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So I got a helblaster as a gift and want to use it on the field if at all possible. Looking at the rules it is one of the few warmachines that needs to roll to hit yes? cause the artillery dice is just number of shots fired I believe. Now would the helblaster then suffer from the normal penalties such as the multiple shots and long range rules and etc? If so does that make it basically useless? If not is it still not very useful because of the short range?

Sounds like you should have asked for a rule book instead of the hellblaster. The hellblaster suffers from all the shooting rules, expect the ones it says it ignores.

-Matt

However, even after reading the rules there's something a whole lot of people get wrong - the helblaster doesn't suffer the negative modifier for multiple shots. Most people assume multiple shots is just another modifier like long range or moving & shooting, and so if you're firing more than one shot you suffer the penalty - but it's actually a Special Rule, so the -1 modifier in that special rule only applies if the model actually has the Multiple Shots special rule. For things like the Helblaster, that far more than one shot but don't actually have that special rule, it doesn't suffer the negative modifier.

@Matt

I have read the empire book and it doesnt explicitly cover everything.

@sebster

Thanks a bunch for the info. Good to know I only have to worry about long range. This is the first warmachine I have had that needed to roll to hit. Too used to my Doom Diver haha!

BossGrizznit wrote:@Matt

I have read the empire book and it doesnt explicitly cover everything.

@sebster

Thanks a bunch for the info. Good to know I only have to worry about long range. This is the first warmachine I have had that needed to roll to hit. Too used to my Doom Diver haha!

You also have to worry about cover/hard cover, skirmish, shooting through units (hard cover again).
You don't have to worry about stand and fire (because you can't), nor do you have to worry about move and fire (because you can't).

Hellbasters are fantastic, and should always be taken with engineer.

-Matt

Matt.

Thanks for the reminder about cover. I am always leery of it and usually blast stuff out in the open anyway.

Now I never bother with moving my warmachines cause the two I used most heavily were the Bretonnian trebuchet(which is not allowed to move) and the Doom Diver catapult(which I also think is not allowed to move)

I know the helblaster and mortar and great cannon can move but would you ever actually move them? or would it only be a desperation thing to try and line up a shot because of bad placement?

BossGrizznit wrote:Matt.
Thanks for the reminder about cover. I am always leery of it and usually blast stuff out in the open anyway.
Now I never bother with moving my warmachines cause the two I used most heavily were the Bretonnian trebuchet(which is not allowed to move) and the Doom Diver catapult(which I also think is not allowed to move) I know the helblaster and mortar and great cannon can move but would you ever actually move them? or would it only be a desperation thing to try and line up a shot because of bad placement?

I've seen people try and stand off out of range against the hellblaster until they can deal with it. If you don't have a decent shot, might as well move up. Or if you get the first turn, enemy will be out of range, so move up a bit.
-Matt

Yeah, the other issue is that you might need to move the Helblaster up because the enemy is just standing there. This can happen a bit with the new Empire book, because mortars and missile troops don't deliver much for their points cost, which means the famed ranged damage of an Empire army could be limited to cannons and helblasters. Cannons are great but without big targets they're not going to score you any points, which means that an adaptable opponent with a decent bit of shooting of his own could happily sit back in his own lines and force you to come to him.

At which point you'll have to drag those helblasters forward and into range. This is another reason to keep those helblasters near the front of your ranks than other artillery, by the way.