Collapsing the Mine

Once the gallery has been excavated, the next step is to burn out the wooden supports so that the roof--and theoretically the wall above--collapses. Usually the wooden supports are splashed with oil, and flammable materials are packed around them. One figure equipped with torches can ignite the supports; alternatively, spells like fireball can be used. The supports will take 1d3 turns to burn away.

Miners can also use gunpowder to assist the burning of the supports (historically, the Spaniards used this technique). Unless gunpowder is confined, it doesn’t explode. Even so, however, bags of gunpowder piled around the supports burn very rapidly and improve the chances of collapsing the gallery.

Whether or not gunpowder is used, mining is never one hundred percent sure. This is reflected in the following table. When the attacker attempts to collapse the gallery, roll 1d10:

Die Roll	Result
1-2	Supports fail to burn away; no effect
3	Supports burn but gallery fails to collapse; no effect
4-5	Gallery collapses, but with no damage to structures above; no effect
6-10	Gallery collapses full effect on structures above

Note: Add +1 bonus to die roll if gunpowder is used.

If a mine fails to collapse, the miners must enlarge the gallery by 25% of its current volume before trying again.