The Earthshaker cannon is a massive weapon of destruction and one of the most deadly weapons in the arsenal of the Chaos Dwarfs. It fires a heavy shell full of powerful explosive. When the shell lands it smashes into the ground, burying itself deeply before it explodes, creating devastating shock waves. As well as blowing its target apart, the shockwaves of the explosion are so strong that nearby models are knocked to the ground. Troops close to the blast will be far too shocked by the impact to fight, or to even move. All they can do is lie on the ground, dazed and confused, until they recover their senses.
The Earthshaker cannon's shots are worked out in the same way as shots from a stone thrower. You will need the standard missile template with the hole in the center, the artillery dice, and the scatter dice.
First pivot the cannon so that it is pointing in the direction you wish to fire. Now declare how far you want to fire the Earthshaker shell. As with stone throwers, you must do this without measuring, guessing the range as accurately as you can. You must guess a distance of between 12" and 48" - you cannot guess less than 12" because the barrel can only be depressed by a certain amount. Once you have made your guess place the missile template directly over the spot you have estimated.
To see where the shell lands roll both the scatter and artillery dice. If the scatter dice rolls HIT then the shell lands where you have aimed it. If you roll an arrow then the shell veers off in the direction indicated.
If the artillery dice rolls a MISFIRE then something has gone wrong - roll a D6 and consult the Earthshaker Misfire Chart below. A misfire roll automatically cancels out the whole shot regardless of the scatter dice result. 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 indicted in the direction shown by the arrow. If you roll a HIT on the scatter dice then the numbers are ignored: a number simply indicates the shot has not misfired.
Misfire Chart
3 or 4 The fuse fizzles out and the cannon fails to fire. It takes a complete turn to replace the shell and prepare to fire, so you not only fail to shoot this turn but you cannot shoot again next turn either.
5 or 6 The shell explodes in
mid-air causing no damage. Your shot has no effect this turn.
Damage
Once you have established where the shell lands damage can be worked out. 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 under the exact center of the template which is hit. Models whose bases lie under the rest of the template are hit on the D6 roll of 4+. As with stone throwers this is a matter of judgment and common sense. A good rule of thumb is that a model may be considered a potential hit if at least half its base area lies under the template, while models whose bases are only touched or grazed can be ignored.
Once you have worked out which models have been struck by the exploding shell work out damage in the normal way. Roll for each target to determine if you have caused damage, the exploding shell has a Strength of 7. A damaging hit from an Earthshaker cannon causes D3 wounds, but as most creatures have only one wound it is not always necessary to make this dice roll. This ability to inflict several wounds at once on a large target does, however, make the Earthshaker cannon extremely useful against big monsters.
Max Range
Strength
Wounds
Save
The Earthshaker cannon is massive and extremely solid. As a result it has a high Toughness and is difficult to damage.
Move
Toughness
Wounds
An Earthshaker cannon can be moved by its Chaos Dwarf crew ar 3" per turn so long as it has a full crew of three. Loss of crew members reduces the movement rate proportionately. The Earthshaker cannon cannot move and fire during the same turn, other than to pivot on the spot to aim at its target.
If crew are lost the Earthshaker cannon's rate of fire may be affected. If a single crewman is slain the cannon can continue to fire normally. If two crewman are slain the remaining crewman may fire, but it takes him a complete turn to load the cannon, which may therefore only fire every other turn. This is addition to any penalty imposed by a misfire result. Should all 3 crew be slain the weapon is useless and may not fire.
Earthshaker:
In addition to the damage it causes the Earthshaker shell literally shakes the ground win it lands, causing troops to fall to their knees and drop their weapons. The area affected by the Earthshaker shell is established by rolling 2D6. This establishes the radius of the Earthshaker effect measured in inches from the point of impact. Any models within the range of the Earthshaker effect may be temporarily thrown to the ground and disoriented by the blast. Roll a D6 and consult the Earthshaker Chart below. The result applies to all troops in the area.
Earthshaker Chart
2-5. RATTLE! Although severely rattled by the shaking ground the troops stay on their feet. In the following turn movements is at half rate and troops may not shoot. Troops may fight normally in hand-to-hand combat. War machines such as cannons and stone throwers may shoot on the D6 roll of 4+.
6. WOAH! Bracing themselves
against the shock waves the troops suffer no ill effects and are ready
to move and fight as normal.
The shock waves affect models from both sides. It is quite likely for some members of a unit to be affected while others are not. In this case the entire unit is bound by any movement penalties that apply, but only models actually within the Earthshaker's effect range suffer the shooting or fighting penalties. This may mean that some models can shoot or fight while other members of the same unit are unable to do so.
If a unit is broken while some of its members
are suffering from Quake or Rattle then any models suffering movement penalties
are destroyed automatically, while the rest flee at their normal rate.
If a unit pursues while some of its members are suffering a Quake or Rattle
result then the pursuit is worked out as normal and the move, shoot, and
fighting penalties cease to apply immediately.
| Earthshaker Cannon | 140 points |
| Movement |
|
| Weapon Skill | |
| Ballistic Skill | |
| Strength | |
| Toughness |
|
| Wound |
|
| Initiative | |
| Attacks | |
| Leadership |
| 3 crew | |
| Movement |
|
| Weapon Skill |
|
| Ballistic Skill |
|
| Strength |
|
| Toughness |
|
| Wound |
|
| Initiative |
|
| Attacks |
|
| Leadership |
|