Flamethrower · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

The flamethrower is a weapon class coded area: a short-range projector whose fire covers a stream, cone or target area and harms everything in it. Its bundle is short reach, damage to several targets at once, a lingering burn, and a fuel supply that empties fast. Splash damage is a burst around an impact, where the flamethrower’s fire runs from the muzzle. Fireball and dragon breath are the abilities’ side, a spell or a creature’s innate attack. The burn it leaves is the status that the poison ability holds as burn or damage over time, and fire as a resisted type belongs to damage types.

How it works

The user points the nozzle at targets close by and fires, in short bursts or held. In Squad Leader the flamethrower attacks a hex at up to 2 hexes with a fixed 20 firepower factors and no terrain modifier, so cover does not protect the occupants. Team Fortress 2’s flames reach about 350 units and leave targets burning for up to ten seconds; The Last of Us Part II sets infected alight, and burning enemies may break off. Fallout’s Flamer deals 45 to 90 fire damage at range 5, more against enemies with low fire resistance such as Floaters. Every example spends fuel quickly.

Variations

Removed on a fuel roll (Squad Leader): any heavy fire roll may exhaust the weapon, and only trained operators may carry it.
Pick-up with fixed shots (Green Beret): the flamethrower is dropped by an enemy and lasts three shots.
Turn-based class weapon (Fallout): a two-handed weapon under a skill, loaded with fuel and paid for in action points.
Afterburn and airblast (Team Fortress 2): burning damage continues after contact, and the compression blast reflects projectiles and pushes enemies.
Overheating (Call of Duty: World at War): its flamethrower reportedly overheats instead of spending fuel.

Limits

Fuel is the common limit. Squad Leader turns it into a chance of running dry with each heavy attack; a 1978 article puts the chance of three uses at a little over half. Green Beret gives three shots. Fallout adds a five-unit load, a reload, and a 6-point action cost. Team Fortress 2’s 200 fuel has no reload and is shared with the compression blast. In The Last of Us Part II fuel is loot that cannot be crafted. Range is short in every example: two hexes in Squad Leader, range 5 in Fallout.

History and provenance

Chainmail (1971) holds antecedents: flaming oil that sweeps a path from a castle wall, and dragons that breathe a cone of fire three times before resting. Board wargames named flame weapons before 1977 without rules cited for them: Panzer Leader’s (1974) Churchill flame tanks and the hand flamers of Starship Troopers (1976). Squad Leader (1977) is the earliest documented use cited of the class itself, a short-range fuel weapon for engineers. Earlier Second World War miniatures rules remain unsurveyed. Green Beret (1985) is the earliest video use cited. Fallout (1997) made it a turn-based weapon with fire damage. Team Fortress 2 (2007) built a class role around it. The Last of Us Part II (2020) uses it against infected. Warhammer 40,000’s flamer is reportedly resolved with a teardrop-shaped template.

Notable examples

Notable examples, in chronological order. Notes describe how the weapon works in each game; the limits are what restricts its use there; the latest reference is a widely played game from 2020 or later.
Game	Year	Medium	Limits	How the weapon works
Squad Leader John Hill (Avalon Hill)	1977	Board & card	Ammunition	A support weapon with a range of 2 hexes that always attacks with 20 firepower factors against every unit in the target hex, ignoring terrain modifiers. Only Assault Engineers and the best leaders may use it, and a fire roll of 9 or more leaves it out of fuel and removed.
Green Beret Konami	1985	Video	Ammunition	Certain enemy soldiers drop a three-shot flamethrower that supplements the player's knife, beside a four-shot rocket launcher and a three-pack of grenades.
Fallout Interplay Productions	1997	Video	Ammunition, Magazine, Action cost	The Flamer, a two-handed Big Guns weapon that "fires a short spray of extremely hot, flammable liquid", deals 45 to 90 fire damage at range 5. It loads five units of flamethrower fuel, and an attack costs 6 action points; the manual counts fuel weapons among those that must be reloaded.
Team Fortress 2 Valve	2007	Video	Ammunition	The Pyro's Flame Thrower reaches about 350 units and sets targets afire for 3 to 10 seconds by how long they stay in the flames. Its 200 fuel needs no reload, and since June 2008 a compression blast spends 20 to push enemies, reflect projectiles and put out burning teammates.
The Last of Us Part II Latest Naughty Dog	2020	Video	Ammunition	Abby's flamethrower sets infected on fire, and burning enemies may pause their attacks. Its fuel cannot be crafted and is found as loot, and it runs out quickly, so a guide advises short bursts and a switch of weapons while the target burns.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: Squad Leader (1977), board & card. Confidence: low. Squad Leader's flamethrower is the earliest documented use cited of a fire-projecting weapon with a short range, an attack on everything in its target and a fuel limit. Its rules are read in a fourth-edition transcription, and a playtester's article in The General of early 1978 confirms attacks free of dice modifiers and a weapon that dries up on a roll of 9 or more. Antecedents are in Chainmail (rules cited from the 1972 second edition): flaming oil poured from a castle wall sweeps a 2-inch path and kills every figure in it, and a dragon's fire is a truncated cone 9 inches long, breathed three times before the dragon must rest, a creature's breath rather than a carried weapon. Two board wargames are reported antecedents whose flame rules are unconfirmed: Panzer Leader (1974), whose Churchill flame tanks a 1976 reader's letter in The General names, and Starship Troopers (1976), whose troopers carry hand flamers as side arms in a 1977 review. Tractics (1971) and other Second World War miniatures rules remain unsurveyed, which keeps confidence low. Green Beret (1985) is the earliest video use cited.

