ZP- Firearms and Cannons.

[Sanai]

I reckon one of the most distinctive differences this army should have from the VC, is firearms, because what self respecting pirate lacks cannons and pistols?
So heres some unit ideas.

Rare: Ghastly Guns
Composition: 2-4 cannons, using either the stats of galonzos galloping guns, or of the ogre leadbelcher guns, or some variation of those (these are smaller guns than the great cannons of the empire, brought ashore from the ships)
Crew- 3 zombies per cannon, + 1 corpse bombardier
Upgrades:
The Ghastly Guns may purchase grapeshot as an upgrade
Grapeshot: Instead of firing its standard round shot, the battery may fire grapeshot. Uses a round blast template and has a lower str and less range.

Rare/Hero (Special Character War Machine): The Black Bombard of Cthulu/the deeps
A huge behemoth of a cannon, The Black Bombard is rumoured to be a cannon that was forged for one of the great ships of the dark fleet of nagash himself, but was lost at sea. It lay in the depths for years, until it was found.
This cannon would stats in between the great cannon and the hellcannon.
Crew: 5 zombie pirates, Hreko the rotten (the zombie who directs the cannon)
Special Rules: Undead
Causes Fear
Ammo Choices: The Black Bombard may fire one of two ammo types. The range must be guessed when firing.
Grim Cannonball: The Grim Cannonball works like the great cannons cannonball (higher str however). Units hit by the Grim Cannonball must take a fear test.
Noxious Shell: The Noxious shell is loaded with a vile plague. Its uses a blast template, and any wounds inflicted upon the unit spawn zombie pirates which appear in base contact with the affected unit.
Unstable Enchantment: Before each shot, but after choosing which ammo to use, roll a d6. On a 1, roll on the following table.
d6-
1- Catastrophic Explosion- The Black Bombard explodes, causing str 3 hits to any model within d6+3 inches. Remove the Black Bombard itself from play. If its crew survive, they remain on the board.
2- Hang Fire!- The Ammunition detonates in the air above the barrel. Place a blast template on the black bombard. Anything under the template is hit as if hit by the chosen ammunition.
3- Look Out!- Roll a scatter dice. The Black Bombard Fires the previously selected ammunition in that direction, at the guessed range with d6 inches taken off the range.
4- Jammed!- The Black Bombard does not fire, and may not fire for d3 turns
3- Minor Jam- The Black Bombard does not fire, and may not fire for one turn.
2- Caught in the mechanism- One of the Black Bombards zombie crew is caught in the mechanism of the cannon, and killed.
1- Powder Failure- The Black Bombard fails to fire, but nothing else happens.

 

[uga bug]

I like the idea of the small cannons, i think the firing of all cannons needs to be slightly unpredictable, like the leadbealchers cannons, due to the age and conditions of the cannons. By unpredicatble I dont necessarily mean the cannons wont always fire, but the resulst of the cannons shot will vary...

As for zombies using handguns, maybe a rule to hit similar to the Tomb Kings neds to be used-even experienced pirates would have lost some fo their accuracy after thery begin to decay.

 

[Sanai]

Okay, what method is used with the leadbelchers cannons?

 

[uga bug]

Okay, what method is used with the leadbelchers cannons?

Not havign ever played ogres I'm not 100% sure on this but their cannons fire a random number of shots, and take a whole turn to reload after firing. A turn in which they can do nothing but stand there, while reloading.

 

[Onikaigo]

Leadbelchers function by firing the artillery dice for number of shots, with no negatives to hit of any kind. They're firing so freakin' many shots that, well....aiming just doesn't matter. Misfires equal hits on the unit.

I like the cannon, honestly. It feels right at home in a pirate list. I'd take it in a heartbeat.

Now, since we're in the Firearms thread, here's a few general thoughts.

first off, Cannons, as stated, need to be a bit erratic. Not by more/less misfires or by strange ammunitions, but lets try to figure something else out to make them reflect their ancient and corroded status.

Deviated direction? Perhaps they don't bounce in a straight line, thought that would need a specialized tool to let you know which direction it bounces....not very likely.

It bounces farther/Less? Instead of one artillery dice for bounce distance, how about two dice? Really allow for some erratic firing, but that might just devalue cannons enough to make them unusable, so again not likely.

how about a special rule, 'Rusted Ammunition' (Contrary to my no special ammunition thought above, I know). If a cannonball doesn't bounce, units within say, 4 inches take D3 str 3 hits with no armor saves as the cannonball ruptures. Might be over complicating things.

Variable strength, perhaps? Instead of constantly being strength ten, it could be strength 5+D6 to represent old gunpowder? So it could in turn be overpowering, or it could be weak enough to allow armor saves. I like this idea the best out of what I've written here, I think.

For pistols, I'd like the same kind of gun powder rule. The ability to misfire since it's Zombies holding a pistol for chrissake, but also the powder rule. Have the pistol be Strength 1 + D3 for the unit.

This is a lot of variable rolling....I don't know if I like that direction for the army yet. If we confine the random rolling for only gunpowder based attacks it wouldn't be bad I think.

That's my thoughts.

 

[uga bug]

With the cannon I see the variable bouncing distance being the way to go. That or treat it liker a mortar-no bouncing at all, just a blast at the end?

For the hand held gunpowder weapons, maybe we should liberate the gunpowder rule from the GW ZP list-where zombies hit on a 6, and on a 1 the shot is resolved against the firing unit? The only problem with this rule is that you have the same chance of hitting yourself as the enemy-so it will need more though put into it. But it does have the variable nature we're looking for.

 

[Sanai]

Just make them fire normally via bs, but they hit themselves on a 1.

 

[Capt Rubber Ducky]

Deviated direction? Perhaps they don't bounce in a straight line, thought that would need a specialized tool to let you know which direction it bounces....not very likely.

I think the 40k players call it a scatter dice...which come in all Gw dice packs pretty much...

I think random bounce distance and direction would be good but to compensate for the very low chance of hitting anything, put a small blast where the shot finally lands (the special rule has to have something to do with loading rum into the cannon)

 

[Sephiroth Von Carstein]

Is the Queen Bess from the original GW list not going to be included?

 

[Lord of Ravens]

Thread Locked. These discussions will now be continued in the relevant Special or Rare choice section.