Arquebus Ashigaru (STW unit)
| Category: Infantry |
| Class: Missile |
| Soldiers: 60 |
| Weapon Type: Firearm |
| *Non Waterproof Missile Weapon |
| Main Stats | ||
| Honour / Morale | 1 | |
| Melee Attack | 0 | |
| Melee Defence | 3 | |
| Charge Bonus | 6 | |
| Armour | 1 | |
| Missile Stats | ||
| Accuracy | 12 | |
| Reload Time | 33 | |
| Range | 4000 | |
| Ammunition | 15 | |
| Proyectile Speed | 230 | |
| Proyectile Power | 80 | |
| Extra Stats | ||
| Marching Speed | 5 | |
| Running Speed | 7.5 | |
| Charging Speed | 9 |
Requires: Trading Post ( Dutch or Portuguese )
These are conscripted foot soldiers equipped
with simple arquebuses. They are more
effective at short range than bowmen and only
the heaviest armour has a chance of stopping
their shot, but they are poor in hand to hand
combat.
Extra info:
The coming of the arquebus in 1542 led to a
revolution in the way that clan armies were
armed and organised. Properly used in large
numbers, arquebuses could be devastating
missile weapons, even though it was
out-ranged by, and slower than, a traditional
bow.
Early arquebuses were very heavy, and often
needed a stake-like support for the barrels. In
turn, this made them cumbersome to move
and deploy, as they certainly couldn’t be used
without such supports. This also means that
arquebus-armed ashigaru aren’t very effective
in hand-to-hand combat. Their firepower can
inflict heavy casualties on anyone who comes
near, but if the enemy gets close enough, the
arquebus-armed ashigaru are at a huge
disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat. They
will, quite simply, be cut to pieces.
Because arquebus-armed ashigaru require a trading post to be constructed in a clan’s domain, they can only be produced after the arrival of European traders in Japan: the Portuguese arrive in 1542, while the Dutch land in 1561.
European traders were quite happy to sell guns to the daimyo warlords, but their European gun makers were at the other end of a very long and hazardous sea voyage. Local gunsmiths did manage to copy European arquebuses, but not immediately in large quantities. This is part of the reason for the relatively long training time for arquebus-armed ashigaru. It’s not hard to teach troops to use the weapons, but getting hold of enough arquebuses plus good quality powder and shot can be headache!