Hand Cannoneer

Among the first soldiers in history to carry a personal firearm, the Late Medieval Hand Cannoneer wielded a heavy wrought-iron tube fixed to a wooden stock — the primitive ancestor of all infantry weapons. Loaded with gunpowder and a lead or stone ball, the hand cannon was ignited by a glowing match pressed to the touch-hole. It was loud, brutally inaccurate, and agonizingly slow to reload, yet its psychological effect was enormous: horses reared, formations broke, and even seasoned veterans flinched at the roar. On the battlefield he anchors defensive lines where his noise and threat suppress enemy cavalry. Fragile in close quarters and useless against fast-moving targets, he must be shielded by spearmen to survive.