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I have some earthshaker cannons laying around that need a job. I'm thinking about mounting them on platforms and (occasionally) I might bust out the rules from IA to field them in a regular game, but that's a bit unsatisfying since they aren't terribly official rules (if they suck, nobody will care if I use them... if the end up being useful, some of the people I play with are bound to get pissy about it.) Using them as manned defensive (not automated though, although that could be effing hilarious) guns in a planetstrike game, and of course counting them as objectives, is an interesting idea to me though.

What I have no clue on is how well this would work. On the one hand... an Earthshaker is -much- nicer than a silly lascannon. On the other hand, assuming that the defender is fairly concentrated, it's pretty easy to get inside the 36" minimum range in planet strike. (If the defender spreads out you may not be able to avoid the things, but then it's also easier to gain control of the gun.) Plus, defenders and attackers are going to be mixed up pretty close to one another most of the time with the exception of whatever HS the attacker brings. A pie plate is nasty, but when it's just as likely to take your own troops out as your opponent's it loses a lot of its charm.

Just wondering if anyone had played with this idea before. It feels like a bit of a play testing idea (I might fire up Vassal and, er, play with myself) but tossing things to the peanut gallery usually isn't a bad idea.

I have six earthshaker platforms for Apocolypse. All my friends say they would deep strike an elite unit to dig them out. Fine by me since the game is meant purely for fun. Enjoy your platforms and yes they do kill your own stuff.