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Pretty much what the title says here. I'm pretty scared of placing a lord that points out at around 300 pts or any big monsters and having it taken away from me in the space of a single artillery shot. While I know artillery can mess themselves up I was wondering if you can actually body block units and characters or is there any way you can idk, try and shield against incoming shots?

Yes. Monsters, monstrous infantry and monstrous cavalry all stop cannonballs, if they don't die.

Same goes for walls.

You can also take advantage of the rule where cannons need LoS to the point on the table where the cannon is initially aiming. Cannons do NOT target models.

This means even a unit of infantry can block LOS to the area behind them, meaning the initial aiming spot has to be in front of said unit(beware units which don't block much LoS) Tons of people don't follow this rule correctly and I think that is partly to blame for cannons being seen as powerful as they are. It doesn't matter that the cannon can see your character, it needs to see the ground in front of him. *i'll make a handy little diagram in a minute.

Walls and buildings also automatically stop cannonballs(but walls get destroyed in the process)

Here is the diagram.

Another option is to put a fast moving unit, point blank in front of the barrel. Flying skirmishers work best...
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Dark-Elf-Harpies
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Furies

Line up the harpies/furies chest between the cannon and what you want to block. The cannon has to point at the target point, and it has to have line of sight to the spot. From 1" out, harpies can create a decent shadow of safety (not safe for the harpies though).

-Matt

Could Fell bats block if I put them in front of the barrel? I mean, 2 bat swarms table profile is pretty big cus the swarm bases just are, but in terms of physical sight blocking they are kinda small.

But essentiall I can put my characters outside of a unit, directly behind it and the only way they would hit the character is that they would have to hope that it bounces right through in the right direction and etc?

Possibly, but unlikely. The bat models don't block much physical space.

Is there any kind of look-out-sir type ruling for if your character is in a unit? (I haven't been able to find one if there is)


Reason I'm curious of the bats as well is because its a swarm so even though the model is a little sparse realistically the air would be thick with rabid bats, in the game people can't walk through or charge through them either so, I dunno! A bit grey there.

If your character gets a look out sir the he gets it against a cannon

Indeed there is Look Out Sir.

If a character is in a unit of the same unit type as he is, he gets a 2+ LoS against template weapons(of which cannons are a type)

If a character is outside a unit, but within 6" of one of the same unit type, he gets a 4+ LoS.

 Sasa0mg wrote:
Is there any kind of look-out-sir type ruling for if your character is in a unit? (I haven't been able to find one if there is)


Reason I'm curious of the bats as well is because its a swarm so even though the model is a little sparse realistically the air would be thick with rabid bats, in the game people can't walk through or charge through them either so, I dunno! A bit grey there.

Bat swarms might, but they have hover, not fly. By the time you get close enough to the cannon, it's likely to have already killed what it wanted to, or your faster units have already taken it out.