
A Bretonnian Buccaneer.
Buccaneers patrol the coast of Bretonnia. They are small craft crewed by private individuals who are chartered by the Bretonnian King to keep the sea lanes clear.
Overview[]
In times of war these small, catapult-armed ships are used to swell the numbers of the Bretonnian fleet. The crews of Buccaneers tend to be villainous individuals, lacking the discipline and élan of Corsair crews. Many are condemned criminals, spared the gallows if they will sign on the crew of a Buccaneer. The officers on these ships are amongst the hardest men afloat, mainlining discipline among their men with fear and the lash.[1a][1b]
On Buccaneers, weapons are only broken out before battle. Bretonnian Admirals don't think twice before sending Buccaneers to their doom in combat, often using them to block other ships reaching the Galleons.[1b]
Catapults[]
Buccaneers are armed with catapults – large mechanical devices which can lob huge rocks enormous distances. However, catapults cannot be fired at close range because of their high angle of fire, and shots lobbed from a catapult simply pass over targets within this range. Ships at close range may still block line of sight to ships further away, even though they themselves cannot be targets because they are far too close.[1c]
Catapults however do have an advantage: because they throw such enormous boulders, and because these boulders descend from above, they can smash down through obstructions.[1c]