Sources

John Hill (Avalon Hill). (1977). Squad Leader rulebook. Rulebook Rule 22 (Flamethrowers), 22.1-22.9; rule 8.3. Range 2 hexes, 20 firepower factors with no terrain or point-blank modifiers, operators limited to Assault Engineers and leaders, removal out of fuel on a roll of 9 or more, and fire directed against all occupants of a hex; read in a fourth-edition rules transcription.
Bob Medrow. (1978). Squad Leader First Impressions: An Introduction to Squad Leader. The Avalon Hill General, Vol. 14, No. 5 (January-February 1978). Article p. 12. Accessed 2026-10-28. The flamethrower's attacks are not subject to any dice roll modifiers, and on a roll of 9 or more it dries up, so the chance of using it three times is a bit over half.
John Hill. (1977). A Squad Leader Preview: The Building of Squad Leader. The Avalon Hill General, Vol. 14, No. 2 (July-August 1977). Article p. 31. Accessed 2026-10-28. The designer's account of relating flamethrowers and demolition charges to the existing fire table rather than giving them a special table.
Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. (1972). Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures, 2nd edition. Guidon Games. Rulebook Sieges, Boiling Oil; Fantasy Supplement, Dragons, p. 31. Accessed 2026-10-28. Flaming oil sweeping a 2-inch path and burning wooden structures, and dragon fire as a truncated cone 3 inches wide at its far end with a 9-inch range, breathed three times before the dragon must land.
Interplay Productions. (1997). Fallout: Vault Dweller's Survival Guide. Rulebook Step #2: Select Three Tag Skills, Big Guns; Table 5-1 Action Points, p. 5-3; Reloading. Accessed 2026-10-28. Flamers under the Big Guns skill, fire damage from flamers, a burst attack at 6 AP, and weapons with fuel needing to be reloaded.
Wikipedia. Rush'n Attack. Wiki The three-shot flamethrower, four-shot RPG and three-pack of grenades taken from defeated soldiers, the Green Beret title in Japan and Europe, and the October 1985 Japanese arcade release.
Fallout Wiki. Flamer (Fallout). Wiki Damage, range, action-point cost, fuel capacity, two hands, and the item description from the game's data files.
Valve. (2008). Team Fortress 2: The Pyro Update. Website Accessed 2026-10-28. The compression blast on the alt-fire key, which knocks enemies away and redirects enemy projectiles.
Team Fortress Wiki. Flame Thrower. Wiki Range, afterburn duration, 200 fuel without reload, the compression blast's cost and its extinguishing of teammates, and its addition in the patch of 19 June 2008.
Gamepressure. (2023). The Last of Us 2: How to get Flamethrower?. Article Accessed 2026-10-27. The flamethrower available to Abby, fuel found as loot and not craftable, infected set on fire, burning enemies pausing their attacks, and short bursts to save fuel.

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West, James, Jr. (2026). "Flamethrower." Game Mechanic Compendium, updated 2026-10-28. http://localhost:4321/weapons/flamethrower

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