The Armaments of the Great War

After raging for eight centuries, the Great War has produced a bewildering variety of weaponry, equipment and armour, and due to the power of both Heaven and Hell taking active role on the battlefields, a warband participating in the Great War often has a fascinating and exotic panoply of both ancient and modern weapons.

It was the work of the followers of Saint Eligius, the patron saint of metalworkers, that allowed the weaponsmiths and armourers of the Holy See to produce steel alloys imbued with divine light, metals more malleable and harder than any normal steel. Though the cost is enormous, suits of armour can be wrought that are able to withstand a hail of bullets. This excellence of the infantry field armour remains to this day, keeping abreast with the advances of firearms and explosives.

Meanwhile the Heretic Legions have gained access to hellish metals from the twisted crucibles of Tartarus, exceeding the strength of mundane steel though often at a terrible cost, for carrying such weapons or donning an infernal suit of armour burns both the body and the soul, leaving behind festering wounds that never heal.

Thanks to these advances in metallurgy, titanic artillery pieces exceeding 300 feet are constructed in the foundries of New Antioch, while the forges of Hell turn out truly colossal machines of death of their own – the largest known piece, the dreaded Mouth of Hell measuring a staggering 666 feet in length and boasting 1666 millimetres in calibre! The massive artillery barrages pockmark no man’s land, creating a hellscape on Earth between the Heretic and Faithful forces. It is over these pieces of land that the warbands of both sides travel, scouring every inch for usable weapons, holy objects of power, ammo, food, armour and more.

Due to the protection offered by modern armour, close quarter combat is frequent and brutal: trench clubs and polearms, lead-tipped great maces and hell-forged swords are all used to deadly effect when storming enemy trenches. Enemies such as Heretic Anointed are often so heavily armoured that only concentrated effort can bring one of these survivors of the Lake of Fire down, and even then, they often have to be finished off in brutal melee combat with Misericordia daggers, looking for a chink in their unholy armour.

Those brave (or suicidal) enough wield anti-tank hammers: polearms with explosives powerful enough to tear apart even the strongest of armour. Still, the humble bolt action rifle is the workhorse of the battlefield, and most yeoman soldiery as well as Heretic legionnaires carry it. Many other weapons, though rarer, are in common use: machine guns, sniper rifles, grenades of both shrapnel and gas variety, as well as experimental anti-materiel rifles, while the Heretic forces are equipped with blades of eternally burning fire, living bullets that infect their targets and turn them into undead metastatic vessels, forever bound in servitude to the devils, and heavy flamethrowers forged in the Iron Pits of Dis, belching the flames of the Lake of Fire where damned souls wither for all eternity.

With both Infernal and Divine Powers actively at work on Earth, holy icons, symbols, cursed trinkets and unholy artefacts are carried by soldiery of all ranks. Their power is undeniable and has turned the tide of many a battle. Martyrdom pills are taken regularly by Trench Crusaders looking to take the enemies of God down with them. They inure the faithful against pain and exhaustion but extract a brutal toll after their effect wanes. Many Trench Pilgrims wear iron capirotes that both shield their minds from the horror of the creatures of Hell, but also incorporate a gas mask in their design – a useful feature on battlefields where the use of chlorine and mustard gas, as well as more dire fumes created by the twisted chemists in the Bolgias of Inferno, is commonplace.

Elite forces have even more advanced and esoteric equipment and arms. For example, the Observers of the Synod of Strategic Prophecy wear a specially constructed helmet which allows them to hear the Voice of God, and thus allows them to perceive immediate past, present and future simultaneously to a degree. This allows them to perform martial feats unrivalled, but it comes at a cost: a living human is not meant to hear the Holy Words, and as the Voice of God never decays, they must concentrate with superhuman focus to hear what they need to pick the right course of action. Sleep is impossible with the Divine Echo ringing in their ears. Heavy sedation and use of mind-altering drugs is necessary for them to withstand the heavy burden of their battlefield role for any length of time.