Fire Arrows

This is the description of the arrows:

Fire Arrows
Fire arrows are tied with rags soaked in oil up in a tight pouch that explodes bunched up in a tight pouch that explodes when hitting the target, setting clothes and equipment alight. If you hit with a fire arrow roll a D6. If you score a 4+ your opponent has been set on fire. If the warrior survives the attack they must score a 4+ in the Recovery phase or suffer a Strength 4 hit each turn they are on fire and will be unable to do anything other then move. Other warriors from the same warband may help to put the flames out if they wish. They must move into base-to-base contact and score a 4+ in the Recovery phase.

Nothing here says what it's useable with. For instance, could you buy 'Fire Bolts'? This question means: Could you use these with a Crossbow?

Going by Rules As Written you can't use them with anything so you will have to make your own houserule for them anyway.

In my group we ruled that you could only use them with a simple bow and not with a crossbow. Mostly for balance reasons to encourage the use of bows, but also because most crossbows seem to rest the head of the bolt on the crossbow and not project from the end. Because of that we made up some flavour text that extending the bolt and putting the blob of stuff on the end means the bolt fires badly. Simple bows don't suffer from this because they can be adjusted manually at the time of fireing and are not forced to go in a channel.

That is probably just a load of poop, but it is agreed-upon poop so that is what we use.

Just by-the-by we also ruled that firearrows do *not* cause a S3 hit; the only damage they cause is from setting their target on fire.

Nope; not unless you house rules it.

(fire) Arrows is (fire) arrows and (fire) bolts is (fire) bolts

I like all of Lord 0's suggestions- the fluff sounds very plausible and the damage of the arrow would be lessened due to the wad of material on the end, so I like those choices.

Lord 0 wrote:

Going by Rules As Written you can't use them with anything so you will have to make your own houserule for them anyway.

True that

Lord 0 wrote:

In my group we ruled that you could only use them with a simple bow and not with a crossbow. Mostly for balance reasons to encourage the use of bows, but also because most crossbows seem to rest the head of the bolt on the crossbow and not project from the end. Because of that we made up some flavour text that extending the bolt and putting the blob of stuff on the end means the bolt fires badly. Simple bows don't suffer from this because they can be adjusted manually at the time of fireing and are not forced to go in a channel.

That is probably just a load of poop, but it is agreed-upon poop so that is what we use.

I suppose they were intented for Bows only as well, so I don't see a problem with that

Lord 0 wrote:

Just by-the-by we also ruled that firearrows do *not* cause a S3 hit; the only damage they cause is from setting their target on fire.

I'll probably not implement this though! It's expensive and setting someone on fire is only 4+, and even that might not kill anyone.

Aipha wrote:

I'll probably not implement this though! It's expensive and setting someone on fire is only 4+, and even that might not kill anyone.

Completely disagreeeeee!!!! 
Fire arrow are great piece of equipment and are really strong. You forget that "set on fire" triggers on a HIT and when you're on fire ninjas can't catch you you can do NOTHING. No striking back, no shooting, no magic,no charging... Fire arrows are best for shutting down troublesome models, such as Big Guys   powerfull heroes or others. Even for a round.

catachanfrog wrote:

Completely disagreeeeee!!!! 
Fire arrow are great piece of equipment and are really strong. You forget that "set on fire" triggers on a HIT and when you're on fire ninjas can't catch you you can do NOTHING. No striking back, no shooting, no magic,no charging... Fire arrows are best for shutting down troublesome models, such as Big Guys   powerfull heroes or others. Even for a round.

Haha you're right. I actually thought about this as well. Fire Arrows are good vs. big guys, Dark Venom is better vs. one-wound models.

The 'activates on hit' is awesome yes. Now, with Bow of Seeking, I actually just HAVE to get these for each game... I could shut down entire warbands in a few rounds... Hrmm... Evul

catachanfrog wrote:

Completely disagreeeeee!!!

Catachanfrog's opinion matches mine, so is obviously the correct one and marks him as a person of powerful intellect and keen insight.

Only someone with an extremely powerful moustache of authority can function while on fire and not even Franz Rayner can grapple a person that is burning. It has been documented.

Also, not only does fire shut down a model, you can also use it for hilarious japes such as setting fire to that tall building or tree that the enemy has put their snipers. Or setting one of the streets on fire in breakthrough. Or setting fire to that cover they are hiding behind. In many ways you are limited only by your sense of humor.

To me, doing all that *and* stabbing someone in the hurty bits with an arrow head is a bit op.

Also, we carried over an academic skill that we house-ruled in Necromunda. Stop, Drop, and Roll. A model using this skill can't move, but can reroll failed attempts to put themselves out.

We also imported from Necromunda the bit were people on fire run in a *random* direction, but only for henchmen. Heroes can still move normally.

Lord 0 wrote:

Catachanfrog's opinion matches mine, so is obviously the correct one and marks him as a person of powerful intellect and keen insight.

That's how it works!

Lord 0 wrote:

Only someone with an extremely powerful moustache of authority can function while on fire and not even Franz Rayner can grapple a person that is burning. It has been documented.

It is known.

Lord 0 wrote:

Also, not only does fire shut down a model, you can also use it for hilarious japes such as setting fire to that tall building or tree that the enemy has put their snipers. Or setting one of the streets on fire in breakthrough. Or setting fire to that cover they are hiding behind. In many ways you are limited only by your sense of humor.

Yeah, stupid Wood Elf snipers in trees - so OP!!111
But as I see it, the rules are quite limited, unless you house rule it of course! If you set fire to a tree, it can't move according to the rules, but that's it - the fire doesn't even spread! Or are we using some rules from Empire in Flames with these? And I suppose, if a building is in cover, you can still hit the cover and set that on fire?

Lord 0 wrote:

Also, we carried over an academic skill that we house-ruled in Necromunda. Stop, Drop, and Roll. A model using this skill can't move, but can reroll failed attempts to put themselves out.

We also imported from Necromunda the bit were people on fire run in a *random* direction, but only for henchmen. Heroes can still move normally.

Where can you find the Necromunda rules? They look quite spectacular!

Rules for setting things like buildings on fire can be found in TC#8 Let the Damned Burn.  Different but somewhat similar rules can also be found in BTB.  I am not a fan of the BTB rules as they make everything burn easier and ignore fighting the fire.  Not having the ability to fight easily set fires breaks some scenarios (Defend the Find).  Making fires easy to set means that pretty soon everything is on fire which can stop play entirely.

RationalLemming has written an article that combines the two, but he includes the more lenient BTB ignition, so I stick with TC#8.

Von Kurst wrote:

Rules for setting things like buildings on fire can be found in TC#8 Let the Damned Burn.

Thanks! These seem quite cool. Might consider implementing them soon™.

Von Kurst wrote:

RationalLemming has written an article that combines the two, but he includes the more lenient BTB ignition, so I stick with TC#8.

True. That was one of the biggest stuggles that I had with reconciling the rules for fire from the different sources ('Let the Damned Burn' in Town Cryer #8, 'The League of Ostermark' in Fanatic Magazine #1 and Border Town Burning). In the end I did choose BTB as it was the mid ground between TC#8 and FM#1. I do think that it would be easy to use the rules for setting buildings on fire from TC#8 in addition to the expanded rules in my compilation that cover a lot of other scenarios not covered by TC#8, FM#1 or BTB (e.g. weather, vehicles).

Oh and you can find my full compilation of Fire Rules in my signature or here.