Hand Mortar

The hand mortar — a short, thick-walled bronze or iron tube propped steeply on a baseplate and ignited with a slow-match — was one of humanity's earliest experiments in indirect fire. Unlike cannon, the steep angle sent its projectile soaring high before it plunged almost vertically onto targets sheltering behind walls or in ditches that no direct-fire weapon could reach. Siege engineers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries lobbed incendiary carcasses and hollow explosive bombs into fortifications, creating fires defenders could not suppress. The weapon was crude and short-ranged, but the principle it proved — delivering a shell to a target hidden from view — founded all subsequent indirect-fire doctrine. In the game it provides the earliest available indirect fire, forcing defenders out of cover at modest range. It is slow to reload and must remain stationary, leaving it vulnerable to fast-moving opponents.