Weapons
The following sections present weapons that players can use to equip their forces, starting with small arms and then introducing special rules for machine guns, explosives, and artillery.
Note that weapons with a 
focus icon mean that the operators of the weapon must focus to use it - if they move during the turn, they cannot fire that weapon.
Ammunition limits
Most explosives have a limited 
ammunition - if the statistics for a weapon indicate ammunition, then it may only be used that number of times. If not specified, the weapon may be used indefinitely. The ammunition is consumed regardless of whether the attack is successful or not. Players may wish to mark units that are out of ammunition with a token.
Small arms
Small arms have no special rules associated with them. Note that sniper rifles must have a unit focus to use effectively.
| Type | |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pistol | 8 | 3 |  | |
| M4/M16 | 36 | 3 | | |
| QBZ series | 36 | 3 | | |
| AK series | 28 | 3 | | |
| Type 81/83 | 28 | 3 | | |
| M7 | 36 | 4 |  | |
| M110/other DMR | 48 | 4 | | |
| Sniper rifle | 64 | 5 | | |
| M110/other DMR | 1 | 2 | | |
| Unarmed combat | 1 | 2 |  |
Automatic weapons
Automatic weapons allow a unit to make multiple attacks per turn, against the same or multiple targets. This is handled by giving each weapon a 
fan of fire. This is a static number indicating the number of attacks the weapon allows.
These attacks need to all be within a 45-degree cone of each other - a unit can't attack one target in front of it and another behind it, for example, in the same turn. When in doubt, use your index and middle fingers, spread apart, as the cone.
Each shot is resolved in turn; players cannot combine the damage from multiple shots on one target.
Automatic weapons example
An M240 gun team takes aim. In this example, one target is outside the gun's fan, but two are within it and will have the gun team's 
skill and the gun's damage rolled against them individually.
The operators have set in their gun, and both are focusing, giving the gunner a total Skill of + 1 to hit.
The team may instead elect to simply suppress their targets - if the gunner can meet or beat the gun's difficulty, the two targets within his fan are suppressed, and will suffer a 
disadvantage to any roll until the gunner's next turn.
| Type | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M249 SAW | 36 | 4 | | 2 | |
| QJB/QJS LMG | 36 | 4 | | 2 | |
| RPK | 28 | 4 | | 2 | |
| M240 | | 48 | 5 | | 4 |
| QJ series GPMG | | 48 | 5 | | 4 |
| PKM / Type 80 | | 40 | 5 | | 5 |
| M2 .50 cal | | 56 | 6 | | 8 |
| QJ series HMG | | 56 | 6 | | 8 |
| Autocannon | 64 | 6 | | 4 |
Explosives
Explosives operate in a 
radius - all targets, enemy or friendly alike, within the radius of a successful hit are affected. Players may attempt to target a point in space, not a unit, to maximize casualties.
The player making the attack makes only one skill roll for it - but for each target in the radius of an attack, a separate damage roll is made to reflect differing patterns of fragmentation and overpressure.
Explosives are single-use only - track their expenditure using tokens placed next to units on the play area, if needed.
Explosives can damage anything in their blast radius. Players can damage or kill their own units if they're not careful about where they're using explosives.
Explosives example
Bob's infantryman lobs a hand grenade at Carl's team. Bob chooses a point that catches 2 of Carl's infantrymen in the blast. Rolling a 
for 5 damage, two of Carl's infantrymen are downed by the attack.
| Type | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand grenade | 8 | 3 | 4 | | 1 | |
| Underbarrel grenade launcher | 24 | 3 | 4 | | ||
| Mk19 | | 48 | 4 | 6 | | |
| QLZ-series | | 48 | 4 | 6 | | |
| QLU-11 | | 56 | 4 | 4 | | |
| Tank gun | 72 | 6 | 4 | | ||
| AT-4 | | 36 | 4 | 6 | | 1 |
| Carl Gustaf / MAAWS | | 38 | 4 | 6 | | 4 |
| RPG-7 and variants | | 36 | 3 | 6 | | 1 |
| MANPAD | | 48 | 5 | 5 | | 1 |
| Top-attack antitank weapon | | 36 | 5 | 5 | +3 | 1 |
Missing explosive attacks
Explosives are, by their nature, imprecise, and will still have an effect even if they miss.
If an explosive attack misses:
- Place a token on the attacker's intended point of impact.
- Divide the blast radius of the weapon by 2, then multiply by the number Skill roll missed the target by. This is the miss radius.
- The player who had the most targets in the intended blast radius gets to pick a point for where it lands instead. This point has to be within the miss radius, in inches, from the intended point of impact.
- From here, roll damage and resolve the attack as normal.
Missing explosives example
Ivan the unlucky conscript attempts to lob a hand grenade at Carl's Marine. Being a substandard combatant, Ivan has a Skill of only , and rolls a 1 on the attempt. This is an automatic failure.
Since the hand grenade has a Difficulty of 2 and a radius of 3, the miss radius is (4 / 2) × (3 - 1) = 4 inches.
Carl had the most units - one - caught in the blast initially, so he gets to decide where the grenade lands. He picks a point 3 that handily catches two of Ivan's comrades in the blast.
Explosive variants
Many types of explosive launchers can use multiple payloads. While listing all of these is impossible, use the following list as a general guide:
- High explosive is the standard option - a target location is marked, and the resulting skill and damage rolls proceed as usual.
- Smoke does no damage, but creates a cloud equal in radius to twice the usual damage radius. This cloud lasts until the same player who created it ends their next turn, and completely blocks line of sight for all units in or through the cloud.
- Illumination does no damage, but removes the effects of darkness for all units within the smoke radius (twice the damage radius). This effect lasts until the end of the next turn of the player who created it.
- IR illumination is the same as illumination, but removing the effectness of darkness only applies to units equipped with night-vision devices.
Artillery and mortars
Artillery with an indefinite range (indicated by the ∞ symbol) can cover the entire play area by default. For unusually large games, players are encouraged to use whatever range value is appropriate for their goals.
By default, players should use the same rules to handle air strikes from fixed-wing aircraft, especially jets; the speed of these platforms means that handling them as units on the map is impractical, and countermeasures against them are outside the scope of the small unit focus of Down Range.
Naval gunfire from a ship "off the map" can be handled in the same manner.
Like other explosive weapons, artillery and mortars are subject to the same miss rules.
| Type | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 mm mortar | | 72 | 5 | 6 | | |
| 81 mm mortar | | 96 | 6 | 9 | | |
| 120 mm mortar | | ∞ | 7 | 12 | | |
| Tube artillery | | ∞ | 8 | 18 | | |
| MLRS | | ∞ | 8 | 22 | |