Tools of the Trade: Machine Guns
By: Mr. “Money” Johnson

Rapid-fire weapons were first effectively developed during the U.S. Civil War with the Gatling Gun, and came to world attention in World War I. Their role is area denial, suppressive fire, anti-drone/vehicle assaults, and pretty much anything else you need a lot of lead thrown at for a long period of time. Assault rifles are able to do those jobs as well, but not quite as effectively as a purpose-built machine gun (Remember, assault rifles are a compromise between rifles and machine guns, as I mentioned in the previous text.). They are routinely broken down into Light Machine Guns (LMGs), Medium Machine Guns (Also called “General Purpose Machine Guns”, so MMG or GPMG), Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs), and Gatling Guns (Gatlings.). Also, as civilians and gangs will rarely even see any of these weapons, I'm going to just state the use of them by Shadowrunners and Military/Mercenary units.

Light Machine Guns: First developed in World War I, the LMG was designed to allow fully-automatic fire that could be carried by a single person. At the time, they were box or drum magazine fed, and had issues with barrels overheating and possibly warping with constant fire. Modern LMGs, however, lack these problems, being belt fed (With the occasional still using drum magazines. And some that can also use the magazine from the same manufacturer's assault rifles), and benefiting from better metals for the barrels and heat-dissipating synthetic polymer furniture. Most LMGs are built with the idea of using them from a prone position with a bi-pod in a mobile mode, or with a gyro-mount in a “stationary” mode. The gyro-mount has replaced the tripod for LMGs, but some poorly equipped units still use tripods for defence positioning, and even in anti-airdrone mode using special mounts whose design dates back to World War II.

Shadowrunners will often equip drones and vehicles with LMGs, and use them in suppressive fire modes to prevent pursuit or response to alarms and alerts. They are also particularly useful in dealing with traffic issues.

^Wow, road rage anyone? - Rick O'Shey^

^Actually, I think his politically correct Linguisoft kicked in again. If he's talking about what I think he is, he's referring to Go-Gangs, drive-by shooting attempts, and letting that idiot who just cut you off know what you really think of him. - RRW^

^So... Your typical drive in Anywhere, UCAS. Gotcha. - Rick O'Shey^

More rarely, Shadowrunners will use a LMG in it's original fashion, as a personal weapon. I say rarely, because LMGs are just too bulky to conceal in any manageable way, even when disassembled. Typical Shadowruns that include the use of LMGs are often Assault and Destruction 'Runs, where subtlety has gone out the window as soon as you accepted initial payment from the Mr. Johnson.

Military Units equip each Fire Unit (Typically, one-third of a Platoon) with a LMG, with another soldier assigned to the LMG man as a support person to carry extra ammo and cleaning equipment. Some units spread the ammo for the LMG throughout the whole Fire Unit to lighten the weight on these two poor souls. Mercenaries typically follow this as well, but will sometimes equip more LMGs as training and equipment allows.

Medium Machine Guns: Also called “General Purpose Machine Guns”, they were developed by Germany to get around clauses in the Treaty of Versailles which they signed at the end of The Great War.

^Wait, which war? - WhizBang^

^Odin give me strength! How did a kid that doesn't know how to use a search engine get into ShadowSea? “The Great War” was the original name of World War I. They called it that because it had all of the major Political Superpowers at the time involved. - Money^

^HA! You can't fool me. Government Superpowers weren't around in World War I. The Atomic Bomb didn't get invented until the end of World War II! Who's the kid now, huh? - WhizBang^

^Better to be thought a fool, than post and remove all doubt. - Rick O'Shey^

MMGs are a compromise between light machine guns and heavy machine guns, using a heavy assault rifle round or a military rifle round (Old MMGs only, these are cased rounds that you can still get as they're popular calibres in hunting rifles.). They can be used as heavy LMGs, but you have to use them from the prone position with a bi-pod.

^Unless you're a Troll. - RocketRabbit^

^No, not even then. Although I did see one trick used in the Yucatan area. A trio using an ancient MG3 (I later looked up what it was), two Dwarfs and a Ork carrying ammo. Lots of ammo. The first Dwarf used the MMG, the second Dwarf used his FRAGGING SHOULDER AND ARM as a recoil brace. Cheap, and effective, as long as you don't care about your hearing. - Tiny Trog^

^Another thing developed by the Germans in WWII was that trick. Also, the MG3 is a direct descendant of their Mid-War GPMG. - Money^

GPMGs (MMGs, whatever) are rarely used by Shadowrunners, as they're hard to come by, the ammo is hard to come by (Unless you get one of the old models that used cased ammo, then the belts, which are made of cloth, are hard to get), and they cannot be effectively mounted on Drones. Some vehicles that are specifically designed for use only in Barrens areas sometimes have an MMG on a pintle mount for use against overly aggressive gangs.

