Legion of Nagash Bone Thrower

[Disciple of Nagash]

This is the current idea formed from the below discussion:

Bone Thrower - 50pts
Thrower ..........M - / WS - / BS - / S - / T 7 / W 3 / I - / A - / Ld -
Siege Cadaver M 4 / WS 2 / BS 2 / S 3 / T 3 / W 1 / I 4 / A 1 / Ld 5

Unit Size: 1
Crew: 2 Siege Cadavers (Note: This can never be increased past its starting size)
Weapons and Armour: The Skeleton crew have light armour and handweapons
Range: 48"
Strength: 5
Damage: D3

Special Rules:
Undead
Bolt Thrower (pierces ranks as per the BRB)
Enscorcelled
Made from the thigh bones of giants, the bolts are fused with magic by the Disciples of Nagash, designed to make sure they do not miss their target
Shots from the Bone Thrower due not suffer from negative range modifiers apply to the shots. All other positive and negative modifiers apply as normal. Shots from the Bone Thrower also count as magical.

Upgrades:
Cursed Ammunition - 25pts
Wrought with runes of death, these deadly bones cause the flesh to rot with the slightest scratch
The player may re-roll any wound caused by the Bone Thrower. They still also benefit from the Enscorcelled special rule.

Upto two Bone Throwers may be taken as a Special choice

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As the previous war machine thread kind of got taken over purely for the Zombie Launcher, I have created this thread specifically for the Bone Launcher:

This Nihilus' first draft so lets go from here:

--------------------------------------------------
Bone Thrower---------------------------100 pts.
Thrower M - / WS - / BS - / S - / T 7 / W 3 / I - / A - / Ld -
Nagashi M 4 / WS 3 / BS 3 / S 3 / T 3 / W 1 / I 4 / A 1 / Ld

Unit Size: 1
Crew: 3 Nagashi
Weapons and Armor: The Nagashi crew have two hand weapons and heavy armor
Range: 48”
Strength: 5
Damage: D3

Special Rules:
Cursed Ammunition: The bones fired by the Bone Thrower are engraved with runes of cursing. As such the bone thrower re-rolls rolls to wound.

I think this selection should be a special choice.


So comments / suggestions

 

[Dark Lord Nihilus]

Just a slight amendment: "As such the bone thrower may re-roll rolls to wound.

 

[Kaladas Harkon]

I think it should be counted as a Bolt Thrower (with capital letters) as then it would work quite well, as it would pierce ranks and ignore armour saves. Not sure it's worth 100pts at this point.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

I agree that it should be a Bolt Thrower, and as such penetrate ranks. I think we should change the crew to skellies (so crew can be raised back the same as SSC), and I also think the Cursed Ammunition should be a purchasable upgrade. This ammo should also be classed as magical in regards to harming ethereals.

 

[Marcus Von Drac]

Sooo, that would give undead crew, magic shots, bolt thrower benefits and a buyable upgrade. I would day about 65-70 pts a basic, then 20-25 for cursed ammunition.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Hmmmm, looking at other bolt throwers, I think it is worth substantially less than 100pts. Less strength and BS, no repeating.

Here's the version I would personally go with:

Bone Thrower - 50pts
Thrower ........M - / WS - / BS - / S - / T 7 / W 3 / I - / A - / Ld -
Skeleton Crew M 4 / WS 2 / BS 2 / S 3 / T 3 / W 1 / I 4 / A 1 / Ld 5

Unit Size: 1
Crew: 3 Skeletons
Weapons and Armor: The Skeleton crew have light armour and handweapons
Range: 48"
Strength: 5
Damage: D3

Special Rules:
Undead
Bolt Thrower (pierces ranks as per the BRB)

Upgrades:
Cursed Ammunition - 25pts
Wrought with runes of death, these deadly bones cause the flesh to rot with the slightest scratch
The player may re-roll any wound caused by the Bone Thrower. The shots are also counted as magical.

I would say a special choice, with upto two Bone Throwers per slot.

I think that looks much better, however I am still dubious about the BS2 of the skellies........

 

[Marcus Von Drac]

That seems alot fairer for the points cost. About the BS2, well we could make the crew Nagashi, which would up it to 3. Or, we would have to include some such rule toincrease the chances of hitting via a re-roll or something. Personnaly I would go for the Nagashi crewmen.

 

[Evil Clown]

Yeah, without the upgrade I think it's now actually worse than a Goblin Spear Chukka, and more expensive o_o Maybe raise the cost a wee bit, and include some Undead/Nagashi equivalent of an Engineer? Just a suggestion, dunno how it'd work out pts and fluffwise...

Greetz

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

The main reason I had against Nagashi, is once their dead we can't raise them back. However if you think it would work better we can do that.

So BS3 ( and the Nagashi rules means their stubborn whilst the general is alive), will that make the points better?

