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Hello,

recently I was able to acquire two stationary cannons for my imperial guard for practically nothing, after another user on the forums linked a great site.

http://www.toysoldiersdepot.com/store.php/pd3130559/marx_recast_wwii_black_plastic_german_88mm_cannon

I believe they could be used as Earthshaker cannons from the FW line, but I'm not familiar with FW and their rules watsoever. I have a couple of basic questions if someone could help me out so I could field these weapons:

1) Am I going to have any issues fielding these guns in terms of game legality?

2) Are these the most current rules and are there any other relevant rules I need to use them in a regular game?

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/h/Heavy_Artillery.pdf

3) Are FW rules generally accepted?

4) Any tips on using the guns or anything I might need to know but wouldn't be aware of?

Thanks in advance.

1) If not playing in a GW store.
2) AFAIK they are
3) depends on who you're against.
4) They're T7 W3 S10 AP2 large blasts for 100 points. Put it behind an aegis, give it orders and laugh.

W4

And in the Krieg PDF, they have a range of 24-120'' barrage and ordnance, makes e'm even better.

Wow great find! How do these compare on the 25mm scale?

DrDudoo wrote:
Wow great find! How do these compare on the 25mm scale?

Seem close enough.

All you need is a few guardsmen as crew.

Protip: Put all of your crew except one in front of the gun. That way they receive woulds first, and still benefit from the 4+ cover of an Aegis line, and the Gun's T7. That's 7 T7 guardsmen the opponent has to kill before they get to start hitting the gun itself.

1.) Depends.
2.) I don't know.
3.) Generally yes. Not in most tournaments, though.
4.) You deploy them and you shoot them.

 Bobthehero wrote:
W4

And in the Krieg PDF, they have a range of 24-120'' barrage and ordnance, makes e'm even better.

Not anymore. The revised IA1 overrules that and makes them standard Medusa guns.

 Ailaros wrote:
1.) Depends.
2.) I don't know.
3.) Generally yes. Not in most tournaments, though.
4.) You deploy them and you shoot them.

3.) Generally yes. Not in "some" tournaments, though.

That seems more accurate, given limited knowledge of OP's local tourney meta, don't you think?

 Peregrine wrote:

 Bobthehero wrote:
W4

And in the Krieg PDF, they have a range of 24-120'' barrage and ordnance, makes e'm even better.

Not anymore. The revised IA1 overrules that and makes them standard Medusa guns.

Booooooooooooooooring, but okay :(

I thought there was still an earthshaker option for the artillery pieces, you just bought medusa cannons as a base and upgraded to earthshakers for a small points cost?

You buy the Earthshaker, then bump it to a Medusa.

As bob said.

Who's not going to bring the Medusa though?

 CaptainGrey wrote:

DrDudoo wrote:
Wow great find! How do these compare on the 25mm scale?

Seem close enough.

All you need is a few guardsmen as crew.

Protip: Put all of your crew except one in front of the gun. That way they receive woulds first, and still benefit from the 4+ cover of an Aegis line, and the Gun's T7. That's 7 T7 guardsmen the opponent has to kill before they get to start hitting the gun itself.

Still will have to deal with morale if, shock horror, they kill 2 in a turn. 2 T7 wounds is maybe 8 plasma shots which isn't a lot.

 Blaggard wrote:
As bob said.

Who's not going to bring the Medusa though?

 CaptainGrey wrote:

DrDudoo wrote:
Wow great find! How do these compare on the 25mm scale?

Seem close enough.

All you need is a few guardsmen as crew.

Protip: Put all of your crew except one in front of the gun. That way they receive woulds first, and still benefit from the 4+ cover of an Aegis line, and the Gun's T7. That's 7 T7 guardsmen the opponent has to kill before they get to start hitting the gun itself.

Still will have to deal with morale if, shock horror, they kill 2 in a turn. 2 T7 wounds is maybe 8 plasma shots which isn't a lot.