Military units use MMGs when they can't get heavy machine guns or enough ammo for same. Or when they're sure the target they're about to attack needs more firepower than a light machine gun can provide. Unlike light machine guns, they are still typically mounted on tripods for defence positions, and can also use the anti-airdrone mounts that I mentioned earlier. Mercenaries consider MMGs to be the “Most effective Firepower-To-Weight ratio weapon available, and make great use of them in a variety of roles, and are the primary purchaser of these weapons. Another reason MMGs have returned to popular use is Desert Wars, where their portability and firepower are quite impressive and a sure ratings grabber.

^Go Black Devils! - CrazyCanuck^

Heavy Machine Guns: Developed from Anti-Tank Rifles (Which later became Anti-Material Rifles, BTW), Heavy Machine Guns fire very large bullets with a lot of powder behind them. They put big holes in things, and can even take down a stripped-down T-Bird with a lucky shot. Basically, well, go outside in a city and look around you. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will work as cover against a HMG, only concealment.

^OK, what does that mean? I'll tell you: Hide behind that old Vidphone booth and you're safe? Nope, the bullets barely even slow down for the ferrocrete and electronics. That tree? Splinters and the bullet will find you. The 2047 Ford Americar? Through the engine block even. - Rick O'Shey^

HMGs are designed to fire from vehicle mounts and tripods only, and are barely considered “Man Portable” by most military grunts.

^Even Trolls. - Tiny Trog^

They are used in defence positions, and in “Progressive Defence Positions”, which, as best I can translate, means places that the enemy technically holds, but doesn't have patrols at the moment, and you're about to try and take. The role of an HMG is to drop pretty much anything that comes across it's path with a slew of firepower that has to be seen to believe.

Shadowrunners, um, well. OK. I've heard of only one 'Runner in Seattle that got an HMG. An old M2HB (Vietnam-era that used cased rounds, he hand-reloaded with fresh powder and primers to make sure they would fire) that he put into a Smart Firing Platform in the only entrance to his Bolt Hole. The sad part is that it's the least of a person's concern if they're trying to get in there! HMGs are just too hard to get, too expensive, and the ammo is not common enough to justify the expense. Even old cased ammo.

Military units use HMGs for the reasons I listed above, and also on heavy weapon mounts of ground vehicles, T-Birds, helicopters, jets, and pretty much anything else that needs fully-automatic firepower that can be felt by anything short of a medium tank. Mercenaries suffer from the some of the same problems as Shadowrunners, but are also usually attempting to be more mobile than military units (Got to get out when your paymaster decides you're a hindrance, or a witness, after all.), so typically make due with MMGs, and keeping the HMGs mounted on vehicles only.

Gatling Guns: OK, we've all seen them in the 'Trids, the gatling gun winds up, and all the bad guys fall down. Along with the trees, the cars, and anything else the hero points the gatling at. This view started in the 1980s with some flatscreen movie that showed one being used by a soldier in the field. Totally fiction, of course. Batteries hadn't developed enough for the weapon to be man-portable (Not to mention the wrist-thick cable that powered it!). Modern batteries, however, allow for a few minutes of usage, which now makes ammunition weight the only concern, as these weapons are capable of incredible rates of fire. Gatling guns come in light, medium, heavy, and cannon, all depending on the calibre they're designed to use. While they are mostly equipped on vehicles or tripods (Often with large batteries or generators providing them with more than sufficient electricity), some beefier soldiers sometimes feel they can make due using a gyro-mount with light Gatling guns. A lot of training and natural shooting ability is required in order to actually pull this off effectively, however.

Shadowrunners will sometimes utilize light Gatling guns in the same manner as light machine guns. Quite often, however, they prove to be “Too much gun” for the use to handle. When mounted on vehicles and larger drones, they can be very effective, but are often too large to conceal properly.

Military units use all different types of Gatling guns in various roles. They use them for all the roles that I have mentioned above, and in Smart Firing Platforms for Anti-Drone and Missile Defence.

^Wait, MISSILE DEFENCE? - Tiny Trog^

^Yep. The Admiral-Class Destroyer has six dual-miniguns (Another name for light Gatling guns) around the hull for anti-missile defence of the fleet they're with, as well as anti-boarding. Two port, two starboard, one fore, one aft. If you're in Seattle, you can see the Nimitz from the Tacoma docks with even a cheap pair of binoculars, and have a good look at them. - Rick O'Shey^

Mercenaries that are well equipped will have Gatling guns for the same reasons as the military, however only top tier units will use them.

Oh, yes, and they're very popular in Desert Wars as well. Especially when they use tracers, which is always. Looks like a laser of death coming to slice the opponents in two. They typically stay in the bunkers until the championship games, however, in order to increase the impact when they come out.