Reloading · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

Reloading is a weapon rule: a weapon holds a limited number of shots in a magazine, cylinder or loaded state, and once they are spent it must be refilled, which takes time or an action during which it does not fire. It is coded any because crossbows and tabletop missile troops reload as guns do. Ammunition, the carried stock a reload draws on, is a separate limit. A charge shot limits each shot by the wait before it; reloading limits a run of shots by the pause after it. The 5th edition’s loading property, printed on some weapons only, is a variation.

How it works

The player fires until the weapon is empty, or reloads earlier, and pays for the refill in time or actions. In real-time games the reload is a window of vulnerability. GoldenEye 007’s guide advises reloading before a fight rather than in it. Riot cut the Valorant Judge’s magazine from 7 to 5 to create more chances for enemies to catch its user reloading. In turn-based games the reload takes a share of the turn. Chainmail’s heavy crossbowmen fire every other turn, and X-COM’s soldiers load clips through an inventory where moving items costs Time Units. Magazine size sets the rhythm: GoldenEye’s KF7 holds 30 rounds, X-COM’s auto-cannon 14 shots.

Variations

Off-screen reload (Lethal Enforcers): aiming the light gun away from the screen and pulling the trigger reloads; some picked-up guns cannot be reloaded.
Active reload (Gears of War): a timed second press reloads faster, a perfect one with a small damage boost, and a failure slower.
Loading property (Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition): crossbows and the blowgun fire once per action, bonus action or reaction, however many attacks their user has.
Single-shot reload (X-COM: UFO Defense): the rocket launcher reloads after every shot.
Whole-round reload (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide): converted Boot Hill firearms reload completely in one round.

Limits

Every example has a loaded state to refill. Turn-based games charge the refill to the action budget: a turn in Chainmail, a round in the Dungeon Masters Guide, Time Units in X-COM, and one shot per action in the 5th edition. Real-time games charge it in time. A carried stock is coded where the sources state one: GoldenEye’s 400-round maximum, X-COM’s bought clips, and Gears of War’s reload “assuming you have ammunition”. Lethal Enforcers’ and Valorant’s sources describe only the magazine.

History and provenance

The earliest documented use cited is Chainmail, whose 1972 second edition (first edition 1971) makes heavy crossbowmen fire every other turn. Little Wars (1913) is an antecedent: its guns fire up to four shots a move and may not both move and fire, a rate of fire with nothing to refill. Featherstone’s 1960s rules and Tractics (1971) remain unsurveyed. The Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) gave role-playing a firearm reloading rate through its Boot Hill conversion, and the 5th edition (2014) made crossbow loading a property. Video games carry the reload in light-gun shooters (Lethal Enforcers, 1992), turn-based tactics (X-COM, 1994) and console shooters (GoldenEye 007, 1997). Gears of War (2006) made it a timed input, and a 2023 Valorant patch used magazine size as a balance lever.

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
Chainmail Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)	1971	Board & card	Magazine, Action cost	In the 1972 second-edition text, heavy crossbowmen fire every other turn, against every turn for crossbowmen and archers. They may move up to half their normal move and still reload or fire, but beyond half a move no reloading is allowed.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide Gary Gygax (TSR)	1979	Tabletop RPG	Magazine, Action cost	The conversion rules for Boot Hill gunfighters take each firearm's rate of fire as its shots per round and set the reloading rate equal to segments per round, so that any firearm can be completely reloaded in one round.
Lethal Enforcers Konami	1992	Video	Magazine	The arcade operator's manual has the player reload at any time by pointing the gun off screen and pulling the trigger. Picked-up guns fire six or twelve shots between reloads, while the machine gun's 36 shots and the grenade gun's eight are all they hold, and the Sega CD manual says they cannot be reloaded.
X-COM: UFO Defense Mythos Games and MicroProse	1994	Video	Ammunition, Magazine, Action cost	Bought clips are loaded into a weapon held in the hand through the inventory, where moving items costs Time Units. The guide lists each weapon's shots before reloading, 14 for the auto-cannon, and says that after firing the single-shot blaster launcher a soldier can do little else but reload.
GoldenEye 007 Rare	1997	Video	Ammunition, Magazine	The B Button reloads before the magazine runs out, and an empty magazine reloads automatically. The player's guide gives the KF7 Soviet a 30-round magazine and a 400-round maximum and advises reloading before a fight rather than in it.
Gears of War Epic Games	2006	Video	Ammunition, Magazine	The right bumper reloads, assuming the player has ammunition, and a second, timed press attempts an active reload. Success reloads faster, a perfect press much faster with a small damage boost, and a failure takes longer than an ordinary reload.
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition Wizards of the Coast	2014	Tabletop RPG	Ammunition, Action cost	The loading property, carried by the crossbows and the blowgun, lets a weapon fire only one piece of ammunition per action, bonus action or reaction, whatever the number of attacks its user can normally make, because of the time it takes to load.
Valorant Latest Riot Games	2020	Video	Magazine	In patch 7.09 (October 2023) Riot cut the Judge's maximum magazine from 7 to 5, stating that it hoped to create more opportunities for enemies to catch a person reloading their Judge.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: Chainmail (1971), board & card. Confidence: medium. The earliest documented use cited is Chainmail, whose second-edition text (1972, its colophon dating the first edition to 1971) makes heavy crossbowmen fire every other turn and forbids reloading after more than half a move. The 1971 first edition's wording is not cited. An antecedent is Little Wars (1913), whose guns fire up to four shots a move and may not move and fire in the same move: a rate of fire with no loaded state to refill. Featherstone's wargame rules of the 1960s and Tractics (1971) remain unsurveyed, so the title is the earliest cited rather than a defended origin.