This is true, though dealing with that is as simple as bringing a Reg Banner. It's better than those 2 wounds going on your gun, admittedly.

True. They still spent 120+ odd points for a turn trying to get rid of the damned gun.

Infact more than that.
At least 400.

 Blaggard wrote:
As bob said.

Who's not going to bring the Medusa though?

I don't know, they're 2 completely different weapon, and you can't barrage snipe with the medusa anymore :(

Thank you for all the helpful comments.

I had a few follow up questions as well as a new question (I thought I'd use this space rather than start another thread)

Protip: Put all of your crew except one in front of the gun. That way they receive woulds first, and still benefit from the 4+ cover of an Aegis line, and the Gun's T7. That's 7 T7 guardsmen the opponent has to kill before they get to start hitting the gun itself.

I'm looking at p46 of the rulebook now, but I don't really understand the logic behind the crewman taking on the toughness of the artillery. Are you effectively saying that by adding crewman I'm adding wounds to the artillery? Sorry I'm a bit confused.

Also another question.

I'm in the middle of making a veteran squad for my IG army and I was wondering about peoples thoughts on using Gunnery Sergeant Harker? I don't have any more chimera models (or vendettas) so I was wondering about the feasibility? At the moment my squad looks like this:

Veteran Squad - Plasma gun x 3, Autocannon, Forward Sentries and Harker. 210 points (its a lot of points, I know)

masterdoobie wrote:
I'm looking at p46 of the rulebook now, but I don't really understand the logic behind the crewman taking on the toughness of the artillery. Are you effectively saying that by adding crewman I'm adding wounds to the artillery? Sorry I'm a bit confused.

Page 46 under "shooting at artillery": you always use the gun's toughness (as long as one is still alive) when shooting at the unit. The crew are not literally T7, but you have to roll to wound as if they were even if you'd rather just focus on the squishy gunners. And since you always deploy all but one of the crew in front of the gun incoming wounds will always go to the crew before the gun. You only need one crew model per gun to shoot, so effectively the extra ones are all additional wounds for the gun.

I'm in the middle of making a veteran squad for my IG army and I was wondering about peoples thoughts on using Gunnery Sergeant Harker? I don't have any more chimera models (or vendettas) so I was wondering about the feasibility? At the moment my squad looks like this:

Veteran Squad - Plasma gun x 3, Autocannon, Forward Sentries and Harker. 210 points (its a lot of points, I know)

Not viable at all. If you don't have Chimeras or Vendettas then blob squads are better static "hide in cover and don't die" objective holders, while the squad has little chance of moving into plasma range without a transport to protect it.

 Peregrine wrote:

I'm in the middle of making a veteran squad for my IG army and I was wondering about peoples thoughts on using Gunnery Sergeant Harker? I don't have any more chimera models (or vendettas) so I was wondering about the feasibility? At the moment my squad looks like this:

Veteran Squad - Plasma gun x 3, Autocannon, Forward Sentries and Harker. 210 points (its a lot of points, I know)

Not viable at all. If you don't have Chimeras or Vendettas then blob squads are better static "hide in cover and don't die" objective holders, while the squad has little chance of moving into plasma range without a transport to protect it.

Not really true.

A harker squad gives you more field-coverage in a gunline list, and if they're in 4+ cover, they have 2+ cover saves thanks to stealth and forward sentries. I wouldn't bother with the Autocannon, though.

 TheCaptain wrote:
A harker squad gives you more field-coverage in a gunline list, and if they're in 4+ cover, they have 2+ cover saves thanks to stealth and forward sentries. I wouldn't bother with the Autocannon, though.

But if you're in 4+ cover an infantry squad gives you a 2+ save with three times as many bodies (for equal points). 4+ and 30 wounds is way better than 2+ and 10, especially since the blob can also go to ground to make it a 3+ (or even the same 2+ as Harker's squad).

