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I noticed that the warscrolls for some war machines (Empire cannon, Dark Elf Repeater bolt thrower) have a * in the stat line for number of attacks. Below is a table that ties number of attacks to number of crew, move, etc.

The High elf bolt thrower has 1 attack for Ithilmar bolts in the stat line, and 6 attacks for repeating bolts... not an *. But there is a table below, and the table says number of crew = 2, Ithilmar bolt = 2, repeating bolts = 12; crew of 1, Ithilmar bolt =1 and repeating bolts = 6.

So what do you think? Should we ignore the attacks in the table, or draw *s over the attack stats in the stat line?

My personal feeling is that the table is too good. The DE bolt thrower gets a base of 12 attacks, and no alternative monster-killing shot. Giving the HE war machine the option for big bolt, at a cost of a smaller number of attacks in a volley, seems balanced. But that is my personal feeling, and no one says that warscrolls are meant to be balanced.

I would say it's a typo and should read * in the attacks. If you do some maths for the two different shots, there's really not any point in shooting the Ithilmar Bolts anyway.

Unless it's meant to be either 2 Ithilmar OR 6 Repeating - then i would even out...but still be worse than the Dark Elf variant.

Sadly, I tend to agree. If I recall correctly, all crewed war machines have a table that shows what happens to the units' effectiveness as crew are lost.
If we use the table, that means it has the choice of shooting either 2 ithilmar bolts or 12 repeating bolts, if it has full crew. Loss of a crew-elf drops it to 1 / 6.

Not sure I agree with you on the maths. Ithilmar bolts might be only marginally effective against big monsters, but I suspect they'd make great hero-killers. I'll have to try them out soon.