Sources

H. G. Wells. (1913). Little Wars. Book Modern Beginnings, pp. 21-23; The Rules, rule (4), pp. 44-45. Accessed 2026-10-28. Guns that either move or fire in a move but not both and fire up to four shots a move, an antecedent rate of fire with no reload.
Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games). (1972). Chainmail, 2nd edition. Rulebook Missile Fire, Rate of Fire, pp. 7-8. Accessed 2026-10-28. Crossbowmen and archers firing every turn, heavy crossbowmen every other turn, reloading allowed up to half a move and forbidden beyond it, and the colophon dating the first edition to 1971.
Gary Gygax (TSR). (1979). Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide. Rulebook Sixguns & Sorcery, Rate Of Firearms, pp. 112-113. Accessed 2026-10-28. Boot Hill rates of fire used as shots per round and the reloading rate under which any firearm is completely reloaded in one round.
Konami. (1992). Lethal Enforcers operators and service manual (arcade). Rulebook Game Description, How to Play. Accessed 2026-10-28. The 1992 copyright, reloading at any time by pointing the gun off screen and pulling the trigger, the shots each picked-up gun fires without reload, and the machine gun's 36 and grenade gun's eight shots only.
Konami. (1993). Lethal Enforcers instruction manual (Sega CD). Rulebook How to play, Gun operation, p. 9; Scum Stomping Equipment, p. 10. Accessed 2026-10-28. Reloading by aiming away from the screen and pulling the trigger, the C button reload on the control pad, the rounds held by picked-up guns, and the machine gun and grenade gun that cannot be reloaded.
MicroProse. (1994). X-COM UFO Defense (game manual). Rulebook 3.1 The Equip Squad Screen, p. 82; Equip Soldier Screen, Time Units. Accessed 2026-10-28. Loading ammunition into a held, unloaded weapon of the right type, and moving weapons and equipment costing Time Units.
David Ellis. (1995). X-COM UFO Defense: The Official Strategy Guide. Prima Publishing. Book Weapons statistics key; Auto-Cannon and Rocket Launcher, p. 108; Blaster Launcher, p. 116. Accessed 2026-10-28. Shots as the number fired before reloading, the auto-cannon's 14, the rocket launcher's reload after every shot, and the blaster launcher after which a soldier can do little else but reload.
Nintendo of America and Rare. (1997). GoldenEye 007 instruction booklet (N64, US). Rulebook Controller. Accessed 2026-10-28. The B Button assigned to reload and activate.
Nintendo of America. (1997). Nintendo Player's Guide: GoldenEye 007. Book Controls: Activate; Techniques: Fill It Up!; Arsenal: KF7 Soviet. Accessed 2026-10-28. Manual reloading with the B Button before the magazine runs out, the automatic reload of an empty magazine, the advice to reload before a fight, and the KF7's 30-round magazine and 400-round maximum.
Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios. (2006). Gears of War manual. Rulebook HUD, pp. 10-11; Active Reload, p. 19. Accessed 2026-10-28. The ammunition counter and active reload indicator, reloading with the right bumper assuming ammunition, and the success, perfect and failure outcomes of an active reload.
Wizards of the Coast. (2016). System Reference Document 5.1. Wizards of the Coast. Rulebook Equipment, Weapons, Weapon Properties: Ammunition, Loading. Accessed 2026-10-28. The ammunition property, one piece spent per attack, and the loading property limiting a weapon to one piece of ammunition per action, bonus action or reaction; the crossbows and blowgun carrying it.
Jo-Ellen Aragon (Riot Games). (2023). VALORANT Patch Notes 7.09. Website Weapon updates, Judge. Accessed 2026-10-28. The Judge's maximum magazine cut from 7 to 5, with Riot's stated aim of more chances to catch a player reloading.

Cite this entry

Permalink: http://localhost:4321/weapons/reloading
Updated: 2026-10-28
Status: Verified, schema v20
Licence: CC BY 4.0

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

BibTeX for every entry · JSON (id reloading)