Although the Chaos Dwarfs have built and launched some extremely large rockets, they have achieved the greatest success with the small battlefield weapon know as the Death Rocket. This is about seven or eight feet long and is packed full of propellant. It contains a small explosive charge at its tip and is stabilized in flight by means of fins at the rear.
Despite the grand ambitions of the Chaos Dwarfs' experiments, their rockets have not proven very reliable. One especially large rocket, a huge thing as high as a tower and known as the Hammer of Hashut, went disastrously off course and almost hit Zharr-Naggrund itself, eventually landing on a goblin camp, blowing a crater in the plain of Zharr hundreds of yards across. Fortunately on this occasion little damage was done, Goblins execpted, but the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers wisely decided to confine their experiments to the distant and mostly uninhabited Howling Wastes to the south.
The Death Rocket carries and explosive charge, but due to its unpredicatble nature it does not always explode when the rocket lands. Sometimes the rocket will smash into the ground and simply bury itself without exploding. On other occasions the rocket will hit the ground and spin round madly before its propellant splutters into life once more carrying the rocket off in a new direction. A rocket which goes wild in this way can sometimes hop and skip across the battlefield, changing direction several times before it explodes.
The Death Rocket's shots are worked out in the same way as shots from a stone thrower or the Earthshaker cannon already described. First pivot the launcher so that it is pointing in the direction you wish to fire, then declare how far you want to fire the rocket, guessing the range as accurately as you can. The maximum range you are permitted to guess is 48". Once you have made your guess place the missle template directly over the spot you have guessed.
To see where the rocket lands roll both the scatter and artillery dice. If the scatter dice rolls a HIT then the rocket lands where you have aimed it. If you roll an arrow then the rocket veers off course and lands in the direction indicated.
If the artillery dice rolls a MISFIRE the something has gone wrong - roll a D6 and consult the Death Rocket Misfire Chart. If you roll a number on the artillery dice then this is the distance in inches the shell veers off target as shown by the arrow on the scatter dice. Move the template the distance indicated in the direction shown by the arrow. If you roll a hit on the scatter dice then a numbers score on the artillery dice is ignored (a number simply imdicates that the shot has not misfired).
Damage
The rocket only causes damage whin it explodes; it inflicts no damage if it merely strikes the ground and shoots off in another direction. Once you have established where the recket explodes damage can be worked. any model that lies directly under the hole in the template is hit automatically. Note that only one model can lie within the hole and if there is any doubt it is the model which lies under the exact center which is hit. As with stone throwers and the Earthshaker cannon models whose base lie under the rest of the template are hit on the D6 roll of 4+.
Once you have worked out which models have been struck by the exploding shell worked out damage in the normal way. Roll for each target to determine if you have caused damage. The exploding shell has a Strength of 5. A damaging hit from a Death Rocket causes D3 wounds, but as most creatures have only one wound it is not always nescicary to make this dice roll.
Max Range
Strength
Wounds
Save
The rocket launcher itself is solidly built and difficult to damage. It has a profile as shown below and has 3 wounds. However, because of the explosive nature of the rockets, every time a wound is suffered roll a D6. On the score of a 6 the launcher explodes and is destroyed together with its crew.
Move
Toughness
Wounds
A Death Rocket launcher can be moved by its Chaos Dwarf crew at 3" per turn so long as it has a crew of two. If one crew member is slain movement is reduced proportionally (halved). The Death Rocket cannot move and fire during the same turn, other than pivot on the spot and aim at its target.
If one crewman is slain the weapon may continue to fire normally. Should both crew be slain the weapon is useless and may not fire.
Death Rocket Misfire Chart
3-4 The fuse fizzles out and the rocket fails to fire. It takes a complete turn to replace the rocket and prepare to fire, so you not only fail to shoot this turn but you cannot shoot again next turn either.
5-6 The rocket goes out of control and lands 4D6" in the direction you have aimed it. Place a small token, dice, or other convienient marker on the spot and roll a D6.
1-3 The rocket explodes. Place the template where the rocket lands and work out damage as normal.
4-6
The rocket strikes the ground and spins like crazy before relaunching itself
into the air. The rocket lurches a further 4D6" throught the air
in a random direction (use scatter dice). Mark where the rocket lands
and roll another D6 on the chart (1-3 explodes, 4-6 spins off randomly
4D6"). Continue rolling until the rocket explodes.
| Death Rocket | 75 points |
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