Artillery & machines

Artillery pieces are mounted on stands which include the weapon itself plus any necessary crew. For our purposes, the two are inseparable. After all, an artillery piece without its crew is useless and crewmen without a weapon are an embarrassment.

Machine models are based on a single stand.

Artillery cannot use initiative to charge. The role of artillery is to shoot at the enemy from a distance, not to fight. A player can order artillery to charge into combat if he wants, although this is rather a desperate thing to do!

Artillery is vulnerable in combat. An artillery unit that wins a round of combat never pursues and if it retreats it is automatically destroyed.

Machines are more complex then artillery and some have their own rules for fighting in combat, as described in particular army lists.

As discussed in Movement – Terrain, artillery cannot move into or over terrain features on the battlefield except for hills and bridges. Any other type of terrain is impassable to artillery.

Except where noted, machines treat terrain in the same way as chariots. Some machines have special rules of their own, as described in individual army lists.

As we described in the Shooting section, stands cannot see through other stands. Consequently, missile-armed troops cannot shoot through or over a friendly stand to attack an enemy. Technically speaking, the stand’s ‘line of sight’ is blocked and it is unable to fire.

Whilst this is perfectly true and satisfactory for the majority of troops, when it comes to artillery fire it is felt that an exception is called for. After all, is it not appropriate that cannons, stone throwing engines and the like should lob their missiles over the heads of intervening troops onto the enemy? Obviously, it is of great benefit to crew if they can see where their missiles land but we can conveniently assume that there are forward observers placed in strategic positions to observe the fall of shot and somehow communicate any targeting information back to the crew.

Artillery stands that are positioned on high ground can shoot over the top of intervening troops on a lower level. Artillery stands can shoot over the top of intervening troops on the same or higher level if the target is on a higher level still. In both cases intervening troops includes all friendly units and any enemy units that are ineligible as targets – for example, because they are engaged in combat. Enemy units that are eligible as targets cannot be shot over because they have to be shot at – artillery being obliged to shoot at the closest viable target in the same way as other shooters. Eg, artillery placed on top of a hill can shoot over friendly stands and combat engagements on lower ground. However, it cannot shoot over intervening terrain such as woods, build-up areas and similar terrain features that block line of sight.

Artillery placed on the ramparts of a castle or upper storey of a watch tower is assumed to be higher than the corresponding ground level of the fortress wall or tower.

These are large calibre guns that fire a heavy cannon ball. Gunpowder weapons like these are primitive and unreliable compared to the tried and trusted technology of stone throwers and the like. Only Dwarf smiths and a few weapon makers in the Empire can build these devices. These wild and determined individuals can be recognised by their dense covering of soot and lack of eyebrows.

Cannons ignore a target’s Armour because no armour can nullify a hit caused by a cannon ball. No Armour roll is made. In addition, fortified targets only count as being defended (5+ to hit) and defended targets count as being in the open (4+ to hit).

Cannon balls can bounce through densely packed ranks causing immense destruction. To represent this, a shot is deemed to strike the closest point of the target stand, pass all the way through it and bounce a further 5cm in the same direction. If more than one cannon from the same unit is shooting then both cannon balls are assumed to bounce the same distance through the path between the closest cannon and closest target stand. The target unit suffers two attacks plus +1 for each additional stand from the same unit that is bounced through.

A shot that bounces into a different unit inflicts one attack on that unit for each stand bounced through. This can result in units normally ineligible as targets being hit, such as friendly units or units in combat. Total up the number of attacks struck and roll for all the attacks against each unit at a time.

If a cannon is charged it can shoot at the enemy by firing ‘grapeshot’. Like cannon balls, grapeshot has an Attack value of 2 but it doesn’t bounce and targets shot at by grapeshot count their full Armour value – armour is not discounted as it is with a cannon ball.

