Good morrow and welcome to all you budding Gunnery Officers and Master Engineers of Azyrheim!
What you are currently reading is the first of a series of entries which will discuss and compare the War Machine units available to the Forces of Order. I will be citing Warscrolls from the Grand Alliance: Order Battletome and the free-to-download Warscroll.pdfs available from Games Workshop. This thread will also expand to cover units of Order also that can help you make the most of your artillery pieces. However my observations alone can only extend so far, which is why any gameplay experiences and opinions relating to this formidable arsenal from my fellow Freeguilders are warmly welcomed to add to the debate.
So without further adieu let’s begin by looking into the humble Cannons of The Empire, Dwarfs and Ironweld Arsenal!
EMPIRE CANNON - THE EMPIRE.pdf
+ Range: 40” with its ‘Cannon Ball’ primary Missile Weapon.
+ Ability: ‘Grape Shot’ is a nifty attack to use when enemy units get a little too close for comfort.
+ Ability: ‘Artillery Master’ gives you to get a chance to get a bigger bang for any failed 'To Hit'
rolls with its 'Cannon Ball' attacks.
+ The Empire Cannon’s Crew has a higher ‘Move’ of 5”.
- Only benefits from the Ability: ‘Artillery Master’ from units with the Keywords: ‘Human,
Engineer’, meaning only Master Engineers and Gunmasters can utilise its full potential.
- The Empire Cannon’s Crew has the comparatively worst ‘To Hit’ profile of 5+ with their ‘Crew’s
Tools’.
- The Empire Cannon’s Crew has lower ‘Bravery’ of 5.
CANNON - IRONWELD ARSENAL & DWARFS.pdf
+ Ability: Explosive Shells offers a handy re-roll against those intimidating clustered units of 10+
models.
+ Ability: Rune of Accuracy gives you to get a re-roll to any of those unlucky 'To Hit' rolls.
+ The Cannon’s Crew has the comparatively better ‘To Hit’ profile of 4+ with their ‘Crew’s Tools’.
+ The Cannon’s Crew has a better ‘Bravery’ of 6.
- Range: 32” with its ‘Cannon Shell’ Missile Weapon profile.
- The Dwarfs.pdf Cannon only benefits from the Ability: ‘Rune of Accuracy’ from units with the
Keywords: ‘Duardin, Engineer’, meaning only Dwarf Engineers and Cogsmiths can utilise its full
potential.
- The Cannon’s Crew has a lower ‘Move’ value of 4”.
SIMILARITIES
. ‘Attacks’ & ‘Damage’ profiles with their primary Missile Weapons.
. Combined ‘Wounds’ values of 7, 1 for each of the x3 Crew and 4 for the War Machine.
. Re-rollable ‘To Hit’ rules with the Abilities: ‘Rune of Accuracy’ and ‘Master of Artillery’.
. War Machine ‘Move’ profiles of 4” to 2” depending on how many Crew models are within 1” of
them with their respective Abilities: ‘Crewed Artillery’ and ‘Duardin Artillery’.
. Points costs for Pitched Battle games.
IN SUMMARY
The Empire Cannon offers more ‘Missile Weapons’ attack styles with its standard ‘Cannonball’ shots and Ability: ‘Grapeshot’ to engage your opponent from afar or at close quarters. Its longer ‘Range’ value is a huge plus as most AoS games are played on a 4’x4’ tabletop, allowing you to comfortably deploy it 8” away from your table edge. This benefit can be further capitalised with the Ability: ‘Artillery Master’ to help you land some serious hurt in the early turns of the game. The only limiting factor to this point is the choice and placement of the terrain and typography of the battlefield.
The Dwarf Cannon and Iron Arsenal Cannon on the other hand are better employed to counter against units of 10+ models with its Ability: ‘Explosive Shells’. Although this benefit can turn out to be very situational as your opponent starts taking casualties or deploys units comprising of 9 or less models. The Duardin/Dwarf Crew can handle themselves better with their superior ‘To Hit’ and ‘Bravery’ values when compared to their Human counterparts. However it is best advised, and downright obvious, to keep your artillery out of reach of the enemy for as long as possible which makes this a rather mute point.
APPRENTICE’S RECOMMENDATION: Empire Cannon from ‘The Empire’.pdf Warscrolls