Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

What I would like to know is this, can I use an Artillery piece or barrage weapon like I would a Tank? In other words, can I point the barrel of the artillery piece at a target and shoot it?

If you mean in-game, as long as they have a "non artillery" weapon profile then they can be used as such. I think the Basilisk could be upgraded to either have an indirect fire version or the normal version of their gun. The only difference though is whether or not you need line of sight.

You're a little vague on what you're asking so I'm just going to cover the bases.

You can 'fire directly' which means that you have line of sight on the target and your blast scatter is reduced by your ballistic skill.

You can't fire using just your ballistic skill if you're using a blast type weapon. You always have to roll for scatter with blasts. Even tanks roll for scatter if their weapon is a blast.

There are some weapons that can ONLY be fired indirectly and scatter the full distance if they don't get a direct hit. Their rules will tell you and I don't actually remember any off the top of my head other than Chapter Master's Orbital Bombardment and the Minotaur from Forge World. I'm sure there are others.

You can move your model however you like. Point the gun barrel anywhere that tickles your fancy. It usually won't have an effect on the range and the game isn't detailed enough to care about bullet arcs.

Well this answer pretty well covered my question. Artillery and Barrage weapons are not point, shoot, hit. They are point, shoot, and hope.

Including an inquisitor with servo skulls will reduce the scatter of any friendly blast that aims within 12" of a skull by 1d6.

Attaching an inquisitor with a psyocculum to a thunderfire or artillery battery will give them bs10 when shooting at psychers.

Casting prescience on the artillery unit/s of your choice lets them reroll both the scatter direction and distance.

Now this is some info that I can use. Thanks for posting it!!

 Drasius wrote:
Including an inquisitor with servo skulls will reduce the scatter of any friendly blast that aims within 12" of a skull by 1d6.

Attaching an inquisitor with a psyocculum to a thunderfire or artillery battery will give them bs10 when shooting at psychers.

Casting prescience on the artillery unit/s of your choice lets them reroll both the scatter direction and distance.