Although grapeshot is pretty effective compared to, say, a shot from a single archer stand, it is actually less effective than ordinary cannon fire. At first glance this may seem wrong. After all, shouldn’t grapeshot be devastating compared to normal cannon fire? The reason for this is not that we’ve made grapeshot weak but that normal cannon fire represents not a single shot but a continuous bombardment in which dozens of balls are fired by each cannon. Grapeshot, on the other hand, represents just one hurried blast at close quarters, far more deadly than a single cannon ball which could easily sail over the enemy formation or pass between the ranks but not as deadly as a rain of well aimed cannon balls over a longer period.

Because cannons can cause additional damage by bouncing shots, it is possible to inflict hits upon friends or upon units from either side that are engaged in combat. Both of these are normally ineligible targets, but in the case of bouncing cannon shots they can suffer hits as a result of fire directed nearby. Any friendly unengaged units that take hits from cannons are driven back as if taking enemy fire. Where friendly units are driven back in this way wait until all drive backs for enemy units have been completed, and then work out drive backs for friendly units. Any engaged units taking hits from cannons will carry hits forward into the combat round and hits count as having been struck during that round for purposes of working out which side wins. Units engaged in combat are not driven back by any hits taken – carrying hits forward takes this into account.

This elegant device was devised many years ago by the High Elves for use onboard their ships. Since then it has become a feature of many Elven armies and is sometimes known as the ‘Reaper’ because of its deadly effect. The machine throws a hail of light weight bolts, ideal for raking the decks of enemy ships or the ranks of enemy regiments.

The Elven Bolt Thrower can shoot at a charging enemy in the same way as a missile-armed infantry or cavalry unit. Unlike many artillery pieces, the Elven Bolt Thrower does not automatically pierce its target’s armour. Enemies take their Armour rolls as normal. The Elven Bolt Thrower’s darts are relatively small and light compared to say, the Undead Bone Thrower’s.

Stone Throwers are big machines which employ a system of counterweights or torsion power to chuck either one big rock, several small rocks or what (or whoever) takes your fancy. These stone throwing machines are favoured by greenskins because they are simple to build from readily available materials. Because Stone Throwers lob rocks of such immense size no armour can protect against them. Even the most heavily armoured knight would be instantly pulped if a boulder the size of a horse were to land on him. To represent this, targets always ignore their armour when shot at by a Stone Thrower. No Armour roll is made.

Stone Throwers shoot with such a high trajectory that they cannot shoot at charging enemies.

Because of the high trajectory Stone Throwers can shoot blind at targets they cannot see. The targets are assumed to be reported by scouts or messengers from other units. If there is no target in sight a Stone Thrower may instead shoot at the nearest enemy unit in range it cannot see. When shooting blind it always hits on 6+ no matter if the target is in the open, defended or even fortified.

A Bolt Thrower is a device fashioned to hurl large missiles upon the enemy. It is essentially a big crossbow…​ a very big crossbow indeed! The missiles it fires are as long as spears and can skewer a whole line of troops.

Targets always ignore their armour when shot at by a Bolt Thrower. No Armour roll is made. The Bolt Thrower’s heavy dart can pierce even the thickest armour.

When you shoot with a Bolt Thrower it will strike up to two touching stands within the missile’s line of flight. These can be stands from the same or a different unit – the missile will automatically pass through and strike up to two stands so long as they are touching along the missile’s path.

The target unit suffers two attacks plus +1 for additional stand from the same unit within the missile’s path. A shot that skewer into a different unit inflicts one attack on that unit. All attacks against the same unit are rolled at once – for example, an infantry unit in column takes three attacks so roll three dice.

Because a bolt thrower can cause hits on different units by skewering shots, it is possible to inflict hits upon enemy units that are engaged in combat. These are normally ineligible targets, but in the case of skewering shots they can suffer hits as a result of fire directed at a unit touching another enemy unit. Any engaged units from either side taking hits from Bolt Throwers will carry hits forward into the combat round and hits count as having been struck during that round for purposes of working out which side wins. Units engaged in combat are not driven back by any hits taken – carrying hits forward takes this into account. Units that are not engaged are driven back in the usual way.

Bolt Throwers can shoot at a charging enemy and can do so at any point as the enemy charges, including the start of the move or when the charger has reached its final position.