But if you're in 4+ cover an infantry squad gives you a 2+ save with three times as many bodies (for equal points). 4+ and 30 wounds is way better than 2+ and 10, especially since the blob can also go to ground to make it a 3+ (or even the same 2+ as Harker's squad).

That is a good point and something for me to think about, I do already have a large blob squad though, not sure if I want a second. It is an awfully squishy unit though, with the exception of the awesome cover save. It could be used offensively or defensively, and it could hardily be ignored.

I wouldn't bother with the Autocannon

Interesting point. With so many plasma shots an autocannon may not be that helpful... maybe I could even drop a plasma gun and keep the AC and save 5 points lol?

masterdoobie wrote:
With so many plasma shots an autocannon may not be that helpful...

There is no such thing as too many guns. The only optional weapons are heavy weapons, and only because you can't shoot them effectively if you move.

maybe I could even drop a plasma gun and keep the AC and save 5 points lol?

No. Not only does that break rule #1 of veteran squads (never take one with less than three meltas or three plasmas) the AC doesn't replace a plasma gun because it's a heavy weapon and AP 4 vs. the plasma gun's AP 2 and ability to shoot when you move.

 Peregrine wrote:

 TheCaptain wrote:
A harker squad gives you more field-coverage in a gunline list, and if they're in 4+ cover, they have 2+ cover saves thanks to stealth and forward sentries. I wouldn't bother with the Autocannon, though.

But if you're in 4+ cover an infantry squad gives you a 2+ save with three times as many bodies (for equal points). 4+ and 30 wounds is way better than 2+ and 10, especially since the blob can also go to ground to make it a 3+ (or even the same 2+ as Harker's squad).

The difference being that Harker's squad can infiltrate, whereas those 30 men would have to walk to said 4+ cover.

masterdoobie wrote:

TheCaptain wrote: I wouldn't bother with the Autocannon

Interesting point. With so many plasma shots an autocannon may not be that helpful... maybe I could even drop a plasma gun and keep the AC and save 5 points lol?

Nooooooo. No.

Plasmaguns are good because they are AP2.

Str7 AP2 able to move and shoot? Hot.

Str7 AP4, have to stand still to shoot? Meh.

As Peregrine said, Veterans are for special weapons. Heavy weapons are for Blobs.

Harker's squad is fun to use with gunline and foot iG lists.

I would never consider bringing him to a tourney though unless I was intending to troll the other contestants, in wh case he would be a good addition with his cover shenanigans and infiltrate.

If you're out of metal boxes to shove infantry in, your only real options are to either invest in a blob to hold a home objective, or buy more toys for your lists in your heavy support or something.

I don't run mech very often though, so take that bit of advice with a pinch of salt.

If you're out of chimeras, I'd say buy another chimera. It's the only way to really get the same effect.

Failing that, 35+ guardsmen are pretty sturdy at objective holding, especially if you're already taking a standard to keep your artillery emplacements from running away. It allows you to grab some sabre platforms too if you've got a platoon.

I'm sure I'll get flak for this (and I've not tried it yet so it might be a silly waste of 70pts), but if I'm going to be running multiple artillery emplacements/sabre platforms, I'd be inclined to take a Lord Commissar. Keep him well hidden, and he'll buff those guys to LD10 for both orders and morale/

I'm sure I'll get flak for this (and I've not tried it yet so it might be a silly waste of 70pts), but if I'm going to be running multiple artillery emplacements/sabre platforms, I'd be inclined to take a Lord Commissar. Keep him well hidden, and he'll buff those guys to LD10 for both orders and morale/

I've actually thought about this too... but as an extra incentive to bring him, I'd put him in a lascannon HWS, place him between the artillery emplacements and make him man the quad gun on my ADL to take advantage of that BS5 he has.

If you're out of chimeras, I'd say buy another chimera.

lol? I have a list of things I need for my army and what I field really comes down to money. I really want to buy another chimera, but I see that money as a waste until I save up the required $110 (AUD) for a Valkyrie, as I don't have one yet.