
8. There is a 5 % probability of the igniting soldier getting sprayed by the naphtha and burst into flames himself (effects according to rule 3). Probability increased to 20 % if the igniting soldier is also responsible of directing the flow of the fire.
   
9. The naphtha will spill if the wagon is by a large projectile (not just an arrow) strong enough to break a barrel or directly hit by a weapon (the stronger the weapon and wielder, the higher the probability of breaking a barrel). The size of the spill will be determined by the damage by the projectile and the amount of fuel left.
   
10. Each time the wagon fires (regardless of length of the burst), there is a 10 % chance of a small spill in a random direction from a leak somewhere in the pump system. See rule 11 if that spill is connected to fire.
    
11. If the pilot torch or some other source of fire is within the spill area (or comes within the spill area before the vehicle can be moved away), the whole vehicle will burst into an explosive fire killing anyone within 16 studs radius and randomly torching everyone in the area outside those 16 studs for another 16 studs with falling probability up to zero at 32 studs radius.
    
12. If hit by a fire projectile, explosion is immediate if that projectile is also strong enough to cause a spill regardless of the fire. If it is a weak fire projectile (like an arrow) the crew has a 50 % chance of extinguishing the fire caused by the projectile before the wagon explodes (provided there is no previous spill)
    

Notes on the LDD build:

• In real bricks, the fire would be best to build with flame pieces connected with the small pegs (not a LDD legal technique it seems however)
  
• The round bricks of the directing hose may be put on a rigid 3 mm hose to give some ability to direct the fire stream.
  
• Any parts of the wooden carriage may be replaced with other parts in reddish brown/black colors to match available pieces.
  
• One or two horses may be connected at the back of the wagon to pull it longer distances. (the LDD horses without any printing were too ugly to use). Otherwise it is pulled by the soldiers manning it.
  

I had planned putting a Barqan fire thrower on a GNAR ship, but I won’t have time to build a ship for GNAR so it ended up being a field artillery piece instead.

fire wagon.lxf

Edited May 14, 2014 by Gideon

[Lord Vladivus]

Cool idea! Love the pumping mechanism!

[Gideon]

Cool idea! Love the pumping mechanism!

Thanks! I based it on how some old manual fire wagons are operated

Edited May 15, 2014 by Gideon

[de Gothia]

Great idea and I love the pump as well! Hope we don´t have to see these in action!!

[Scaevola]

Nice work, very interesting entry

[Hammerhand]

Awesome idea! Looks quite dangerous (for enemies as well as operators). The whole design is very clever, sweet job.

[soccerkid6]

Excellent design, it looks very good and that pumping mechanism was a great idea

[HammerBro]

Great picture and awesome idea!

[MassEditor]

Wonderful design Gideon! I built one of these last night, very awesome looking!

[Gideon]

Thanks!

Another suggestion for making it better in real bricks would be to use black rigid hoses instead of the two black bars on each side so that the pumping mechanism doesn't separate in a front and a rear part..

[MassEditor]

Haha, I couldn't get the bars to stay flush with each other so I attached a couple of soldiers to the pump handle and they do the job perfectly. Unfortunately I realized I didn't have any of the flames with the pins on them (I guess these are old school flames?) but still looks really cool. I'd like to build a little scene with one or two of these guys, I'll definitely send you a pic when I do!

[Gideon]

Great to hear that my LDD build gets an ABS incarnation! I hope that means that it is easy enough then for Ska to at least field one or two of these in the upcoming battle

Edited May 16, 2014 by Gideon

[mrcp6d]

Very well thought out build. The engineer in me is really appreciating the pump!

[Gabe]

Great little fire wagon you have there Gideon! Really nice design. Hopefully my forces won't get too close to them. I am sad to hear that you won't be fielding a GNAR entry though.

[Gideon]

Very well thought out build. The engineer in me is really appreciating the pump!

Thanks! I had the idea of the fire breathing wagon for a while, but couldn't make a pumping mechanism fit in nicely on top of the wagon along with the barrels...but then I found some pictures of fire engines with those kind of side handles for several men to use (which made the engineer in me very happy )

Great little fire wagon you have there Gideon! Really nice design. Hopefully my forces won't get too close to them. I am sad to hear that you won't be fielding a GNAR entry though.

Thanks! Well, it's up to your forces to stay away from them

So much to build, so little time...

Edited May 19, 2014 by Gideon

[SkaForHire]

SO awesome, we are going to try to build at least one. Oddly, I might not have the tops of the barrel for it.

[Gideon]

SO awesome, we are going to try to build at least one. Oddly, I might not have the tops of the barrel for it.

Sounds great!

I've realized that the reddish brown dish is not a very common piece, only one in 79004 Barrel Escape and one in 79111 Constitution Train Chase... Since the Barrel Escape wasn't really available in Europe I've only got one of those dishes (thankfully my brother-in-law in Orlando helped me get a Barrel Escape set for an acceptable price per part)

Anyway, if you don't have two of those it's perfectly fine to use for example black dishes or maybe 4x4 round plates in a suitable color (at least I've got a ton of dark brown 4x4 round plates from the Uruk-hai Army sets )

Edited June 3, 2014 by Gideon