 

[Marcus Von Drac]

Actually that was one of the reraons I think it should have live crewmen. Otherwise I can see people whineing because we have an 'invincible' artillery peice.
And yes, with Nagashi crew it seems fair to me.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

So now we have

Bone Thrower - 50pts
Thrower ............M - / WS - / BS - / S - / T 7 / W 3 / I - / A - / Ld -
Nagashi Crewman M 4 / WS 3 / BS 3 / S 3 / T 3 / W 1 / I 4 / A 1 / Ld 7

Unit Size: 1
Crew: 3 Nagashi Crewmen
Weapons and Armor: The Nagashi crew have light armour and handweapons
Range: 48"
Strength: 5
Damage: D3

Special Rules:
Nagashi
Bolt Thrower (pierces ranks as per the BRB)

Upgrades:
Cursed Ammunition - 25pts
Wrought with runes of death, these deadly bones cause the flesh to rot with the slightest scratch
The player may re-roll any wound caused by the Bone Thrower. The shots are also counted as magical.

I would say a special choice, with upto two Bone Throwers per slot.


Looks better?

 

[Evil Clown]

Looks fine by me, why Strength 5 when other Bolt Throwers have Strength 6 though?

Greetz

 

[Kaladas Harkon]

I preferred the Skeleton one; it fits the theme better IMO and will be much more effective overall. It's pretty much our only shooting, so it might as well be worthwhile. Keep the Skeletons as crew at 50pts and 2 to a Special slot.

 

[Vic]

I'm also for skeletons (they always hit on 5+ here as well, right?), because the reroll to wound is simply too powerful for bolt thrower if it's too easy to hit.

 

[Marcus Von Drac]

yes but on a 5+... hmm
I dont know, if most ppl say skeletons, then i spose it shall be skeletons

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Dangnabbit! First skellies, then not, then yes!

Ok, I would prefer skellies but I am worried with the BS2. They don't have the Blessing of the Asp or whatever it's called, so modifiers would apply. We need to think of someway around this or it won't be worthwhile taking them.

 

[Evil Clown]

I still stand by my suggestion of using something that operates like a Dwarf/Empire Engineer does - mayhaps some sort of enchanter or something? It would allow for a Skellie crew while also making sure it can hit stuff more easily...

Dangnabbit!

Intrigued at the word...

Greetz

 

[Kaladas Harkon]

I think it should be specified that the Bone Thrower will never hit on worse than 5+ if we're using Skeletons.

I like the idea of the Nagashi overseer that could be an addition like the Engineer. 'Course, they'd have to choose whether to use his BS and take penalties or use their own, but that's just more fun.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

An overseer would have to be a specific character. I'm not sure that it would be worth a hero slot just for Bone Throwers

I suppose we could say the bones are already enscorcelled to find their targets, so we would have:

Bone Thrower - 50pts
Thrower ........M - / WS - / BS - / S - / T 7 / W 3 / I - / A - / Ld -
Skeleton Crew M 4 / WS 2 / BS 2 / S 3 / T 3 / W 1 / I 4 / A 1 / Ld 5

Unit Size: 1
Crew: 3 Skeletons
Weapons and Armor: The Skeleton crew have light armour and handweapons
Range: 48"
Strength: 5
Damage: D3

Special Rules:
Undead
Bolt Thrower (pierces ranks as per the BRB)
Enscorcelled
Made from the thigh bones of giants, the bolts are fused with magic by the Disciples of Nagash, designed to make sure they do not miss their target
Shots from the Bone Thrower can never hit on worse than 5+, regardless of modifiers. The only exception to this is if the modifier to hit is caused by a magical item or ability. Shots from the Bone Thrower also count as magical.

Upgrades:
Cursed Ammunition - 25pts
Wrought with runes of death, these deadly bones cause the flesh to rot with the slightest scratch
The player may re-roll any wound caused by the Bone Thrower. They still also benefit from the Enscorcelled special rule.

Upto two Bone Throwers may be taken as a Special choice.


So, does this look better?

 

[Kaladas Harkon]

The overseer wouldn't have to be a separate character; in the Dwarf book you can buy Engineers (not Master Engineers, just normal ones) as an upgrade to War Machines without taking a slot of any kind. That was what I was thinking.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Ah, I didn't know that. Would it really be worth it though? I wouldn't have thought so if there is already a rule making sure they hit on min 5+

 

[Bishop]

I like the alive crew one better, simply due to the re-raising of crew members issue. War Machines are already difficult enough to kill with magic/shooting attacks, without adding on to the issue.

Both seem fine point-wise
- 75 points for a magical Bolt Thrower that re-rolls to wound
- 50 points for a normal Bolt Thrower

 

[Marcus Von Drac]

With the rule to let them hit on 5+ they seems much better now. And Bishop, I used to have your reservations about undead crew for the same reasons, however nowe that I have thought about it, I dont think its to much of a threat, as raising up crew for a war machine that will only has a 1 in 3 chance of hitting wont be a top priority for most people, they qwill be more concerned with raising units back ot their full strength. I believe its all a matter of balance. So to finish; I think its fair.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Yeah, I'm quite happy with the skellie crew as well. Can anyone think of anything else that should or could need changing?

 

[Belladamma Voltaire]

Call them Siege Priests, fits in with the theme better and sounds unique.